News

Call for Postdoctoral Fellows

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The Harvard University Data Science Initiative is seeking applications for its Harvard Data Science Initiative Postdoctoral Fellows Program for the 2020-2021 academic year. The duration of the Fellowship is two years. Fellows will receive a generous salary as well as an annual allocation for research and travel expenses.

We are looking for researchers whose interests are in data science, broadly construed, and including researchers with both a methodological and applications focus. Fellows will be provided with the opportunity to pursue their research agenda in an intellectually vibrant environment with ample mentorship. We are looking for independent researchers who will seek out collaborations with other fellows and with Harvard faculty.

The Harvard Data Science Initiative Postdoctoral Fellows Program is supported by the Harvard Data Science Initiative. The Harvard Data Science Initiative involves faculty from across the University.

Deadline: Applications must be submitted online by 5:00 p.m. on December 2nd, 2019.

NICHD funded post doctorates, Baby’s First Years Study

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We are seeking one or more post-doctorate candidates to apply for postdoctoral funding to work with a principal investigator of the Baby’s First Years Study, through an NIH administrative supplement. The candidates must meet the NIH’s specified eligibility as a member of an under-represented group in the health-related sciences.

If approved for funding, the position will be a 2-year appointment at one of the PI universities (Duke; Teachers College Columbia University; University of California, Irvine; University of Wisconsin-Madison). Which university the position is housed in will depend on whether the successful applicant is best matched with one of the PIs in the social and behavioral sciences (Drs. Greg Duncan, Lisa Gennetian or Katherine Magnuson) or neuroscience (Dr. Kimberly Noble).

Once a candidate is identified, details about the position appointment and formal application with the named candidate will move forward to NICHD for review. This process can take up to a year.

Please submit a cover letter describing your interest and fit with the job and a CV to info@babysfirstyears.com. Applications will be reviewed as received. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interviews.

BFY Study description

The Baby’s First Years study is a pathbreaking random-assignment study of the impact of monthly unconditional cash gifts to low-income mothers of infants during the first three years of their child’s life. The aim is to understand the causal effects of poverty reduction on family life and early childhood development in order to inform policy. As of June 2019, 1,000 racially and ethnically diverse mothers have been recruited from hospitals shortly after giving birth in each of four metropolitan areas —New York City, New Orleans, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Omaha, Nebraska. Forty percent of the mothers in each site were randomized to receive $333/month in cash and 60 percent receive $20/month in cash. More about the study, media coverage, and its motivation can be found here, here and here.

Data are being collected by the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center: mothers and children will be visited in their homes at child ages 12 and 24, and then will be brought to university labs at child age 36 months. Data collection includes surveys about economic and employment, child care, and other aspects of family life, mother’s mental and physical health, and well-being; maternal and children’s hair cortisol, epigenetics, child EEG measures of brain activity, and a full battery of child cognitive and behavioral assessments at 36 months.

This unique multi-institution, multi-site, and multi-year study is led by principal investigators Greg Duncan (University of California Irvine), Nathan Fox (University of Maryland), Lisa Gennetian (Duke University), Katherine Magnuson (Lead, social and behavioral science, University of Wisconsin Madison), Kimberly Noble (Lead, neuroscience, Teachers College, Columbia University), and Hirokazu Yoshikawa (New York University). The PIs are also collaborating with a team of neuroscientists at each site who will assist with measurement of children’s brain development at 36 months old. Finally, Sarah Halpern-Meeking (UW Madison) is also directing a longitudinal qualitative study with a random subset of families from two of the four sites.

BFY Post docotorate Qualifications

Qualifications

  • Within 5 years of a PhD in child development, economics, neuroscience, public policy, psychology, sociology, or related field.
  • Strong quantitative research skills
  • Strong organizational skills
  • Oral and written fluency in Spanish; fully bilingual/bicultural a plus
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
  • Experience with experimental (randomized) study designs a plus
  • Meets NIH’s definition of a scholar from an under-represented group based on race/ethnicity, disability, or a disadvantaged background:
    • Individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis (see data at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/showpub.cfm?TopID=2&SubID=27) and the
      report       Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering). The following racial and ethnic groups have been shown to be underrepresented in biomedical research: Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. In addition, it is recognized that underrepresentation can vary from setting to setting; individuals from racial or ethnic groups that can be demonstrated convincingly to be underrepresented by the grantee institution should be encouraged to participate in this program. For more information on racial and ethnic categories and definitions, see NOT-OD-15-089.
    • Individuals with disabilities, who are defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, as described in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended. See NSF data
      at       http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/2013/pdf/tab7-5_updated_2014_10.pdf.
    • Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, defined as: 1) Individuals who come from a family with an annual income below established low-income thresholds. These thresholds are based on family size, published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census; adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price Index; and adjusted by the Secretary for use in all health professions programs. The Secretary periodically publishes these income levels at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/index.shtml. OR 2) Individuals who come from an educational environment such as that found in certain rural or inner-city environments that has demonstrably and directly inhibited the individual from obtaining the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to develop and participate in a research career.

CogSci Colloquium: Mark S. Seidenberg

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The Cognitive Science Colloquium Series is proud to present Mark S. Seidenberg, Vilas Research Professor and Donald O. Hebb Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Friday, April 26th, 4pm, Oak 117

Dr. Seidenberg will provide a talk entitled “The Science and Politics of Learning to Read”

Abstract: A remarkably high percentage of children and adults acquire only basic reading skills, causing innumerable problems for individuals and society. Low literacy has multiple causes, some of which seem intractable (e.g., poverty). I nonetheless think we could be doing much better than we are. Part of the problem is a disconnection between the cultures of science and education. Scientists know a great deal about how reading works and children learn, little of which has had any impact on teacher education or classroom practices. I’ll look at these cross-cultural differences, how they developed, and what might be done to overcome them.

If you are interested in meeting with Dr. Seidenberg, please contact Dr. Altmann: gerry.altmann@uconn.edu


Funded summer opportunity: Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute

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From Erica Cartmill, Assistant Professor at UCLA:
I am writing to share the news about an exciting funded summer opportunity for graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty. In 2018, I launched a new summer program, the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI for short), with my colleague Jacob Foster, a computational sociologist at UCLA. You can find more details about last summer’s DISI, as well as a short video, at www.diverseintelligencessummer.com.
The basic idea behind DISI is simple: to bring together promising graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty interested in the study of mind, cognition, and intelligence for several weeks of transdisciplinary exploration. The first year was a great success, and we are delighted to be expanding the scope of DISI in 2019! We are increasing the number of participants, welcoming back alumni, and broadening the topics offered by faculty. We are also introducing a new “storytellers” track to host artists-in-residence at DISI. We hope that this vibrant community will work together to develop new ways of engaging with big questions about intelligence, cognition, and the mind.
We are holding the 2019 Summer Institute at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, from June 30 to July 20. As you probably know, this is a beautiful seaside location, easily accessible from Edinburgh International Airport, and a picturesque train journey North from London. We’ve already assembled an outstanding international faculty (www.diverseintelligencessummer.com/faculty), and more are yet to be added. In addition to lectures and discussions, DISI offers participants the opportunity to develop collaborative interdisciplinary research projects with support from faculty and staff.
I’ve attached a flyer advertising the Institute, and included a link to our website below. I would be grateful if you could forward this announcement to talented graduate students, postdocs, and other early career researchers who might be interested. We are also hoping to reach writers and artists of all types for our storyteller track! In both the academic and storyteller tracks, we are looking for creative, open-minded participants who want to take intellectual risks and break down disciplinary barriers in the spirit of dialogue and discovery.
 
The main application deadline is February 15. Storyteller and alumni applications will be rolling. Application portals can be found at www.diverseintelligencessummer.com/apply
If potential applicants have any questions, they can reach out to our wonderful Associate Director, Dr. Kensy Cooperrider, at disi@ucla.edu.
Thanks so much for helping us build an exciting new intellectual community!

Job: Assistant Psychology Professor at Eastern Illinois University

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Eastern Illinois University, Department of Psychology Position Announcement, Assistant Professor (2)

The Psychology Department at Eastern Illinois University has openings for two full-time (9-month) tenure-track faculty positions in (1) cognitive neuroscience and (2) biopsychology or behavioral neuroscience. Duties include teaching undergraduate courses in psychology (in areas of expertise, as well as areas of general need), maintaining an active research program, and participating in service to the department and university. Individuals should also demonstrate commitment to diversity an experience with promoting inclusive excellence. The anticipated start date is August 16, 2019. Individuals applying for the first position should hold a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience or a closely related area. Individuals applying for the second position should hold a Ph.D. in biopsychology, behavioral neuroscience, or closely related area. Candidates are expected to have a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) at the time of appointment. Other requirements include demonstrated evidence of teaching excellence at the college/university level and a commitment to research and scholarly activity. To apply, please submit the following: letter of application, vita, three confidential letters of reference, and available reprints. For position 1 (cognitive neuroscience), send application materials via Interfolio at https://apply.interfolio.com/54761. For position 2 (biopsychology/behavioral neuroscience), send application materials via Interfolio at https://apply.interfolio.com/54784. Review of applications will begin on January 7, 2019 and will continue until the positions are filled. For questions regarding this search, please contact Jeffrey Stowell, Screening Committee Chair, at jrstowell@eiu.edu. The Department of Psychology serves over 400 undergraduate and graduate students, having undergraduate programs in psychology (BA) and neuroscience (BS), as well as graduate programs in clinical psychology (MA) and school psychology (MA, SSP). The Department also has an undergraduate honors program, and serves approximately 200 minors in psychology and neuroscience. Eastern Illinois University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer – minority/female/disability/veteran – committed to achieving a diverse community.

Speaker: Philip Corlett of Yale, 9/6

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Philip Corlett, Yale University: Finding Beliefs in the Brain: Hallucinations, Delusions & Predictive Processing.

 

Wed 9/6 at 1:25pm in Bousfield (room 162). 

 

The speaker is a cognitive neuroscientist and his most recent publication “Pavlovian conditioning–induced hallucinations result from overweighting of perceptual priors” appeared this month in Science and describes some very interesting fMRI results.

 

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Philip Robert Corlett trained in Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychiatry with Professors Trevor Robbins and Paul Fletcher at the University of Cambridge. He won a Wellcome Trust Prize Studentship and completed his PhD on the brain bases of delusion formation in the Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry. After a short postdoc, he was awarded the University of Cambridge Parke- Davis Exchange Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences which brought him to the Yale University Department of Psychiatry to explore the maintenance of delusions with Professors Jane Taylor and John Krystal. He was named a Rising Star and Future Opinion Leader by Pharmaceutical Marketing Magazine and joined the Yale faculty in 2011 where he will continue to explore the cognitive and biological mechanisms of delusional beliefs as well as predictive learning, habit formation and addiction.