Post-Doctoral Fellowships Available: Computational Cognitive Development Group

The Rutgers University – Newark Computational Cognitive Development group, led by Dr. Elizabeth Bonawitz is looking to hire 2-3 post-doctoral fellows.  Our research focuses on learning in early childhood.  The funded positions will include research on children’s learning broadly, with projects focusing on on topics such as how children drive their own active play, how guided play influences learning, how question asking can promote discovery**, and the role of emotion in playful learning***. An interest in factors related to individual differences and SES is encouraged. 

**This project involves a collaboration with Patrick Shafto and the CoDaS lab.

***This project involves a collaboration with both Patrick Shafto and Vanessa LoBue through our Mobile Maker Center.

We are particularly interested in candidates with some technical skills, including strong statistics background and some familiarity with coding. There will also be opportunities to continue to develop computational modeling skills.

Post-docs have the opportunity to lead research projects and are supported by ample resources including research space, a dedicated lab manager, and post-bac and undergraduate research assistants.  Our lab also collaborates closely with the Rutgers Newark Child Research Labs (Drs. Vanessa LoBue, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, & Gretchen Van de Walle) as well as the Computational Data Science Group (CoDaS led by Dr. Patrick Shafto).  We are located in the heart of New Jersey’s largest city and are an easy, 25-minute train ride from downtown Manhattan.

Required qualifications

n Ph.D in Cognitive Science, Psychology, Education, or related field

n Experience conducting developmental research (ideally early childhood)

n Interest in developing experience in computational modeling (it is not required that students already have extensive modeling experience, though a background in statistics, mathematics, and/or computer science is a plus.)

To apply please send the following to me (lbaraff@gmail.com) by January 15th (candidates will be interviewed on a rolling basis):

n Cover letter

n CV

n 2-3 representative publications

n List of 2-3 references that are able to supply a letter upon request

Start date is flexible, though ideally beginning summer of 2018.