<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-e4d3e4e5-7fff-fe6a-7367-6e236bc68ed7" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-webkit-standard"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Postdoc in the lab of Wei Ji Ma at NYU: human planning in tasks with large decision trees</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">My lab - in the Center for Neural Science and the Department of Psychology at New York University (</span><a href="http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">) - is looking for a postdoc to study human planning in tasks with large decision trees. The appointment is for two years with the possibility of extension; funding is guaranteed but grantwriting is encouraged. Salary will be NIH scale or higher.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Who we are: </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We work primarily in computational cognitive science and a bit in computational neuroscience. We have previously worked extensively on perceptual inference, suboptimality, working memory, and neural population coding, but recent work has focused on approximate inference, resource rationality, and planning. For more details, see </span><a href="http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab/projects.html" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab/projects.html</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Questions on human planning that we are interested in include how the mind searches a decision tree, how depth of planning depends on the complexity of the environment, and how people arbitrate between model-free and model-based strategies. We are particularly interested in planning in cooperative social contexts.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Job description: </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As a postdoc in the lab, you will be involved in conceptual development, theoretical development, experimental design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, manuscript writing, and dissemination of results. You will co-supervise and co-mentor Ph.D. students. You will be part of the lab community and the broader NYU/NYC psychology/neuroscience community, with connections to data science and economics. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Qualifications</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">: We are looking for someone who (1) is open-minded, resilient, and motivated to work on relatively narrow problems with potentially broad implications; (2) has experience in theoretical or computational approaches, in particular in reinforcement learning, artificial intelligence/machine learning, or approximate inference; (3) has experience in theoretically driven human behavioral experiments; (4) is interested in the connections between computational cognitive science and artificial intelligence/machine learning. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Lab culture</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">: We care a lot about mentorship quality, a positive lab culture, diversity, and work-life balance. For more details, see </span><a href="http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab/lablife.html" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab/lablife.html</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. We are looking for someone who is kind, helpful, and cares about making the lab environment and the broader community better for everyone, and who is interested in mentoring scientists more junior than themselves. Moreover, many lab members have been involved in science policy, mentorship through storytelling, diversity advocacy, science advocacy, science outreach, and mentoring high school students. For more details, see </span><a href="http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab/community.html" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab/community.html</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:6.999999999999999pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">            </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">To apply</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, please email me a detailed statement of interest and a current copy of your CV at </span><a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">weijima@nyu.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, with subject line “Postdoc in planning”. The position will be open until filled.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">NYU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to a policy of equal treatment and opportunity in every aspect of its recruitment and hiring process without regard to age, alienage, caregiver status, childbirth, citizenship status, color, creed, disability, domestic violence victim status, ethnicity, familial status, gender and/or gender identity or expression, marital status, military status, national origin, parental status, partnership status, predisposing genetic characteristics, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, unemployment status, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of minority sexual orientation or gender identity, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply for vacant positions at all levels.</span></p></span><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-webkit-standard"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">Wei Ji Ma, Ph.D.<br>Associate Professor<br>Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology<br>New York University<br><a href="http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab" target="_blank">http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab</a></div></div></div>