City : Hamilton

Category : Other

Industry : Education

Employer : McMaster University

Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Neuroscience of Language and Aging

Overview

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Fellow to work on an NIH funded project in the Department of Computing and Software Engineering (CAS). To learn more about the Department, please visit https://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/cas/

Qualifications

The Postdoctoral Fellow will work on a research project on the neural mechanisms of speech recognition in older adults. Specifically, the project aims to test how individuals use linguistic context to improve speech recognition, and how this is affected by healthy aging and hearing loss.

Responsibilities include:

• Leading the development and execution of hearing, EEG, and fMRI experiments
• Developing computational models of human speech recognition to model EEG and fMRI data
• Supervising students working on related projects
• Presenting results at scientific meetings and preparing manuscripts for publication

The researcher will be part of a multidisciplinary team including experts in Neuroscience, Hearing and Speech, Hearing Technology, and Aging. Candidates will work primarily with Christian Brodbeck, PhD (McMaster). Further team members include Ian Bruce (McMaster), Emily Myers and Thomas Hinchey (UConn), and Samira Anderson (U Maryland).

Ideal candidates should have experience and interests in the following areas: Cognitive neuroscience of language; cognitive aging; hearing and speech perception; computational models of human perception; and M/EEG and/or (f)MRI. Some programming experience is required, Python highly preferred.

An ideal candidate would be an experienced researcher who:

1. has recently completed their Ph.D. in Experimental/cognitive Psychology, Neuroscience, Hearing and Speech, or a related field; and
2. has an established track record of peer-reviewed publications as first author in relevant areas; and
3. has conducted quantitative analysis of neuroimaging datasets using Python.

To learn more about the general research direction, please visit https://christianbrodbeck.net/research/

Duration and Funding

The term of the fellowship is initially for 12 months, with the possibility of renewal. Local, national, and international applicants are encouraged to apply. Selection will be based upon the candidate's research potential and fit with the Research Group in the Department of CAS at the Faculty of Engineering. The successful applicant will be placed on a hybrid work arrangement, as agreed upon with the faculty supervisor. The annual salary is $70,000.00 CAD/year, with benefits, provided in accordance with McMaster University guidelines, and commensurate with experience. The normal hours of work are 35 hours per week.