University of Arizona
Just Landed
New Today
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Adaptive Learning Agents and Computational Cognitive Science University of Arizona in United States
Degree Level
Postdoc
Field of study
Computer Science
Funding
Postdoctoral research associate salary follows NIH salary guidelines and depends on experience. The position is full-time, benefits eligible, and includes funded international conference travel, dedicated compute allocations, and fellowship support. U of A benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance, paid leave, and tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members.
Country
United States
University
University of Arizona
How do I apply for this?
Sign in for free to reveal details, requirements, and source links.
Apply for this position
Keywords
Suggested positions
About this position
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Adaptive Learning Agents and Computational Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona Department of Psychology, in the NAIADEL Lab.
This postdoc focuses on adaptive learning agents, computational cognitive science, reinforcement learning, meta-learning, world models, and transformer-based sequence models for understanding human intelligence and agency. The lab studies how people and artificial agents infer environmental structure, judge controllability, revise beliefs after setbacks, and adapt strategies over time.
The successful candidate will lead development of new agents for game-based environments where task structure and controllability change across missions. They will train agents on the same games played by more than 1,000 human participants, compare agent and human behavior, and use the results to refine theories of adaptive intelligence. The work connects machine learning with cognitive modeling, including reinforcement learning and sequential sampling models, and may extend to EEG, fMRI, and eye-tracking collaborations.
Requirements: PhD in computer science, machine learning, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, statistics, applied mathematics, or a closely related field (candidates defending before the start date may apply). Applicants should have experience building and evaluating learning agents or neural-network models for sequential decision-making, strong Python and deep learning framework skills, and a publication record appropriate to career stage.
Funding and support: NIH-guideline salary, full benefits, funded international conference travel, dedicated compute resources, and fellowship support. The appointment is initially for one year and renewable based on satisfactory progress.
How to apply: Submit a CV, cover letter, and one combined additional document containing a statement of research interest, representative publications/preprints/code, and three referees. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so early submission is encouraged.
Funding details
Postdoctoral research associate salary follows NIH salary guidelines and depends on experience. The position is full-time, benefits eligible, and includes funded international conference travel, dedicated compute allocations, and fellowship support. U of A benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance, paid leave, and tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members.
What's required
PhD in computer science, machine learning, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, statistics, applied mathematics, or a closely related field; candidates who will defend before the start date may apply. Applicants should have demonstrated experience designing, implementing, training, and evaluating learning agents or neural-network models for sequential decision-making, supported by publications, preprints, or research code. Strong programming skills in Python and at least one modern deep learning framework are required, along with a record of peer-reviewed publication appropriate to career stage. Preferred experience includes meta-reinforcement learning, in-context learning, continual reinforcement learning, POMDPs, belief-state inference, model-based reinforcement learning, world models, transformers, LLM-based agents, human behavior modeling, sequential sampling models, controllability, latent-state inference, and reproducible research workflows.
How to apply
Prepare a CV, cover letter, and one additional document. The additional document should combine a statement of research interest, one or two representative publications/preprints/code repositories, and the names and contact details of three referees. Submit the materials through the University of Arizona application portal.
More information can be found here
Ask ApplyKite AI
How do I apply for this?
Sign in for free to reveal details, requirements, and source links.