Job Abstract

The Department of Psychology at the University of California Berkeley invites applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar Employee, specifically in the area of cognitive neuroscience.

The Building Blocks of Cognition Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley, headed by Professor Silvia Bunge, studies the cognitive and neural processes that support reasoning, memory, and goal-directed behavior in humans. To investigate these phenomena, the lab leverages behavioral, brain imaging, and eyetracking methods.

Postdoctoral employee will work on a National Institute of Mental Health project titled "Narrowing the mechanistic gap for anterior prefrontal cortex function". This project targets the lateral aspect of anterior PFC, a brain region whose anatomy in humans is not clearly defined and whose fundamental role in cognition is poorly understood. At a descriptive level, aLPFC is involved in higher-level cognitive abilities such as planning, multi-tasking, reasoning, memory retrieval monitoring, and decision-making. Seeking to investigate its function at a more granular level via fMRI, structural MRI, and diffusion-weighted imaging on the 3 Tesla and 7 Tesla scanners at the Brain Imaging Center at UC Berkeley. Close collaborators on the project include Associate Professor Kevin Weiner (functional neuroanatomist) and Adjunct Professor David Feinberg (MR physicist) at UC Berkeley.
Specific duties include:

• Assist with finalizing study design and task presentation code, oversee piloting and data collection, and set up behavioral and fMRI preprocessing and analysis pipelines.
• Taker the lead on writing and revising manuscripts, and present results locally and at conferences.
• Provide mentorship to the graduate student researcher and full-time research assistant, as well as other lab members.
• Expertise in structural and functional MRI data collection and analysis

PhD or equivalent international degree or enrolled in a PhD program or equivalent international degree program at the time of application

-PHD or equivalent international degree
-No more than 3 years of post PhD research experience

-A Ph.D. or equivalent international degree in Neuroscience or Psychology
• Established publication record in human cognitive neuroscience
• Experience with fMRI data collection and up-to-date analysis methods
• Coding experience (ideally Python)
• Ability to carry out a variety of statistical analyses (ideally in Python, R)
• Ability to write up results for publication in a timely manner
• Strong initiative and organizational and interpersonal skills
• Experience with open science data practices (e.g., preregistration on OSF; sharing code to Github, etc.)
• Experience with layer fMRI is a bonus

• 3-6 required (contact information only)

UC Berkeley is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The excellence of the institution requires an environment in which the diverse community of faculty, students, and staff are welcome and included. Successful candidates will demonstrate knowledge and skill related to ensuring equity and inclusion in the activities of their academic position (e.g., teaching, research, and service, as applicable).

The University of California, Berkeley is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct

In searches when letters of reference are required all letters will be treated as confidential per University of California policy and California state law. Please refer potential referees, including when letters are provided via a third party (i.e., dossier service or career center), to the UC Berkeley statement of confidentiality prior to submitting their letter.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.