Join the Lab

Open Postdoctoral Position, 2024

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral fellowship with the Linguistic Mechanisms Lab in the Department of Linguistics at Northwestern University to work with Rob Voigt on projects in computational linguistics related to social understanding and multimodal processing of interactional data. Primary funding for the fellowship is provided by a National Institutes of Health grant on cross-linguistic analyses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in collaboration with Molly Losh in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern. This project will use contemporary large language model (LLM) technologies to develop models for the analysis of clinical interviews in English and Cantonese aimed at both predictive accuracy and greater linguistic understanding of ASD.

The fellow will also have the opportunity to develop their own research agenda and contribute to related projects in the lab on computational analysis of clinical interviews for psychosis, behavioral interventions for procedural justice from police body camera footage, and racial disparities in 911 emergency response calls. The fellow will also participate in instrumentation and experimental design in the Department’s Multimodal Interaction Lab, a recording space outfitted for multi-person audio recording, depth imaging, and physiological measurement of participants.

Applications are welcomed broadly from applicants with backgrounds in linguistics, computer science, communication sciences, psychology, and related fields. Required qualifications include strong computational research skills including demonstrated experience with and publications related to contemporary LLMs. Preferred qualifications include experience working with multimodal data (text, audio, and/or video), cross-lingual or multilingual models, and social or interactional research questions.

The position is for one year, with the potential for renewal for a second year. The pay rate will exceed NIH postdoctoral fellows stipend levels and be competitive with similar copmutationally-oriented postdoctoral positions. The position can start as early as September 1, 2024, and ideally would begin on or before January 1, 2025. Candidates must have completed their Ph.D. by the time of the appointment. Applications should be submitted to robvoigt@northwestern.edu before April 1, 2024, and should include (i) a cover letter in the body of the email that states the applicant’s experience and research interests related to the computational modeling of interaction; (ii) a current CV including links to written work; (iii) the names and contact information of at least two references.

Email inquiries about the position should be directed to Rob Voigt (robvoigt@northwestern.edu). Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States.

The LingMechLab is comprised of researchers at Northwestern, based out of the Linguistics Department.

Interested PhD applicants should apply there. Applications are to the department as a whole, but you can indicate your interest on your application; feel free to reach out to Rob if you have any specific questions about the program or process.

Students already at Northwestern can reach out to Rob directly expressing their interest. Except in exceptional circumstances, undergraduates should take LING 334 (Introduction to Computational Linguistics) with Rob before reaching out to ask about research opportunities.