The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is announcing a major, university-wide Strategic Hiring Initiative to hire six (6) full-time tenure-track and tenure faculty positions at all levels (Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Full Professor) in the area of Neuroinformatics that lies at the critical intersection of computational neuroscience, computer science, and information science with a primary focus on understanding the function of the brain in disease and health.
This major institutional investment, which spans across the Grainger College of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, seeks to expand and complement existing efforts across campus and serve as catalyst to establish UIUC as a center of excellence in understanding the function of the human brain.
Participating departments:
Areas of Interest
We seek applicants with expertise in computer science, biomedical informatics, and computational neuroscience, with primary research interests directed at the development and application of modern artificial intelligence or machine learning analytical tools and techniques for coordinated “big data” analyses of the state-of-the-art neuroscience datasets, such as large-scale electrophysiology, calcium/voltage imaging, multimodal brain imaging, genetic and epigenetic data, and complex behavioral datasets.
Eligibility
Successful candidates will be part of a large cohort of new faculty contributing to and benefiting from this rich computational systems neuroscience research environment and will have tenure homes in one of the six participating departments. Candidates interested in interactive and trans-disciplinary team research are particularly encouraged to apply. Cross-appointments between different departments are envisioned and encouraged, although each faculty member is expected to have a primary appointment in a single department.
Support & Resources
In addition to the participating Colleges, Schools, and Departments that host numerous top-ranking undergraduate and graduate programs, support for this interdisciplinary hiring initiative spans all corners of the campus including multiple, interdisciplinary research institutes:
These campus entities provide vast computational and logistical resources and collaborative opportunities.
The University of Illinois is home to a vibrant and collaborative neuroscience community spanning numerous Colleges, Institutes, and Departments that hosts the interdisciplinary Neuroscience Ph.D. Program. The neuroscience community boasts over 100 affiliated faculty from across campus. The integrative nature of Neuroinformatics, which combines biological and computational methods, is essential to making progress in understanding brain function and it has a strong translational element that is supported by the Carle Illinois College of Medicine – the world’s first engineering-based medical school.
Application Instructions
To ensure full consideration, candidates should apply to one or more of the six departments. Candidates should include in their application cover letters that they would like to be considered for the cluster hire program, and they should list which other departments they have applied to, if any. For other application materials, candidates should follow the directions in specific position descriptions. Candidates may be contacted if a search committee requires more information. For full consideration, apply by the closing date listed in the specific departmental position descriptions.
Early applications are strongly encouraged as interviews may take place during the application periods, but hiring decisions will not be made until after the closing dates.
Please contact neuroinformatics@illinois.edu with any questions.
Positions
Bioengineering, Grainger College of Engineering
The department of Bioengineering is seeking candidates for tenured or tenure-track (open rank) positions. Senior and mid-career faculty are encouraged to apply, but all qualified candidates will be considered. Successful candidates will be conducting research in neural engineering, including but not limited to characterizing the dynamic functional networks of the brain in health, behavior, and disease.
Specific areas of interest include the development of biocomputational tools to understand dynamic network behavior in the brain, merging novel acquisition and analysis approaches across spatial scales. The candidate may leverage recent investments in human (7T MRI) and animal (9.4 T MRI) imaging, among other facilities on campus.
The successful candidate will also contribute to both teaching and service missions in the department. The department recently launched the nation’s first BS degree in neural engineering, with many new courses merging neuroscience with engineering design and analysis.
Computer Science, Grainger College of Engineering
The department of Computer Science invites applications for an open rank tenure-track faculty position in Neuroinformatics. Successful candidates will be conducting research broadly at the intersection of Neuroscience and Computing.
Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to: computational methods for interpreting neuroscientific data; computational models of neuroscientific phenomena; computational models linked to cognition and intelligence, including natural language understanding and reasoning; and computational theories for recovering information from diverse noisy datasets.
The Computer Science Department has a long history of leadership in research and scholarship covering areas foundational to neuroinformatics including artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, natural language understanding, speech processing and computational biology. Close collaborations between faculty members in the department and interdisciplinary labs and institutes are widespread; collaborators include the Coordinated Science Lab, the Beckman Institute, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the AIFarms Institute, and the Carl R Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Grainger College of Engineering
The department of Electrical and Computer Engineering invites applications for an open rank tenure-track faculty position in Neuroinformatics. Successful candidates will be conducting research broadly at the intersection of Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence.
Specific areas of interest include (but are not limited to) the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and high-dimensional statistical techniques for learning structure and temporal dynamics from neuroscience datasets, analysis of temporally varying neuroscience data using control and information-theoretic methods, and theory and algorithms for relating network dynamics to brain functions.
ECE has a rich history of research and teaching in areas foundational to neuroinformatics such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, signal processing, data science, information theory, control theory, biomedical medical imaging and bioengineering. The faculty members in the department also have close collaborations with interdisciplinary labs and institutes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign such as the Coordinated Science Lab and the Beckman Institute.
Molecular & Integrative Physiology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology is seeking candidates for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position. The successful candidate will have a productive record of research bridging experimental neuroscience approaches and computational modeling and analysis.
The candidate’s record should demonstrate the potential to establish an externally funded, independent program of research in experimental neurophysiology with a strong computational component. Research integrating electrophysiological, imaging, and/or biophysical modalities at multiple computational levels of examination, from single neural cells to complex neural networks, is of particular interest.
The successful candidate will contribute to both teaching and service missions in the Department and the School.
Psychology – Behavioral Neuroscience, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The Behavioral Neuroscience research area of the department of Psychology invites applications from computational neuroscientists for a full-time tenure-track Assistant Professor position. We are particularly interested in candidates who specialize in the development and/or deployment of computational analyses or models of neural networks at the cellular and molecular level and their relationship to behavior in animal models.
Applicants utilizing machine learning or artificial intelligence approaches to large-scale neural datasets such as electrophysiology and calcium/voltage imaging, as well as anatomical, genomic, or complex behavioral datasets, are encouraged to apply.
The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong track record of research productivity, teaching and mentorship effectiveness, and potential for external funding.
Statistics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The department of Statistics invites applications for an open rank tenure-track faculty in Neuroinformatics broadly defined. Specific areas of interest include (but are not limited to) high-dimensional statistics for neurobiology and behavioral data, multi-scale neural network inference, inference of network dynamics, and statistical approaches for processing and analyzing large neuroscience datasets.
The Department of Statistics is a vibrant, growing department with nearly 1000 undergraduate majors and over 200 graduate students, and a rich history of research in statistical theory, methods and computation as well as machine learning and other interdisciplinary applications.