[Neuroinfo] 2x Postdoctoral Research Assistants in Knowledge Representation and Information Theory applied to fNIRS

[Felipe]

*2x Postdoctoral Research Assistants in Knowledge Representation and 
Information Theory applied to fNIRS*

Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE) – Dept. 
of Computer Science

*About the positions*

The Department of Computer Science at INAOE in Puebla, Mexico, invites 
applications for 2 two years full-time postdoctoral research assistant 
positions in the field of functional optical neuroimaging 
interpretation. Initial contract will be short-term according to 
institutional internal regulations extensible up to 2 years as the 
candidate demonstrate his/her suitability for the position and maintains 
his performance and productivity.

You will be working under the supervision of Dr. Felipe Orihuela-Espina. 
You will be expected to publish in high impact factor journals as well 
as in top conferences of the area. You will also be expected to 
contribute and help, not only to the project but also to the research 
and teaching carried out in the lab and the department in general. You 
will also help with PhD student supervision. You might further be asked 
to help with administrative tasks related to this or related projects 
including but not limited to report generation and generation of new 
grant applications. All the former has to be delivered punctually 
against tight deadlines. This description of tasks might not be exhaustive.

Salary is regulated by CONACYT’s project administration manual 
<http://www.conacyt.mx/images/conacyt/fondos/sectoriales/Fondos_ManualAdministracionProyectos.pdf>.

*About the project*

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging 
neuroimaging modality available for understanding brain behaviour for 
which current analysis and interpretation methods were often inherited 
and adapted from other neuroimaging modalities such as functional 
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This migration of methods is never 
trivial or without compromises. This 3 years $2M MXN project explores 
alternative analysis and interpretation algorithms and techniques 
specifically developed for fNIRS which can answer complex questions 
about cognitive activity while considering and exploiting fNIRS specific 
particularities. More specifically, these positions aim at:

(i)(/_Position Key: fNIRS-2016-01-KR_/) Exploring the use of knowledge 
representation techniques as a base for streamlining fNIRS 
experimentation, analysis and interpretation. Research tasks include, 
but are not limited to, the construction of conceptual maps defining 
experimental elements in fNIRS, the proposition of an initial ontology 
capturing fNIRS experimentation and the testing of different reasoning 
techniques over the ontology.

(ii)(/_Position Key: fNIRS-2016-02-IT_/) Exploring the suitability of 
information theory metrics for expressing brain connectivity from fNIRS. 
Research tasks include, but are not limited to, developing semi-virtual 
registration approaches, strong validation proofs, mathematical 
development of metrics and pseudometrics for expressing brain connectivity.

The solutions resulting from this project will be evaluated in 
applications of surgical neuroergonomics for the study of learning and 
training of new surgeons, as well as in virtual rehabilitation for the 
observation of neuroplastic changes associated to the therapy 
administration.

To obtain further details of the project, please check contact details 
below.

*About the candidate*

Applications are sought in optical neuroimaging analysis and 
interpretation, with particular emphasis on the following topics:

-Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)

-Knowledge Representation

-Information Theory

-Mathematical Topology

-Statistics and experimental design

-Medical Physics

Outstanding researchers in neuroimaging modalities other than fNIRS, but 
whose work is closely related with the current research project will be 
also considered.

*Requisites*:

·Candidates must hold a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline (e.g. computer 
science, mathematics, statistics, physics, engineering) and have 
obtained this no more than 5 years before the starting date of the 
appointment.

·You will be fluent in English. Spanish is welcomed but not strictly 
necessary.

·You will have excellent communication skills (oral and written) linked 
with an excellent publication record.

·You must have the potential to do pioneering research and to teach 
effectively.

·You will have outstanding demonstrable coding expertise with numerical 
and symbolic packages (preferably Matlab)

·You will have to be able to carry out research without supervision, and 
being able carry out collaborative research.

·You will be able to deliver quality work following tight project deadlines.

·If not Mexican, you will need work permit according to Mexican laws. An 
conditional invitation letter can be produced upon offering the job to 
support your application for work permit.

·Other administrative and legal demands may have to be fulfilled to 
abide Mexican laws and institutional regulations.

*About the institution, the department and the laboratory*

INAOE is one of the top ranked research institutions in Mexico according 
to the international SCIMAGO institutions rankings. Created in 1971 
following the research inheritance from the National Observatory of 
Astrophysics, INAOE is one of the national network of research centers 
from CONACYT.

The Computer Science Department at INAOE is one of the leading research 
departments in computer science in Mexico with 23 full-time researchers; 
95% recognized by the National Researchers System (SNI) in Mexico and 
over 40% on the top levels. We offer Master and PhD degrees and all our 
students benefit from a scholarship. The department has 7 strong 
research groups also called laboratories in robotics, machine learning, 
natural language processing, vision, high performance computing, 
ubiquitous computing and networks, and the biosignal and medical 
applications.

The biosignal and medical applications laboratory develops several lines 
of research including neuroimaging processing and analysis, affective 
and persuasive computing, virtual neurorehabilitation and geomedicine. 
It is the proud pioneer in Mexico regarding emotion recognition from 
speech which generated the first spin up business from INAOE. It has 
recently been granted about $5M MXN infrastructure funds for 
strengthening the neuroimaging research line.

*About the application process*

To submit your application, please send by e-mail the following 
information in English to the contact below.

·CV in free style including academic trajectory and full publication 
record, and clear contact e-mail.

·A 5 pg maximum (11pt) statement explaining why you are the best 
candidate for the position and initial solution ideas. Please clearly 
indicate the position key (see above) for which you are applying for.

·2 reference letters and the corresponding contact for referees. Please 
note, they might be contact for further information about the candidate.

The application process might involve one or more interviews, and 
demonstration of skills by means of a probatory task. Although we will 
try to answer all applications, if you haven’t heard from us within 3 
weeks from your submission date please consider that your application 
has been unsuccessful.

The positions are available as from the 3^rd of January 2016 but earlier 
or later incorporations might be considered. The positions will be 
opened until suitable candidates are found.

*Contact*:

For further details about the project and how to apply and latest 
updates about the job offer, please visit:

http://ccc.inaoep.mx/~f.orihuela-espina/Src/Jobs.php

You will be working under the supervision of Dr. Felipe Orihuela-Espina.

e-mail: f.orihuela-espina at ccc.inaoep.mx

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.incf.org/pipermail/neuroinfo/attachments/20151108/cf1e3b13/attachment-0001.html>