Position title: Postdoctoral Scholar, Developmental Social Affective Neuroscience Lab, UT Dallas
Choose the following position category:
- Post-doctoral Students
Name of lab: Developmental Social Affective Neuroscience (DSAN) Lab
Name of supervisor: Leehyun Yoon
Closing date: 4/30/2024
Description below:
Job Summary:
The Developmental Social Affective Neuroscience Lab at the University of Texas at Dallas (https://labs.utdallas.edu/dsanlab/), directed by Dr. Leehyun Yoon, is seeking a self-motivated and inquisitive postdoctoral scholar to take the lead on a project on the neural mechanisms of self-esteem updating through social comparison in social media and achievement-related contexts. The sample of this project will include emerging adults and adolescents. The desired start date is January 2024, but is flexible. Our research uses behavioral tasks, functional and structural neuroimaging, computational modeling, and longitudinal data analysis to investigate the mechanisms of self-referential processing and social motivation/behavior in young people (ages 10 – 25) and their link to mental health outcomes and social functioning. Dr. Yoon strives to build a collaborative and stimulating lab environment (see https://labs.utdallas.edu/dsanlab/values/ for lab values) and promote the careers of trainees. Our lab is a part of the Center for Vital Longevity (CVL), a research center where nine research labs are housed. The CVL is dedicated to understanding the brain and cognitive health across the lifespan from childhood to late adulthood. The postdoc will be able to interact with researchers at CVL and the department of psychology at UT Dallas. The CVL is located blocks away from the UTD imaging Center, where MRI equipment is housed. The lab is located in the heart of Dallas, a fun, dynamic, and affordable city.
This position is funded for a period of 2 years. Position will work on site and in person.
Preferred Education and Experience:
- PhD by the start date in psychology, neuroscience, human development, or related field; an emphasis on social and affective neuroscience is desirable.
· Strong interest in human social motivation, self-esteem, and the brain’s reward, emotion, and self-processing circuitry.
· Experience with designing behavioral and/or fMRI experiments.
· Experience with fMRI data analysis using any software.
· Strong writing skills and emerging publication record.
· Skills in computational modeling (e.g., fitting a reinforcement learning model) is preferred but not necessary.
· Experience with structural MRI data analysis or advanced fMRI data analysis (e.g., MVPA, GIMME) is a plus.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Designing novel behavioral/fMRI experiments
- Programming experiments with psychtoolbox, cogent 2000, or Eprime
- Supervising research assistants for data collection
- Behavioral and fMRI data analysis with newly collected data
- Behavioral and fMRI/structural MRI data analysis with the lab’s existing data related to social feedback processing
- Data interpretation
- Preparing manuscripts for publication and presenting findings at a conference
Required documents:
Interested applicants should submit their (1) CV, (2) a brief cover letter describing why they want to join the lab, research interest/experience, qualifications, future goals, and ideal start date, and (3) contact information for 2-3 references.
Please contact Dr. Leehyun Yoon (leehyun.yoon@utdallas.edu) for any questions.
Application site: https://jobs.utdallas.edu/postings/24799