Thursday, October 17, 2013

Open Rank faculty position in cognition and learning -- UC Irvine


University of California, Irvine 
School of Education 
Cognition and Learning in Education (Open Rank) 

The School of Education at the University of California, Irvine invites applications for an open rank tenure-track position in the area of cognition and learning. Successful candidates must possess a Ph.D. (or equivalent) by the summer of 2014 and have demonstrated excellence in research and teaching. Applications will be considered at the Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Full Professor levels. 

We are seeking outstanding candidates whose research examines learning and cognition. Scholars in all areas of human cognition and learning relevant to education in and out of school are encouraged to apply. We are particularly interested in applicants with backgrounds and training in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, learning sciences, or related fields. 

The selected candidate is expected to contribute to our graduate and undergraduate programs, and particularly to our Ph.D. in Education program, which offers specializations in Learning, Cognition and Development; Educational Policy and Social Context; and Language, Literacy, and Technology. We are a dynamic and fast growing School of Education. A more complete description of the School of Education can be found at http://www.gse.uci.edu/. 

Applications should be submitted online at https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF02152 and must include a cover letter indicating research and teaching interests, curriculum vitae, and one or more relevant publications/papers. Letters of recommendations will be requested at a later date from referees of semi-finalists for the position; however, applicants at the Assistant Professor level are encouraged to have three letters of recommendation submitted through the online system at the time of their application. Review of applications will begin on November 1, 2013 and will continue until the position is filled. Inquiries about the position may be directed to Search Committee Chair Mark Warschauer (markw@uci.edu) or Operations Manager Jennifer Vickrey (jvickrey@uci.edu). 

UCI is an equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity and strongly encourages applications from women, minorities, and other under-represented groups. UCI is responsive to the needs of dual career couples and is dedicated to work-life balance through an array of family-friendly policies, and is the recipient of an NSF Advance Award for gender equity. 

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Penn State: Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders (tenure-track)

Title: Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders (tenure-track)
Vacancy#: 39996
Department: Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD)
Campus Location: UP
Number of Jobs: 1
Affirmative Action Search Number:  023-126
Announce Start Date: 07/16/2013
Closing End Date: Until Filled

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) ( http://csd.hhdev.psu.edu/), College of Health and Human Development at The Pennsylvania State University seeks candidates for a full-time continuing (36-week) tenure-track position of Assistant Professor to begin Spring 2014 or Fall 2014.

The responsibilities of this position will be to establish or continue a line of research in a specialty area(s) related to adult speech and language or phonology. Specialty interests in aphasia, apraxia, neuroscience, neurogenics, neuromotor disorders and/or aging considered a plus. In addition, will teach undergraduate and graduate courses in area of specialty; supervise undergraduate and graduate (M.S./Ph.D.) research; be actively involved in enhancing and building the Ph.D. program; provide service to the Department, College, and University; and contribute to the clinical aspects of the program. Opportunities exist for interdisciplinary collaborations across the University Park and Hershey Medical Center campuses. These collaborations include the Penn State Social Science Research Institute, the Center for Healthy Aging, the Social, Life, and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center (which houses a human electrophysiology facility and a 3 Tesla fMR unit), the Penn State Center for Language Science, the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and numerous departments including Biobehavioral Health, Psychology, Kinesiology, Bioengineering, and departments in the College of Medicine.

Candidates must have an earned Ph.D., with an active research and scholarship plan. Previous teaching experience and/or post-doctoral experience desired. CCC-SLP is highly desirable. Review of credentials will begin immediately and continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

Interested candidates should submit a letter of application including a personal statement addressing vision and interests regarding research and teaching, current curriculum vitae, copies of relevant research articles or presentations, 

Ingrid M. Blood, Ph.D., ASHA Fellow
Chair of the Search Committee
Communication Sciences and Disorders;
c/o Sharon Nyman, Administrative Assistant;
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders;
The Pennsylvania State University;
308 Ford Building;
University Park, PA 16802.

Materials may be submitted electronically to: SAN5@psu.edu Please indicate “Assistant Professor position” in subject line of email correspondence.

Employment will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity and the diversity of its workforce.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Tenure-Line Position in Linguistics at Northwestern University

The Department of Linguistics at Northwestern University seeks to fill a tenure-line Assistant Professor position with a start date of September 1, 2014. We are looking for candidates who will enhance Northwestern’s interdisciplinary language science research community. The ideal candidate will have a research program grounded in computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, and/or language variation and change. Although we expect to hire at the rank of assistant professor, more senior candidates will also be considered.
Candidates must hold a Ph.D. in Linguistics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, or a related field by the start date. To receive fullest consideration, applications should arrive by December 1, 2013. Please include a CV (including contact information), statements of research and teaching interests, reprints or other written work, teaching evaluations (if available), and the names of three references (with their contact information). Please visit http://www.linguistics.northwestern.edu/ for instructions to apply online.

E-mail inquiries should be directed to search@ling.northwestern.edu. Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer. Applications from minority and women candidates are especially welcome.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The neuroscience of politics

I normally try not to think about government or politics much.  It just frustrates me.  But with the U.S. government shut down, I'm kind of forced to think about it.  I'm in the middle of a batch of National Institutes of Health grant proposal reviews.  I'm a sitting member of a study section in the Deafness and Communication Disorders Institute (NIDCD).  Reviews are due this Friday.  Study section meeting is next Friday in Washington DC.  Being a responsible citizen of the scientific community, I carried on with my reviews today.  But of course when I went to log on to the NIH Internet Assisted Review website I found this message:

Due to the lapse in government funding, the system on this web site may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the web site may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted. If you are a grantee or grant applicant looking for guidance, see NOT-OD-13-126

And NIH staff are not permitted to work from home or office so there is no communication about how to proceed.   The National Institutes of Health: Sorry, we're closed.  It's weird.

At first I was mildly amused.  Politicians are playing games again and shut down the government, I thought. THAT is kind of amusing, right? But now after living with it for day, it's sinking in and I find it absolutely absurd.  The land of the free: closed.

If the government ever does re-open, I think I might put together a proposal under Obama's $100 million dollar BRAIN Initiative to figure out what neurological disorder is affecting U.S. politicians.  I'll title it, The Disconnectome: The Neuropathogenesis of Political "Thinking" in the United States.  A major question that I will propose to address is whether the disorder is congenital, thus causing diseased individuals to seek government office, or whether it is acquired once they are sworn in.  My a priori hypothesis is that it is congenital.  My evidence, of course, comes from campaign data--speeches, sound bites, ads, debates--clearly it is a pre-existing condition.

I have some theories about mechanisms as well.  I suspect it is an auditory feedback deficit.  Listening to some of the talking heads, I'm convinced they can't hear what they are saying.  One may wonder whether it is a generalized perceptual deficit because it seems that they don't hear what others are saying either.  But in fact they DO understand what others are saying.  The evidence for this clear: they selectively avoid direct responses to questions. If they didn't understand the questions, statistically they should actually answer one, at least once in a while.

I have a plan for eradication and prevention of the disease too.  Stage 1 is to ban any U.S. politician who holds office during a government shut down.  This is a clear sign of an epidemic and quarantine is the only viable option.  So please don't re-elect anyone.  It is for their own good.  Stage 2 is a simple screening questionnaire. It only has one question:

1. Are you interested in running for U.S. government office?  Yes/No.

If they answer yes, they probably have the disease and should not run.  We need to nominate individuals with absolutely no interest in governing.  It is our only hope for electing a competent official.