Postdoctoral Researcher in NLP and education

Position: Postdoctoral Researcher in NLP and education

Location: Gainesville, FL, US

Duration: 2 years, with great possibility of extension

Start Date: As early as Jan. 8, 2024

Application Deadline: As soon as filled.

About the Position: The Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI), a newly established initiative at the University of Florida (UF) with support from leading education philanthropists and organizations, is actively seeking a dynamic and dedicated postdoctoral researcher to join our interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Wanli Xing. The candidate will work on the state-of-the-art AI technologies such as large language models, reinforcement learning, multimodal deep learning, and multitask learning in educational contexts, through which the candidate will disseminate findings through top-tiered conferences and journals in education and share them through open-source communities such as GitHub and HuggingFace. We will collaborate with experts in AI, learning sciences, educational technology, and math education from Vanderbilt, Stanford, and Duke. The candidate will also have rich opportunities for developing grant proposals to seek federal, foundational, and internal support, with the possibility of the candidate taking a significant role.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and develop AI-enabled technologies for STEM learning through collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of researchers.
• Develop, train, evaluate, and publish deep learning models, especially NLP models, leveraging educational big data.
• Conduct high-quality research and publish findings in reputable conferences and journals.
• Assist in writing research proposals and securing funding for future projects.
• Present research findings at conferences and workshops.

Qualifications:

• PhD in computer science or learning sciences with a focus on NLP, computational linguistics, or a closely related discipline.
• Proven track record of publications in reputed conferences and journals.
• Proficiency in PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, DeepSpeed (or similar optimization library), CUDA, and Slurm.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Access to state-of-the-art research facilities (e.g., HiPerGator with thousands of A100s).
• Access to a vast network of researchers and professionals in the AIED, learning engineering, learning analytics, and educational data mining.

• Opportunities for professional development and networking.

How to Apply: Interested candidates should send their CV and a cover letter detailing their research interests and experience to wanli.xing@coe.ufl.edu. 2-3 reference letters will be sought for final candidates.