Postdoc (or Predoc) Position at Stony Brook University in Computational Linguistics/NLP

The Position

The Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS) at Stony Brook University has an open position for a postdoc (or possibly a predoc). The postdoc will work with Owen Rambow in the Department of Linguistics. The position is not grant-funded, and no work on grants is expected. The position is for up to 18 months, starting Jan 15 2021 or later. The salary is competitive with computer science postdoc positons.

Possible Projects

Different projects are possible. The project(s) should come from one or more of these areas:

  • Various topics in Arabic NLP, especially related to dialectal variation.

  • Syntactic and/or semantic parsing, including modeling using formalisms such as Tree Adjoining Grammar.

  • Modeling of sentiment and belief, especially in written conversations.

  • Analyzing written conversations for extra-linguistic factors, such as gender, relationship, or health.

The candidate should indicate one or more areas of his or her interest, and if he or she has a specific project in mind (this is not required), sketch the project.

Requirements

Any candidate is expected to meet the following requirements:

  • An interest in natural language.

  • Some experience with programming.

  • At least some familiarity with machine learning.

  • Completion of the PhD thesis (postdoc) or MS (predoc) by the time the position starts.

  • Proficiency in English.

Desired further qualities include:

  • Proficiency in a language other than English.

  • Experience with neural network packages.

Teaching

If desired, the postdoc can also teach or co-teach in the Linguistics Department. This is not required.

Computational Linguistics/NLP at Stony Brook

There are 5 faculty members in Linguistics and 3 faculty members in Computer Science working on computational linguistics/NLP at Stony Brook University. Active areas of research include the structural complexity of language, computational modeling of human language processing and acquisition, computational learning theory, low-resource natural language processing, explainable natural language inference, social media and news analytics, social media and well-being, and computational psychology.

IACS

The Institute for Advanced Computational Science is a cross-departmental institute at Stony Brook University. Its goal is to advance vibrant interdisciplinary research and education programs in the area of computation.

Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Its post-war campus is located on the North shore of Long Island (Suffolk County). New York City is reachable by suburban train in 2 hours.

Visa Issues

Stony Brook University will arrange for the necessary visa.

Covid

Suffolk County (where Stony Brook University is located) currently (as of Jan 14, 2021) is not in lockdown due to Covid. However, it is impossible to predict the spread of the virus and public health measures needed to address it. Furthermore, travel restrictions change regularly. It is currently expected that Stony Brook University will have students on-campus in the spring semester 2021, but this may also change. While in principle the postdoc is expected to be physically present on campus most days, this expectation will of course be adjusted in response to the Covid situation. It is possible that the postdoc would happen entirely remotely in an initial phase.

Other Considerations

Donald Trump will no longer be president of the USA starting January 20, 2021.

Application

To apply, please go here.

Feel free to also send any questions. to me at owen.rambow@stonybrook.edu .