Research Specialist

The Research Specialist will work closely with PhD-level scientists to recruit healthy young-adults to serve as research subjects for cognitive neuroscience experiments, and to collect data for these experiments. These experiments will test hypotheses about the neural bases of visual cognition in humans, with an emphasis on attention and working memory. They will use methods that include behavior (i.e., "conventional experimental psychology"), eye tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), often several of these in combination.

Additional duties may include programming experimental tasks and carrying out preprocessing and preliminary descriptive and inferential statistical analyses of data, and so the ideal candidate will have facility with matlab, python, R, and related programming environments.

Responsibilities will also include subject recruitment, ensuring compliance with IRB protocols and reporting subject demographics to the IRB and the NIH, and supervision of undergraduate research assistants as well as contributing to their learning about cognitive neuroscience research.

Occasional weeknight hours and Saturday work hours are required.

Additional Information:

• Terminal, 12 month appointment

• This position requires work to be completed onsite, at a designated campus work location.

• This position has the possibility to be extended or converted to an ongoing appointment based on need and/or funding.

• This position has been identified as a position of trust with access to vulnerable populations.The selected candidate will be required to pass an initial caregiver check to be eligible for employment under the Wisconsin Caregiver Law and every four years.

• Provides operational guidance on day-to-day activities of unit or program staff and/or student workers

• Operates, cleans, and maintains organization of research equipment and research area. Tracks inventory levels and places replenishment orders

• Conducts research experiments according to established research protocols with moderate impact to the project(s). Collects data and monitors test results

• Reviews, analyzes, and interprets data and/or documents results for presentations and/or reporting to internal and external audiences

• Performs literature reviews and writes reports

• Collects data on subject recruitment numbers and demographics for reporting to the IRB and the NIH; keeps IRB protocols up to date (including changes of personnel corresponding to student workers).

School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Psychiatry, Postle Lab

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is committed to basic and clinical research that furthers the understanding and development of new treatments for patients with mental illness, training the next generation of leaders, and providing excellent patient care to a broad range of patients.

Negotiable, 12 months

Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave; competitive insurances and savings accounts; retirement benefits. For more information, refer to the campus benefits webpage and SMPH Faculty /Academic Staff Benefits Flyer 2026.

• Demonstrated excellence in collecting and/or analyzing data in a psychology or cognitive neuroscience laboratory.

• Demonstrated potential for excellence in matlab programming environment.

• Demonstrated potential for excellence with the R statistical analysis package.

• Demonstrated excellence in recruiting and screening human subjects for research studies.

• Demonstrated excellence in collecting behavioral, EEG and/or fMRI data as part of cognitive neuroscience research, and processing such data.

• Demonstrated excellence with the python programming environment.

• Demonstrated excellence with the AFNI software package for MRI/fMRI data analysis.

• A Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, Neurobiology or related field is required by the start date of position.

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* Resume required

Your cover letter should address how your training and experience aligns with the required and preferred qualifications listed above. Application reviewers will rely on these written materials to determine which applicants move forward in the process. References will be requested from final candidates. All applicants will be notified once the search concludes and a candidate is selected

KaBao Chang, kchang52@wisc.edu, 608-263-6062

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