Postdoctoral Research Associate - NLP for Education and/or Educational Research Infrastructure

About UMass Amherst

UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to major urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region.

Job Summary

We are seeking a full-time postdoctoral research associate to work in the machine learning for education (ML4Ed) research group, led by Andrew Lan, at UMass Amherst. The postdoc will contribute to research directions including, but not limited to: 

• First, natural language processing (NLP) for education, including large language model (LLM)-based student modeling, question/feedback/learning content generation, automated scoring and student error diagnosis, etc. Please see https://people.umass.edu/~andrewlan/publications.html for a detailed list of publications from our group. 
• Second, building a national cyberinfrastructure for transforming STEM education, a $90M project funded via NSF's mid-scale research infrastructure-2 program. As a research partner on the project, we will help create research infrastructure around major digital learning platforms to enable secure educational research. See https://new.nsf.gov/news/nsf-invests-90m-innovative-national-scientific and https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rices-openstax-awarded-90m-lead-first-its-kind-nsf-research-hub-transformational-learning. 

Essential Functions:

• Contributes to research in the ML4Ed research group. This can involve: developing new ideas, algorithms, conducting experiments, and building software.
• Supervises graduate research assistants.
• Assists in writing proposals, reports, and articles.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Education, Psychology, or related field.
• Ideal candidates have a strong publication record in areas including artificial intelligence data mining, machine learning, natural language processing, and/or fields such as cognitive science, learning analytics, and psychometrics.

Additional Information

• This is a temporary, grant-funded position. The initial appointment will be one year, with the possibility of reappointment contingent upon the availability of grant funding and satisfactory performance.
• Salary will be commensurate with experience.

Application Instructions

Along with the application, please submit your CV and the names and contact information for three (3) professional references.

To apply, please follow this link: https://careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-us/job/523756/postdoctoral-research-associate-nlp-for-education-andor-educational-research-infrastructure

UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, caste, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, political belief or affiliation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related condition(s), veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, natural and protective hairstyle and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University.  To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans.  It is the policy of UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.