Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Behavioral/Cognitive Neuroscience
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota
The Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities announces a search for an outstanding scholar to fill a tenure-track assistant professor position in behavioral/cognitive neuroscience. This full-time position in the Department’s Cognitive and Brain Sciences (CAB) Training Program will begin in Fall 2024.
The appointment will be 100% time over the nine-month academic year (late-August to late-May) and will be made at the rank of tenure-track assistant professor. Salary and start-up packages are competitive.
Required Qualifications: Terminal degree in Psychology or related field with research expertise in behavioral, cognitive, or computational neuroscience. Able to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in this area of research.
Preferred Qualifications: Experience in teaching other substantive courses related to the candidate’s expertise and departmental needs.
Applications are invited from behavioral, cognitive, or computational neuroscientists using cutting edge methods to link brain and behavior in animal models. Example research topics include but are not limited to learning, motivation, emotion, higher cognition, and perception. We expect the primary appointment to be in our Cognitive and Brain Sciences area with the potential for cross-affiliation with other departmental areas.
The successful applicant is expected to maintain a strong research program, advise graduate students, and teach undergraduate and graduate courses, including core courses within the curricula. The individual will also be expected to contribute to the service needs of the department, college, university, and profession.
A successful candidate’s dossier will demonstrate scholarly distinction, a record of publications, teaching commitment and, if applicable to the research program and the candidate’s career stage, evidence of success in securing extramural funding.
The Workload Principles and Guidelines for Regular Faculty in the College of Liberal Arts are available at: https://neighborhood.cla.umn.edu/college-knowledge/workload-principles-and-guidelines
The Standards for Promotion and Tenure in the Department of Psychology are available at: https://faculty.umn.edu/sites/faculty.umn.edu/files/2020-09/psych_0.pdf
About the Department
The Department of Psychology ranks among the top academic departments in the nation and throughout the world. The Department has over 40 core faculty members and graduate programs in Clinical Science and Psychopathology Research; Cognitive and Brain Sciences; Counseling Psychology; Industrial/Organizational Psychology; Personality, Individual Differences, and Behavioral Genetics; Quantitative/Psychometric Methods; and Social Psychology. The Department of Psychology offers programs leading to B.A., B.S., and Ph.D. degrees. For additional information, please visit the Department of Psychology website, at https://cla.umn.edu/psychology
About the College of Liberal Arts
Home to the arts, social sciences and humanities disciplines and programs, the College of Liberal Arts is the largest college in the University of Minnesota and comprises 31 academic departments, and over 20 interdisciplinary research centers and administrative/support units. CLA has over 1,300 faculty and staff spanning research, teaching, advising, outreach, and administrative functions. CLA units reside in over twenty buildings on the East Bank and West Bank of the Twin Cities campus. CLA enrolls nearly 13,000 undergraduate students, over 40% of the undergraduate enrollment on the Twin Cities campus, 1,400 graduate students, and has an annual all-funds budget of $290 million.
CLA is a destination for curious, compassionate individuals who are committed to making our increasingly interdependent and diverse global community work for everyone. That foundational commitment begins in our CLA Constitution. CLA is committed to increasing enrollment of underrepresented and under-resourced students, diversifying our faculty across all disciplines, recruiting, and retaining a diverse staff, and promoting the expression and exploration of diverse perspectives and viewpoints—so that we all gain the background knowledge and analytical skills we need to understand and respect differences.
About the University
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (UMTC) is among the largest public research universities in the country, offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional students a multitude of opportunities for study and research. Located at the heart of one of the nation’s most vibrant, diverse metropolitan communities, students on the campuses in Minneapolis and St. Paul benefit from extensive partnerships with world-renowned health centers, international corporations, government agencies, and arts, nonprofit, and public service organizations.
The University experience, and our pursuit of excellence, is also enhanced by the racial and ethnic diversity of our community. In Minneapolis, approximately 19% of residents identify as Black or African American, 11% as Hispanic or Latinx, and 2% as American Indian and Alaska Native. In St. Paul, approximately 16% of residents identify as Black or African American, 10% as Hispanic or Latinx, and 1% as American Indian and Alaska Native.
The University recognizes and values the importance of diversity and inclusion in enriching the employment experience of its employees and in supporting the academic mission. The University is committed to attracting and retaining employees with varying identities and backgrounds. We highly encourage indigenous, LGBTQIA+, gender non-conforming, women, people of color, and members of other historically excluded communities to apply.
The University of Minnesota shall provide equal access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation. In addition, the University has a variety of programs and affinity groups to support, develop, and retain historically excluded faculty. To learn more about diversity at the UofM: https://diversity.umn.edu/
Any offer of employment is contingent upon the successful completion of a background check. Our presumption is that prospective employees are eligible to work here. Criminal convictions do not automatically disqualify finalists from employment.
How to apply
Please apply online via the Employment System at: https://hr.umn.edu/Jobs/Find-Job referencing job posting ID 356526. Applications must be submitted online. To be considered for this position, please click on Apply and follow the instructions. You will have an opportunity to complete an online application for the position and attach materials related to your candidacy, including: 1) a cover letter (1 page limit), 2) Curriculum vitae, 3) Statement of research interests and achievements (3 page limit), 4) Statement of teaching philosophy with evidence of teaching effectiveness or commitment to teaching (2 page limit), 5) Statement of past, current, and potential contributions to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (2 page limit), and 6) 3 samples of written work.
Review of applications will begin on October 1, 2023 and continue until the position is filled.
In addition to the material submitted electronically, applicants are asked to arrange for three letters of recommendation to be sent to the Department of Psychology, Search Committee. The letters of recommendation may be e-mailed to psyappt@umn.edu, or mailed to:
Stephen Fiksdal
Assistant to the Chair’s Office
Department of Psychology
University of Minnesota
N210 Elliott Hall
75 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0344
Additional application materials may be requested at a later date.
If you have any questions about the application process, please contact us via email at psyappt@umn.edu or phone our Chair’s Office at 612-625-7873.
To be assured of full consideration in the selection process, application materials must be submitted by October 1, 2023. The position will, however, remain open until filled. Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply immediately. Applications received after October 1, 2023 may or may not be reviewed.
To request an accommodation during the application process, please e-mail employ@umn.edu or call (612) 624-UOHR (8647).
Thank you for your interest in a position with the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. After review and consideration of the information you provided, we may contact you regarding this position.
To apply for this job please visit hr.umn.edu.
Kirupa Suthakar, PhD - Dr Kirupa Suthakar is a postdoctoral fellow at NIH/NIDCD, having formerly trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School and doctoral student at Garvan Institute of Medical Research/UNSW Australia. Kirupa's interest in the mind and particular fascination by how we are able to perceive the world around us led her to pursue a research career in auditory neuroscience. To date, Kirupa's research has broadly focused on neurons within the auditory efferent circuit, which allow the brain to modulate incoming sound signals at the ear. Kirupa is active member of the spARO community, serving as the Chair Elect for 2021.
Charles C. Della Santina, PhD MD is a Professor of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he directs the Johns Hopkins Cochlear Implant Center and the Johns Hopkins Vestibular NeuroEngineering Laboratory.
Andrew Griffith received his MD and PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1992. He completed his general surgery internship and a residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan in 1998. He also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Human Genetics as part of his training at the University of Michigan. In 1998, he joined the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) in the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). He served as a senior investigator, the chief of the Molecular Biology and Genetics Section, the chief of the Otolaryngology Branch, and the director of the DIR, as well as the deputy director for Intramural Clinical Research across the NIH Intramural Research Program. His research program identifies and characterizes molecular and cellular mechanisms of normal and disordered hearing and balance in humans and mouse models. Two primary interests of his program have been hearing loss associated with enlargement of the vestibular aqueduct, and the function of TMC genes and proteins. The latter work lead to the discovery that the deafness gene product TMC1 is a component of the hair cell sensory transduction channel. Since July of 2020, he has served as the Senior Associate Dean of Research and a Professor of Otolaryngology and Physiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Gwenaëlle S. G. Géléoc obtained a PhD in Sensory Neurobiology from the University of Sciences in Montpellier (France) in 1996. She performed part of her PhD training at the University of Sussex, UK where she characterized sensory transduction in vestibular hair cells and a performed a comparative study between vestibular and cochlear hair cells. Gwenaelle continued her training as an electrophysiologist at University College London studying outer hair cell motility and at Harvard Medical School studying modulation of mechanotransduction in vestibular hair cells. As an independent investigator at the University of Virginia, she expanded this work and characterized the developmental acquisition of sensory transduction in mouse vestibular hair cells, the developmental acquisition of voltage-sensitive conductances in vestibular hair cells and the tonotopic gradient in the acquisition of sensory transduction in the mouse cochlea. This work along with quantitative spatio-temporal studies performed on several hair cell mechanotransduction candidates lead her to TMC1 and 2 and long-term collaborations with Andrew Griffith and Jeff Holt. Dr. Géléoc is currently Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, at Boston Children’s Hospital where she continues to study molecular players involved in the development and function of hair cells of the inner ear and develops new therapies for the treatment of deafness and balance, with a particular focus on Usher syndrome.
Jeff Holt earned a doctorate from the Department of Physiology at the University of Rochester in 1995 for his studies of inward rectifier potassium channels in saccular hair cells. He went on to a post-doctoral position in the Neurobiology Department at Harvard Medical School and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, where he characterized sensory transduction and adaptation in hair cells and developed a viral vector system to transfect cultured hair cells. Dr. Holt’s first faculty position was in the Neuroscience Department at the University of Virginia. In 2011 the lab moved to Boston Children’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School. Dr. Holt is currently a Professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology and Neurology in the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center. Dr. Holt and his team have been studying sensory transduction in auditory and vestibular hair cells over the past 20 years, with particular focus on TMC1 and TMC2 over the past 12 years. This work lead to the discovery that TMC1 forms the hair cell transduction channel. His work also focuses on development gene therapy strategies for genetic hearing loss.
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