Postdoctoral Research Associate

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Chapel Hill, NC

42d

About The Position

A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation's top public universities and is among is the top ten research universities in the nation for federal research expenditures as well as for federally funded social and behavioral sciences research and development. Here at Carolina, our highly skilled postdocs play a vital role in our research enterprise and towards our overall commitment to research excellence. Across many disciplines, postdocs contribute to the intellectual vitality of the University. They provide innovative ideas and perspectives, foster a stimulating research environment and advance knowledge within their fields. Postdocs are crucial members of our scientific research workforce, contributors to our research outputs and an important reason why Carolina is one of the leading public research institutions in the country. UNC-Chapel Hill offers postdocs comprehensive medical and vision coverage, paid leave, and benefits and services that support professional development and a healthy work/life balance. Chapel Hill regularly ranks as one of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, a reputation guided by the diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community. Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit In 2022, UNC Chapel Hill launched the School of Data Science and Society (SDSS), a new school devoted to data science teaching, research, scholarship, service, and creativity. The SDSS vision is to be a leader in shaping the field of data science through an interdisciplinary and rigorous grounding in theory and methods with a human centric approach to the entire data life cycle. The mission of SDSS is to empower a diverse community of faculty conducting research in the fundamentals and/or the applications of data science. The school is training undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to be the next generation of data science leaders with the knowledge and skills to thrive in this data-driven world. The SDSS will serve the state, the nation, and the world through premier data science educational programs and innovative research directed to advancing the public good with human-centric and ethical applications. The core elements of the SDSS include porous borders - leveraging our low-walled collaborative Carolina culture to solve major societal problems. Interdisciplinary research clusters that cross disciplines and school boundaries are a vital element of the school. The SDSS is focused on students and education - the emphasis is not just on data science majors but on all students becoming data literate. The school's culture has an open and transparent structure, governance, and business model. Position Summary The Zikry Lab at UNC-Chapel Hill is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join our group at the intersection of statistical methodology, machine learning, and biomedical data science. Our research develops rigorous and interpretable methods for high-dimensional biomedical data, with applications spanning cancer genomics, neuroscience, and precision medicine. The postdoctoral fellow will join a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment within the School of Data Science and Society, with opportunities to work with researchers across the UNC scientific community in units such as the Computational Medicine Program and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The postdoctoral fellow will play a central role in advancing new statistical and machine learning methodology. Areas of focus include (but are not limited to): Clustering and unsupervised learning Dimension reduction and manifold learning High-dimensional inference and feature selection Generative modeling and digital twins Reliability and interpretability of ML methods

Requirements

• Ph.D. (or foreign equivalent) in statistics, mathematics, biostatistics, bioinformatics, computational biology, or a related field of study.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in statistical modeling and biomedical data analysis is a plus.
• Evidence of research productivity (publications, presentations, software) is preferred.

Responsibilities

• advancing new statistical and machine learning methodology

Benefits

• comprehensive medical and vision coverage
• paid leave
• benefits and services that support professional development and a healthy work/life balance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Industry: Educational Services
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees