The Artificial Intelligence for Vision Science Lab led by Dr. Kaveri Thakoor within the Department of Ophthalmology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center is looking for a postdoctoral research scientist passionate about advancing the robustness, interpretability, and portability of Artificial Intelligence systems for translational ophthalmic applications.

This position offers a stimulating and multi-disciplinary environment. The Postdoctoral Research Scientist will work as part of a team of researchers from the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, from the Columbia Fu Foundation School of Engineering Departments of Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering, and from the Columbia Data Science Institute.  The incumbent will join an ongoing research program that seeks to develop AI 'teammates' for ophthalmic experts.

Responsibilities:

The primary responsibilities of this position are to assist in leading one or more of the lab's ongoing research projects, as described below:

1. Deep learning algorithm development for time series and image data, involving collection of eye movements of medical experts and trainees as they view ophthalmic images to create interpretable eye-movemen­t–informed AI systems.
2. Embedding AI algorithms into portable imaging devices (e.g., portable Optical Coherence Tomography devices) in order to enable imaging + AI technology to be available to resource-diverse populations.
3. Applying state-of-the-art transformer-based deep learning architectures to the task of enabling robust eye disease progression detection, by integrating spatial and temporal information from visual function tests and retinal imaging into AI algorithms.

The successful candidate will contribute towards building a stimulating scientific environment with positive leadership skills. The postdoctoral research scientist will be encouraged to lead projects (mentoring undergraduate, M.S., and PhD students) at the intersection of computer science, biomedical/electrical engineering, and ophthalmology and to actively publish peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers. 

Required qualifications include at least one or more of the following:

• A PhD (or equivalent) degree with experience in deep learning (DL) model development, computer science/biomedical engineering, vision science/ophthalmology, and related fields.  Expertise in DL exhibited through a strong scientific publication record is required (i.e., publications applying DL algorithms to image and sequence data using models such as CNNs, LSTMs, generative adversarial networks, transformers, and visual transformers, employing supervised and unsupervised/weakly-supervised approaches). Familiarity with and a keen interest in the neuroscience of decision-making and eye tracking methodology is highly advantageous.
• A PhD (or equivalent) degree with experience in optical system hardware design, biomedical engineering/electrical engineering, vision science/ophthalmology, and related fields. Expertise in optics exhibited by a strong scientific publication record is required (i.e., publications on fabrication/augmentation of Optical Coherence Tomography or related imaging systems). Familiarity with and a keen interest in deep learning model development and software-hardware integration is highly advantageous.

Preferred Qualifications:

• As research is a team effort, the candidate must be enthusiastic about joining a diverse team of like-minded researchers and must excel at communicating with others. 
• Ability to work independently under general guidance to proactively solve problems, exercise sound judgement and discretion, and lead a team.
• Strong organization skills with the ability to handle multiple deadlines/projects simultaneously.

Salary range: $60,000 - $60,000

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Columbia University is an Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

About Columbia University

Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.

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