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Postdoctoral Position in Cognitive Robotics at UC Irvine
by Jeffrey Krichmar Sept. 22, 2020

Sept. 22, 2020

Dear Colleagues, We have an opening for a postdoctoral scholar position in the Cognitive Anteater Robotics Laboratory (CARL) at the University of California, Irvine. The position is for research projects on neurobiologically inspired models of navigation, which are to be implemented on indoor and outdoor robots. Applicants should have a strong computer science background, robotics experience, as well as an interest in neuroscience and/or cognitive science. The specific Federally funded projects include: · Cognitive Maps in Rats, Robots and Men · Advantages of Varying Navigational Abilities in Humans and Robots More information about the lab, recent publications, software, and videos can be found at: · http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma · https://www.youtube.com/user/cognitiveroboticsuci/videos Interested candidates can find specific application requirements and the online application for this position at: · https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF06408 Your cover letter should specify that you are interested in the postdoctoral position with Jeff Krichmar. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at: jkrichma(a)uci.edu About UCI (www.uci.edu) In 1965, the University of California, Irvine was founded with a mission to catalyze the community and enhance lives through rigorous academics, cutting-edge research, and dedicated public service. Today, we draw on the unyielding spirit of our pioneering faculty, staff and students who arrived on campus with a dream to inspire change and generate new ideas. We believe that true progress is made when different perspectives come together to advance our understanding of the world around us. And we enlighten our communities and point the way to a better future. At UCI, we shine brighter. Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma(a)uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma

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[Call for Papers] Shared Visual Representations in Human and Machine Intelligence (SVRHM) NeurIPS 2020 Workshop
by SVRHM Workshop Sept. 22, 2020

Sept. 22, 2020

The goal of the Second Workshop on Shared Visual Representations in Human and Machine Intelligence (SVRHM) at NeurIPS 2020 is to discuss and disseminate relevant findings and parallels between the computational neuro/cognitive science and machine learning/artificial intelligence communities. In the past few years, machine learning tools — especially deep neural networks — have permeated the vision/cognitive/neuro science communities to become the leading computational models that describe many cognitive tasks. Huge strides are also being made in the machine learning/artificial intelligence community with biologically inspired algorithms providing large efficiency gains in both computational and learning capabilities. However, many mysteries remain with regards to the alignment of human and machine perception, and there are cases where we see divergent rather than convergent representations. To resolve such questions, this workshop aims to bring fruitful discussions between scientists and engineers with multi-disciplinary backgrounds to review the recent progress in shared visual representations in both humans and machines, and in doing so identifying road-blocks and areas of interest to further accelerate the growth of both fields. The workshop will include a series of talks and panel discussions from a diverse group of speakers from both industry and academia who will share their research at the intersection of humans and machines that pushes the field of vision forward. The aim of our Call for Papers is to bring together scientists and engineers to share their work in progress at the Poster Session that are applicable to the scope of the Workshop. For the first time this year, the 4 highest scoring papers will also be awarded an Oral Presentation entry in the program. The following areas provide a sense of suitable topics for 4-5 page paper submissions: - Biological inspiration and inductive bias in vision - Human-relevant strategies for robustness and generalization - New datasets (e.g., for comparing humans/animals and machines) - Biologically-driven self-supervision - Perceptual invariance and metamerism - Biologically-informed strategies to mitigate adversarial vulnerability - Foveation, active perception, and attention models - Intuitive physics - Biologically inspired Generative Models - Perceptual and cognitive robustness - Nuances and noise in perceptual and cognitive systems - Creative problem-solving - Differences and similarities between humans and deep neural networks - Canonical computations in biological and artificial systems - Alternative architectures for deep neural networks - Reverse engineering of the human visual system via deep neural networks We will be awarding a new *NVIDIA Titan RTX* *3080* as the *Diversity in AI Best Paper Award* and an *Oculus Quest* *2* as the *Breakthrough in Biologically-Driven Generative Models Award* respectively at the conference. Link to the workshop with additional details for the Call for Papers: https://www.svrhm.com https://www.svrhm.com/call-for-papers Link to Paper workshop submission: https://openreview.net/group?id=NeurIPS.cc/2020/Workshop/SVRHM The submission deadline is October 4th, 2020. Questions regarding the workshop should be sent to: svrhm2020(a)gmail.com Sincerely, The Organizers Arturo Deza, Joshua Peterson, Apruva Ratan Murty, Tom Griffiths The SVRHM workshop is currently sponsored by MIT’s Center from Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM), National Science Foundation (NSF), NVIDIA, Facebook Reality Labs (Oculus) and MIT’s Quest for Intelligence.

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Full Prof Post in AI
by Thomas Wennekers Sept. 21, 2020

Sept. 21, 2020

Dear All Please have a look at the following advertisement for a Professorship in AI at the University of Plymouth (UK). https://hrservices.plymouth.ac.uk/tlive_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.o… https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CBH704/professor-in-artificial-intelligence-mach… Stay Well! Thomas Wennekers ________________________________ [http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/images/email_footer.gif]<http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/worldclass> This email and any files with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the recipient to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient then copying, distribution or other use of the information contained is strictly prohibited and you should not rely on it. If you have received this email in error please let the sender know immediately and delete it from your system(s). Internet emails are not necessarily secure. While we take every care, University of Plymouth accepts no responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan emails and their attachments. University of Plymouth does not accept responsibility for any changes made after it was sent. Nothing in this email or its attachments constitutes an order for goods or services unless accompanied by an official order form.

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M2/PhD pisition in Optical analysis of sodium currents in the axon initial segment
by luiza filipis Sept. 21, 2020

Sept. 21, 2020

Stage « Master 2 » : Optical analysis of sodium currents in the axon initial segment We propose a Master 2 (M2) stage that can be extended to a 3-4 years PhD project on the study of the sodium currents that generate the action potential in neurons. To this aim, we use cutting-edge optical techniques entirely developed by our group and NEURON modeling. The stage will take place at the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique in the campus of the University of Grenoble. This stage, of 4-6 months, is available for students at the final year of the University to start in February or March 2021.We will offer this opportunity to a brilliant student motivated to begin a career in scientific research. A PhD scholarship is already available starting in October 2021 to apply the research of the M2 project to investigate mutations of the sodium channel Nav1.2 associated with neurological diseases. For an overview of the activity and of the achievements of our group, visit the website: http://marco-canepari.wix.com/neuron-imaging-team Applications of students, with a very high academic profile based on the notes obtained the entire university history, from different backgrounds (physics, biology, medicine or chemistry) will be equally considered. The application for the stage, in English or French, must be sent to: marco.canepari(a)univ-grenoble-alpes.fr and must include: • A motivation letter • A CV with contact details • The detailed marks of the entire academic history • (Optional) a reference letter from an academic who knows well the student The deadline for the application is October 10th 2020, but the call for applications will close before if a suitable candidate is found. -- Luiza Filipis,PhD Equipe MOTIV Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique (LIPhy), Université Grenoble Alpes et CNRS UMR 5588, Bat. E45, 140 avenue de la physique, Domaine univ., 38402 St Martin d'Hères cedex, FRANCE 33(0)476514731, Fax +33(0)476635495. luiza.filipis(a)univ-grenoble-alpes.fr http://marco-canepari.wix.com/neuron-imaging-team

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Announcement: 2nd Elephant User Workshop for Reproducible Data Analysis in Electrophysiology, Nov 17-19, 2020
by Michael Denker Sept. 21, 2020

Sept. 21, 2020

***2nd Elephant User Workshop*** --Accelerate Structured and Reproducible Data Analysis in Electrophysiology-- Virtual Event Nov 17-19, 2020 Summary: This event delves into challenges in the reproducibility of neuroscience workflows dealing with classical electrophysiological activity data, such as spiking data or local field potentials, from experiment or simulation. The training will cover the complete cycle from generating structured and consistent data and metadata, accessing the data, pre-processing, setting up analysis workflows, up to the tracking of the provenance of the analysis results. In this context, the e-infrastructure services of EBRAINS offer a mature data, software and compute services ecosystem with community-driven tools developed in the framework of the Human Brain Project. In the first part of the workshop, participants will be trained in the use of tools covering the following topics: * reading and manipulating electrophysiology data in Python using Neo [1] * analysis of such data using Elephant [2] * best practices for integrating metadata into your workflow to aid the analysis process * best practices for structuring analysis results * tracking data analysis pipelines using the HBP Knowledge Graph [3] * collaboration and sharing documents using the HBP Collaboratory [4] In the second part of the workshop, participants will work together with a tutor in small groups, on their own data and on particular personal interests in the scope of the workshop. To this end, participants are asked to provide a small abstract describing the data set they would like to bring and work on (contents of the dataset, data format, data size...) and the topic they are interested in. The latter may, for example, be related to: annotating the dataset with metadata for collaboration and sharing, working with the dataset in the Neo framework, or performing a certain kind of analysis with the data set. The goal of each group is to get started addressing the topic, identify solutions together with the tutors, and implement a first prototype of the required functionality. For more information and registration, check out: https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/education/participatecollaborate/infras… Organizers: Andrew Davison | French National Centre for Scientific Research, France Michael Denker | Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany Martina Schmalholz | Heidelberg University, Germany References: [1] Neo, https://neo.readthedocs.io [2] Elephant, https://elephant.readthedocs.io [3] HBP Knowledge Graph, https://kg.ebrains.eu [4] HBP Collaboratory, https://wiki.humanbrainproject.eu -- Dr. Michael Denker Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) Tel: +49 2461 61-9471 Computational and Systems Neuroscience & Fax: +49 2461 61-9460 Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Theoretical Neurosciencewww.csn.fz-juelich.de Jülich Research Centre and JARA 52425 Jülich, Germany ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Volker Rieke Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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PhD positions in Math Biology & Computational Neuroscience at NJIT
by Victor Matveev Sept. 20, 2020

Sept. 20, 2020

Dear all, The Department of Mathematical Sciences at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is inviting candidates to apply to one of our doctoral program tracks: (1) Applied Mathematics or (2) Applied Probability & Statistics. The Department's research focus spans Mathematical Biology and Computational Neuroscience, Scientific Computing, Fluid Dynamics, Materials Science, Wave Propagation, Applied Analysis, Applied Probability & Statistics, including Biostatistics and Data Science. Teaching and research assistantships are available, and include a tuition waiver and a competitive stipend. Application target date is December 15, 2020 but ongoing review will continue until all available positions are filled. To apply, please visit our homepage: https://www.njit.edu/graduatestudies/department-mathematical-sciences/ For more information, please email us (math(a)njit.edu, CC: shahriar(a)njit.edu, matveev(a)njit.edu) PhD Program advertisement flyer is available here: http://web.njit.edu/~matveev/NJIT_DMS_PhD_flyer.pdf Sincerely, -- Admissions Committee, Department of Mathematical Sciences, NJIT -- _____________________________________________ Victor Matveev, Professor Applied Math, Biophysics, Neuroscience Department of Mathematical Sciences Graduate Faculty, Dept of Biological Sciences New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102-1982 Office: Cullimore Hall 616 E-mail: matveev(a)njit.edu http://web.njit.edu/~matveev/

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Two open postdoc positions in Rutledge Lab at Yale
by Rutledge, Robb Sept. 18, 2020

Sept. 18, 2020

The Rutledge Lab in the Department of Psychology at Yale is accepting applications from prospective postdocs for 3-year postdoc positions with a flexible start date. Our lab uses computational models to study reinforcement learning, decision making, and affective states like happiness. We explore these questions using a combination of brain scanning, pharmacology, and large-scale smartphone-based experiments in healthy and clinical populations. Our previous app The Great Brain Experiment had over 100,000 users. We are looking for postdocs for a NIMH-funded project using longitudinal smartphone-based data collection with tasks and surveys in people with depression and control participants (N>600) including a subset (N>200) with fMRI data. Collaborators for rsfMRI: Avram Holmes (Yale), Faith Gunning and Conor Liston (Cornell Weill) Machine learning: Zeb Kurth-Nelson (DeepMind) Clinical and longitudinal: Akshay Nair (UCL), John Krystal, Leying Guan and Ralitza Gueorguieva (Yale) Further details can be found on our website (www.rutledgelab.org) Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Dr Rutledge directly (robb.rutledge(a)yale.edu) with a CV, a brief description of research interests, and a list of three references (names and email addresses).

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Registration, abstracts - Brain Criticality Virtual Meeting October 6 – 9 2020
by Plenz, Dietmar (NIH/NIMH) [E] Sept. 17, 2020

Sept. 17, 2020

Brain Criticality Virtual Meeting October 6 – 9 2020 https://braincriticality.org/ Organizers: Dietmar Plenz, Lucilla de Arcangelis, Dante Chialvo, Demian Battaglia This meeting intends to gather recent contributions in the field of systems neuroscience, with the purpose of further discussing the role of criticality and its implications in the dynamics of large neuronal populations, functional and structural connectivity, development and learning, robustness of system operation. Recent advances in selective recording and perturbation approaches involving large populations of neurons offer unique opportunities to test these predictions, challenge current interpretations of large data sets and trigger novel theoretical developments. The meeting will take place virtually. Registration is free but limited and allows interactively participating to discussions and submitting contributed abstracts. A free live streaming will also be offered. Deadline for registration is October 2nd, 2020 Abstracts submitted before Sunday September 27th will be considered for spotlight oral presentation. Remaining abstracts will be presented as virtual posters Follow us on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/BrainCriticalityorg-121887946321170 Twitter https://twitter.com/brain_crit

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Postdoc positions in Neural Control of Speech Production, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
by Bush, Alan Sept. 17, 2020

Sept. 17, 2020

The Brain Modulation Laboratory (www.brainmodulationlab.org<https://www.brainmodulationlab.org/>) within the Department of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, headed Dr. Mark Richardson, seeks to recruit a highly motivated and outstanding candidate to fill a postdoctoral associate position. This 3 to 5-year position is funded through a recently awarded NIH-NINDS U01 grant to Principal Investigator Mark Richardson, MD, PhD. The successful candidate will work in a highly interdisciplinary team, studying the role of cortical-basal ganglia networks during speech production, based on the analysis of intra operative local field potential and micro-electrode recording data acquired in the context of Deep Brain Stimulation implantation surgery. Co-investigators include Frank Guenther (BU), Nathan Crone (Johns Hopkins), Lori Holt (CMU), Julie Fiez (Pitt), and Rob Turner (Pitt). Experience in electrophysiology, speech comprehension and/or production research, and a solid background in computational neuroscience is required. Interested applicants please use following link https://neurojobs.sfn.org/job/27234/post-doctoral-associate/ Project Summary: Modulating how we speak is critical for effective communication. The production and modulation of speech, like other behaviors, relies on basal ganglia-thalamocortical networks, not merely on cortical processes. Current knowledge about how the basal ganglia modulate speech, however, is primarily theoretical, due to a lack of empirical data. Theoretical models for speech production, in turn, remain underdeveloped. Notably, no models of speech production include the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a basal ganglia node that has been implicated in multiple cognitive processes relevant to speech production (e.g. action selection/suppression, gain modulation, and motor learning). Using access to the brain that can only be provided by deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, we initiated studies to understand how motor speech information is encoded within the STN-cortical network. We established a novel experimental paradigm to simultaneously record primary motor electrocorticography (ECoG) and STN activity in subjects who are awake and speaking. In our initial project, we discovered separate populations of STN neurons whose inhibition or excitation was selective for either speech planning or production, respectively [1]. We also found that STN population activity tracks with specific articulatory motor features and with vocal gain adjustment [2]. Our discoveries indicate multiple roles for STN activity in speech planning and modulation, consistent with nonhuman primate data that STN neurons are functionally diverse and that the STN is innervated broadly from cortical areas critical for speech production in humans. We propose to build on our foundational results by exploring how a broader cortical-STN network participates in speech production. Specifically, we have developed a protocol for simultaneous recording of high-density ECoG from the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), ventral sensorimotor cortex (vSMC), superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the STN. Our preliminary data support the hypothesis that these cortical speech areas communicate with the basal ganglia not only through cortical-striatal direct and indirect pathways, but also through a hyperdirect pathway to STN. These findings include the STG, consistent with evidence for basal ganglia participation in auditory processing. To uncover seminal knowledge about how cortical-basal ganglia dynamics shape speech, we will use intracranial electrophysiology to define the connectivity of speech-related cortex to the STN, while evaluating the role of cortical-STN and cortical-GPi dynamics in two basal ganglia functions critical for speech: motor sequence learning and gain modulation. Our invasive human neuroscience approach is unique in its ability to define, for the first time, a broad cortical-basal ganglia network for modulating speech. Establishing a neurobiological framework for cortical-basal ganglia network control of these processes will represent an order of magnitude change in our understanding of mechanisms for modulating speech, in turn informing how we model the dynamics of other human behaviors modulated by the basal ganglia. 1. Lipski, W. J. et al. Subthalamic Nucleus Neurons Differentially Encode Early and Late Aspects of Speech Production. Journal of Neuroscience 38, 5620–5631 (2018). 2. Chrabaszcz, A. et al. Subthalamic nucleus and sensorimotor cortex activity during speech production. The Journal of Neuroscience 2842–18 (2019). doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2842-18.2019 Alan Bush, PhD Research Scientist, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital. Instructor, Harvard Medical School. 55 Fruit Street, Thier 429 | Boston, MA 02114 The information in this e-mail is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed. If you believe this e-mail was sent to you in error and the e-mail contains patient information, please contact the Mass General Brigham Compliance HelpLine at http://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/complianceline . If the e-mail was sent to you in error but does not contain patient information, please contact the sender and properly dispose of the e-mail.

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Senior Scientist – Stroke position at the NeuroRestore center (Lausanne, Switzerland)
by Milekovic Tomislav Sept. 16, 2020

Sept. 16, 2020

Senior Scientist – Stroke position at the NeuroRestore center (Lausanne, Switzerland) Location The Defitech Center for interventional Neurotherapies (NeuroRestore) is a research and innovation center joining EPFL’s lab of Prof. Gregoire Courtine and the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) lab of Prof. Jocelyne Bloch. We conceive, develop and apply medical therapies aimed to restore neurological functions. To this end, we integrate implantable neurotechnologies with innovative treatments developed through rigorous preclinical and clinical studies. By working with our network of vibrant high-tech start-ups and established medical technology companies, we are committed to validate our medical therapy concepts. Our overarching goal is to see our medical therapies used every day in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics worldwide. Opportunity Over the last decade, research labs under the NeuroRestore umbrella have achieved breakthroughs for the treatment of spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease. Our recent studies indicate that similar approaches may lead to novel therapies for stroke. Therefore, we decided to build a strong research core focused on gaining deeper understanding of stroke and resulting neurological deficits, and on developing therapies that leverage the gained understanding to replace or restore motor functions impacted by stroke. By integrating well-equipped and expertly staffed rodent, non-human primate and clinical research facilities, NeuroRestore provides an ideal substrate for rapidly developing, integrating and clinically validating cutting-edge concepts of medical therapies, with the capacity to push successfully proven concepts into the technology transition phase. Position Summary The Senor Scientist – Stroke will bring their expertise and experience to build and then lead the stroke research core of the NeuroRestore center. They will develop original research projects across the whole stroke therapy development spectrum, starting from mechanistic understanding of stroke and resulting neurological and motor deficits, over preclinical tests of therapy concepts designed to take advantage of uncovered mechanisms, to clinical validation of therapies designed to alleviate motor deficits secondary to stroke. They will form and lead teams of NeuroRestore postdoctoral scientists, doctoral students, engineers and clinicians to execute these projects. They will train other scientists in their expert techniques and supervise junior scientists working on their projects. They will disseminate the results of their projects through research publications and conference talks and support preparation of scientific conference presentations and publications of other NeuroRestore personnel that works on stroke-related projects. They will take part in writing grant application that will support stroke-related projects. Responsibilities - Identify unmet clinical needs of stroke survivors and monitor the development of the medical neurotech sector to find opportunities for novel, feasible and rapidly realizable stroke therapies - Conceive, organize and plan out research projects - Form and leads teams to execute conceived research projects - Utilize their academic / clinical industry network to form collaborations that will help execute conceived research projects - Assess the project needs, identify relevant personnel and resources, and take part in hiring technical and scientific personnel to build skilled project teams - Train the NeuroRestore personnel in their area of expertise - Run project progress meetings, report on project progress, plan and manage the dissemination of project results - Take part in writing of funding applications to initiate new projects, strengthen / accelerate ongoing projects, or enhance ongoing collaborations - Develop and maintain connections with science labs and clinical centers to facilitate rapid animal and clinical testing of concepts and prototypes of medical treatments - Manage efforts to obtain regulatory approvals for animal studies and clinical trials to validate the concepts of medical therapies - Represent the Neurorestore Center at symposiums and conferences through talks and presentations Personal Traits - Passionate about the development of neurotechnologies that aim to alleviate movement disabilities of stroke - Thriving in a cutting edge, fast-paced, multidisciplinary environment - Self-starter and independent worker with an ability to identify innovative approaches and solutions - Attention to detail - Independent thinker and passionate problem solver Skills - Ability to independently conceive original research projects - Capacity to supervise several research projects in parallel - Capability to successfully lead research teams, and maintain collaborations with external partners - Strong verbal and written presentation skills in English - Experience with leading animal research projects and/or projects under the framework of clinical trials and studies - Track record of obtaining regulatory approvals for animal studies and/or clinical trials - Strong experience with writing project proposals, project progress reports and research articles - Experience in disseminating project progress through talks, presentation and publications - Experience in physiological signal acquisition and signal analysis - Capacity to identify skill gaps and hire personnel to fill them - Experience with writing, filling and obtaining patents - Advanced presentation skills (PowerPoint, Photoshop, Illustrator) - Willingness to travel in order to form / maintain collaborations - Possessing a strong academic, clinical, regulatory and industry network and the ability to use it to organize collaborative projects Experience - Doctoral degree (PhD) - 6 or more years of experience working in the fields of neuroscience / neuroengineering (including the PhD studies) - 3 or more years of experience in stroke-related research - Strong publication record in the stroke field Contact Applications including a CV and a cover letter describing your background and interest should be sent to tomislav.milekovic(a)epfl.ch<mailto:tomislav.milekovic@epfl.ch>. Informal inquiries are welcome.

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