Current Opportunities at Vanderbilt

Educational Environments
The Open Ended Learning Environments research group at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) and the Department of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University has an opening for a post-doctoral researcher who will be supported by grants from the National Science Foundation AI Institute and other related funds. In particular, this position will involve research in multimodal data collection and analysis in classroom environments from a number of Open Ended Learning Environments (OELEs) that include the: (1) NSF AI Institute narrative-centered learning environments, (2) Betty’s Brain, (3) C2STEM (Collaborative, Computational STEM Learning Environments), and (4) SPICE (Science Projects Integrating Computation and Engineering) learning environments (for details see https://wp0.vanderbilt.edu/oele/). Some of these projects involve collaborations with faculty at the Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt, other AI ENGAGE institute partners, SRI Education, and Digital Promise. The post-doctoral researcher will conduct research in utilizing learning technologies and multimodal data collection systems to collect and analyze classroom data to study students’ learning behaviors as they collaborate to solve problems in our OELE environments. 

Applicants are expected to have the following qualifications:
• Ph.D. degree in learning sciences, computer science or a related field.
• Expertise in data collection, analysis, and learning analytics.
• Sufficient knowledge of Python and machine learning algorithms to work with the Research Engineers and Graduate students who are involved in research and development work in multimodal learning analytics.
• Some knowledge of virtual agents, user interfaces, artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.

The post-doctoral researcher will work closely with the faculty mentor (Gautam Biswas, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering), three research engineers, and graduate students in the OELE lab as well as collaborators from other institutions across multiple projects. However, the researcher’s primary focus will be in learning sciences research applied to K-12 classroom studies and study of students’ collaborative learning behaviors as they work on our learning environments in classrooms. 
The initial post-doctoral fellowship will be for a year, with the possibility of extensions to a second and third year based on performance. Superior performance in generating publications and support for grant writing can lead to a promotion to a Research Scientist position at ISIS. 

The post-doctoral fellowship includes an initial salary of at least $75,000 per year plus health insurance coverage and support for professional travel. Please send a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and at most two publications (or manuscripts in progress), by email to Gautam Biswas at gautam.biswas@vanderbilt.edu. Applications will be reviewed immediately.

Please send a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and at most two publications (or manuscripts in progress), by email to Gautam Biswas at gautam.biswas@vanderbilt.edu.