Research Scientist I

Job Title: Research Scientist I

Grade: 18

Salary: $66,227-$79,664

The Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene is seeking a qualified candidate to fill a Research Scientist I position. This job is full time Research Scientist I in Dynamic Social Cognition Lab (DSC Lab, pateldsclab.net) at New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), located next to each other in New York City. The DSC Lab is focused on using a combination of naturalistic stimuli (such as movies), eye-tracking, and high-precision neuroimaging methods to study social cognition deficits in schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. This research scientist will serve as the scientific lead of a new project aimed at using advanced fMRI techniques to precisely map the locations of and interactions between cortical systems involved in the perception of salient social cues. This project will involve the intersection of resting-state fMRI, task fMRI, movie fMRI, oculomotor behavior, and computer vision technique

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Adapting and applying computer vision techniques to analyze movie content
• Analyze eye-tracking metrics from participants viewing naturalistic stimuli
• Overseeing and participating in acquisition/processing/analysis of behavioral/fMRI data
• Develop and maintain IRB protocols and accompany human subjects research compliance documentation
• Prepare conference presentations and manuscripts
• Development and implementation of behavioral/fMRI experiments with human participants
• Collaborate with research staff and collaborators
• Train and supervise research

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree and two years of professional research experience in an appropriate field or master's degree in an appropriate field may substitute for one year of the experience.

Other Minimum Qualifications

• Doctoral degree in a relevant field (such as neuroscience, psychology, computer science, or medicine)
• Strong quantitative and analytic skills: At least (5) years of quantitative research experience
• Scripting experience in MATLAB, Python, and/or shell: at least (5) years of programming and computational research experience
• At least (4) years of experience in relevant statistical (regression, permutation testing), machine learning (LLMs, SVMs), and neuroimaging analysis methods (graph theory, clustering techniques):

Preferred Qualifications:

• Interest in neural mechanisms of visuospatial and social cognition as well as clinical psychopathology
• Desirable experience includes use of machine learning/AI methods for neuroimaging and behavioral data analysis and/or visual/language feature extraction from naturalistic stimuli.
• Experience with behavioral and neuroimaging data acquisition and processing, including eye-tracking and data management.
• Publication of high-impact research on visual attention and/or social cognition

Work Location: 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032

To Apply: Submit an application through our website at https://rfmh.applicantpro.com/jobs/. Please note only applications submitted through our website will be considered.

The Mission of the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc. (RFMH) is to promote the mental health of all New Yorkers, with a focus on providing hope and supporting recovery for adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances. Applicants with lived mental health experience are encouraged to apply. RFMH is deeply committed to supporting underserved individuals, organizations, and communities. To this end, RFMH is focused on implementing activities and initiatives to reduce disparities in access, quality, and treatment outcomes for underserved populations. A critical component of these efforts is ensuring that RFMH is a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees' unique attributes and skills are valued and utilized to support the mission of the Agency. RFMH is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

The Research Foundation is a private not-for-profit corporation and is not an agency or instrumentality of the State of New York. Employees of the Research Foundation are not state employees, do not participate in any state retirement system, and do not receive state fringe benefits. Excellent Benefits Package. Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer - Disabled/Veteran, 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) compliant.