Connectionists: Job announcement

[maruyama]

ATR Neural Information Analysis Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan, have openings for researcher or research engineer positions and invite applications with strong motivations and ambitions in the research project described below.

Our laboratories research on brain-machine interface (BMI), which controls actuators by estimating human movement and intension from brain activities measured noninvasively by MEG, EEG, fMRI, and NIRS. The project for which we are recruiting aims to construct a new information-communication technology to connect people and machines through engineering applications of neuroscience.  More specifically, the project’s goal is to develop a BMI methodology that works well in various environments in the real world by simultaneous measurement of human behavior and brain activities and also by parallel and distributed processing of large-scale data. This project is funded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC), Japan, until March, 2015.  The project organization consists of five research institutes, and specifically ATR is the representative institute.

Our institute ATR, located in western Japan, is one of the top research centers in computational neuroscience, biomedical signal processing, and robotics in the world (see http://www.cns.atr.jp/en/ for more details).  The Brain Information Communication Research Lab Group (BICR) at ATR is also funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan and by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan.  The people at ATR BICR include 81 researchers/research engineers, 30 graduate students, 9 engineers, and 15 administrative staffs.  Since the establishment of the brain research group in 2003, we have published more than 180 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, which include 13 Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, and Neuron papers.

We look forward to your applications and recommendations.

Shin Ishii
ATR Neural Information Analysis Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan
= Job description =

(1) Ambient informatics team

The researcher will join a team dedicated for establishing an environment for continuous measurement and recognition of human behavior in a daily life.  Here, the “environment” includes hardware facilities, efficient network, and pattern recognition algorithms and software.  The team is supported by engineers.  Data measurement devices include stereo cameras, laser range finders, microphones, pyroelectric sensors, power monitors (for appliance), and bio-measurement devices (for electromyogram (EMG), heart pulse, blood pressure, perspiration, and temperature).  Good proposals for additional measurement modalities will be welcomed.

(2) Decoding team

The researcher will join a team dedicated for developing artifact reduction and decoding algorithms for brain activities measured under real environments.  Brain activity data measured in real environments would often be contaminated by non-brain signals, which must be reduced by all means for further analysis.  By solving a challenging research problem of decoding of movement or intension in uncontrolled experiments, the team will develop BMI algorithms under real environments.  The successful candidate should have a strong background in machine learning, information retrieval, or statistical signal processing.  Excellent programming skills and experiences of large-scale data analysis will be advantageous.

(3) Neurosciences team

The researcher will join a team dedicated for neuroscience studies focusing on human decision making and motor control under real environments.  The team’s challenging goal is to elucidate the neural bases involved in decision making and motor control, which are sufficiently robust even in the uncertain real world, by fully utilizing newly developed techniques of brain machine interface.

The teams include foreign researchers and we also have collaborated closely with researchers in countries overseas.  Thus, applications from abroad are particularly welcome.

= Requirements =

Applicants must:
- have a Ph.D. (or be near completion).
- have strong motivations and ambitions to take part in the research above.

Also, researchers having interest in neural and human science with expertise in one or more of the following areas are welcomed:
- Statistics, machine learning, parallel distributed computing, signal  processing, artificial intelligence, bio-measurement and  instrumentation, computer vision, statistical physics, cognitive  psychology.

Exceptional applicants with a master’s or equivalent degree will be considered as well.

= Number of openings =

Few

= Employment conditions =
Position 	: 	Full-time Researcher / Full-time Research Engineer
Tenure 	: 	Single year based contract, renewable based on evaluation
Treatment 	: 	Based on individual performance
Work Location 	: 	Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR)
2-2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan

= Application materials =

Please submit the following five materials to the contact address below, either in printed or electronic form:

    CV
    List of publications
    Reprints of 1–3 major publications
    Document (one or two pages in A4 or letter size) describing:
    - Summary of your previous research
    - Interests and proposal for research
    - Additional research skills not directly foreseeable from publications
    Recommendation letters from two researchers

* Original documents you submit will not be returned.

= Judging system =

After documentary examination, we ask for presentation and interview if needed

= Starting date =

After February 2012 (negotiable)

= Deadline for application =

Opens until positions are filled.

= Contact =

ATR Neural Information Analysis Laboratories
(Application for Researcher Position)
2-2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
Email: dbi-info at atr.jp

= Use of personal data =

All personal data received will be properly managed and only be used for the purpose of recruitment.