Opportunity

The Wu Tsai Institute (WTI) Postdoctoral Fellowships Program attracts sattract early-career scientists from a range of disciplines who are interested in gaining and applying expertise to ambitious research as they prepare for independent careers. Wu Tsai Postdoctoral Fellows pursue interdisciplinary research that drives discoveries about the mind through the integrated study of the brain.  

The program features two fellowship tracks representing different scientific backgrounds, project scopes, and mentoring objectives. The application and selection process for both tracks is the same. All admitted Fellows benefit from structured programming, shared research facilities, internal research funding sources and opportunities, and other resources offered by the Institute, to advance their scientific training and professional development.

Fellows in the Computational Track pursue self-guide computational research projects with professional mentorship. 

Fellows in the Experimental Track  conduct mentored empirical research projects under a lab apprenticeship model.

Computational Track

This track welcomes applications from early-career researchers interested in understanding human cognition and exploring human potential through computational theory, analysis, and modeling of neuroscience data and concepts. Applicants should have expertise in computer science, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, engineering, applied math, applied physics, or related fields.

Applicants for the Computational track do not need to pre-identify a faculty advisor. Instead, once accepted, Fellows establish a mentoring committee that includes the Director of the Institute?s Center for Neurocomputation and Machine Intelligence as well as additional Wu Tsai Faculty Members of interest. This committee guides the professional development of the Fellow, advising and facilitating connections with research groups across Yale. This allows the Fellow to develop one or more collaborative projects in pursuit of their goals and interests. As these projects emerge, Fellows establish more traditional research mentoring relationships with individual faculty in their chosen field(s). 

Experimental Track

The experimental track is currently not open to applications.

This track welcomes applications from scientists from any field who are interested in furthering the understanding of human cognition and exploring human potential through the design, execution, and analysis of highly interdisciplinary empirical research projects. Many successful applications propose a co-mentoring team of two faculty from different disciplines, one of which may overlap with the applicant?s PhD field. We also welcome applications to work with a single faculty mentor, but only when the Fellow is transitioning into the mentor?s discipline from a substantially different PhD field (incremental transitions will be screened).

Applicants to the Experimental Track must identify and contact one or two Wu Tsai Faculty Members in advance and secure their potential willingness to serve as (co-)mentor should the fellowship be awarded. Applicants must submit evidence of faculty member interest as part of the application (e.g., a copy of an email to the applicant). The mentors of current Wu Tsai Postdoctoral Fellows (see list below) cannot be listed as mentors for new applicants. Candidates are encouraged to reach out to any of the over 150 faculty members in the Wu Tsai Institute. However, because faculty receive many such inquiries, the most successful outreach is sincere and specific, clearly indicating that the applicant has conducted their own advance research into potential areas of mutual interest that are related to the mission of the Institute. View our faculty members.

Award and Expectations

• Computational track: $85,000 annual salary for up to three years
• Benefits as defined by Yale’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (Postdoctoral Associate category)
• $1,500 to assist with relocation costs
• $3,000 in discretionary research funds
• Access to shared research facilities, high-performance computing, and internal funding to support research  
• Protected time and programmatic opportunities for professional development, skill development, and networking with a supportive cohort of peers
• Robust mentoring program to support career development, featuring mentoring committees, compacts, and training

WTI Postdoctoral Fellows are expected to:

• Begin appointment on or before September 1, 2025
• Agree to the Institute’s Code of Conduct
• Participate in WTI activities and devote effort toward professional development, service, and community-building (up to 10% of effort)
• Submit an annual progress report
• Follow all guidelines and requirements for postdocs at Yale

All materials must be submitted online through Interfolio. See here for instructions for how to open an Interfolio account.

Applications must include:

• Research statement - Summarize prior research experiences, skills, and achievements. Describe how your postdoctoral research interests advance the WTI mission - to understand human cognition and explore human potential by sparking interdisciplinary inquiry. Explain how the envisioned research is interdisciplinary and how it will benefit from your expertise and the resources and researchers in WTI (two pages, inclusive of figures but not references).
• Diversity and inclusion in science statement - Please describe how your unique background, identity, or life experiences have prepared you for this opportunity and how you envision contributing to making science more accessible and inclusive at WTI and in your career (one page).
• Curriculum vitae - Please provide a current CV, including papers that are published, in press, or deposited in a preprint server (e.g., bioRxiv or arXiv); do not list manuscripts in preparation.
• Two letters of recommendation - One letter must be from your thesis advisor(s). The letters should address the quality, originality, and independence of your research and potential. Letters must also be received via Interfolio by the submission deadline; incomplete applications will not be reviewed. 

Contact

Please contact wti@yale.edu for any questions related to this application

About Yale University

Yale University is an American private Ivy League research university located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States.

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