Research Assistant Professor - Behavioral Neuroscience

Location: El Paso, TX
Category: Science
Job Type: Full-time
Posted On: Wed May 27 2026

Department of Biological Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) invites applications for a non‑tenure‑track Research Assistant Professor in Behavioral Neuroscience. This position is part of a coordinated cluster hire, alongside colleagues in brain circuit imaging, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and research software engineering, expanding a cross‑college interdisciplinary team studying the brain circuits underlying craving, reward, and addiction.

The successful candidate will anchor the behavioral component of an integrated research pipeline that links rat behavioral experiments to large‑scale imaging datasets and atlas‑based circuit mapping using the open‑access brain atlas, Brain Maps 4.0, contributing to the development of an open‑access digital atlas of brain reward circuits in the laboratory rat. The position also includes opportunities for teaching and research mentorship within the Brain Mapping & Connectomics (BM&C) undergraduate teaching laboratory, a course‑based research experience that trains students in mesoscale brain mapping methods and feeds their curated datasets and analyses into the broader research pipeline.

• Design and conduct rat behavioral experiments in models of substance use disorders (e.g., nicotine, alcohol, cocaine) and feeding disorders (e.g., binge‑eating, sugar/fat over consumption), with an emphasis on operant and appetitive conditioning paradigms
• Analyze behavioral data and characterize reward, craving, and impulsivity‑related phenotypes
• Use Brain Maps 4.0 to register behaviorally defined recording, lesion, or stimulation sites to standardized rat‑brain coordinates
• Generate behavioral and physiological datasets that feed downstream stages of the pipeline, and integrate behavioral readouts with large‑scale imaging datasets generated by team members and the Imaging & Behavioral Neuroscience Core Facility
• Collaborate with cluster‑hire colleagues in imaging, ML/AI, and software engineering on multi‑modal data integration and atlas development
• Contribute to peer‑reviewed publications, federal grant applications, and the open‑access digital atlas of brain reward circuits
• Mentor graduate and undergraduate trainees to contribute their efforts to the research pipeline

• Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience, neuroscience, psychology, biomedical sciences, or a closely related field
• Demonstrated experience using Brain Maps 4.0 to register behavioral or other experimental data to standardized rat‑brain coordinates
• Experience with rat stereotaxic surgery, intracranial implants, and/or neuroanatomical tract‑tracing
• Hands‑on experience conducting operant or appetitive conditioning experiments in rats (e.g., self‑administration, intracranial self‑stimulation, lever‑pressing tasks, reinstatement, devaluation, or progressive‑ratio schedules)
• Established record of in‑vivo experimental research in rats, evidenced by peer‑reviewed publications or preprints
• Experience teaching mesoscale brain mapping to undergraduate students
• Demonstrated ability to work in interdisciplinary teams that integrate behavior with neural data

• Graduate or postdoctoral research experience in a behavioral neuroscience or addiction research laboratory
• Experience with calcium imaging in rat reward‑circuit research (e.g., fiber photometry, miniscope, or two‑photon)
• Experience with additional intracranial methods relevant to reward circuit research, such as microinfusion, chemo genetics, or in‑vivo electrophysiology and surgical methods such as vascular catheterization
• Experience integrating behavioral readouts with whole‑brain or mesoscale imaging datasets
• Basic familiarity with quantitative or computational methods for behavioral data analysis (Python, MATLAB, or R), including AI/ML approaches where applicable
• Track record of independent grant submissions or co‑authored funded proposals

Appointment:
Non‑tenure‑track Research Assistant Professor. Initial appointment is for 12 months, renewable contingent on performance and funding…