Scientific Computing Associate - VR Technologies Social Neuroscience

Primary Work Address: 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, 20147. Current HHMI Employees,  to apply via your Workday account.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is a pioneering research center in Ashburn, Virginia, where scientists pursue fundamental questions in the life sciences. Our integrated teams of biologists, computational scientists, and tool-builders innovate research practices and technologies to solve biology’s deepest mysteries. HHMI launched Janelia in 2006, establishing an intellectually enriching environment for scientists to do creative, collaborative, hands-on work.

We share our methods, results, and tools with the scientific community.

Please include a cover letter with your application. Be sure to highlight your coding experience and explain how your enthusiasm and ability to learn quickly can help you succeed in this role—even if you don’t meet every listed requirement.

The Scientific Computing Associate (SCA) position represents an alternative to traditional scientific roles (e.g. postdoc) and provides an ideal environment to establish a career in computational research or software engineering. The position aims at developing qualifications and experience in computational research and professional software engineering in a research environment that enables the candidate to pursue their future career in science or industry.

The SCA position is a time-limited appointment for 24 months, with discretionary renewal for a final 12-month term (maximally 36 months in total.)

We are seeking a talented and motivated computational scientist to develop and deploy cutting-edge experimental platforms that integrate dynamic virtual reality environments with precise neural and behavioral measurements in animal subjects (fish and flies) for the study of social learning and collective behaviors. This will require synchronization of and logging from many system components (video acquisition, animal tracking and pose estimation, microscopy image acquisition and/or physiological recordings, video game engines, multiple displays, etc.)

as well as development of geometrically precise, reconfigurable, closed-loop virtual social paradigms that can be reproduced across animal subjects. By integrating real-time behavioral and neural measurements with virtual social environments, we enable neuroscientists to measure and model social behaviors in new and creative ways.

You’ll work in close collaboration with Scientific Computing, MCN-NET, and the Schulze and Otopalik Labs. As part of a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative team of computational scientists, software and AI engineers, and neuroscientists, you’ll have access to high-performance workstations, CPU/GPU clusters, and experimental systems tailored for fish and fly research. This role will necessarily involve both software development and software-hardware integration, with potential opportunities to collect key initial datasets and contribute to publication(s) with the Schulze and Otopalik labs.

• A supportive team environment that promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• The opportunity to engage with world-class researchers, software engineers and AI/ML experts, contribute to impactful science, and be part of a dynamic community committed to advancing humanity’s understanding of fundamental scientific questions.
• Amenities that enhance work-life balance, such as on-site childcare, free gyms, available on-campus housing, social and dining spaces, and convenient shuttle bus service to Janelia from the Washington D.C. metro area.

• Clock synchronization across heterogeneous data streams, determined by hardware/software.
• Build a robust synchronization layer to ensure rigorous metadata and I/O logging to guarantee reproducible analysis pipelines.
• Debugging driver/firmware bottlenecks in DAQs, GPUs, and cameras (interfaces with diverse hardware: cameras, DAQ boards, GPUs, head-mounted displays, lasers/scanners).
• Performance optimization for low-latency, precise, & dynamic virtual environments.
• Develop reproducible…