Postdoctoral Fellow, Call

About the Fellowship

Postdoctoral Fellowships at Basis offer an immersive research environment for highly qualified researchers to deepen their expertise in computational theories of intelligence, including but not limited to reasoning, learning, and decision‑making. Fellows will work closely with Basis Research Scientists and partnering Principal Investigators (PIs) from academic institutions.

Basis is a nonprofit applied AI research organization with two mutually reinforcing goals.

Understand and build intelligence
. This means to establish the mathematical principles of what it means to reason, to learn, to make decisions, to understand, and to explain; and to construct software that implements these principles.

Advance society’s ability to solve intractable problems
. This means expanding the scale, complexity, and breadth of problems that we can solve today, and even more importantly, accelerating our ability to solve problems in the future.

To achieve these goals, we’re building both a new technological foundation that draws inspiration from how humans reason, and a new kind of collaborative organization that puts human values first.

• Basis Postdoctoral Fellows are jointly mentored and funded by Basis and partner PIs at academic institutions. Fellows split their time between Basis and the academic PI’s lab, functioning like a jointly advised postdoctoral position.
  • Nada Amin (Harvard)
  • Kevin Ellis (Cornell)
  • Armando Solar‑Lezama (MIT)
  • Youssef Marzouk (MIT)
  • Tom Silver (Princeton)
• Each Fellow is paired with a Basis mentor selected to align with the Fellow’s research program and goals.
  • Emily Mackevicius
  • Zenna Tavares
  • Eli Bingham
  • Matt Levine
  • others
• This structure offers a distinctive research environment that blends the strengths of academia and industry. Fellows have the autonomy to shape their own research agendas while benefiting from mentorship, collaboration, and resources from both settings.
• There are two pathways into the Fellowship: joining an existing project or proposing a new research direction through our open call.
  • Existing projects
    :
    Fellows are jointly employed with an established partner PI. Some roles have a single designated PI; others offer a choice from a curated shortlist. Open positions are listed on our job board.
  • Open call
    :
    Applicants may propose a new research direction through the Open Call on our job board, and are encouraged to suggest potential PI mentors, (including academics not listed as established partner PIs). If selected, Fellows will work with Basis to establish a new academic collaboration.

• Researchers holding a PhD in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, or related fields.
• Individuals with a demonstrated track record in scientific research, evidenced through publications, technical reports, or impactful software projects.

• Conduct independent and collaborative research within the thematic areas of Basis, focusing on computational theories of intelligence.
• Disseminate research findings through academic publications and presentations at leading conferences.
• Actively engage in knowledge transfer within Basis and with external partners, converting research into actionable insights and algorithms.
• Provide mentorship to junior team members and contribute to the scientific discourse at Basis through seminars, workshops, and collaborative projects.

• Full-time: This fellowship is full‑time and has a fixed duration of 1 to 2 years.
• Location: Limited to the New York City and Boston areas; this is an in‑person position.
• Salary: Competitive with leading postdoctoral fellowships.
• Start date: Applications reviewed on a rolling basis. Immediate start possible.

Please submit the following:

• Cover letter (no more than 2 pages) that includes:
  • A brief description of your PhD research and past accomplishments
  • A list of at least three potential PI mentors outside of Basis. If you have a relationship with them or have already discussed the proposed work with them, please let us know.
• Your CV
• A research proposal (no more than 3 pages, not including…