Postdoctoral Research Fellow - LSOE

Boston College Introduction

Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,654 full-time undergraduates and 5,072 graduate and professional students. Ranked 37 among national universities, Boston College has 923 full-time and 1,336 FTE faculty, 2,822 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.9 billion.

Dr. Ido Davidesco at Boston College’s Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology Program seeks to hire a full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate for an NSF-funded project.

This project focuses on the role of internal attention in undergraduate science learning. Currently, very little is known about how opportunities to focus attention internally (e.g., asking students to quietly think about a problem as part of a “think-pair-share”) impact student learning. This project manipulates the frequency and duration of “thinking” periods during a lecture and examines the impact on students’ conceptual understanding of science concepts.

This research also explores and validate neural indicators of attention, measured with electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracking. Finally, the project team is developing an innovative Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience, where students investigate their own attentional states and associated gaze/brain activity.

The interdisciplinary nature of this project will produce a unique setting for the professional development of the postdoctoral research associate. The combined exposure to cognitive neuroscience and education research will provide the postdoc with a unique mentoring experience and excellent preparation for their future career.

The Postdoctoral Research Associate will be involved in all aspects of the project, including study design, data collection, data analysis, and development of conference presentations and manuscripts.

FTE Range $65,000 - $74,665 based on experience

• Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience, psychology, or a related field
• Previous experience with EEG or eye-tracking research
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate successfully on teams and communicate effectively through writing

• Programming skills
• Advanced statistical skills

Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility:

• Tuition remission for Employees
• Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements
• Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Low-Cost Life Insurance
• Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans
• Paid Holidays Annually