DavisAI Postdoctoral Associate at Colby College in Waterville, Maine

Job Description:

The Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence at Colby College invites applications for a DavisAI postdoctoral associate.

The Davis Institute for AI is the first cross-disciplinary institute for Artificial Intelligence at a liberal arts college. The Institute facilitates interdisciplinary human-centered faculty and student scholarship by empowering members of the Colby community to become critical, informed AI tool users and/or applications engineers. The Institute also works with local, regional and national partners on research, educational and outreach activities.

The successful candidate for this position will have the opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary AI research in a highly collaborative environment and to shape the future of AI education within the liberal arts context. The position offers a competitive salary, generous research and travel funding allowances, mentoring, and professional development. This is an annual renewable appointment for up to two years, subject to performance.

The successful candidate will have:

• A demonstrated track record of publication in one or more areas of artificial intelligence. Interest in the social, cultural and ethical implications of AI (prior research experience in one of these areas preferred). Interest in interdisciplinary scholarship (interdisciplinary research experience preferred). Interest in pedagogy (teaching experience preferred).

The search committee is especially interested in candidates who, through their research, teaching, and/or service, will contribute to the diversity and excellence of the campus community.

The successful candidate will be responsible for:

• Pursuing a research agenda designed in collaboration with the Director of the Davis Institute for AI, and relevant other faculty at Colby. Candidates should be able to speak to how their work would contribute to one or more of the Davis Institute for AI areas of focus: economic policy, financial markets, computational approaches to the social sciences, computational biology, bioinformatics and genomics, the environment and oceans, cognitive science, and ethics and society. Candidates with experience in AI approaches to the digital humanities are especially welcome to apply. Advising / consulting with Colby faculty and students who are working on AI projects. A solid understanding of machine learning, and core software engineering skills are essential. Excellent communication and collaboration skills are required. Experience with the entire model development lifecycle, from problem formation through data collection and analysis, model development, and model deployment, is important. Experience with Python or R is desirable. Co-planning and teaching hands-on course- or workshop-based introductions to AI for Colby faculty, staff and students. Interest in teaching at the undergraduate level is essential. The teaching load will be one course per academic year and one workshop per summer.

The successful candidate will relocate to the Colby College campus in Waterville, ME in July or August 2025. A PhD in a field related to the mission of Davis AI is expected prior to the start date. Applicants should provide a cover letter, curriculum vitae, research statement, and statement of teaching philosophy that demonstrates a commitment to equitable and inclusive teaching. Applicants should also provide up to five representative publications and contact information for three references.

Applications may be submitted through: http://apply.interfolio.com/161690

Davis Institute for AI website: https://davisinstituteai.colby.edu/

In case of questions email: michael.donihue@colby.edu.

Review of applications will begin February 1, 2025 and continue until the position is filled.

Colby is a private, coeducational liberal arts college that admits students and makes personnel decisions on the basis of the individual's qualifications to contribute to Colby's educational objectives and institutional needs. The principle of not discriminating on the basis of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, caste, national or ethnic origin, marital status, genetic information, political beliefs, veteran or military status, parental status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, physical or mental disability unrelated to the job or course of study requirements is consistent with the mission of a liberal arts college and the law.