Information for prospective trainees

The lab is committed to maintaining a supportive, collaborative and intellectually stimulating environment. We provide training in theories of cognitive control, memory and learning, as well as training in techniques such as neuroimaging, behavioral testing, programming, data analysis and scientific writing. We also provide support for trainees’ career development in and outside of academia. For more information, please check out our Lab Expectations.

The field of cognitive neuroscience is highly inter-disciplinary. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Admission decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis, depending on the needs of the lab. Below I provide some brief descriptions of the expected duties and what I look for in applicants for different roles. Prospective trainees are welcome to check out the research interests of the lab and email me (jiefeng-jiang <at> uiowa <dot> edu) for more information.

Postdoctoral fellows: Postdocs are supposed to lead their own research projects, help train other trainees and apply for external funds if applicable. In addition to theoretical and technical background, I mainly look for overlap of research interests and signs of independence.

Graduate students: They receive training to become independent researchers. In the lab, they lead research projects under my guidance and help train junior lab members. I can take students from the Psychological and Brain Sciences department and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience at the University of Iowa. Successful applicants will be self-motivated, show strong interests in the research topics in the lab, and have research experience in related fields (or solid theoretical training and technical background).

Lab managers/fulltime research assistants (RA): They have both administrative duties and research duties. They usually work with postdocs, graduate students and me on research projects, and obtain training and experience through the projects. These positions are transitional positions to graduate school or medical school. Thus, requirements for applicants are similar to those for graduate students but to a lesser extent.

Part-time/undergraduate RAs: An important mission of the lab is to provide undergraduate students exposure to state-of-the-art cognitive neuroscience research. Part-time RAs work with postdocs, graduate students and lab managers on their research projects and usually report to them. Exceptional RAs can also conduct their honors thesis projects in the lab. Regardless how long they work in the lab, we look for responsible students with attention to detail.

Visiting students: They usually join the lab temporarily with collaborating projects from their home lab. We welcome visiting students with interests in our lab’s work and with complementary backgrounds.