<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Postdoc
Position in the Yeatman Lab – Neurobiology of Reading and Dyslexia</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">University
of Washington, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 6pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">The Yeatman Lab has an opening for a
postdoc with exceptional computational skills and an interest in the
neurobiological underpinnings of learning to read. The lab combines diffusion
MRI, functional MRI, MEG and behavioral measurements to model how changes in
brain structure relate to changes in cortical computation and behavior. Much of
the current work in the lab uses intensive educational intervention programs as
a means to study plasticity and learning. Our goal is to understand how
education shapes brain development and explore the utility of neuroimaging as a
tool to predict learning differences (e.g., in children with dyslexia). The lab
is a highly collaborative environment that tackles scientific questions with
relevance for education. More information on the Brain Development &
Education Lab can be found on our website: </span><span class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoHyperlink" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration-line:underline"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(68,114,196)"><a href="http://BrainAndEducation.com" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(68,114,196)">http://BrainAndEducation.com</span></a></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 6pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">This postdoc position would focus on
one of three potential projects:</span></p>
<p class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin:0in 0in 6pt 0.25in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">1)<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Plasticity
in the reading circuitry. </span></b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Much of our recent work has used intensive reading
intervention programs to understand how education shapes brain development.
This work is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, as we are designing,
organizing and delivering tightly controlled educational interventions, while
collecting longitudinal MRI, MEG and behavioral data. We have multiple
intervention studies in preparation, all of which focus on reading, but span
different age ranges (including pre-reading 5-year-olds and school-aged
children with dyslexia) and employ a variety of neuroimaging (MEG and MRI) and
behavioral measures (psychophysics and normative assessments). This project
would involve working with a team to design experiments probing the neurobiological
underpinnings of learning and develop predictive models to characterize
differences in learning outcomes. Related work: <span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Huber
et al., 2018. Rapid and widespread white matter plasticity during an intensive
reading intervention. <em>Nature
Communications</em>. </span></span><span class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoHyperlink" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration-line:underline"><b><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(68,114,196)"><a href="https://rdcu.be/UFXd" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(68,114,196)">Link</span></a></span></i></b></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0in 0in 6pt 0.25in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">2)<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">A Big
Data approach to understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of reading
disabilities.</span></b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"> With the emergence of public datasets containing tens of
thousands of subjects (e.g., ABCD, Healthy Brain Network, Human Connectome
Project, etc.) there are new opportunities to apply computational approaches to
understanding the multivariate relationship between white matter development
and reading skills. Beyond identifying correlations between a single behavioral
measure and diffusion properties in a single white matter tract, we would like
to progress towards a model characterizing how the interrelated developmental
trajectories of the brain’s many white matter connections relate to different
components of academic development (e.g., reading, math, executive function).
This project would involve working with large, publicly available datasets, and
developing/applying new statistical approaches to relate measures of brain
anatomy to cognitive skills. Related work: <span class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-nlm-surname"><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Yeatman et al., 2018. A browser-based tool for
visualization and analysis of diffusion MRI data. </span></span><em><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Nature Communications.
</span></em></span><span class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoHyperlink" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration-line:underline"><b><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(68,114,196)"><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03297-7" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(68,114,196)">Link</span></a></span></i></b></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin:0in 0in 6pt 0.25in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">3)<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">The
neural computations of skilled reading.</span></b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"> The visual word form area is a
region of high-level visual cortex that selectively responds to written words and
develops as children gain proficiency with reading. It is also at the heart of
neurobiological differences found in children with dyslexia. We are working
towards developing a computational model characterizing the VWFA as a function
of bottom-up, stimulus-driven computations and interactions with the other
interconnected regions of the reading circuitry. This project would involve conducting fMRI and
diffusion MRI experiments aimed to elucidate the computations performed by the
VWFA, its connectivity with other regions of the reading circuitry, and how it
differs in children with dyslexia. Related work: </span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Kay & Yeatman, 2017. Bottom-up and
top-down computations in word- and face-selective cortex. <i>Elife</i>. </span><b><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(68,114,196)"><a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/22341" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(68,114,196);text-decoration-line:none">Link</span></a></span></i></b><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Applicants should: (1) have strong computational skills and
proficiency programming in MATLAB or Python; (2) experience conducting
psychophysics, fMRI, diffusion MRI, or MEG experiments/analysis, (3) working in
a fast-paced collaborative environment, (4) strong writing and communication
skills.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Start date: January – November, 2019.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">To apply, please send:</span></p>
<p class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">1)<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">A curriculum vitae</span></p>
<p class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">2)<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Contact information for three references</span></p>
<p class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">3)<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">A two-paragraph letter (less than 1 page) describing: (1)
a finding from you PhD (or previous postdoc) research that you are excited
about and (2) a project you would like to tackle in the lab.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Jason Yeatman (</span><span class="m_2512682312443955708gmail-MsoHyperlink" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration-line:underline"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(68,114,196)"><a href="mailto:jyeatman@uw.edu" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(68,114,196)">jyeatman@uw.edu</span></a></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Assistant Professor</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Institute for Learning & Brain Science</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">University of Washington</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Portage Bay Building</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">Seattle, WA </span></p></div></div>