[Ieee_vis_open_positions] Postdoctoral Researcher Positions in Visual Analytics, Data Science and Trustable AI at the University of Oklahoma

Thu Apr 8 22:59:52 CEST 2021

Postdoctoral Researcher Positions in Visual Analytics, Data Science and Trustable AI
Data Institute for Societal Challenges
The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

We invite applications for two postdoctoral researchers with Summer or Fall start dates in visual analytics, data science, machine learning, trustable AI, social media analytics, and big data analytics across a wide spectrum of application areas.
The successful candidate will perform duties including:

  *   Research in visual analytics in application domains including social media analysis, interactive and explainable AI, sustainable food-energy-water systems public safety, crisis management, functional soil mapping, precision agriculture.
  *   Research in Foundational Data Science with a specific focus on trustable and scientific AI

  *   Assist in drafting successful research grant proposals.
  *   Lead research activities within the group, including project management and stakeholder engagement.
  *   Assist in supervising graduate and undergraduate students.
  *   Interface with renowned academic research groups at and beyond OU.
Requirements
The candidate should hold a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Information Science, Industrial Engineering, Geography, Statistics, Data Science or a related field, with a strong research background and expertise in data science, visual analytics, trustable, explainable AI, or some of these areas:

  *   Geospatial and temporal analysis
  *   Statistics
  *   Machine learning/AI
  *   Human-guided AI
  *   Cognitive science
  *   Human-computer interaction
  *   Big data
  *   Human factors
  *   Health and public health analytics
  *   Digital Humanities
  *   Food-water-energy systems
  *   Sustainable/precision agriculture

OU has multiple joint research projects with Peruvian Universities. Therefore, professional proficiency in Spanish is a plus.

Both beginning and senior postdoctoral candidates are encouraged to apply. Excellent oral and written communication skills are mandatory.

About Us
We are the OU Data Science Institute for Societal Challenges (DISC Center).  The DISC Center is a new campus-wide institute in the Vice President for Research and Partnerships office. Our mission is to empower transdisciplinary research and collaboration to drive convergent solutions to societal challenges in Oklahoma, the nation, and the world through data science research, tools and capabilities. 

The Data Institute for Societal Challenges convenes diverse teams to collaborate to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems and achieve a lasting societal impact.  These communities are:

  *   Foundational Data Science
  *   Aerospace, Defense and Global Security
  *   Community and Societal Transformation
  *   The Future of Health
  *   Environment, Energy, and Sustainability

DISC works closely with local and international collaborators, including social media experts, sustainability experts, agricultural producers, health and public safety departments, economists, first responders, computational scientists, businesses, and researchers in science, engineering, and economics.

Some of the projects DISC is currently engaged with include:

  *   Visual Analytics for Public Health Applications
The ongoing and evolving COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in tremendous negative effects on people’s daily lives. It is critical for decision makers such as health care officials and governors to foresee potential impacts and make timely decisions. To aid in this process, we are developing PanViz 2.0, a visual analytics application that combines epidemic model and AI-driven analytics to infer the best-fit parameters to enable the adaptation to ongoing pandemics at multiple spatial aggregations (national wide, state level, and county level).

  *   Data Analytics for Social Justice

DISC is currently engaged in a series of projects that fall under the broad label of data analytics for social justice. These projects include the extension of the SMART system to analyze changes in public perceptions and opinions around policing in communities of color (Social Media and the Visual Politics of Policing Communities of Color). We are working alongside the OU Carceral Studies Consortium to apply data science and data analytics to study the long-term effects of incarceration while developing policy solutions centered on reducing juvenile incarceration.

  *   Detecting and Countering Online Misinformation

Recent events have highlighted the pernicious and deleterious impact that misinformation and disinformation have on public discourse and policy making. DISC is directly involved in several projects seeking to identify, label, and counter the spread of misinformation and disinformation through integrated social science theory, risk communication, data science, cognitive psychology, and communication theories and techniques. One of these projects, conducted in conjunction with researchers from the Gaylord College of Journalism, focuses on identifying and countering misinformation around cancer treatments.

  *   AI Institute Planning grant: A Gap-Based Approach to Frame and Develop Robust AI for Sustainable, Climate-Adapted Agriculture
This NSF/USDA project aims to build stakeholder trust in the power of artificial intelligence to create congruency and efficiency in predicting Climate, Food, and Water processes by leveraging the foundation of the physical and biological processes underlying the data and their model representations.

  *   UNSA/OU Alianza Institute: Public Health Monitoring and Decision Making in Peru
This pilot project will evaluate the feasibility of a real-time, electronic, syndromic surveillance and decision-making system to provide (i) base data needed for accurate situational surveillance, virus spread status, and measurement of mitigation actions, and (ii) support for timely, data-, model-, and expertise-driven problem solving

  *   Social Media Analytics and Reporting Toolkit (SMART)

The Social Media Analytics and Reporting Toolkit (SMART) provides interactive exploration and analysis of real-time, publicly available Twitter and Instagram data through scalable integrated topic modeling algorithms, spatial cluster visualizations, exclusion and inclusion of semantic keyword filters, and temporal views. SMART is powered by advanced analytics and human-guided, interactive machine learning for applications in misinformation and disinformation, social justice, and public safety.

  *   NATO- netwoRk for alErting And managing publiC safeTy and resilience – REACT

This project will develop  an innovative pilot platform (REACT) for the rapid and effective response and management of natural or man-made crisis scenarios, integrating real-time social media analysis and real-time chemical and biological sensing.

To apply
Please send your CV and a one-page research statement to Dr. David Ebert (ebert at ou.edu<mailto:ebert at ou.edu>) and Dr. Audrey Reinert (areinert at ou.edu<mailto:areinert at ou.edu>). Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the positions are filled.

Sincerely,

David

Dr. David S. Ebert,  Gallogly Chair Professor of ECE and CS
Associate Vice President of Research and Partnerships
Director, Data Institute for Societal Challenges (DISC)
University of Oklahoma
5 Partners Place
201 Stephenson Pkwy, Ste 4600
Norman, OK 73019
ebert at ou.edu<mailto:ebert at ou.edu>

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