The McGovern Institute is an inclusive and collaborative community of MIT scientists, engineers, and support staff who work together to unravel the mysteries of the brain. Located on MIT’s campus in the heart of the Cambridge / Kendall Square biotech ecosystem, the McGovern Institute is an ideal home for talented researchers and administrative professionals who want to play a role in solving one of the greatest scientific challenges of the 21st century.
Join Us!
Our Work
The McGovern Institute community consists of more than 200 MIT scientists, engineers, and administrative support staff.
McGovern Investigator Michale Fee at work in the lab with postdoc Galen Lynch. Photo: Justin Knight
We know that revolutionary advances in neuroscience will not come through any single approach or methodology so we actively seek researchers with diverse perspectives and areas of expertise to study the brain at many levels. Our labs are led by multidisciplinary MIT faculty who hold appointments in one or more academic departments including Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Biological Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Media Arts and Sciences, Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science.
Our researchers are developing and employing cutting-edge tools and techniques in molecular genetics, functional neuroimaging, bionics, animal modeling, and computation to reshape the field of neuroscience. Our management, administrative, technical, and support positions are central to the fulfillment of the institute’s research goals and are valued members of our dynamic brain research community.
Our Values
We believe that a diverse and inclusive community is critical to the advancement of science and we are committed to creating an atmosphere of civility, collegiality, and mutual respect that stimulates and supports all McGovern employees in their work.
Jessica Chomik-Morales (right), a McGovern post-bac and host of the Spanish neuroscience podcast Mi Ultima Neurona, chats in the atrium with Picower Institute postdoctoral associate and podcast contributor, Héctor De Jesús-Cortés. Photo: Steph Stevens
To live out this commitment, we offer endowed programs for talented scientists and engineers belonging to underrepresented groups in STEM, outreach opportunities with the local community including Cambridge Public Schools and the MIT Museum, curated mentorship plans, and various social events including game nights and weekly networking opportunities. Building a diverse and vibrant scientific community requires a sustained and continual effort and we are undertaking this mission in partnership with our colleagues at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, as well as the broader MIT community.
Learn more about our efforts to build a diverse and inclusive community.
Our Benefits
McGovern faculty, staff and postdoctoral associates are eligible to receive MIT’s full suite of benefits and resources including best-in-class health plans and pension plan, fully subsidized T passes, tuition assistance, career development workshops and counseling, a wide range of parenting benefits, along with access to world-class athletic facilities, the MIT Museum—and much more.
Medical/Dental/Vision: MIT offers a variety of medical, dental, and vision plans to cover a wide range of care
Time Off: Several options—paid and unpaid—for taking time away from work to manage personal, medical, and family issues including 13 paid holidays, a winter break, and 4 weeks of vacation (3 in first year)
Transportation: Free, unrestricted access to the MBTA subway and local bus systems, subsidies for MBTA parking and commuter rail, and reduced rates for Blue Bikes and Zip Cars
Career and Professional Development: Comprehensive career development services including workshops and virtual individual consulting and tuition assistance up to $5,250 per calendar year
Work-Life and Wellness: Webinars, support groups and consultations designed to enhance quality of life, stress management classes, retirement planning, childcare resources, mental health services, access to world-class athletic facilities, and discounted tickets to a wide spectrum of local cultural and sporting events.
Because of their unique funding source and appointment type, postdoctoral fellows are not considered employees of MIT. Fellows are eligible, however, for a different set of benefits as well as many of the discounts and perks available to MIT employees.
Highlighted Positions
Postdoctoral Opportunities
Postdoctoral fellows and postdoctoral associates are valued members of the McGovern community. Learn more about our postdoctoral program, including research opportunities and information about benefits, salary and the postdoctoral experience at MIT.
Research Scientist, ICoN Center
Research Scientist position with the K. Lisa Yang Integrative Computational Neuroscience (ICoN) Center, to pursue a creative, collaborative research program developing new statistical and machine learning tools to analyze unique large, multiscale datasets obtained here using cutting-edge methods in molecular, circuit, and behavioral neuroscience and cognition.
Qualifications
REQUIRED: PhD; experience with machine learning, statistics, computational neuroscience, computer science, or relevant quantitative field; and a track record of data-driven discovery, collaboration on data-intensive projects, and code development and sharing. Must have experience developing analysis tools and techniques for large-scale data sets; implementing and developing large-scale data-processing algorithms; GPU optimization in PyTorch and TensorFlow, including ability to write new GPU-based operations in both frameworks; high performance cluster computing and/or cloud computing at scale; high-speed I/O programming; and building tools for data sharing and code sharing.
PREFERRED: background in neuroscience and cognitive science.
Research Opportunities
Will join world-class neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and engineers in solving today’s most exciting computational research problems and apply statistics, machine learning, AI, and data science skills to shed light on brain function from data; develop and deploy new data analysis tools on multiple cross-disciplinary research projects; coordinate, organize, and work across labs towards a common goal; supervise and manage a research team to develop and execute the algorithms; provide guidance for standardization, storage, sharing, and management of large data sets; and help translate computational algorithms into efficiently functioning (especially parallelized and GPU optimized) code.
The work will be collaborative with Ila Fiete, Robert Yang, Nidhi Seethapathi, Fan Wang, and other McGovern faculty.
MIT is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, ancestry, or national or ethnic origin.
