How to Apply

A cover letter explaining qualifications for the position, a CV, research statement, and one or more (up to three) representative publications, manuscripts, or dissertation chapters should be included as part of your application. Materials should include a clear statement of skills related to the project and should address the applicant?s commitment to mentorship. Please also arrange to have three letters of recommendation submitted with the application materials. If the letters need to be sent separately, have the recommenders send the letters to [email protected]. When submitting application materials, convert all materials into one pdf document to submit through the UM job portal.

Job Summary

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in neurolinguistics, computational modeling, and bilingualism at the Department of Linguistics, University of Michigan. The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Professor Jonathan Brennan. The position will involve working with electroencephalography (EEG) data from bilingual speakers of English, Mandarin, and Spanish and developing/testing computational models of second-language processing. The work is part of an NSF-funded project Predictive processing in naturalistic language comprehension through EEG and computational modeling, which is a collaboration between Dr. Brennan, and Dr. Edith Kaan at the University of Florida. The project description is available at: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2518249.

Mission Statement

The mission of the University of Michigan is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.

Responsibilities*

The researcher will join the Computational Neurolinguistics Lab and will be expected to be an active participant in lab activities. This will include supervision and collaboration with graduate and undergraduate researchers. The successful applicant will be encouraged to work on their own research projects and to interact with the wider research community at the University of Michigan along with collaborators at the University of Florida. Applicants are not expected to teach but opportunities will be available to take part in the educational mission of the University. 

Required Qualifications*

Applicants should have advanced experience in some combination of electrophysiological signal analysis, computational linguistics, and theories and methods in psycholinguistics and bilingualism.  Applicants should have strong familiarity with data analysis in Python and/or R. 

Desired Qualifications*

Familiarity with Spanish and/or Mandarin will be an added benefit (but is not a requirement).

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Additional Information

For additional information regarding the University of Michigan Department of Linguistics, please go to https://lsa.umich.edu/linguistics.

Benefits information at the University of Michigan can be found here: https://hr.umich.edu/benefits-wellness.

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks.  Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Contact Information

Jonathan Brennan ([email protected])

Selection Process

The starting date of the postdoctoral position is September 1, 2026; there is some flexibility to meet the needs of the successful applicant. Application review will begin April 15 2026 and will continue until the position is filled.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.