Postdoc position with Wei Ji Ma at NYU: human planning in complex tasks
The laboratory of Wei Ji Ma at New York University (http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab) is looking for a
postdoc to study human planning with large decision trees from a behavioral and computational
perspective, with a special interest in social aspects.

Research description: The overall goal of the research is to understand how people plan when the
number of possible futures is exponentially large. To approach this goal, we use behavioral
experiments (in lab and online), computational process models, and neural networks. We have initial
work and several ongoing/early-stage projects in this area; this Cosyne talk is a good overview (starting
at 47:37). Our modeling approaches are of the type used in computational cognitive science. The
modeling allows us to estimate process variables, such as depth of planning. To give you an idea of
specific questions: 1) How does the option of undoing previous actions improve performance? 2) Are
measures of planning ability correlated across tasks? 3) Does learning in one planning task transfer to
another? 4) How do people take into account the plan of a collaborator without or with verbal
communication? 5) How does human planning compare to machine planning?

Job description: As a postdoc in the lab, you will be involved in conceptual development, theoretical
development, experimental design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, manuscript
writing, and dissemination of results. You will co-mentor Ph.D. students. You will be part of the lab
community and the broader NYU/NYC psychology/neuroscience community, with connections to data
science and economics. Salary will be about $58K a year. The appointment is for two years with the
possibility of extension; funding is guaranteed but grant writing will be encouraged.

Lab culture: We care a lot about mentorship quality, a positive lab culture, diversity/equity/inclusion,
and work-life balance. For more details, see http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab/lablife.html. We are looking
for someone who is kind, helpful, and cares about making the lab and the broader community better for
everyone, and who is interested in mentoring scientists more junior than themselves. Many lab
members have been involved in science policy, mentorship through personal narratives, advocating for
diversity and inclusion, science advocacy, science outreach, and mentoring high school students. We
started Growing up in Science and the Scientist Action and Advocacy Network. For more details, see
http://www.cns.nyu.edu/malab/community.html.