Computational Scientist - Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

University of Chicago - Chicago, IL

Full-time - Mid Level

Chicago, IL

Educational Services

About the position

The University of Chicago Research Computing Center (RCC) is seeking an experienced Computational Scientist specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). This position is integral to supporting and advising faculty, post-docs, and graduate students across various research domains. The successful candidate will develop software to facilitate data acquisition, ingestion, and integration for research projects, while also assisting in the creation of user interfaces and scalable back-end services. The role aims to automate and enhance the scientific output of multi-institutional research projects, thereby enabling significant advancements in research at the University of Chicago. As a domain expert, the Computational Scientist will work closely with faculty to identify, develop, and implement computational methods and resources that support or advance their research. This includes independently proposing and executing practical solutions to research challenges, as well as developing and maintaining AI and machine learning pipelines for diverse applications such as images, video, speech, and unstructured text. The role requires a strong ability to communicate complex technical information to a variety of audiences, including faculty, students, researchers, and staff, and to teach others while continuously learning new techniques. In addition to technical responsibilities, the Computational Scientist will assist faculty with grant proposals by contributing sections that describe the interplay between research objectives and data resources. The position also involves creating and presenting tutorials, hands-on workshops, and documentation to train the research community, ensuring timely systems support and updates, and conducting information security assessments and risk analysis of the computing environment. The successful candidate will evaluate past and present technologies to help develop new tools, ensuring all new tools undergo quality control reviews, and perform other related work as needed.

Responsibilities

• Support applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various research disciplines and serve as the domain expert.
• Work closely with faculty to identify, develop, and implement useful computational methods and resources that support or advance their research.
• Independently and proactively propose and execute practical solutions to research challenges.
• Develop and implement AI and machine-learning based methods for different use cases: images, video, speech, unstructured text, etc.
• Develop, maintain, and support data analysis, AI and Machine Learning pipelines.
• Confidently solve regression, classification, clustering, forecasting, and anomaly detection problems using established machine learning techniques.
• Communicate highly technical information to numerous audiences, including faculty, students, researchers, and staff.
• Teach others and learn new techniques.
• Help faculty with grant proposals by contributing sections describing the interplay between research objectives and new or expanded data resources.
• Create and present tutorials, hands-on workshops, and documentation to train the research community.
• Develops and presents technical training materials and web-based documentation.
• Ensures timely systems support and updates.
• Assists in conducting information security assessments and risk analysis of computing environment.
• Evaluates past and present technologies to help develop new tools.
• Ensures all the new tools have been through quality control reviews.
• Perform other related work as needed.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in computer science, computer engineering, data science, or similar (preferred).
• 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline (minimum).
• Experience with one or more machine learning and deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Keras.
• Experience applying latest AI/ML techniques in computer vision and image classification analysis.
• Experience with one or more following AI/ML domains: Causal AI, Reinforcement Learning, Generative AI, NLP, Dimension Reduction, Computer Vision, Sequential Models.
• Experience using AI/ML techniques to solve real-world applications.
• Proficiency in Python.
• Experience with one or more Python libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, Scikit-Learn, MatplotLib, Seaborn, geopy, NLTK.
• Experience with one or more high-level programming languages such as C/C++, Matlab, or R.
• Experience with Git and in general with version control.
• Experience with Linux/Unix.
• Experience with statistical and numerical methods.

Nice-to-haves

• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, written, and presentation skills.
• A broad knowledge of algorithms, programming languages, and libraries.
• Ability to understand and translate researchers' scientific goals into computational requirements.
• Ability to identify and gain expertise in appropriate new technologies and/or software tools.
• Ability to function as part of an interactive team while demonstrating self-initiative to achieve project's goals and Research Computing Center's mission.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively within cross-functional teams.
• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving ability.
• Ability to work well with faculty and researchers.
• Experience writing or contributing to grant proposals.

Benefits

• Health insurance coverage
• Paid holidays
• Professional development opportunities
• Flexible scheduling options
• Tuition reimbursement for further education