Subject: Postdoctoral Research Opportunity at Northwestern University's Neurodevelopmental Diversity Lab

  Northwestern University’s Neurodevelopmental Diversity Laboratory, directed by Dr. Molly Losh (http://ndl.northwestern.edu) is seeking a post-doctoral scholar to join their research team. The lab’s projects focus on understanding language-related features of autism and fragile X syndrome, and studying how autism-related traits can express in the general population, across generations, and in related genetic conditions, to understand gene-brain-behavior connections. This postdoc position will have opportunities to work on research across several NIH-funded research projects, using clinical, behavioral, neural, computational, data science, and cross-linguistic approaches. Newly funded studies also examine a potential female-specific profile of autism-related traits, and also how the autism language phenotype differs across different languages. This postdoctoral position is expected to play a leadership role conducting and coordinating research activities, as well as assisting with supervising team members. The successful applicant will also have the opportunity to develop additional research through independent grant applications. 

Principal Responsibilities: 

1.               To conduct experiments and analyses on linguistic, cognitive, neurophysiological and clinical phenotypes in autism and FMR1-mutation conditions 

2.               To assist in supervision of research team 

3.               To lead and contribute to grant writing and compete for funding 

4.               To lead and contribute to publications resulting from research done in the lab 

Minimum Qualifications/Competencies:  

·                  PhD in communication sciences and disorders, psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, computer science, or a related field 

·                  Interest in research on autism, fragile X, and genetically related conditions 

·                  Evidence of research productivity (e.g., peer-reviewed publications) 

Preferred Qualifications/Competencies:  

·                  Experience in language-related research and evidence of research independence 

·                  Research and clinical training related to neurodevelopmental conditions are strongly preferred 

·                  Skillsets on neurophysiological, computational, AI (broadly defined), and data science analytic approaches are an advantage 

·                  Excellent communication and writing skills 

·                  Fluency in Mandarin and written Chinese will be helpful for cross-linguistic work 

Interested applicants should email their application to Andrea Burchfield at andrea.burchfield@northwestern.edu.  

For full consideration, please submit application materials by January 30, 2026. Please submit: (1) a cover letter that makes clear how your work is relevant to research programs in the lab; (2) a current CV; (3) up to two publications or manuscripts most relevant to the lab’s scope of research. You will also be asked to provide the name and contact information for 2–3 people willing to submit recommendation letters on your behalf. 

For more information about our lab, please visit https://ndl.northwestern.edu/.