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Announcement Postdoctoral Research Position Speech Physiology Laboratory Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders Northwestern University Evanston, IL Starting Salary: $40,000 Five year appointment Starting date: April 1, 2009 Applications are invited from PhDs with research training in communication sciences, voice science, psychology, neurobiology, physiology and biomedical engineering to join a research team funded to study neural mechanisms underlying vocal responses to perturbations in auditory feedback. The research plan involves presenting pitch- or loudness-shifted voice auditory feedback to subjects who are speaking or vocalizing. During these studies, we will be recording neural activity from scalp electrodes in order to understand how the ERPs are modulated as a function variations in specific vocal tasks and auditory perturbation parameters. We will also be using ECoG techniques to make direct recordings from the brain in patients undergoing treatment for epilepsy. These recordings are made off-site (University of Iowa and University of Chicago), and the data are analyzed in our lab. Data from ECoG recordings will be combined with source analysis techniques from the scalp recorded ERP electrodes to define neural structures that are modulated during production of vocal responses to perturbations in auditory feedback. The grant also has an off site component at the Research Imaging Center in San Antonio Texas (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio). The imaging components of the grant use different modalities to understand the basic neural mechanisms involved in the pitch shift responses. Interaction with the San Antonio group will be part of the post-doctoral training experience. The main laboratory is located on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. We will also travel to the University of Iowa and the University of Chicago to participate in the ECoG experiments. The position is available now and will remain open until filled. Funding for the position is available for five years. Applicants should submit a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, and the names and addresses of three references to: Chuck Larson, Ph.D. Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders 2240 Campus Drive Northwestern University Evanston, IL 60208 |