Postdoctoral Fellow, Computer Science

A postdoctoral position is available in the Department of Computer Science at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. The overarching goal of this project is to transform the transparency, equity, and accountability of local criminal court systems by empowering community-driven, real-time, fine-grained analysis of the decision-making pipeline, from first appearance to sentencing. Building on deep community partnerships and cross-disciplinary expertise in law, criminology, social inequality, data science, and artificial intelligence, we will develop a human-centered socio-technical platform that integrates municipal databases, volunteer court observations, and public record requests into a real-time and rigorous monitoring and analysis toolkit. The resulting system will enable communities to make informed, data-driven policy decisions around criminal justice, safety, and equity.

The successful applicant will work with Prof. Aron Culotta and Prof. Nicholas Mattei and be a part of the Tulane Center of Excellence for Community Engaged AI. Funding for this position comes from the Tulane Murphy Institute for Public Policy Research. The applicant is expected to join the lab and work on research involving the theory and practice of artificial intelligence, using tools including algorithm design, game theory, machine learning, data science, natural language processing and explore the impact of these technologies on society. Applicants should be motivated to both join existing projects as well as propose new opportunities and directions. The successful applicant will work with Profs. Culotta and Mattei as well as graduate and undergraduate students in the lab.

The successful candidate will develop new machine learning models, supervise and collaborate with graduate and undergraduate research assistants, collaborate with fellow scholars, and disseminate their work through publications and presentations in top tier venues including those in AI, society, and related areas. In addition, the candidate will conduct community outreach and project coordination within the greater New Orleans community including our non-profit community partners. The position is initially for one year with an option for extension, subject to availability of funding. The start date for this position is ideally between May and August of 2025.

Review for this position will commence immediately and continue until the position is filled. There is a stipend to assist with relocation expenses as well as travel to conferences while employed.

Minimum Qualifications:

PhD in computer science, computer engineering or a related area.

Preferred Qualifications:

Background in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and/or data science. Specifically, with experience in one or more of design and analysis of algorithms, agent-based systems, data analytics, computational social choice, game theory, algorithmic economics, fairness and transparency in algorithms.

Excellent written communication skills demonstrated by prior publications.

Creative experience in asking and answering important research questions by leading on prior research activities.

A track record that demonstrates the ability to work well in both CS only and interdisciplinary teams,

Programming experience in Python, Deep Learning (e.g., PyTorch), scikit-learn, and other Python based libraries.