Postdocs

We’re always interested in talking to qualified postdoc candidates. Particularly those with backgrounds in Statistics, Computer Science, Physics, or any other field where you do applied math for a living. Neuroscience experience is not required, though neuroscience interest is.

We will recruit postdocs through the Flatiron Research Fellows Program in 2026-27. Interested candidates should be on the lookout for the program announcement.

Graduate students

We are not recruiting graduate students for the current admission cycle (matriculating Fall 2027).

We currently accept PhD students through the following programs:

• NYU Neuroscience PhD. The NYU Neuroscience PhD program is a joint effort between the Center for Neural Science (in Arts & Sciences) and the Neuroscience Institute (at NYU Langone Health). Students choose from either Molecular, Cellular, and Translational or Systems, Cognitive, and Computational tracks.

If you plan on applying, keep a few things in mind:

• It’s best to contact John in advance if you have a strong interest in our lab.
• Graduate students cost money. Sadly, we don’t have enough funding to support all the talented students who might be interested. Again, contacting John early will let you get our buest guess as to how things stand, but given that students are funded through a variety of mechanisms (grants, fellowships, departmental resources) and often don’t choose a lab until their second year, it can be difficult to project into the future. In general, students should target programs and schools with a variety of potential mentors.
• We really prioritize students with quantitative skills. PhD students in the lab will spend the bulk of their time coding, analyzing, and deriving and so should expect to take additional courses in statistics and machine learning, even if those are not required by their program. We value previous experience in neuroscience, but we are particularly looking for:
  • Demonstrated mathematical ability (usually coursework).
  • Strong coding skills (public code, open source contributions, version control, testing).
  • Experience analyzing data (statistical modeling, simulation, machine learning).

Full-Time Research Associates

We sometimes advertise positions for research associates/data scientists. These roles are best-suited to post-baccalaureate students who plan to go on to graduate school or careers in data science. Applicants should send a cv, cover letter, and code sample (GitHub/BitBucket/Gitlab profile preferred) to John for consideration. Again, we prioritize applicants with strong coding and quantitative skills.

Undergraduates

While we make our transition to NYU, we are not currently accepting undergraduates into the lab.

High School Students

While we encourage students at all levels to get involved in research early on in their academic careers, having high school students work with the lab poses a couple of serious challenges:

1. NYU takes its responsibility to ensure the protection of minors very seriously, which entails tight restrictions on their involvement in research labs. In most cases, the benefits to us and the students do not outweigh the costs.
2. Because of the very high bar for contribution in the lab and the fact that we do not offer remote positions, it is nearly impossible for high school students to participate in a way that produces a meaningful research experience for them or a measurable contribution to the lab. As a result we do not accept high school students into the lab. Moreover, due to the high volume of emails we receive from high school students, we unfortunately cannot respond individually to requests for remote or in-person internships, project guidance, or general career advice.