Research Engineer

Position Overview

The USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute and Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (INI, www.ini.usc.edu) are world leaders in developing advanced computational and scientific approaches for mapping brain structure and function. Their multidisciplinary environment integrates clinical, psychological, and genotypic information with neuroimaging phenotypes to address research questions in neurology, psychiatry, and developmental neurobiology.

The Institute is recruiting a talented full-time Research Engineer to work on projects related to neurodegenerative disorders under the supervision of the PI. The candidate will support data processing, analysis, application of machine learning, generative AI, ensemble integration methods, data visualization for model interpretability, abstract and paper submissions to conferences, and manuscript preparation.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist with data processing and analysis, applying machine learning, generative AI, and ensemble integration methods.
• Design, develop, and test materials, prototypes, and research methodologies.
• Investigate the feasibility of applying specific scientific principles to potential inventions and projects.
• Work with large-scale databases to identify trajectories of brain decline.
• Provide thorough documentation of methods on GitHub and train coworkers in these methodologies.
• Prepare conference papers, submit abstracts, and assist in manuscript preparation.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science or a related field with 3+ years of experience in neuroimaging.
• Strong understanding of machine learning, deep learning for biomedical imaging, computer vision, Generative AI, ensemble integration, statistics, and image processing.
• Experience working with large-scale neuroimaging and genetics data.
• Proficiency in oral and written communication as evidenced by contributions to scientific conferences and presentations.
• Experience supervising student workers to complete projects.
• Expertise in designing, developing, and maintaining pipelines/tools using machine learning and deep learning for neuroimaging applications.
• Knowledge of data visualization and various data analytics tools and libraries.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in applying AI in neuroimaging.
• Experience in projects related to brain aging and predicting brain structure as a function of sociodemographic and genetic factors.
• Proven experience building MR image quality assessment tools using machine learning and deep learning.
• Experience with synthetic data generation using generative models for harmonizing imaging data from multiple sources/sites.
• Familiarity with ML models for classification and regression, deep learning networks (CNNs, RNNs, autoencoders), and generative models (GANs, diffusion models, vision transformers).
• Proficient in coding with Python, R, MATLAB, C/C++ or similar languages.
• Experience with ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, etc.
• Contributions to relevant conferences (ISBI, ISMRM, OHBM, MICCAI, SIPAIM, EMBC).

Benefits & Perks

• Compensation: $89,291.89 - $99,000.00 annual base salary.
• Employment is contingent upon background screening, including criminal conviction screening, in accordance with University policies.