AI/LLM Postdoctoral Research Associate

A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation's top public universities and is among is the top ten research universities in the nation for federal research expenditures as well as for federally funded social and behavioral sciences research and development.

Here at Carolina, our highly skilled postdocs play a vital role in our research enterprise and towards our overall commitment to research excellence. Across many disciplines, postdocs contribute to the intellectual vitality of the University. They provide innovative ideas and perspectives, foster a stimulating research environment and advance knowledge within their fields. Postdocs are crucial members of our scientific research workforce, contributors to our research outputs and an important reason why Carolina is one of the leading public research institutions in the country.

UNC-Chapel Hill offers postdocs comprehensive medical and vision coverage, paid leave, and benefits and services that support professional development and a healthy work/life balance. Chapel Hill regularly ranks as one of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, a reputation guided by the diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit

The mission of the School of Nursing is to enhance and improve the health and well-being of the people of North Carolina and the nation, and, as relevant and appropriate, the people of other nations, through its programs of education, research, and scholarship, and through clinical practice and community service. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing has been the leader in nursing education in North Carolina throughout its history. Established in 1950, it was the first school of nursing in North Carolina to offer a four-year baccalaureate nursing degree program followed by the first master's degree program, the first continuing education program for nurses, first doctoral program, and first accelerated BSN option to students with college degrees. Today, the School is renowned for its academic programs, its research and its commitment to clinical and community service within state, national and global communities.

Position Summary

The Center for Virtual Care Value and Excellence (ViVE), led by Dr. Saif Khairat, is seeking an AI/LLM Postdoctoral Research Associate to join our AI research team. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to innovative projects at the forefront of healthcare delivery improvement, leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) and clinical data analysis.

About the Position

Our Postdoctoral Research Program is designed for candidates who have completed their PhD within the last two years and have experience as postdocs or industry researchers. This position offers a 12-month term with potential for extension based on mutual interest.

We are looking for individuals with a strong theoretical and practical background in large language models, machine learning, and natural language processing, combined with a collaborative spirit and a drive for problem-solving. You'll join a multidisciplinary team that values diversity and brings together expertise in software engineering, big data, clinical informatics, and medicine.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with researchers to design, develop, and refine large language and generative models.
• Develop novel algorithms for generative modeling tasks and optimize LLM/GPT-like models on large datasets.
• Stay abreast of advancements in language modeling and generative AI research.
• Apply your expertise to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements

Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related fields.

Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience

• Expertise in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Natural Language Processing (NLP), deep learning frameworks.
• Proficiency in Python and frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face Transformers, or LangChain
• Familiarity with clinical or healthcare data (e.g., EHRs, clinical notes, structured claims data)
• Proven research record with peer-reviewed publications in relevant fields
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work in a collaborative environment.

Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience

• Distributed parallel training and parameter-efficient tuning.
• Familiarity with multi-modal foundation models, HITL techniques, and prompt engineering.
• Experience with LLM fine-tuning, prompt engineering, or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• Experience deploying large-scale machine learning models in cloud environments.

Special Physical/Mental Requirements Special Instructions

For information on UNC Postdoctoral Benefits and Services click here

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