Davis AI Research and Teaching Scientist

Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence Salary The Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence invites applications for an AI Research and Teaching Scientist, a continuing administrative staff appointment, eligible for faculty status, at Colby College.

The Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence is the first cross-disciplinary institute for Artificial Intelligence at a liberal arts college. The institute facilitates interdisciplinary human-centered faculty and student scholarship by empowering members of the Colby community to become critically informed AI tool users and/or applications engineers. The institute also works with local, regional and national partners on research, educational and outreach activities.

The successful candidate for this position will have the opportunity to shape the future of AI education within the liberal arts context by teaching courses and pursuing interdisciplinary research. The position offers a competitive salary, generous research and travel funding allowances, mentoring, and professional development. This is a renewable continuing administrative appointment, subject to performance.

To read more about Davis Institute for AI, check out the website at https://davisinstituteai.colby.edu/

• Required to teach two courses per academic year with learning goals that include developing student capacities for applying AI tools, evaluating machine learning methodologies, and critical thought related to the ethical, moral and cultural implications of AI.
• Maintaining a research agenda with a goal of peer-reviewed publication in their area of expertise that regularly includes application of AI.
• Providing advice to faculty and staff for AI applications across diverse compute environments, including single-user systems (Windows, MacOS, Linux), cloud-based platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure), and high-performance computing resources both on-premises and online. The ideal candidate will have expertise in deploying, managing, and optimizing AI solutions across these varied infrastructures.
• Working with the DavisAI director in strategic planning efforts.
• Representing DavisAI on appropriate college committees.
• Representing Colby College through participation in AI related professional conferences.

• A Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated expertise in AI research with a strong publication record.
• Experience in teaching or mentoring students at the college or university level.
• Demonstrated track record of peer-reviewed scholarship in one or more areas related to artificial intelligence.
• Strong interest in the social, cultural and ethical implications of AI (prior teaching and research experience in one of these areas preferred).
• Interest in interdisciplinary scholarship (interdisciplinary research experience preferred).
• Excellent communication and organizational skills.

• Experience securing external research funding.
• Knowledge of the latest trends and developments in AI and their practical applications.
• Commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion in research and teaching.

• To successfully perform the essential functions of this position, an employee must be able to maintain appropriate confidentiality with regard to employee data, documents, issues, etc., and respect privacy needs of employees and past employees with regard to the same.
• The ability to comply with highly inflexible deadlines is required to successfully perform the essential functions of this position; there will be multiple occurrences of sudden, urgent task completion required.
• There may be occurrences of employees, past employees, members of the general public, and others who express opinions, may exhibit strong emotions, which will require the employee to interact professionally, diplomatically, and appropriately in such situations.
• While performing the essential duties of this position, an employee would frequently be required to move around the office space as well as within hallways, meeting rooms, and other parts of the campus facilities.
• There may be multiple/daily instances of prolonged personal computer use which would include keyboard and/or mouse usage as well as viewing a computer monitor.
• An employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 35 pounds to perform essential position functions.
• Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and ability to adjust focus.
• The overall work environment requires the mental ability to shift focus quickly due to interruptions; an employee must be able to mentally track multiple projects and tasks as well.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate; however, there may be unexpected instances of somewhat loud sounds.