Join the lab

The BLAB Lab is always looking for motivated and curious students from undergraduate, capstone, and graduate programs to join our lab. Research assistants have the opportunity to learn and contribute through hands-on experiences including data collection, data analysis, experimental design, and experiment programming. Depending on individual interests, students may choose to focus on speech production studies, online speech perception studies, or brain imaging. All students also participate in our bi-weekly lab meetings and journal club discussions. Typically, students participate in the lab for course credit, though depending on lab needs, as well as the student’s status and prior research experience, some hourly positions may be available.

If you are interested in gaining more experience in speech and neuroscience research with the BLAB Lab, please fill out the survey found here.

Prospective graduate students interested in joining the lab should apply through Communication Sciences and Disorders, Language Sciences, or the Neuroscience Training Program. Students in other labs or programs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are also able to have an affiliation with the lab. Interested students should email the lab director, Carrie Niziolek (cniziolek@wisc.edu).

Our lab is not currently recruiting for any postdoctoral research positions. However, interested researchers are encouraged to explore our website and reach out to the PIs of the Speech Motor Neuroscience Group if they are interested in joining the lab. Additional information, mostly taken from the last time our lab was recruiting, is listed below.

The Speech Motor Neuroscience Group at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has previously invited applications for an NIH-funded postdoctoral research position in the field of speech motor control and speech motor neuroscience. The Speech Motor Neuroscience group consists of two research labs, the Brain Language and Acoustic Behavior lab (directed by Carrie Niziolek) and the Speech Motor Action + Control lab (directed by Ben Parrell). Both labs are funded through grants from the NIH. Postdoctoral scholars have opportunities to interact with vibrant research communities at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, including the Waisman Center (which houses both labs) and the Neuroscience Training Program.

This research involves behavioral and neuroimaging experiments with neurobiologically healthy individuals as well as individuals with cerebellar ataxia and Parkinson’s disease. The postdoc will be expected to take a leading role in the design and execution of these experiments, including the analysis of existing neuroimaging data. The position could additionally entail research in other areas of focus for the lab, including predictive coding of self-produced vocalizations, feedback-driven speech learning, and dynamics of native and non-native speech production, multisensory integration, motor learning, and comparisons of speech and nonspeech motor control systems.

Interested candidates should email email both bparrell@wisc.edu and cniziolek@wisc.edu.

Required qualifications (as listed for recent appointments):

• PhD or equivalent in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, communication sciences and disorders, or a closely related field
• A documented history of research productivity
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Leadership and organizational skills

Useful qualifications (as listed for recent appointments):

• Experience with M/EEG data
• Experience collecting and analyzing human behavioral data, particularly speech data
• Computational skills, including MATLAB