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The Department of Linguistics, in collaboration with the AI in Arts and Humanities Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, is hiring a Post Doctoral Scholar for a two-year term appointment beginning August 2026 and ending August 2028.
This position is one of three new post doctoral appointments in the Arts and Humanities, each specifically tied to one of three new AI certificates: AI, Art and Creativity (in development); AI, Ethics and Society; and AI, Language and Mind. These roles work in tandem with the newly established Arts and Humanities AI Institute to support the OSU Provost’s AI Fluency Initiative, preparing students and faculty to make informed decisions about the technological changes around AI.
The Post Doctoral Scholar will conduct research in the area of AI large language model interpretability, including researching the capabilities of transformers as language learners and language users using behavioral experiments or existing data. In this research, the Post Doctoral Scholar may employ recent interpretability methods such as causal interventions, dictionary learning and circuit analysis, but other kinds of work related to interpretability of AI large language models will be considered. The Post Doctoral Scholar will also refine existing course materials and develop new course materials in the area of AI interpretability for broad-enrollment general education courses on how transformers and other language technologies work.
Performance Objectives
The Post Doctoral Scholar should maintain a steady record of publication in the area of AI interpretability and develop collaborative projects with faculty at OSU. This includes supervising research with graduate and undergraduate students, identifying and selecting problems to be studied in collaboration with faculty and graduate students, performing experiments, collecting and analyzing data and preparing research results for publication in reports, papers, journals, books, and other media. The Post Doctoral Scholar should also contribute substantially to efforts to review and update existing course materials for courses on AI models of language and other computational language technology (particularly LING3804, AI Models of Language), and to the development of materials for a one-credit hour module for an AI-centered multi-modular course, in service of OSU's AI Fluency initiative. The Post Doctoral Scholar will have a two-course annual teaching load, and is charged with helping to stand up the AI Language and Mind Certificate, and to contribute to the intellectual and pedagogical life of Ohio State’s AI Fluency initiative.
Education and Experience Requirements
Required: A Ph.D. in Linguistics or Computer and Information Science or doctoral degree in a related field is required prior to the start position date of August 10, 2026. ABDs are welcome to apply.
The Post Doctoral Scholar will be in residence at Ohio State from August 10, 2026 through August 9, 2028, with an annual salary of $61,008 and a research account of $7,500 to be used during the period of the appointment. Because scholars are expected to be fully integrated with the intellectual life of the university, they must plan to reside in the Columbus, OH area.
Application Instructions
To apply, please prepare and submit the following materials:
1. Curriculum Vitae (CV), including:
2. Cover letter describing your interest and experience in AI Interpretability, and how it will support Ohio State’s AI Fluency initiative and the AI in Arts and Humanities Program in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Department Information
The Department of Linguistics at The Ohio State University has a highly rated graduate (Ph.D. primarily) program and a large and vibrant undergraduate program. We pride ourselves on providing comprehensive coverage of the field with world-class faculty in all of the key areas, on producing Ph.D.s who are both well-rounded and have considerable depth in their respective areas of specialization, and on offering undergraduates a stimulating research-rich environment for learning about our field. The Department is housed in a recently renovated building with state-of-the-art office, meeting, and lab spaces. Faculty have many existing collaborations across units and colleges, including with linguists and others in the Departments of Computer Science and Engineering, Philosophy, Psychology, and English; OSU’s world languages and cultures departments; as well as within the Buckeye Language Network, the Translational Data Analytics Institute, the Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, and the area studies centers.
Final candidates are subject to successful completion of a background check. A drug screen or physical may be required during the post offer process.
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