Call for Postdoctoral Scholar: Civil Rights AI Audits

Updated: 27 November 2024

The University of Pennsylvania invites applications for an 18-month Postdoctoral Research Scholar position in the School of Engineering’s Computer and Information Science Department. The postdoctoral fellow will work on a Ford Foundation-funded project focused on civil rights-focused audits of AI. Audited systems could include automated decision systems, online platforms, generative AI systems, and others.

The candidate will be expected to engage with all aspects of the research, including problem identification and experimental design, developing and deploying computational infrastructure for data collection, managing large-scale online data collection from human subjects, conducting statistical analyses of results, and explication and argumentation of audit findings. The ideal candidate will have prior experience conducting audits of AI systems and communicating findings in academic publications. This experience could include techniques like sock puppet audits, web scraping, user-facing mobile or web tool development, and statistical analysis.

The postdoctoral scholar will work under the joint supervision of Dr. Danaë Metaxa (UPenn) and Dr. Sorelle Friedler (Haverford College), and may collaborate with and mentor graduate and undergraduate students as part of the project. The scholar may also be responsible for coordinating with collaborators outside of academia, such as those from civil rights organizations or advocacy groups. Candidates must have excellent interpersonal, writing, and research skills, strong time management and organizational skills, the ability to prioritize and meet deadlines and work both independently and as an active team member.

We seek an applicant that fits the description below for immediate consideration (while following university hiring rules and procedures). Interested candidates should email Danaë Metaxa <metaxa@seas.upenn.edu> and Sorelle Friedler <sorelle@cs.haverford.edu> directly with the subject line “Postdoc Applicant”. Please include a CV, a brief cover letter, and the contact information for an academic reference.