Junior Specialist In The Department Of Computer Science

Dr. Michael Beyeler, PI of the Bionic Vision Lab (http://bionicvisionlab.org) in the Departments of Computer Science and Psychological & Brain Sciences at UC Santa Barbara, invites applications from all backgrounds, including those underrepresented in computer science, for a full-time research software engineer position. The anticipated start date is July 1st, 2024, for a one-year term, with compensation aligned with UCSB's salary scales.

The Bionic Vision Lab is an interdisciplinary group interested in exploring the mysteries of human, animal, and artificial vision. Our passion lies in unraveling the science behind bionic technologies that may one day restore useful vision to people living with incurable blindness (https://youtu.be/m2WXEjewqho).

To support our ongoing research initiatives, we are looking for someone who "can get things done"; that is, a dynamic individual who is eager to contribute to open-source software solutions (C#/shaders, Python) and work with a multidisciplinary team of researchers to rapidly prototype and iterate on innovative ideas (virtual/augmented reality, computer vision, robotics) to advance the lab's research initiatives. This role is an excellent opportunity for those seeking to enrich their research experience (e.g., "gap year"), aiming for co-authorship, and enhancing their publication record in a supportive and flexible environment.

The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching, and service as appropriate to the position.

Main job responsibilities include:

● Spearhead the development and prototyping of innovative software solutions to support the Bionic Vision Lab's diverse research initiatives, with the potential to contribute to publications.

● Extend, enhance, and package our BionicVisionXR simulator (https://github.com/bionicvisionlab/BionicVisionXR; Unity, C#, shaders) by developing new functionalities that contribute to our groundbreaking research

● Engage in the prototyping of novel assistive technology for people who are blind, working at the intersection of augmented reality and sensor-based technology, and crafting software for the analysis of multimodal data

● Maintain and improve our open-source packages (e.g., https://github.com/pulse2percept/pulse2percept), ensuring their effectiveness and reliability for research purposes