Positions at ARIA

Postdoctoral Position in David Williams’ and Jude Mitchell’s Laboratories at the University of Rochester

Added 09/16/2026

A postdoctoral position is available in the laboratories of David Williams and Jude Mitchell. Williams and Mitchell share project to discover how the visual system computes the sign of defocus from the retinal image, a longstanding question in visual neuroscience. This computation is key to the ability of the visual system to drive accommodation and emmetropization in the correct direction, the failure of which can have important clinical implications including myopia, which has reached epidemic proportions globally. In Williams’ lab, the successful applicant will learn to use advanced optical imaging technologies such as adaptive optics to study the retina, including imaging the calcium responses of single retinal ganglion cells to visual stimuli in the living primate eye. In Mitchell’s lab complementary experiments will use MEA recordings in the isolated marmoset retina as a convergent approach to identifying defocus sensors in the retina.

The Williams laboratory belongs to the Advanced Retinal Imaging Alliance (ARIA), a community of more than two dozen scientists and engineers who use advanced optical technologies to probe retinal function. ARIA is closely affiliated with the Center for Visual Science, the Flaum Eye Institute, the Institute of Optics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Neuroscience. The Mitchell Laboratory is in the department of Brain and Cognitive Science The University of Rochester has ~50 additional vision scientists, providing a vibrant and highly collaborative research community focused on eye and brain. Rochester is a very affordable and livable city that has excellent opportunities for outdoor adventures in the nearby Finger Lakes Region and the Adirondack Mountains.

Applicants should submit a statement of interest, curriculum vitae, and names of three references to both and .

The University of Rochester is an equal opportunity employer.