Data Science/Machine Learning/Cognitive Science GRA - Fall 2025 - SEAL

Overview:

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.   

Georgia Tech's Mission and Values

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do: 

1. Students are our top priority.
2. We strive for excellence.
3. We thrive on diversity.
4. We celebrate collaboration.
5. We champion innovation.
6. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
7. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
8. We act ethically.
9. We are responsible stewards.

Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

Job Description

This GTRI Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) position offers you extensive opportunities to participate in diverse scientific and technological endeavors, use state-of-the-art equipment and rapidly improve your technical and leadership skills. This position is for Fall 2025 for a half-time (50%) graduate research assistantship.

Georgia Tech Research Institute's Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory (SEAL) seeks a GRA to join our Command, Control, and Communications (C3D) team for Fall 2025. Students will assist Research Scientists in various Cognitive Science and Computer Science related research tasks. Students should be interested in learning about C3 operations, design and development of human-centered artificial intelligence, cognitive modeling, and simulation. Students should also be capable of helping to conduct research under the direction of Research Scientists, participating in computational analysis using standard analysis packages such as R, SPSS, or others used in scientific research, and competently reporting the results of such analysis according to professional publication standards. Students should have software engineering and AI/ML experience, ideally with past work/project experiences developing in Python.

Due to the nature of the work at GTRI, job duties will depend upon contract and sponsor needs. Students could participate in the following projects/tasks:

• Perform exploratory research (or human subjects research if applicable) to address sponsor interests
• Conduct and report on computational science/data analysis
• Coordinate with other research scientists/engineers to develop software for research testbed and experimental gaming platforms
• Contribute to technical reports and presentations

Required Minimum Qualifications

Graduate Research Assistant

• Pursuing a Master’s degree at Georgia Tech in Computer Science (with Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or Cognitive Science emphasis)
• Must be enrolled full-time (12+ credit hours)
• Must have a 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA
• Commit to 20 hours of work per week
• Ability to apply foundational cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and/or cognitive psychology principles and concepts to applied and exploratory research in artificial intelligence and human machine teaming
• Experience in contributing to academic research, ability to complete CITI training (as applicable) upon onboarding
• Experience with common programming languages or data analysis software packages for computational data science (e.g., R, SPSS, SAS, Java, Python, C++)
• Good academic writing and verbal communication skills
• Familiarity with office applications including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledgeable of common programming languages for software development to support the construction of basic AI/ML applications (e.g., Java, Python)
• Ability to quickly learn new software applications and tools
• Ability to explore and quickly learn computational/data analysis approaches
• Experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch/Tensorflow.
• Knowledgeable about or able to quickly learn video gaming concepts and environments (e.g. Minecraft, StarCraft II)

Hours per Week

20 hours per week

U.S. Citizenship Requirements

Due to our research contracts with the US federal government, candidates for this position are required to be US Citizens.

Clearance Type Required

Candidates must be able to obtain and maintain an active security clearance.

Housing and Relocation

Housing and relocation assistance are not available for this position.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to maintaining a fair and respectful environment for all. To that end, and in accordance with federal and state law, Board of Regents policy, and University policy, Georgia Tech provides equal opportunity to all faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including applicants for admission and/or employment, contractors, volunteers, and participants in institutional programs, activities, or services.  Georgia Tech complies with all applicable laws and regulations governing equal opportunity in the workplace and in educational activities.

Georgia Tech prohibits discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, on the basis of race, ethnicity, ancestry, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, genetics, or veteran status in its programs, activities, employment, and admissions.  This prohibition applies to faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including affiliates, invitees, and guests. Further, Georgia Tech prohibits citizenship status, immigration status, and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, and recruitment, except where such restrictions are required in order to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or Attorney General directive, or where they are required by Federal, State, or local government contract.

USG Core Values Statement

The University System of Georgia is comprised of our 26 institutions of higher education and learning as well as the System Office. Our USG Statement of Core Values are Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect. These values serve as the foundation for all that we do as an organization, and each USG community member is responsible for demonstrating and upholding these standards. More details on the USG Statement of Core Values and Code of Conduct are available in USG Board Policy 8.2.18.1.2 and can be found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/C224/#p8.2.18_personnel_conduct.

Additionally, USG supports Freedom of Expression as stated in Board Policy 6.5 Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section6/C2653.