Boston University opens tenure-track search in systems neuroscience and behavior
Boston University is recruiting tenure-track Assistant Professor faculty in systems neuroscience and neurobiology of behavior, a hire designed to deepen the university’s bench in circuit-level brain research and expand its work on cognitive and neurological health. The appointments sit in either the Department of Biology or the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, giving the search a dual home that reflects how modern neuroscience increasingly crosses disciplinary boundaries. Candidates are expected to use cutting-edge approaches to study how neural circuits generate and regulate behavior across a wide range of organismal models.
The emphasis is on investigators who can measure and perturb neural activity at large scale, combine molecular tools with functional recording, and connect those experiments to complex behaviors in naturalistic settings. In practical terms, the posting favors scientists who can move beyond isolated assay systems and ask how distributed brain activity translates into behavior in environments that more closely resemble real life. For a field that increasingly relies on integrated datasets, the call for scale, precision, and behavioral relevance is not a cosmetic detail. It is the center of the search.
Convergent research shapes the scientific priorities
The faculty lines are part of Boston University’s broader investment in convergent research, an institutional strategy that brings together deep disciplinary expertise, innovative methods, and diverse perspectives to tackle complex problems in brain and cognitive health. The search is also folded into a university-wide cluster hire in Advancing Brain and Cognitive Health, building on BU’s work in Health Across the Lifespan. The cluster spans biology, biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, health sciences, mathematics and statistics, and psychological and brain sciences.
This structure matters because the questions now driving neuroscience rarely sit inside a single silo. Neural information processing, circuit dynamics, rehabilitation, and psychiatric or neurologic disease mechanisms increasingly demand collaboration among experimental biologists, engineers, computational scientists, and clinicians. BU is clearly signaling a preference for candidates whose programs can complement human neuroimaging, computational neuroscience, brain-computer interfaces, and rehabilitation applications already represented in the convergent search.
A faculty member working at the interface of circuit physiology and behavior can fill a specific gap in that ecosystem. High-resolution recordings and manipulations in model organisms can generate mechanistic hypotheses that later inform translational studies in humans, while computational approaches can help organize the complexity of large-scale neural data. The job description suggests a search for scientists who can help convert experimental precision into a broader understanding of cognition, resilience, and disease.
A faculty role built around independent research and teaching
Boston University expects successful candidates to lead an independent research program, pursue collaborative work, teach and mentor students, and contribute service at the department, university, and professional level. The ideal candidate will hold a PhD or equivalent degree in biology, neuroscience, psychology, or a related field. A demonstrated ability to secure external funding is also part of the qualification profile, reflecting the realities of sustaining a competitive research program in a resource-intensive field.
The teaching and mentorship expectations are explicit. Applicants must show commitment to excellence and innovation in education, along with a willingness to work in an inclusive and diverse learning environment. For a tenure-track scientist, that combination is more than administrative language. It frames the role as a full academic appointment in which laboratory leadership, grant development, undergraduate and graduate instruction, and student mentoring all carry equal institutional weight.
The post also includes a salary range of $115,000 to $130,000, with final compensation and rank determined by academic record, research background, years of qualifying experience, and other institutional factors including licensure, specialty, departmental budgets, training, and internal pay comparison. The range gives applicants a realistic view of the university’s hiring expectations while leaving room for adjustment based on seniority and merit.
What Boston University is trying to build
At a scientific level, the search points toward a broader ambition: a neuroscience community that can move from circuit mapping to disease relevance without losing experimental rigor. The university describes its larger neuroscience environment as one that supports collaboration across neuroscience, medicine, public health, engineering, data science, and psychology. Those connections are especially important for work on neurological and psychiatric disease, where behavior, brain circuitry, and environmental context interact in ways that single-discipline approaches often miss.
The search language also places unusual weight on research in naturalistic environments. That is a meaningful clue about the kind of science BU wants to support. Behaviors observed under highly artificial laboratory conditions can reveal mechanisms, but they do not always capture the complexity of decision-making, social interaction, stress, or adaptive function. A program built around naturalistic behavior can generate data with greater ecological validity, especially when paired with large-scale neural readouts and targeted perturbation tools.
Boston University’s stated commitment to openness, access, and academic freedom adds another layer to the search. The institution frames the hire within a tradition of broad participation in academic life and a commitment to the exchange of ideas. For a field as collaborative and methodologically diverse as neuroscience, that environment can be decisive. Faculty recruitment is never only about filling a line; it also shapes which questions a department will be able to ask over the next decade.
Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis, with a priority deadline of November 15 and a final closing date of November 30. The requested materials include a personal statement tailored to the convergent area and department, a curriculum vitae, a research statement, a teaching and mentoring statement, and three letters of recommendation. Final candidates will undergo background checks for certain faculty and staff positions, consistent with university policy.
The search closes with a clear scientific signal: BU wants investigators who can combine neural measurement, perturbation, molecular biology, and behavior into a research program substantial enough to attract external funding and contribute to a larger institutional push in brain and cognitive health. The remaining question is which candidate can best bridge those domains while building a lab that is both mechanistically rigorous and broadly collaborative.