Join the Lab

Looking to join a team? If you are a creative scientist with a computational background and a systems-level perspective, the Sarvestani Lab might be the place for you.

Available Positions

Postdoctoral Researcher or Senior Research Scientist

We are looking for postdocs or senior research scientists with experimental and computational training.

The ideal candidate will have either a background in engineering with a strong neuroscience interest or a background in neuroscience with engineering and programming expertise. Applicants should be 1) passionate about research integrating the brain and body and 2) comfortable with both experimental and computational work, as most projects include both experimental (calcium imaging/electrophysiology/behavior) and computational components. The daily work will require advanced programming skills in Matlab or Python.

Experimental applicants: the ideal candidate has experience with recording brain activity in free-moving animals, electrophysiology, and 2P in any brain region. Experience with motion capture, behavioral quantification, or closed-loop experimental designs is also helpful.

Computational applicants: the ideal candidate has experience with NeuroAI. Comfort with engineering, electronics, and programming is also helpful.

To apply, please email me at msarvestani@cornell.edu with your CV and a short description of your research experience, some project ideas, and, of course, why you are interested in joining this lab specifically. Please read my mentoring philosophy below.

Undergraduate Research Summer 2025: Biomechanics of Acrobatic Animal Movements

To apply, please email me at msarvestani@cornell.edu with your CV and we'll take it from there.

My management philosophy

I have gained a few core beliefs over my twenty years in academia that guide my mentoring and my lab culture.

First, happy people do better science and make better colleagues. Of course, everyone wants to be happy in their work every day, but the nature of science and scientific evaluation can be inherently frustrating and challenging. Experiments and life don’t always go as planned. I aim to support each lab member so that we can all maintain a sense of pride in our work through any challenges.

Second, my lab places a strong emphasis on teamwork. Cooperative work has the potential to make individual efforts more fruitful, scientific practice more rigorous, and our many hours spent in the lab more enjoyable. Teamwork in the lab translates to shared authorship, open sharing of our methods, data, and findings, attending summer courses and workshops, and other measures of active engagement with the broader scientific community.

Third, teamwork is not incongruent with individual responsibility and career development. To this end, I’ll work with each lab member to develop an individualized career path, network, and scientific reputation.

Finally, I believe that communicating our work to the public is a part of our responsibility as government-funded scientists. Engagements with the public (outreach) will be a routine part of our work in the lab.

That’s what my lab can offer. What I expect in return from my team is a willingness to learn and be challenged, a willingness to give and receive critical feedback, and a willingness to respect and champion other lab members.