Application Instructions:
Due the volume of inquiries, we have moved to a standardized form. If you are interested in applying to our group as an undergraduate/MS/PhD student, postdoc, or visiting researcher, please complete the following application: https://forms.gle/XmqAeyZtVZ7UzhJK7
I deeply appreciate your interest and the time you invest in this. If there is an opening that’s a good fit for you, we will be in touch. We typically review applicants and contact prospective students for the fall semester in the prior January and for the spring semester in the proceeding September — we appreciate your patience in the meantime. We will receive a notification for each new form submission and there is no need to reach out directly.
For postdoc inquiries or self-funded students (e.g. PhD fellowship awardees), these undergo a separate off-cycle review process and please also send me an email after completing the form. In order to bypass spam filters, please start with title of your email with the tag “[Prospective Neuroboticist]”.
Following acceptance from the lab, prospective graduate students must also formally apply to the UVM Graduate College. Thanks!
*Note: Prof. Cheney is on sabbatical and will not be taking on new students for the 2025-2026 academic year. We will resume reviewing applications in January for Fall 2026 start dates.
Openings for PhD Students and Postdocs in Evolutionary Machine Learning:
We frequently have open opportunities (1-2 per year) for exceptional students who wish to pursue a PhD or Postdoctoral position in Computer Science or Complex Systems and Data Science.
We are especially interested in prospective researchers with applicable prior research experience and a desire to build foundational intuition and understanding within our core focus areas of evolutionary computation (especially evolutionary robotics, evolutionary machine learning, and generative/developmental systems), and deep learning (especially around meta-learning, few-shot learning, online continual learning, and neural architecture search), and reinforcement learning.
Why UVM?
This was perhaps best articulated by Alexa Woodward, the inaugural Executive Director of the UVM Complex Systems Center, in reflecting on why she chose to make the move here from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She said “There are a lot of smart people doing smart things in the world, but very few of them are having as much fun as these folks.” We take fun and play very seriously here and strive to form a community and lab where creativity, collaboration, openness, and acceptance are paramount and work in concert with dedicated and rigorous science. As a result, our alumni have had outstanding success, both during their time as students here and in securing and excelling in jobs in industry and academia post-UVM — and most of all, enjoyed the journey along the way.
About the University of Vermont:
The University of Vermont (UVM), established in 1791, is a comprehensive research university with a current enrollment of 12,000+ undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. The scientific and academic environments in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, and throughout UVM, are dynamic, highly collaborative, and multi-disciplinary. UVM has state of the art core facilities, including the Vermont Advanced Computing Center, the Advanced Genome Technologies Core, and the UVM Medical Center.
The University is located in beautiful Burlington, Vermont, about 2 hours from Montreal, 3 hours from Boston, and 6 hours from New York City. Burlington is consistently ranked as one of the best small cities in America for quality of living, and features year-round outdoor recreation and cultural events. Greater Burlington has a population of approximately 150,000 and enjoys a panoramic setting on Lake Champlain, bordered by the Adirondack and Green Mountains. The city is a world-renowned tourist destination, featuring outstanding outdoor sports and activities such as hiking, biking, kayaking, and skiing — while also being home to top-notch restaurants, farms, breweries, and artists.
The University of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any category legally protected by federal or state law. Applicants are welcome from any region, and there are no associated citizenship requirements.