At Coalas Lab, we aim to better understand how we communicate about our visual world. To answer longstanding research questions and advance AI for social good, we’re working with state-of-the-art AI models, and conduct rigorous and well-controlled human subject experiments. Research thrives when diverse perspectives come together and our lab aims to bring together people with diverse backgrounds and expertise.

Join the Coalas Lab as an undergraduate student

Typically undergraduate research assistants work in our lab for credit the first semester, with options to continue either for credit or on a paid position after the first semester. Undergraduates working more than one term in our lab often wind up contributing as co-authors to published research papers. Due to time constraints, we currently don’t offer undergraduate research opportunities for students outside of UCLA. Please include a current resume/CV, transcript, and statement of interest with any inquiry you make regarding research opportunities.

Join the Coalas Lab as a PhD student

We’re currently recruiting PhD students! If you’re interested in joining the lab as a PhD student, please apply to the PhD program at UCLA’s Department of Communication. Successful applicants generally have previous training in some combination of linguistics, computer science (programming, algorithms, AI), cognitive science (human subject study design, probabilistic models of language and cognition), and/or human-computer interaction (including experience with blind and low-vision participant recruitment). More information about our PhD program application process can be found here.

Elisa is also open to working with and potentially (co-)supervising students in related PhD programs, such as Linguistics and Computer Science, but at this point she does not generally play a direct role in admission decisions for PhD programs other than UCLA Communication.

If you are already at a related PhD program at UCLA or another university and are potentially interested in working with us, please contact Elisa directly to tell us about your background, interests, and goals. Please include direct connections about how your work relates to the research done at Coalas. (Due to bandwidth constraints, Elisa may not respond if you don’t include all this information in an inquiry.)