(Sr) Scientist, Computational Anatomy

• 3-5 hours per week for research duties
• 1-2 hours per week for communication, correspondence, or meetings
• Volunteering remotely / online

At the Freedom of Form Foundation, we believe in the right of individuals to express their identities, and to make their own choices that accomplish their goals. This is becoming more important every day. Today’s advances in biotechnology and medicine present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make sure the future of civilization is accepting, affirming, and embracing of individuality. This future includes tails, potentially sooner than you think!

Whether your reasoning is based on excitement or imagination, dysphoria about something that feels like it’s missing, or anything in-between, we’re supportive and working to make almost all types of identity affirmation transformations possible within our lifetimes.

A key tool for our plan to succeed is the Anatomy Re-engineering Framework, a computer-aided design tool that will help us define the outcome of a transformation in scientific detail. This tool will be used internally by scientists and engineers to construct fully functioning alternative body plans, which are an essential reference for our researchers to develop the genetic or surgical transformation procedures. As a result, we need this program to be safe, reliable, and easy to use.

Within a few years, we envision this software to allow users to design and customize a character’s body plan in real time. It will describe the exact positions and shapes of all relevant tissues, so that it can identify and prevent harmful issues such as constrained blood flow, painful pressure points, impaired movement, overheating, respiratory issues, and much more. This way, we can ensure that a transformation procedure’s endpoint is both aesthetically pleasing and harmless for the patient.

Our code is open-source so that anyone will be able to use our software. It is currently under heavy development, and we would love your help. If you think you can help us get further in this project, don’t hesitate to apply!

You’ll be joining an exceptional team of scientists and engineers who are eager to share knowledge and experience. We would love it if you could join us.

Title and level of responsibilities (Scientist/Senior Scientist) will depend on experience. Also, note that if multiple candidates are interested, we’ll consider each one independently, not competitively.

• Does our mission mean something special to you?
• Do you feel personal accountability for projects and tasks you are involved in?
• Do you enjoy learning new things, and applying your abilities in new ways?
• Are you willing to see a project through to the end, within the bounds of your personal health?

Positive answers to those questions are the biggest predictors of success – more important than professional degrees, in our experience. If you can answer yes to all four questions, we strongly encourage you to reach out. Regardless of your career stage, and even if this particular role isn’t a perfect match for your skills, there’s a very good chance we can find something that works.

These responsibilities reflect what you’ll be doing once you get up to speed. We’ll train you on specifics.

• Detailed analyses of the shapes of bones, muscles, and other parts of anatomy. Adapting our existing shape generation functions to represent those features, and defining parameters and shape constraints.
• Programming, especially programmatic implementation of anatomy. Usage and enhancement of proof-of-concept implementations already in place.
• Communicating well with teammates. Giving and receiving advice and feedback. Presenting data and key insights. Asking questions.
• Frequently working with your manager and teammates to clarify responsibilities and action items. Doing your part to advise on tasks and timelines.Managing tasks well, and sticking to timelines that are established.

• Mastery of gathering, analyzing, and summarizing complex and sometimes conflicting information from literature and other sources.
• Comfort programming in at least one language. Good habits with documentation and other coding practices.
• Patience when necessary to get ‘under the hood’ with environment setups such as one or more IDEs, Git, and package management.
• Selective attention to detail. Ability to sense whether small differences are, or are not, a big deal. Asking when uncertain, and careful to confirm details whenever impacts could be important.
• Ability to work with your manager and teammates to plan, prioritize, and follow through on tasks. Appreciation for the importance of timelines, especially when other people are relying on prerequisites to get done.
• Demonstrated success in a team and/or project-driven setting.

Substitutions from totally different fields are probably fine. We’re a big believer in translatable skills.

• Knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and/or embryonic development.
• Experience using Blender, object oriented languages (such as experience with C#, C++/C, Java, or others), and/or Python.
• Bachelor’s degree, along with some graduate school and/or industry experience.
• Experience communicating in a technical setting.

• Supportive and genuine environment, and source of new friendships.
• Access to tools and resources. If you need something for your project, we’ll cover it.
• Stretching yourself with new challenges in a growing environment, practicing new career skills earlier than your contemporaries.
• Seeing your work make an impact, and create something you’re proud of.
• Planned for end of 2022: A fair and rewarding intellectual property policy ensuring inventors share in the commercialization process if one arises from your work.

If you have any questions or want to discuss more before applying, please send an email to [email protected]. We won’t bite (too hard)!

In particular, if you are interested in this or other volunteering opportunities, and you’re not sure whether or not it would be a fit, please reach out and we’d be happy to explore possibilities with you.

Please send an email to [email protected] with:

• Subject line – Make sure to include the position title somewhere in the subject line.
• Message body – Cover letter. We’re very interested to hear your take on our organization’s mission and if it has personal meaning for you. Please address your message to the hiring manager, Lathreas.
• Attach – Your Resume or CV.

If we feel there may be a match, we’ll reach out to you to follow up.