2013: JOBS for Postdocs & PhD Students in Machine Learning & Evolution & Robotics
in Jürgen Schmidhuber's group at the
Swiss AI Lab IDSIA,
especially for the
ProtoTouch
project,
initially for 2 years, with possibility of prolongation.
Update of 5 May 2013: the positions are not filled yet!
We are seeking outstanding postdocs and PhD students
with experience / interest in topics such as
deep learning neural networks (NN),
recurrent neural networks (RNN),
GPU programming,
evolutionary computation,
RNN evolution,
adaptive robotics,
curiosity-driven learning & intrinsic motivations based on our theory of surprise and interestingness and the Formal Theory of Fun & Creativity,
computer vision and 3D animation,
reinforcement learning & policy gradients
for partially observable environments,
hierarchical reinforcement learning,
statistical / Bayesian approaches to machine learning,
statistical robotics,
unsupervised learning,
general
artificial intelligence,
universal learning machines.
The general goal is to advance the state of the art in machine learning and AI,
in the context of various concrete research projects.
Most of the funding is provided by three European projects outlined below.
For now, we are mainly interested in candidates applying for the ProtoTouch project.
But you will also
collaborate on other projects with other lab members -
we are one big family!
1. The ProtoTouch
(EU-PEOPLE) project investigates novel touch-based user interfaces (e.g., touch screens for mobile devices, touch pads for computers). In a consortium of 10 European research institutes, you will develop and apply machine learning methods to investigate the performance of novel tactile displays, and biological processes responsible for touch. Candidates should have multidisciplinary research interests in areas like machine learning, electronic devices and neurophysiology. The positions offer training opportunities in skills that will kick-start your academic career, such as interdisciplinary collaboration, project management, means of exploiting research results, communication and societal outreach.
ProtoTouch candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity in Switzerland for more than 1 year in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. (PhD students: compare Euraxess ad.)
2. The NASCENCE
EU (STREP) project requires expertise in machine learning
and evolutionary computation (genetic algorithms, evolution
strategies, estimation algorithms, neuroevolution).
We intend to apply
evolutionary algorithms to automatically discover the
electrical signals which transform a nano-particle substrate
(e.g. networks of nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes or films of
graphene) into useful computational circuits.
3. The WAY
EU (STREP) project on wearable interfaces and hand function recovery requires signal processing for EEG analysis combined with machine learning (recurrent neural networks, optimization). The goal is to develop and apply algorithms that facilitate control of hand prostheses and hand exoskeletons through brain-computer interfaces, in collaboration with partner institutes. We focus on practical application of hand-assistive devices, with a strong involvement of patients in clinical trials.
Our international project partners include neuroscientists,
mathematicians, psychologists, roboticists, and other
experts from the UK, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, France, and the US.
Start: at flexible times in 2013, but preferably soon - PROTOTOUCH will officially start in May; you should start in September 2013 at the latest.
Salary: Postdoc CHF 72,000 / year (>US$ 77,000 / year as of 3 May 2013);
PhD student CHF 42,000 / year (>US$ 44,000).
Low taxes. There is travel funding in case of papers accepted at important conferences.
The Swiss AI Lab IDSIA
was the smallest of the world's top ten AI labs listed in the
1997
"X-Lab Survey" by Business Week magazine,
and ranked in fourth place in the category "Computer Science -
Biologically Inspired". IDSIA's most important
work was done after 1997 though.
It is small but visible, competitive, and influential.
For example, it
recently won many international pattern recognition competitions.
Its highly cited
Ant Colony
Optimization Algorithms broke numerous benchmark records and
are now widely used in industry for routing, logistics etc (today
entire conferences specialize on Artificial Ants).
IDSIA is also the origin of the first mathematical theory of optimal
Universal
Artificial Intelligence and self-referential
Universal Problem Solvers (previous work on general
AI was dominated by heuristics).
IDSIA's artificial
Recurrent Neural Networks
learn to solve numerous previous unlearnable sequence processing
tasks through gradient descent,
Artificial
Evolution and other methods.
Research topics also include
complexity and generalization issues,
unsupervised learning and information theory,
forecasting,
learning robots.
IDSIA's results were reviewed not only in
science journals such as Nature, Science, Scientific American,
but also in numerous popular press articles in
TIME magazine, the New York Times,
der SPIEGEL, and many others. Numerous TV shows on Tech & Science
helped to popularize IDSIA's achievements.
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