Post-doc and PhD positions

 


We are looking for an outstanding postdoc and PhD student with excellent mathematical skills and with a background in computer science or mathematics (preferably with a specialization in one of the following topics: combinatorial optimization, discrete mathematics, approximation algorithms and computational complexity).
The right people will have a commitment to research and publication, and possess good communication and presentation skills (in English). The postdoc candidate must have a PhD degree in a relevant field of Computer Science and scientific experience proven by international peer-reviewed publications in approximation algorithms and/or complexity theory. The PhD student candidate must have a MD degree in a relevant field of Computer Science.


The initial appointment will be for 3 years. The official language at IDSIA is English. The positions are suitable for applicants no older than 35 years.


Applicants should submit as soon as possible: (i) Detailed curriculum vitae, (ii) List of three references and their email addresses, (iii) Concise statement of their research interests (one page max), and how they fit the topics mentioned above. Please send all documents to: Monaldo Mastrolilli, IDSIA, Galleria 2, 6928 Manno (Lugano), Switzerland.
Applications can also be submitted by email to

 

  1. 1.monaldo@idsia.ch - Monaldo Mastrolilli, IDSIA, Galleria 2, 6928 Manno (Lugano), Switzerland.

  2. 2. luca@idsia.ch – Luca Gambardella, IDSIA, Galleria 2, 6928 Manno (Lugano), Switzerland.


 


IDSIA
Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull'Intelligenza Artificiale
Galleria 2, CH-6928 Manno (Lugano), Switzerland


IDSIA is a joint research institute of the University of Lugano and the Swiss Italian University for Applied Science. Our research focuses on combinatorial optimization, complexity theory, artificial ants, evolutionary computation, artificial neural nets, reinforcement learning, uncertain reasoning, imprecise probabilities, data mining, unsupervised learning. IDSIA is small but visible, competitive, and influential. The "X-Lab Survey" by Business Week Magazine ranked IDSIA among the world's top ten labs in Artificial Intelligence.


IDSIA develops and participates in projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, by the European Commission and by the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation. IDSIA also consults private firms and enterprises.
IDSIA is located near the Swiss supercomputing center. IDSIA is close to the beautiful city of Lugano in Ticino, the scenic southernmost province of Switzerland. Zurich, Milan and Venice are only few hours by train from Lugano.

 


  1. 1. One postdoc position for 3 years

  2. 2. One PhD student position for 3+1 years


The position is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.


Project Title:

Approximation Algorithms for Machine Scheduling

 

 

  1. We want to address and possibly solve some of the open questions in scheduling (see P Schuurman and GJ Woeginger. Polynomial time approximation algorithms for machine scheduling: Ten open problems , Journal of Scheduling 2, 1999, 203--213) which have been open for more than 20 years by now. As Schuurman and Woeginger write "Progress on any of them would be very important" and "it will trigger several breakthroughs in the near future".


Recent advances can be found in the following two articles.


M. Mastrolilli and O. Svensson, (Acyclic) Job Shops are Hard to Approximate, Proceedings of the 49th AnnualI EEE Symposium on Foundations of ComputerScience (FOCS), to appear, 2008.


C. Ambuehl, M. Mastrolilli and O. Svensson, Inapproximability Results for Sparsest Cut, Optimal Linear Arrangement, and Prece-

dence Constrained Scheduling, Proceedings of the 48th Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS),

pages 329-337, 2007.


 


  1. BulletPhD SALARY: roughly 42,000 CHF (Swiss Francs) per year (US$ 36,000 as of September 2008), low taxes.

  2. BulletPostdoc SALARY: roughly 72,000 CHF per year (US$ 65,000 as of September 2008). Low taxes.  


There is travel funding in case of papers accepted at important conferences.

 

Position will be filled as adequate candidate will become available. However, we suggest to apply before 15th January 2009. We guarantee that the selection process, based solely on the research records, will give equal opportunities to female and male researchers.