PhD positions in Machine Learning & Vision and for Human-Robot

The Idiap Research Institute (www.idiap.ch), a laboratory associated with  EPFL  (Swiss Federal  Institute  of  Technology, Lausanne,www.epfl.ch) seeks qualified candidates in computer vision and machine learning for multi-modal interaction modeling.

Context:The research will be conducted in the context of MuMMER (MultiModal Mall Entertainment Robot), a 4-year EU Horizon 2020 funded project involving several leading European institutions in the field. The project will develop a humanoid robot (based on Aldebaran's Pepper platform) able to engage and interact autonomously and naturally with individuals or groups or people. To support this behaviour, the project consortium will develop and integrate new methods from audiovisual scene processing, social-signal processing, high-level action selection, and human-aware robot navigation. See
http://www.mummer-project.eu/


PhD  position and requirements:The research conducted at Idiap will focus on the sensing part, but with an HRI flavor, like better accounting for robot gestures, active sensing to reduce perception uncertainties or exploiting soft priors coming from communication and dialog models, etc. Within a team of two to three PhD students/postdocs, the PhD student is expected to advance the state-of-the-art in this field. The work will be oriented towards vision/depth processing, and the modeling of upper-body and face representation for the design of head detectors/trackers, landmark or eye alignements, or non-verbal behavior extraction methods appropriate at different depth ranges like for gaze (see for instance prior work inhttp://www.idiap.ch/project/g3e/).

These work will rely on previous experience ans software developed in the context of previous projects.

The ideal Ph.D student should have a master in computer science, engineering, or applied mathematics. S/he should have a good background in mathematics, statistics, and programming (C/C++, Python). Prior experience or background in statistical learning theory, computer vision or robotics will be a plus.

The successful PhD candidate will become a doctoral student at EPFL (http://www.epfl.ch) provided that s/he is accepted by the Doctoral School at EPFL (http://phd.epfl.ch/applicants). Appointment for the PhD position is for a maximum of 4 years. Annual gross salary ranges from 48,000 CHF (first year) to 52,000 CHF (last year). The starting date is as early as possible.

Application:For more information, please contact Dr Jean-Marc Odobez (odobez@idiap.ch, www.idiap.ch/~odobez). Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, a detailed CV, and the names of three references (or recommendation letters).

About IDIAP:Idiap is an independent, non-profit research institute recognized and supported by the Swiss Government, and affiliated with the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). It is located in the town of Martigny in Valais, a scenic region in the south of Switzerland, surrounded by the highest mountains of Europe, and offering exciting recreational activities, including hiking, climbing and skiing, as well as varied cultural activities. It is within close proximity to Geneva and Lausanne. Although Idiap is located in the French part of Switzerland, English is the working language. Free French lessons are provided.

Idiap offers competitive salaries and conditions at all levels in a young, dynamic, and multicultural environment. Idiap is an equal opportunity employer and is actively involved in the "Advancement of Women in Science" European initiative.

PhD position in geochemistry/atomistic modelling material science

The Institute of Geological Sciences (IfG, University of Bern, Switzerland) invites applications for a
SNF-funded PhD-project: “Dissolution, growth and ion uptake at phyllosilicate surfaces: Coupling
atomistic interactions at the mineral-water interface with Kinetic Monte Carlo model.”
Phyllosilicates and the clay minerals are ubiquitous in subsurface soils and sedimentary rocks. They
are formed as result of chemical and mechanical weathering of crystalline rocks or hydrothermal
alteration processes. Because of high sorption capacity the phyllosilicate minerals are responsible for
the uptake of heavy metals and other toxic pollutants. The entrapment mechanism of contaminants
onto the mineral surfaces is the primary factor determining their transport, deposition, reactivity and
eventually their toxicity.

This PhD project is aimed at developing an atomistic model for metal adsorption, as well as,
entrapment by dissolution and growth based on atomistic simulation techniques. The PhD student will use molecular dynamics and Monte-Carlo simulations to model metal uptake by mineral surfaces. The Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations will be applied to simulate dissolution and growth of clay mineralsl eading to the structural entrapment of hazardous metals. The ultimate goal of the project is to use the results of the modelling for the interpretation of available experimental wet chemistry and spectroscopic data. The project is multi-disciplinary and will require interaction of the PhD student with researchers from different fields. The PhD student will be employed in the Mineralogy Group (http://www.geo.unibe.ch/mineralogy) of the Institute of Geological Sciences in Bern and interact strongly with experimentalists working in the laboratory for Waste Management at the Paul ScherrerInstitute (www.psi.ch/les). The PhD student will have a unique opportunity to become an expert in numerical simulations of geochemical processes using high performance computing and learn about experimental studies at large scale experimental facilities such as Synchrotron Radiation Source SLS at Paul Scherrer Institute.

Your profile:• You have MSc degree (or equivalent) in geochemistry, chemistry or physics
• You are willing to become an expert in computer simulations of chemical reactions
• You have basic knowledge of computer programming
• You are interested in understanding geochemical phenomena at mineral surfaces

The position is available from 1.05.2016. Please send your application with the CV, references and a
motivation letter as a single PDF file to Prof. Sergey V. Churakov (sergey.churakov@geo.unibe.ch).
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For further information please contact Sergey V. Churakov via mail or phone (+41 56 310 41 13/ ++41 31 631 8710).