Eurizon.eu

Organization: University of Twente

Location: Enschede, Netherlands

Field: Technology

Requirements:

The successful candidate should have a Master's degree in Mathematics, Computer Science, Econometrics, or a related field. A solid background in Discrete Optimization, Theoretical Computer Science, or the Analysis of Algorithms is highly appreciated but not a must as the candidate will be given the opportunity to follow courses in the LNMB PhD program during her/his first year (see http://www.lnmb.nl).

Abstract:

A full-time PhD position is available within the project "Smoothed Analysis of Belief Propagation" in the group Discrete Mathematics and Mathematical Programming (DMMP) at the Department of Applied Mathematics

Description:

A full-time PhD position is available within the project "Smoothed Analysis of Belief Propagation" in the group Discrete Mathematics and Mathematical Programming (DMMP) at the Department of Applied Mathematics. The project is funded by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and is embedded in the University of Twente’s Centre for Telematics and Information Technology (CTIT), the largest academic ICT research institute in the Netherlands. The challenge Belief propagation is a heuristic approach for solving large-scale statistical inference problems. It is an easy-to-implement heuristic has become very popular in a wide range of applications. Its success in practice, however, is at sharp contrast to the lack of theoretical understanding of its performance. To provide a more realistic analysis of algorithms, the concept of smoothed analysis has been developed. In smoothed analysis, performance is not measured in terms of worst-case instances. Instead, an adversary specifies an instance, and then the expected performance is measured when this instance is slightly randomly perturbed. Smoothed analysis takes into account that practical data is often noisy, e.g., due to measurement errors. The aim of this project is smoothed analysis of belief propagation. The goal is to get a deeper understanding of its performance and to bridge the gap between theoretical and practical performance of belief propagation.
 
We offer a 4-year research position in a dynamic and international environment. The DMMP group consists currently consists of 10 faculty members and 13 PhD students and is headed by Prof. Marc Uetz. Please see http://www.utwente.nl/ewi/dmmp/ for more details. The University of Twente provides excellent campus facilities, and actively supports professional and personal development.

Deadline: 30-04-2011

Contacts:

Link: http://www.universiteittwente.nl/en

Email: recruitment@utwente.nl

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