PhD Candidate in Computer Science at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Computer Science, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Deadline: ASAP
UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), the merger of the University of Tromsø and the University College of Finnmark, has a PhD position in Computer Science (Research on energy-efficient computing systems) vacant from October 1, 2014 for a candidate committed to take the degree of Philosophy Doctor (PhD). The PhD position is a part of a new research project titled “PREAPP – PRoductivity and Energy-efficiency through Abstraction-based Parallel Programming”. The PREAPP project is funded by Norwegian prestigious funding scheme FRIPRO that is designed to promote research of high scientific quality independent of research area and discipline. The PREAPP project is conducted by UiT in collaboration with partners from Simula Research Laboratory.
The position is attached to the Arctic Green Computing (AGC) research group at the Department of Computer Science.
The appointment is for a period of three years for a candidate with knowledge, skills and will to successfully complete the PhD study within and limited to the time frame.
The PhD position is for a fixed term, with the objective of completion of research education to the level of a doctoral degree. Admission to a PhD programme is a prerequisite for employment, and the programme period starts on commencement of the position. The PhD Candidate shall participate in the Faculty’s organized research training, and the PhD study shall be completed during the period of employment. Information about the application process for admission to the PhD programme, application form and regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) are available at the Faculty’s website for Research training.
Further information about the position is available by contacting: Associate professor Phuong Hoai Ha, phone +47 77 64 40 32, email: phuong@cs.uit.no
The position’s affiliation
UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the merger of the University of Tromsø and the University College of Finnmark, is the largest research and educational institution in northern Norway with about 12,000 students and 2,700 employees. UiT is a founding member of the University of the Arctic, an international network of study and research institutions of the circumpolar region. Two hundred international agreements secure an active academic exchange of students and staff with partner institutions worldwide.
The Department of Computer Science provides a strong international research environment with 12 tenured faculty members, 8 adjunct professors, 2 postdoctors and researchers, 6 technical/administrative staff members and about 20 PhD students from different countries. The goal of the Department is to advance the research and teaching of Computer Science as a discipline, to demonstrate leadership within our areas of interest, and to contribute to society through our education, research and dissemination. More information available at http://uit.no/informatikk.
The Arctic Green Computing (AGC) research group aims at addressing energy efficiency and programmability, the two biggest challenges of large-scale computing. We research novel execution models forming foundations for a paradigm shift from energy “blind” to energy “aware” software development and, at the same time, facilitating programming productivity on energy-efficient computing systems. Our research on the topic has been funded by European Commission (FP7), Norwegian Research Council (FRIPRO) and The University of Tromsø (UiT). The group is the leader of the work package on energy-efficient data structures and algorithms in EU FP7 ICT project EXCESS (2013 – 2016), the Norwegian representative in the Management Committee of the EU COST Action Euro-TM on concurrent programming abstractions (2011 – 2015) and the project manager of Norwegian FRIPRO project PREAPP (2014 – 2017).
The position’s field of research/research project
In today’s exponential world of digital data, big data services have made the power consumption the lion’s share of the total cost. For instance, Google data centers consume almost 260 MW, about a quarter of the output of a nuclear power plant, enough to power 200 000 homes. Energy efficiency is therefore considered a major criterion for “sustainable” computing systems and services over the data deluge. However, energy-efficient computing systems make parallel programming even more complex and thereby less robust due to requirements of massive parallelism, heterogeneity and data locality.
The PREAPP project aims to devise novel programming models that will form foundations for a paradigm shift from energy “blind” to energy “aware” software development. The new models will enable significant improvement in energy efficiency in comparison with today’s multicore computing, thereby greatly advancing green computing and sustainable services. The new models will facilitate unprecedented productivity for implementing scientific big data applications that run effectively on large-scale high-performance computing (HPC) platforms, which are based on cutting-edge manycore architectures. The threshold of adopting large-scale parallel computing will thus be considerably lowered for a large number of computational scientists in several disciplines.
Qualification requirements
The successful applicant must fulfil the requirements for admission to the Faculty’s PhD programme; cf. Regulation for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the UiT. The applicant should in addition be able to document proficiency in English equivalent to Norwegian Higher Education Entrance Qualification, available at the same website.
This position requires a Master’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science.
A successful candidate should have a strong interest in at least one of the following topics: energy-efficient computing, concurrent data structures and algorithms, programming systems and run-time systems. Experience of partitioned global address space (PGAS) programming is a plus. Since our research results are usually evaluated experimentally, good programming skills are necessary.
Emphasis shall also be attached to personal suitability.
Working conditions
The normal period of employment is three years and the nominal length of the PhD programme is three years.
A shorter period of appointment may be decided when the research fellow has already completed parts of his/her research training programme or when the appointment is based on a previous qualifying position (PhD Candidate, research assistant, or the equivalent) in such a way that the total time used for research training amounts to three years.
Remuneration for the position of PhD Candidate is in accordance with the State salary scale code 1017. At present, the gross salary starts from NOK 420.800 per year. A compulsory contribution of 2 % to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund will be deducted. A successful candidate will be able to spend six months abroad with full pay at world class institutions working on the relevant research areas.
Enquiries
Potential candidates are welcome to send an email to preapp.recruitment@cs.uit.no. The e-mail ought to include the following email subject and PDF files:
- Email subject containing the candidate’s full name
- Cover letter describing research interests and earlier experience
- CV including a list of publications
- Relevant publications, theses, technical reports and other documents
- Diplomas and transcripts from Bachelors and Masters degrees or equivalent.
- Documentation of English language proficiency
- Names and emails of three references
A well-qualified candidate will be called for an interview. Such an interview shall among other things aim to clarify the applicant’s personal suitability for the position.
For information on formal regulations for PhD positions in general, refer to the Supplementary regulations for appointment to postdoktor (Postdoctoral Research Fellow), stipendiat (PhD) and vitenskapelig assistent (Research Assistant) positions at the University of Tromsø and to the Regulations concerning terms and conditions of employment for posts of postdoktor (Postdoctoral Research Fellow), stipendiat (PhD), vitenskapelig assistent (Research Assistant) and spesialistkandidat (Resident).
UiT has HR policy objectives that emphasize diversity, and therefore encourages qualified applicants to apply regardless of their gender, functional ability and national or ethnic background.
UiT is an IW (Inclusive Workplace) enterprise, and will therefore emphasize making the necessary adaptations to the working conditions for employees with reduced functional ability.
Personal data given in an application or CV will be processed in accordance with the Act relating to the processing of personal data (the Personal Data Act). In accordance with Section 25 subsection 2 of the Freedom of Information Act, the applicant may request not to be registered on the public list of applicants. However, the University may nevertheless decide that the name of the applicant will be made public. The applicant will receive advance notification in the event of such publication.
UiT The Arctic University of Norway, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
