PhD Student Position in Reinforcement Learning and Planning Method Development for Hardware Accelerator Design at Aalto University, Finland

Deadline: Dec. 9, 2022, 1:31 p.m.
ROBO

The Aalto Robot Learning research group operates in the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics. We focus on developing methods for reinforcement learning, robotic manipulation, decision making under partial observability, imitation learning, and decision making in multi-agent systems. For more information, please see https://www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-electrical-engineering-and-automation/robot-learning.

The Robot Learning research group is seeking a talented PhD student to develop novel reinforcement learning and planning methods. The methods will be used for automating hardware acceleration generation. The project is a collaboration with the hardware accelerator design group at Tampere University. The project aims to create a novel automated accelerator architecture generation tool based on reinforcement learning that starts from high-level program descriptions and generates complete compiler programmable accelerators with desired qualities such as optimized energy-efficiency within a set computational latency.

The developed methods may be based on one of our focus areas including, but not limited to, reinforcement learning and planning under uncertainty. The exact direction of the research is chosen depending on your experience and interests. Please relate clearly to some of the research topics in your Letter of Motivation.

Outstanding researchers from the areas of Machine Learning, AI, and Robotics and related areas including Reinforcement Learning, Control Engineering, Computer Vision, Statistics & Optimization, or Mathematics & Physics are welcome to apply. The candidate is expected to conduct independent research and at the same time contribute to the topics listed above. Successful candidates will be furthermore given the opportunity to work with undergraduate, and M.Sc. students.

The research group collaborates with research groups in hardware design, construction, computer vision, robotics, mobile heavy machines, human-robot interaction, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, multi-agent systems, under-water vehicles, and robot motion planning. Moreover, one of the PhD students in the research group is located at the Intelligent Autonomous Systems institute at TU Darmstadt, Germany, so there will be ample opportunities for international collaboration.

WE OFFER

The position will be filled for a period of 4 years (2 + 2). The starting date is in January 2023 or as mutually agreed. The salary will be based on both the job requirements and the employee’s personal performance in accordance with the salary system of Finnish universities. The starting salary for a PhD student is approximately 2600 EUR/month.

We offer a wide range of staff benefits, such as occupational health care, flexible working hours, excellent sports facilities on campus and several restaurants and cafés on campus with staff discounts. The position is located at the Aalto University Otaniemi campus which can be easily reached by public transport.

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit your application through our online recruitment system at
https://www.aalto.fi/en/open-positions/phd-student-position-in-reinforcement-learning-and-planning-for-hardware-accelerator-design

The closing date for applications is December 18th, 2022 (23:59 EEST (GMT+3)).
Please write your application and all the accompanying documentation in English and attach them in PDF format. Please attach only the following documents to your application:
* A letter of motivation describing your research interests and how the research fits to the Robot Learning research group (max. 1 page)
* Curriculum vitae (including the contact details of two referees)
* A list of publications as a part of the curriculum vitae
* PDF copy of your MSc and BSc degree certificates, including transcripts of all MSc and BSc university records (grades and courses) and their English translations (Finnish and Swedish certificates are also accepted)

Please note that our recruitment system allows max 5 attachments, so please combine the copies of certificates and transcripts in one PDF, if necessary.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For further information, please contact Assistant Professor Joni Pajarinen, [email protected]. Additional information in recruitment process related questions, please contact HR Coordinator Camilla Hanganpää, [email protected].

ABOUT AALTO UNIVERSITY, HELSINKI, AND FINLAND

Aalto University (aalto.fi) is located in Finland. Finland is among the best countries in the world according to many quality of life indicators, including being the happiest country in the world (UN study 2018 and The World Happiness Report 2022). In addition to a computing cluster at Aalto University and computing clusters in Finland available to the research group, Finland has Europe's fastest supercomputer LUMI. Aalto University is the foremost university in Finland in Engineering, Design and Business. Less than a 15 minutes metro ride away from center of Helsinki, capital of Finland, Aalto offers access to rich cultural and social life to help maintain healthy work-life balance.

Aalto University is a community of bold thinkers where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future. Aalto has six schools with nearly 11 000 students and a staff of more than 4000, of which 400 are professors. Our main campus is located in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland. Diversity is part of who we are, and we actively work to ensure our community’s diversity and inclusiveness in the future as well. This is why we warmly encourage qualified candidates from all backgrounds to join our community.

Categories: PhD, PostDoc,