Faculty Position

Robotics Faculty
The Johns Hopkins University, G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering, invites applications for multiple tenuretrack and tenured faculty positions at the level of assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor. The successful applicant is expected to conduct fundamental research in the area of robotics.Research areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

  • Sensor based robotics with an emphasis on computer vision and imaging.
  • Small-scale robotics with emphasis on systems with features at meso and micro scales.
  • Biorobotics and neuromechanics including devices, algorithms, and approaches to robotics inspired by principles in biomechanics and neuroscience, and application of robotics to create new knowledge in these fields.
  • Medical robotics including computer-integrated surgical systems, image-guided intervention, and prosthetics.
  • Autonomous robotics for monitoring, exploration, and manipulation with applications in environmental, home, and defense areas.
  • Algorithmic robotics with emphasis on approaches based on simulation or machine learning.
  • Human-machine systems, including haptic and visual feedback, human perception, cognition and decision making, and human-machine collaborative systems.

Click here for full details. (pdf)

 

Postdoctoral Positions at The Institute for Cognitive Studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris

The Institute for Cognitive Studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris is seeking to fill THREE POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONS within a multidisciplinary project at the intersection of speech engineering, computational neuroscience, developmental psychology and computational linguistics.

The aim of this project is to decipher how babies spontaneously learn their first language by applying a 'reverse engineering ' approach, i.e., by constructing an artificial language learner that mimics the learning stages of the infant. It uses engineering and applied math techniques (zero resource speech recognition, signal processing, machine learning) on large corpora of child-adult verbal interactions in several languages. It develops psychologically plausible (unsupervised) and biologically plausible (bioinspired) algorithms that can discover linguistic categories (words, syllables, phonemes, features, etc.). The predictions of these algorithms are then tested against perceptual data gathered from newborns and older infants using behavioral techniques (eye tracking) or noninvasive brain imagery (Near InfraRed Spectroscopy, EEGs).

The project is hosted by the Institute for Cognitive Studies, which offers an international and vibrant research setting, at the heart of the Quartier latin in Paris. The institute has been ranked as one of the top research centers in France across all disciplines, and is one of the leading interdisciplinary centers in Cognitive Science in Europe. It contains 70 permanent researchers structured in interacting teams covering a broad range of topics, ranging from Philosophy of Consciousness to animal electrophysiology, with a strong core in cognitive psychology and language.

We are looking for young researchers able to build and maintain a high quality research program and to contribute to a growing international collaborative community in this area of quantitative cognitive science. Applicants will ideally combine:

  • a solid background in one or more of the following areas: speech/ language engineering, signal processing, statistical modeling, Bayesian methods, neuroimaging data analyses, computational neuroscience, computational linguistics,
  • considerable familiarity with general cognitive science and/or language science,
  • a documented interest for interdisciplinary and team-based research,
  • research creativity, independence, and productivity.

The positions are for two years, with salaries set at a competitive European-level (between 2400 and 2700 euro/month depending on prior experience). We will also provide generous travel funds. There is no associated university teaching load, although researchers will be able to participate in the research culture of the Institute through seminars, supervision of students and other activities. Starting dates are flexible. Women are encouraged to apply.

Candidates should send a letter of motivation (2 pages max.), the contact information of 2 to 3 referees, and a CV to emmanuel.dupoux@gmail.com BY OCTOBER 20, 2012. Interviews of short-listed candidates will be conducted in the Fall either in Paris or by video-conferences.

Further information about the project can be found at: http://www.lscp.net/persons/dupoux/bootphon/index.html