Job Opening on Large-Scale Data Management in Sensor-rich environments, Bielefeld, Germany

Postdoctoral/Doctoral position in "Large-scale stream data management and machine learning in sensor-rich environments" at the Cognitive Interaction Technology Center of Excellence, Bielefeld
The Center of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology [1] at Bielefeld University, Germany has an open position in the area of large-scale stream data management and machine learning in sensor-rich environments.


In order to exploit the proliferating sensor information available in today's intelligent systems such as mobile robots and to scale up the application of learning algorithms, efficient management of streaming and stateful system data is an important challenge. The goal of the project is to develop novel memory architectures that allow to efficiently store, index, and query sensorial in addition to symbolic data extracted from real-time data streams or processed and managed by higher-level components targeting learning and human-machine interaction tasks.
The successful candidate will work together with a group of scientists on developing novel solutions in the context of intelligent smart homes and robotics that learn to adapt their behaviour to users and situations. For this, a scalable data management and memory infrastructure is needed. The candidate will contribute to the development of this infrastructure, building on mature large-scale data management and storage solutions, in particular NoSQL or graph databases, and develop novel solutions for the use cases and requirements of the project on top of existing solutions. A particular challenge will be to develop a software architecture that is highly available targeting 24/7 operation, while at the same time supporting real-time application running in a smart environment. Example challenges and tasks to be tackled include the following ones:


* develop data management solutions that scale to rapid and huge data streams
* develop flexible data structures that allow to move between different layers of representational granularity with recent data having the highest granularity
* develop synopsis and summary data structures for the data stream in order to support answering frequent queries
* efficient implementation of distance measures for approximate querying
* develop data structures and models that can model the relations between different representations stored in memory, allowing to query/filter by relations




This position is particularly suitable for candidates interested in working with Big Data in the context of embodied intelligent systems for human-machine interaction and willing to acquire the skills necessary to work on real-time processing of large data streams.


The successful candidate is expected to have a strong background in at least three of the following areas:


- Data Modelling & Data Management
- Stream Data Management (load shedding, window-based computation, )
- Relational or Graph Databases
- NoSQL databases (e.g. HBASE, RIAK, MongoDB, ...)
- Large-scale Machine Learning and Data Mining
- Sensor Networks
- Software Engineering


Candidates with expertise in several topics will be given preference. Applicants are expected to have strong programming skills, the ability to work independently, strong interpersonal skills as well as strong English language skills. Candidates should be qualified for and willing to perform state-of-the-art research. Knowledge of German is not required.


CITEC is a leading centre in the area of cognitive and intelligent systems, spanning more than 40 PIs with their research groups and spanning at least five disciplines (Computer Science, Linguistics, Psychology, Biology and Sport Science) at Bielefeld University [2]. Candidates are expected to be interested in interdisciplinary and group work.


CITEC provides the chance to perform cutting-edge research in an international context. Applicants for a postdoc position will have the chance to perform independent research on the topics of the group that qualifies them for an academic career and allows them to position themselves as independent researchers in the community. PhD applicants will receive supervision and support in developing the necessary skills to produce high-quality research necessary to earn a PhD Degree. Candidates will be supervised by a team of well-known researchers in the field of intelligent system, in particular by Prof. Philipp Cimiano and Dr. Sebastian Wrede.


The salary for both PhD and postdoc positions is around 3.300 Euro per month (pre taxes), according to scale TV-L E 13 in the German University System and can vary depending on age, marital status, tax class etc. The salary increases with the duration of the employment. An online tool to calculate the post-tax income can be found at [3] (indicating E-13).


Bielefeld is one of the 20 largest cities in Germany (with close to 330.000 inhabitants) [4]. It is a lively city with a lot of cultural and entertainment opportunities (see [5]). It is located in the heart of the Teutoburg Forest [6], offering many opportunities for outdoor and leisure activities.


The position is available for two years and can be prolonged for one more year. Candidates are expected to start on March 1st, 2014.


Applications from suitably qualified handicapped and severely handicapped persons are expressly encouraged. Bielefeld University has received a number of awards for its achievements in the provision of equal opportunity and has been recognised as a family friendly university. The University welcomes applications from women. This is particularly true with regard both to academic and technical posts as well as positions in Information Technology and trades and crafts. Applications are handled according to the provisions of the state equal opportunity statutes.


Applications are invited until January 6th, 2014 and will be processed as they are received. Interviews will be scheduled via Skype or F2F in January.


Applicants will be informed of the outcome of the selection by end of October 2013. Applications should be sent by email to Prof. Philipp Cimiano at cimiano@cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de, preferably as *one* PDF document including a CV, motivation letter, publication record (if applicable), record of teaching activities (if applicable) and any other relevant information in addition to the names of two referees. The application should highlight the expertise in the areas mentioned above and express the research interests of the applicant.



[1] http://www.cit-ec.de/
[2] http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/International/
[3] http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/tv-l/west/
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefeld
[5] http://www.bielefeld.de/en/index.html
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutoburg_Forest