open PhD/Postdoc positions in machine learning

[Samy Bengio]

Open positions for Ph.D. and Postdoctoral candidates in Machine Learning

The Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence (IDIAP,
http://www.idiap.ch) seeks qualified applicants for Ph.D. and Postdoc positions
for its Machine Learning group. Many projects are currently open, such as:

(a) Mixture of kernel methods such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and 
    generative models such as Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) for discriminative 
    speech processing. This work should initially build upon the preliminary 
    works from Jaakkola and Haussler, such as, "Exploiting generative 
    models in discriminative classifiers", in Advances in Neural Information 
    Processing Systems 11: Proceedings of the 1998 Conference, M. Kearns, 
    S. Solla, and D. Cohn, eds., MIT Press, 1999, pp. 487-493.

(b) Several extensions of mixture and ensemble models:
    - Feature selection for Mixture of Experts, 
    - Mixture of Support Vector Machines, 
    - Mixture of binary classifiers for multiclass problems.

(c) Fusion of multimodal systems at different levels:
    - at the score level,
    - for confidence intervals,
    - during the learning process.

The ideal Ph.D. candidate should have good background in statistics,
optimization, and computer science. The ideal Postdoc candidate should 
have strong background in statistical learning theory in general, 
including SVMs, neural networks, and mixture models.  All applicants 
should be familiar with C/C++ programming under a Unix environment. 

Although IDIAP is located in the French part of Switzerland, English
is the main working language at IDIAP. Free English and French courses
are also provided.

IDIAP is located in the town of Martigny (http://www.martigny.ch) in Valais,
a scenic region in the south of Switzerland, surrounded by the highest
mountains of Europe, and offering exciting recreational activities,
including hiking, climbing and skiing, as well as varied cultural activities.
It is within close proximity to Montreux (Jazz Festival) and Lausanne (EPFL,
http://www.epfl.ch).

Candidates should send their detailed CV to

Dr. Samy Bengio
Research Director. Machine Learning Group Leader.
IDIAP, CP 592, rue du Simplon 4, 1920 Martigny, Switzerland.
tel: +41 27 721 77 39, fax: +41 27 721 77 12.
mailto:bengio at idiap.ch, http://www.idiap.ch/~bengio