Connectionists: Postdoctoral Fellow and Graduate Student Positions at FIAS

[Jochen Triesch]

Call for Postdoctoral Fellows and Graduate Students at the Frankfurt 
Institute for Advanced Studies

The Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) at the Johann 
Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, invites 
applications from young scientists of exceptional ability for several 
open Postdoctoral Positions and Graduate Student scholarships.

FIAS is dedicated to fundamental research on structure formation and 
self-organization in complex systems. Relevant fields include 
Theoretical Biology, Theoretical Chemistry, Theoretical and 
Computational Neuroscience and Theoretical Physics. FIAS strongly 
encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. It cooperates with the Max 
Planck Institutes for Brain Research and for Biophysics in Frankfurt, 
the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI Darmstadt) and various 
institutes at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. Additional 
information on FIAS can be found at the website 
http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de.

Applicants for the postdoctoral positions are expected to have a strong 
theoretical background and experience with quantitative mathematical and 
numerical methods.

Applications in the following research areas are especially invited:

a) Theoretical Biology: 1) Development of new mathematical concepts for 
systems biology and cell biology; 2) Applications to complex systems in 
biology of relevance in immunology and medicine: (i) modelling adaptive 
immune responses, (ii) theory of neuro-immune-interactions, (iii) 
modelling diabetes, (iv) theory of irradiation cancer therapy, (v) 
magnetoreception in animals and magnetic maps.

b) Theoretical Neuroscience: Modeling of functions related to 
perception, attention, subsystem integration, sensori-motor coupling and 
learning. Development of analysis tools for high-dimensional time series 
obtained with parallel recordings. Implementation of brain-inspired 
algorithms in robotic devices. Candidates should have a strong 
background in computational neuroscience. Experience with experimental 
approaches is desirable but not obligatory.

c) Theoretical Chemistry: Development of new methods: Electroweak and 
relativistic quantum chemistry; vibronic structure theory. Application 
of large-scale methods and of highly accurate ab initio approaches: 
Fundamental symmetries and their violation, molecular chirality; 
material properties (optical properties, magnetic properties, ionic 
liquids, liquid crystals); reaction mechanisms (catalysis, ion 
chemistry). For more details see http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~berger.

d) Theoretical and Computational Soft Matter and Biophysics: Positions 
are available for simulations of ionic liquids, ferrofluids, charged 
hydrogels, polyelectrolytes, and the study of heterogeneous nucleation 
in binary colloidal systems. Experience with C/mpi and with efficient 
MD/MC strategies for mesoscopic and atomistic simulations are expected. 
We will mainly use our own simulation package ESPResSo 
(www.espresso.mpg.de. More details about the research environment can be 
found under http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~simbio.

e) Theoretical Meso-Bio-Nano-Science: The MBN theory group (see 
http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~mbn) studies the structure formation and 
properties of a diversity of biomolecular, nano- and mesoscopic systems. 
This includes biological macromolecules, atomic and molecular clusters, 
fullerenes, nanotubes, nanofractals, endohedral objects, periodic 
structures, microundulators, microdroplets, instabilities in 
meso-bio-nano systems, optical, electric and magnetic properties. Under 
study are the dynamics, folding, conformational changes and 
fragmentation of these systems induced by collisions, fission and fusion 
processes, temperature variation, by exposure to external electric, 
magnetic, laser fields, clustering in systems of varied degrees of 
complexity, clustering in biological systems, on surfaces, in thin 
films, and in nanostructured materials. The work involves studies within 
the frame of quantum many-body and density functional theories, quantum 
and classical dynamics, electrodynamics, statistical mechanics, with a 
strong emphasis on theoretical-physics methods and numerical calculations.

f) Theoretical Heavy-Ion Physics and Astrophysics: 1) Development of 
nonequilibrium dynamical models for relativistic heavy-ion collisions. 
Study of phase transitions in strongly interacting matter and their 
menifestations in heavy-ion collisions and compact stars. 2) Study of 
complex hadronic systems (exotic nuclei, superheavy elements) and 
quark-gluon plasma in terrestrial and astrophysical environments. 3) 
Structure of the vacuum in strong fields.

The Postdoctoral Fellows will conduct research in collaboration with the 
FIAS Fellows, with scientists from cooperating institutions, and with 
Ph.D. students. The appointments are for up to three years. A tax-free 
scholarship of 30.000 EUR per year will be offered. Alternatively, 
research assistant positions in externally funded projects remunerated 
according to the German BAT scale may be available.

Exceptionally qualified students interested in the above research areas 
are invited to apply for the three-year interdisciplinary Ph.D. program 
of the Frankfurt International Graduate School for Science (FIGSS). The 
students should hold a very good diploma or M.Sc. degree or an 
exceptional honors B.Sc. They will be supervised by scientists from FIAS 
and of the faculties of science at Goethe University. All courses will 
be held in English; a TOEFL certificate is required. A tax-free stipend 
of 1200 EUR per month (plus health insurance) can be offered to 
successful applicants. For more information see 
http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/figss.

For interested students on the B.Sc. level a Master's program 
Computational Science is available, which can serve as a preparatory 
course for the Ph.D. program (see http://www.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/mpcs).

Applicants should send a statement of research interests naming one or 
two of the FIAS Fellows whom they would like to interact with, a CV, and 
a complete list of publications to:
   Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
   Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University
   Max-von-Laue-Str. 1
   60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
e-mail: fias at uni-frankfurt.de (for Postdoctoral applications) or 
figss at uni-frankfurt.de (for Graduate School applications). In addition, 
1 to 3 letters of reference should be sent to the above address. The 
review of incoming complete applications will begin immediately.

-- 
Jochen Triesch, Fellow
Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
Web: http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~triesch/
Tel: +49 (0)69 798-47531
Fax: +49 (0)69 798-47611