Connectionists: Postdoctoral fellowship in machine learning and movement analysis

[Elizabeth Thomas]

*Postdoctoral fellowship in movement analysis and machine learning*

A postdoctoral fellowship for one year is available for the application 
of various machine learning techniques to the analysis of movement data. 
The study of all motor activities from gait to dance is done by the 
gathering of kinetic, kinematic and EMG data. Kinematic data is obtained 
from the displacement of markers placed on the subjects. Kinetic signals 
provide information on the foot-ground pressure during movements. 
Finally EMG data is from the electric activity of muscles. As with many 
biological signals, the analysis of these signals presents us with an 
important challenge due to their complexity, high variability and noise. 
The linear techniques which are currently most frequently employed are 
not sufficiently developed for the analyses of such ‘noisy’ data. We 
propose therefore the development of several techniques from machine 
learning for the analyses of these signals. The data will come from 
various studies that seek to understand the neural control of normal 
activities such as reaching and also for the evaluation of abnormal 
gait. In the latter study we will be evaluating various hip prostheses 
by comparing the EMGs of normal subjects with those of patients. The 
study will be carried out in the INSERM lab U887 of the University of 
Bourgogne France in collaboration with the Rheumatology department of 
the University Hospital. The project will start with an exploration of 
neural network and kernel methods.

The University of Bourgogne in Dijon is approximately an hour away from 
Paris by the TGV train.

The candidate cannot be French and must never have worked in France. The 
position will have to be filled by November 2008. The candidate would 
preferably have a background that would fit in a bioengineering 
department. A good knowledge of Matlab programming will be required. A 
knowledge of kernel methods would be considered an asset. All interested 
candidates may send a CV to Elizabeth.Thomas at u-bourgogne.fr 
<mailto:Elizabeth.Thomas at u-bourgogne.fr>.

Elizabeth Thomas
Maître de conférence
STAPS INSERM U887
Université de Bourgogne, France