Connectionists: Four Postdoc or PhD positions, neural networks for statistical machine translation (LIUM, France)

[Holger Schwenk]

Four Postdoc or PhD positions, neural networks for statistical machine 
translation (LIUM, France)

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During the last years, there have been several breakthroughs in the use of
neural networks for natural language processing, in particular deep 
learning.

The computer science laboratory of the University of Le Mans (LIUM) is 
working
since many years on statistical machine translation (SMT), and we were among
the first researchers to successfully use neural networks, namely continuous
space language and translation models.

We want to substantially increase our research efforts in this area, 
hoping to
achieve a significant advances in SMT. Our goal is to build 
state-of-the-art large
scale SMT systems using neural networks.

In this major research effort, we have openings for four postdoc students.
Excellent PhD students will be also considered.  The candidates are 
expected to
have a very good knowledge of neural networks (feed-forward, recurrent 
NN, deep
learning, etc). Knowledge in statistical machine translation is a plus, 
but not
a necessary condition. Experience with efficient implementations of neural
networks on GPU cards is highly appreciated.

The positions are immediately available.  Initial appointment is for one 
year,
renewable for up to three years.  Competitive salaries are available, 
including
health care and other social benefits, travel support, etc.  The working
language is English or French.

LIUM is participating in several international projects, financed by the
European Commission, DARPA and the French government.  We collaborate with
leading research groups in USA and Europe.

A large computer cluster is available to support the research (700 CPU cores
with a total of 7 TBytes of memory and more than 130 TBytes of RAID disk
space). We also own a cluster with 16 Tesla K20 GPU cards, connected by 
a fast
Infiniband network.

Le Mans is located in between Paris and the Atlantic ocean. Both can be 
reached
in about 1 hour by high speed train. The Loire valley with many wineries and
other attractions is just a short drive away ...

Applications should include an CV, a list of publications and the name 
of two references.
We will invite interesting candidates for further discussions.

For more information, please contact Holger Schwenk by email: 
Holger.Schwenk at lium.univ-lemans.fr