PhD student position in Machine Learning for the Natural Sciences (1/2)

Information about the research and the project
This call is the first of two from the Data Science and AI division at CSE to recruit a PhD student for a project on Machine Learning for the Natural Sciences.

Machine learning provides new exciting new opportunities in the natural sciences such as physics, chemistry, and biology. Its potential application areas span from designing new drugs against multi-resistant pathogens and understanding the impact of gene defects on a protein's function to speeding up computer simulations to understand fundamental scientific phenomena and design optimal algorithms for near-term quantum computers. The path towards these applications can leverage the power of deep learning to represent and process high-dimensional data in an effective manner and encode natural laws and symmetries.

The Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for the Natural Sciences (AIMLeNS) group (head: Simon Olsson) is an interdisciplinary group focusing on problems in the natural sciences and the development of machine learning and AI systems towards these problems. The recruited PhD student will integrate into the AIMLeNS group.

This project will focus on generating functional protein sequences for possible industrial, research, and pharmaceutical applications. We will address the challenge of exploring the enormous sequence-space via deep generative models encoding evolutionary principles and trained using a combination of experimental data and physical simulators. The project will involve both the theory and implementation of these deep generative models using observational data and physical simulators.

The project takes place at Chalmers University of Technology. The student will pursue a PhD in machine learning within computer science and engineering at Chalmers and will be funded though a grant from the WASP program (described below).

Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) is Sweden’s largest individual research program ever, a major national initiative for strategically motivated basic research, education and faculty recruitment. The program addresses research on artificial intelligence and autonomous systems acting in collaboration with humans, adapting to their environment through sensors, information and knowledge, and forming intelligent systems-of-systems. The vision of WASP is excellent research and competence in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and software for the benefit of Swedish industry. Read more: https://wasp-sweden.org/

The graduate school within WASP is dedicated to provide the skills needed to analyze, develop, and contribute to the interdisciplinary area of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and software. Through an ambitious program with research visits, partner universities, and visiting lecturers, the graduate school actively supports forming a strong multi-disciplinary and international professional network between PhD-students, researchers and industry. Read more: https://wasp-sweden.org/graduate-school/

Major responsibilities
As a PhD student, you will enroll in a graduate program at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, where your primary responsibility is to pursue your doctoral studies, which entails:
• 80% Research and course work
• 20% Service, including teaching.
The research entails developing and implementing your scientific ideas, communicating your results orally or in written form. Service entails being a teaching assistant in Chalmers' undergraduate and masters-level courses or performing other departmental tasks.

Position summary
Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years.

Qualifications
To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a master's-level degree, or a four-year bachelor's degree, corresponding to at least 240 higher education credits in a relevant field at the time of start. The position requires sound verbal and written communication skills in Swedish and English. If Swedish is not your native language, you should be able to teach in Swedish after two years. Chalmers offers Swedish courses

Chalmers continuously strives to be an attractive employer. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Our offer to you
Chalmers offers a cultivating and inspiring working environment in the dynamic city of Gothenburg. 
Read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees.

READ MORE AND APPLY HERE

Application deadline: 31st December 2020

For questions, please contact:
Assistant professor Simon Olsson
E-mail: simonols@chalmers.se

*** Chalmers declines to consider all offers of further announcement publishing or other types of support for the recruiting process in connection with this position. ***