[Corpora-List] Job: COMPUTATIONAL LINGUIST (dialogue systems/cognitive systems); DFKI, Germany

[Geert-Jan Kruijff]

(Posted: February 21 /  March 12 2006 //
http://www.dfki.de/cosy/www/people/0602.cosyjob.html)

JOB OPENING

The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH) is
seeking for its Language Technology Lab a


                 RESEARCHER

in the area of cognitive systems, for a research position (Post-Doc,
possibly junior) in the COSY project ("Cognitive Systems for
Cognitive Assistants").

The aim of the COSY project is to investigate principles for
cognitive architectures for embodied cognitive agents ("robots"). The
investigations have both a theoretical and a practical nature: The
project aims to produce a body of theory regarding architectures,
representations, types of reasoning, communication and learning
relevant to embodied multi-functional intelligent systems, and to
develop working systems that demonstrate applications of parts of the
theory. For the second period of the project, scenarios focus on
object manipulation, and collaborative exploration and problem
solving in indoor environments.

DFKI is the main responsible site for the development of modules that
enable the cognitive agent to communicate with other agents, possibly
through a combination of spoken language, gesture, and body movement.
In the context of the project, communication should make it possible
for the agent to collaboratively carry out tasks, learn more about
the environment, and learn language. The communicative capabilities
are inherently part of a larger cognitive architecture in which they
are connected with other cognitive processes dealing with e.g. action
planning, vision, and motor control. The DFKI team closely interacts
with the other project partners to achieve this integration, and has
several robots and a robot arm for experimentation.

The responsibilities for the research position include, among others,
the following:

* Development for flexible collaborative dialogue management and
dialogue modeling,

* Integration of dialogue interpretation and production processes
with models of the situated context, e.g. spatial organization,
causal relations between processes

* Theory development in the areas of e.g. spatial language,
perceptual and proprioceptual grounding of linguistically
communicated meaning

* Supervision of research assistants (MSc level).

An ideal candidate will have a background in Artificial Intelligence
or Computational Linguistics, and have clearly demonstratable
experience with practical development of dialogue systems. The
candidate should be an experienced Java and/or C/C++ programmer, and
feel confident with using UNIX-based platforms. A broader interest in
issues related to cognitive aspects of language comprehension and
production, embodied agents and communication, cognitive vision,
(probabilistic) robotics, machine learning, and the relation between
communication and other cognitive processes such as vision and action
planning would be highly welcome. Highly valued personal qualities
include creativity, open-mindedness, team spirit, and a willingness
to address novel challenges in unknown scientific territory.

Ideally the applicant would have a completed PhD degree.

The earliest starting date of the position is April 2006. The
duration of the contract will probably be until the end of the
project (August 31, 2008).

DFKI GmbH [ http://www.dfki.de ] is located on the campus of Saarland
University in Saarbrucken, Germany. The university's research groups
and curricula in the fields of Computational Linguistics and Computer
Science are internationally renowned. The LT-Lab [ http://www.dfki.de/
lt/ ] offers excellent working conditions in a well-established
research group. The position provides opportunities to collaborate in
a variety of international projects. The competitive salary is
calculated according to qualifications based on DFKI GmbH scales.

For more on the COSY project at DFKI, see [ http://www.dfki.de/
cosy/ ]. For more on the COSY project in general, see [ http://
www.cognitivesystems.org ] or read this flyer [ http://www.dfki.de/
cosy/www/media/pdfs/cosy.flyer.spring2006.pdf ].

Please send your electronic application (preferably in PDF format) to
lt-jobs at dfki.de, referring to job opening No. 200601, not later than
March 24, 2006. A meaningful application should include a cover
letter, a CV, a brief summary of research interests, a statement of
interest in the position offered, and contact information for three
references.

For questions concerning this job opening, please contact Dr.ir.
Geert-Jan Kruijff gj at dfki.de / http://www.dfki.de/~gj.