Sujet de these: Learning ontology layers from unstructured knowledge sources, Canada

Wed Nov 30 14:38:31 UTC 2011

Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:38:22 +0000
From: Amal Zouaq <Amal.Zouaq at rmc.ca>
Message-ID: <E2613DD46B8D9B40AFFF7B33F11432500D17002A at Win53.rmc-cmr.rmc.ca>
X-url: http://azouaq.athabascau.ca/Ad/phdRMC-POLY.pdf
X-url: http://azouaq.athabascau.ca/

The Semantic Technologies Lab at the Royal Military College of Canada
and the WeST Lab at Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal are recruiting a PhD
student for the OntoCmaps project. The position includes a
Ph.D. research assistantship (19K/year pending to budget approval) and
support for conference travels and equipment.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate would:

- have a background in knowledge extraction, data mining, NLP and/or
  machine learning

- have some knowledge on the Semantic Web and ontologies

- have (or soon receive) a Masters degree in computer
  science/engineering, informatics, or related fields

- interested in investing 3+ years as a "research assistant" (aka PhD
  student)

The OntoCmaps Project

In the context of the Semantic Web, the extraction, update and
evaluation of formal conceptual models (domain ontologies and rules)
from unstructured and structured knowledge sources is an important
challenge. This task is particularly difficult when the adopted approach
is an open (domain independent) and unsupervised (without any guidance)
knowledge extraction. However, such a domain independent approach is
crucial to the interoperability and reuse of ontology learning
methodologies across various applications and domains. The interest of
the availability of a complete ontology (with all its layers) is that it
is essential for agents to reason over semantic data and this will
provide effective knowledge retrieval capabilities.

The OntoCmaps project aims at developing a domain independent
methodology and a set of tools for learning the ontology layers (terms,
taxonomy, conceptual relations, relation hierarchies, axioms and axiom
schemata) from unstructured knowledge sources.  In particular, we aim at
automatically learning the three last layers, which has been done very
rarely in the state of the art. The research also explores filtering
techniques that identify important information and integration
techniques that adequately combine knowledge coming from various
sources. The long-term objective of this research is to build
learning-by-reading systems by exploring the integration of deep
semantic analysis, filtering and knowledge integration techniques. Our
current application domains are the biomedical domain and the eLearning
domain.

The Semantic Technologies Lab at RMC

The Semantic Technologies Lab at RMC is specialized in knowledge extraction
in the context of the Semantic Web. By joining the Lab, you will develop
your skills in edge technologies needed in both academia and
industry. You will also have the opportunity to have close
collaborations (including internships, visits, joint conferences) with
other institutions including Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, Simon
Fraser University and Athabasca University, thus allowing multiple
research experiences.

The WeST Lab at Ecole Polytechnique

The WeST Lab is specialized in natural language processing,
knowlege-based systems, and semantic web. It is still growing and is
involved in many projects with industrial partners. With many graduate
students working on mutlidisciplinary projects, the WeST Lab is a
stimulating environment for any person interested in making interesting
researches on the interaction of language with knowledge.

The Royal Military College of Canada

The Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), established in 1876, is
Canada's only military university providing academic and leadership
training to officer cadets, other members of Canada's armed forces and
civilians. RMC is also the only federal institution in Canada with
degree granting powers. Programmes are available at the undergraduate
and graduate levels on site through traditional studies and by distance
learning through the Division of Continuing Studies. There are
possibilities to take courses at Queen's University as well.

Web site: http://www.rmc.ca/

Tuition Fees: http://www.rmc.ca/aca/reg-sc/fees-fs-eng.asp

Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal

Founded in 1873, Polytechnique Montréal is one of Canada's leading
engineering teaching and research institutions. It is the largest
engineering university in Québec for the size of its student body and
the scope of its research activities. With over 37,000 graduates,
Polytechnique Montréal has graduated 25% of the current members of the
l’Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. Polytechnique provides training in 16
engineering specialties, has 241 professors and more than 6,900
students. It has an annual operating budget of over $200 million,
including a $72-million research budget.

Important Information :

1. The Ph.D. can be located at either one of the labs/universities.

2. Please note: If the accepted candidate is not a permanent resident or
   a Canadian citizen, (s)he will have to obtain a work permit if (s)he
   chooses Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal for the Ph.D.

3. Please note that Ecole Polytechnique offers the Ph.D. program in French, and the
   RMC offers the program in French and English.

Application Process

The application deadline is November 1st, 2011, but we will consider
applications until the positions are filled. The start date is January
2012 or earlier. Candidates interested in a position are asked to
contact amal.zouaq at rmc.ca and michel.gagnon at polymtl.ca with the
following documents:

1. A statement of interest

2. A list of publications (if any) and a CV

3. A list of contributions to software projects (if any)

4. Masters thesis (if any; applicants who are not finished yet should include a
   draft)

The accepted candidate will then have to submit an official application
either at the RMC http://www.rmc.ca/ or at Ecole Polytechnique de
Montréal http://www.polymtl.ca/

http://azouaq.athabascau.ca/Ad/phdRMC-POLY.pdf

Amal Zouaq
Professeure adjointe | Assistant Professor
Département de mathématiques et d'informatique|
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Collège militaire royal du Canada | Royal Military College of Canada
CP 17000, Succursale Forces, Kingston ON CANADA K7K 7B4
amal.zouaq at rmc.ca<mailto:amal.zouaq at rmc.ca>
Office | Bureau Girouard 320
Telephone | Téléphone 613-541-6000 # 6478<tel:613-541-6000%20%23%206478>
Fax | Télécopieur 613-541-6584<tel:613-541-6584>
http://azouaq.athabascau.ca/

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