PhD Position / Onderzoeker in Opleiding (OiO positie)

SEMIDEFINITE PROGRAMMING AND COMBINATORIAL OPTIMIZATION


A position for a PhD student is available at the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI - Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica), located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The appointment is for four years starting any time before December 31, 2003. The position is part of a `VIDI' research project, financed by NWO, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, and by CWI.
Salaries are fixed according to standard regulations for Dutch research institutes (approximatively 130,000 Euros for the full duration of the four years contract). CWI offers moreover attractive working conditions, including flexibility, help with housing and child care, and the possibility to take part in a collective health insurance and in retirement funds.

Research area

The research topic is Semidefinite Programming and Combinatorial Optimization, which is at the crossroads between discrete mathematics, linear algebra and optimization. The project aims at developing new and fast methods for finding exact or approximate solutions to hard combinatorial optimization problems. Semidefinite programming is a generalization of classic linear programming dealing with optimization problems over positive semidefinite matrices, which has turned out in recent years to be an extremely powerful tool for approximating hard problems. Several fascinating connections with other mathematical areas like real algebraic geometry and matrix theory are still largely unexplored. Working on that and related topics may be part of the PhD research project, as well as algorithmic and computational studies to practical applications.
Although no specific preknowledge is required, the candidate should have received a Masters degree in Mathematics and is expected to have a solid mathematical education.

Research environment

The research will be conducted within the group Networks and Optimization at CWI. Next to a strong scientific environment, CWI offers many other facilities including a very good library and computer infrastructure. The candidate can also benefit from scientific activities, including specialized graduate courses, seminars and conferences, offered by several national scientific research institutes, like EIDMA (the Euler Institute for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications), the Thomas Stieltjes Institute for Mathematics, and LNMB (the Dutch Network on the Mathematics of Operations Research), as well as DONET (the European network on Discrete Optimization).

Application

Applications (with curriculum vitae and list of grades) should be sent to

Monique Laurent
CWI
Kruislaan 413
1098 SJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
E-Mail: monique@cwi.nl


Click on the Help button to see what you can do with this OutBox page.