The Theory Group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology invites applications for postdoctoral positions in theoretical computer science.
KTH Royal Institute of Technology is the leading technical university in Sweden. The Theoretical Computer Science Group at KTH (www.csc.kth.se/tcs) offers a strong research environment spanning a wide range of research topics such as complexity theory and approximation algorithms, computer and network security, cryptography, formal methods and natural language processing. We have one of Europe's most prominent groups in algorithms and complexity theory, and the research conducted here has attracted numerous international awards and grants in recent years.
The postdoctoral researchers will be working in the research group of Jakob Nordström (www.csc.kth.se/~jakobn). Much of the activities of this research group revolve around the themes of proof complexity and SAT solving. Examples of theoretical questions of interest are analyzing proof systems formalizing the computational power of Groebner bases (polynomial calculus) and integer linear programming (cutting planes), and in proving stronger lower bound in the hierarchy of Frege proof systems. Another interesting area is the use of linear and semidefinite programming to solve hard combinatorial problems and of proof complexity to establish when problems are beyond the reach of such methods. Problems of the kind above have turned out to have deep, and sometimes surprising, connections to other topics such as, e.g., circuit complexity, communication complexity, and hardness of approximation, and therefore researchers in these or other related areas are more than welcome to apply.
The research project is financed by a Consolidator Grant and a Breakthrough Research Grant from the Swedish Research Council as well as by a Starting Independent Researcher Grant from the European Research Council. A more detailed description of the project can be found at www.csc.kth.se/~jakobn/project-proofcplx. The group currently consists of two postdoctoral researchers and four PhD students (in addition to the PI). There are also several other professors, postdocs, and PhD students in the TCS Group working on other aspects of algorithms and computational complexity (in particular, within the research project Approximation and Proof Complexity http://apc.csc.kth.se/), and so this is a unique opportunity to explore new connections between different areas of theoretical computer science within a vibrant and growing research environment.
Within the overall framework sketched above, the postdocs will be expected and encouraged to contribute to and influence the research agenda. Taking part in teaching graduate seminar courses is encouraged but not required. Travel funding is included, and the group also receives short-term and long-term visitors on a regular basis.
These postdoc positions are full-time employed positions for one year with a possible one-year extension. The expected starting date is in August-September 2017, although this is to some extent negotiable.
The application deadline is March 31, 2017. See http://www.csc.kth.se/~jakobn/openings/D-2017-0137-Eng.php for the full announcement with more information and instructions for how to apply. Informal enquiries are welcome and may be sent to jakobn@kth.se.
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