Logic List Mailing Archive

PhD student position in SAT solving, Stockholm (Sweden), Deadline: 21 Jan 2018

The TCS Group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology invites applications 
for a PhD position in computer science focused on SAT solving.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology is the leading technical university in 
Sweden. The Theoretical Computer Science Group at KTH 
(http://www.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 PhD student will be working in the research group of Jakob Nordstrom. 
Much of the activities of this research group revolve around the themes of 
efficient algorithms for satisfiability in propositional logic (SAT 
solving) and lower bounds on the efficiency of methods for reasoning about 
SAT (proof complexity). On the practical side, one problem of interest is 
to gain a better understanding of, and improve, the performance of current 
state-of-the-art SAT solvers - in particular, solvers using 
conflict-driven clause learning (CDCL). We are even more interested in 
exploring new techniques that hold out the theoretical possibility of 
exponential improvements over CDCL, but seem hard to implement efficiently 
in practice, e.g., algebraic methods such as Grobner bases or geometric 
methods such as pseudo-Boolean solving. We also believe that there should 
be ample room for technology transfer with related areas such as SMT 
solving, constraint programming, and/or mixed integer linear programming, 
and so it could potentially be relevant to look into such topics.

The research project is financed by a Breakthrough Research Grant and a 
Consolidator Grant from the Swedish Research Council and a Starting 
Independent Researcher Grant from the European Research Council. A more 
detailed description of the project can be found at 
http://www.csc.kth.se/~jakobn/project-proofcplx . The group currently 
consists of 4 postdoctoral researchers and 4 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, and so this is a unique opportunity to explore 
new connections between theoretical and practical areas of computer 
science within a vibrant and growing research environment.

This is a four-year full-time employed position, but PhD positions usually 
(though not necessarily) include 20% teaching, in which case they are 
prolonged for one more year. The successful candidate is expected to start 
at the latest in August-September 2018, although this is to some extent 
negotiable. The position is fully funded and comes with a competitive 
salary.

The application deadline is January 21, 2018. See 
http://www.csc.kth.se/~jakobn/openings/D-2017-0883-Eng.php for the full 
announcement with more information and instructions how to apply. Informal 
enquiries are welcome and may be sent to jakobn@kth.se .

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