Author: Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson

Topological Data Analysis and Persistent Homology – Second Announcement

A school devoted to Topological Data Analysis and Persistent Homology

will take place from Monday, June 11 to Friday June 15, 2018,

at the Hotel Bellavista in Levico Terme (Trento, Italy),

in the framework of the scientific activity of CIRM-FBK (cirm.fbk.eu/).

Topological Data Analysis (TDA) is a new research area that has recently attracted

the attention of various scientific communities, both from pure and applied mathematics.

The aim of this school is to provide a gentle introduction to TDA, starting from scratch,

providing concrete applications and getting to the state of the art. Lectures are given

by some of the most recognized specialists in this field and are addressed to a broad audience,

mixing PhD students and young Post-Docs with more experienced researchers from

different disciplines, among which Algebraic Topology and Algebraic Geometry.

The final program consists of three mini-courses delivered by John Harer

(Duke University), Steve Oudot (INRIA Saclay) and Christopher J. Tralie

(Duke University).

For details we refer to the updated official webpage of the school, published at the link

http://www.science.unitn.it/cirm/TDAPH2018.html

Some funds to cover living expenses for young participants are available.

The deadline for registration and application for financial support is April 30, 2018.

Looking forward to seeing you in Levico,

The organizers

Gilberto Bini and Claudio Fontanari

Cleveland State University has an opening for a tenure track position in Topology—with a preference for applied topology, or Algebra, or Geometry. The closing date for applications is April 6.

The position is advertised on mathjobs https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs/jobs/11768 however all applications must be made with Cleveland State’s own system, at https://hrjobs.csuohio.edu/postings/8733

If you have any questions please email me, Greg Lupton (G.Lupton@csuohio.edu) or the chair of the Department, Ivan Soprunov (I.Soprunov@csuohio.edu).

It is a great pleasure to announce the 8th event in a conference series on Algebraic Topology: Methods, Computation, and Science, which will be held at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) just 30 minutes from Vienna, on June 25–29, 2018. The conference is organized by IST Austria and the local organizers are Prof. Herbert Edelsbrunner and Prof. Uli Wagner from the Algorithms, Geometry and Topology and Discrete and Computational Geometry and Topology research groups, respectively.

The ATMCS conference series is the main event in the flourishing area that connects algebraic topology with computer science and the natural sciences. It happens every two years and attracts the top established researchers as well as the best young talent in the field. In particular, there is a direct connection to the data science stream, and applications discussed at the meeting will touch research in biology and neuroscience, among others fields.

A key goal of the conference series is the further development of topological techniques for use in applications and the creation of new areas of applications in the subject. This conference series maintains a strong tradition of bringing together leading established researcher and young scientists in this emerging discipline, providing an opportunity for the exchange of experience and the development of new research ideas.

ATMCS8 invites submissions for contributed short talks (30 minutes) or research posters. For more information see http://ist.ac.at/atmcs8.

The website will be updated with current information, so please be sure to check back as the conference date approaches. Don’t hesitate to write to atmcs8@appliedtopology.org if you have any questions.

We look forward to welcoming you at IST!

The ATMCS8 scientific committee

TGDA@OSU TRIPODS Center Workshop: Theory and Foundations of TGDA

will take place at the Ohio State University in Columbus OH, May 21-25, 2018.

For details on how to register, apply for travel support, and a list of speakers, please visit the workshop website: https://mbi.osu.edu/event/?id=1197

The workshop will feature a range of invited talks on topological, computational, and statistical aspects of Data Analysis. We encourage anyone working in this field to attend the workshop, and to register by March 12, 2018.

One of our goals is to reach out to junior researchers who intend to work in this field, and we can offer financial support to a limited number of domestic PhD students and junior researchers who apply by March 12. 

A week long summer school will precede the workshop, please encourage young researchers to apply: https://mbi.osu.edu/event/?id=1217

Ran Levi writes:

The Institute of Mathematics in Aberdeen will soon be advertising a postdoctoral position funded by an EPSRC grant obtained by myself. The project which is entitled “Topological Analysis of Neural Systems” already employs two postdoctoral fellows and is expected to grow further. It is a collaborative and interdisciplinary project by its very nature, and aims to apply the powerful tools of algebraic topology to questions in neuroscience. A summary of the project can be found on the EPSRC website.  A large part of the project will be carried out in collaboration with the Blue Brain Project at EPFL, led by neuroscientist Henry Markram, and the Laboratory for Topology and Neuroscience led by Kathryn Hess. 

The post in Aberdeen is funded for 18 months, and will include a generous travel and equipment budget. Work on this project will involve both theoretical and applied topology. Start date is 1st September 2018, but a different start date may be negotiated. 

The position is intended for a person holding a PhD in algebraic topology, applied and computational topology or computer science with a strong interest in studying and applying theoretical and computational tools of algebraic topology to neuroscience, and other relevant subjects. Experience in computations and/or applied algebraic topology would be an advantage. Basic training in neuroscience will be available if necessary.

The post should be advertised in 2-3 weeks. Another announcement will be posted to AlgTop. In the meanwhile informal inquiries are very welcome. Please email r.levi@abdn.ac.uk. 

Postdoc position at Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

I am looking to hire a postdoc for a project that is focused on studying categories of (various classes of) dynamical systems. The project has dual, interconnected purposes: (i) developing categorical models of coupled, physically realizable nonlinear systems and their properties; as well as (ii) exploring the internal structure of these categories with an eye toward type theoretic connections.

Candidates must be U.S. citizens, preferably with a background in applied category theory, type theory or related fields. The position is in Dayton, Ohio, USA, for one year with two additional years possible; the starting date is flexible.

For more information or to apply, please contact me at jared.culbertson@us.af.mil.

Topological Data Analysis and Persistent Homology – First Announcement

A school devoted to Topological Data Analysis and Persistent Homology will take place from Monday, June 11 to Friday June 15, 2018, at the Hotel Bellavista in Levico Terme (Trento, Italy), in the framework of the scientific activity of CIRM-FBK (cirm.fbk.eu/).

The program consists of three mini-courses delivered by John Harer (Duke University), Steve Oudot (INRIA Saclay) and Christopher J. Tralie (Duke University).

For details we refer to the official webpage of the school, now published at the link http://www.science.unitn.it/cirm/TDAPH2018.html

Some funds to cover living expenses for young participants are available.

The deadline for registration and application for financial support is April 30, 2018.

Carola Wenk writes
I have an opening for a PhD position in the use of topological descriptors and HPC methods for digital pathology, see below.

A PhD research assistantship in visualization and computational topology of biomedical data is available in the Department of Computer Science at Tulane University under the supervision of Brian Summa and Carola Wenk, part of the NSF-funded project “Quantifying Morphologic Phenotypes in Prostate Cancer – Developing Topological Descriptors for Machine Learning Algorithms”. See here for more information on the project:
http://www.cs.tulane.edu/~carola/research/qubbd.html
This is an interdisciplinary project including faculty and students from Tulane University and Montana State University in the areas of Mathematics, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Pathology.

The focus of this PhD research assistantship is on the visualization and high-performance computing aspects of topological descriptors computed on gigapixel image data. This research assistantship is for three years of the typically 5-year PhD program in Computer Science, starting in Fall 2018.

For more information and to apply please contact Brian Summa (bsumma@tulane.edu) or Carola Wenk (cwenk@tulane.edu). See here for more information and application instructions for Tulane’s Computer Science PhD program: http://www2.tulane.edu/sse/cs/academics/graduate/

Elizabeth Munch writes:
I am hiring a postdoc in topological data analysis with an emphasis on Reeb Graphs, mapper, and the interleaving distance to start in the fall of 2018. The successful applicant will have a strong math and/or theoretical computer science background, as well as comfort with programming and implementation.

More information and how to apply can be found here :
https://cmse.msu.edu/employment-opportunities/postdocs/

Of course, feel free to email me with any questions at muncheli@egr.msu.edu.

https://www.kth.se/en/om/work-at-kth/lediga-jobb/what:job/jobID:181027/type:job/where:4/apply:1

Doctoral student in Machine Learning
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Computer Science and Communication

KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has grown to become one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities, as well as a key centre of intellectual talent and innovation. We are Sweden’s largest technical research and learning institution and home to students, researchers and faculty from around the world. Our research and education covers a wide area including natural sciences and all branches of engineering, as well as in architecture, industrial management, urban planning, history and philosophy.

Department information

KTH Computer Science and Communication (CSC) announces PhD positions in Machine Learning at the department of Robotics, Perception and Learning (RPL) https://www.kth.se/en/csc/forskning/rpl.

Job description

The scientific work will be conducted along either of the following research directions:

1) Geometric and Topological Methods for Machine Learning with applications to Robotics

Topological Data Analysis is a recently emerging sub-branch of machine learning that enables inference about the global structure of datasets based on rigorous mathematical theory with origins in Algebraic Topology. The research under this theme will focus on developing new geometric and topological techniques for machine learning with a focus on potential application areas in robotics. Possible applications of Geometric and Topological Data Analysis in Robotics include reasoning about robot configuration spaces and free space. This could include development of approaches to autonomously detect unsafe configurations in a self-driving car scenario and to understand how compact components of the free space can be utilized to enable new types of robot manipulation interactions by means of the concept of “Caging”. A second potential sub-thread is to investigate how Topological Data Analysis may be of use to analyze representations of data determined by Deep Learning Algorithms. The research will be supervised by Florian Pokorny, Assistant Professor at RPL.

2) Data-driven scene understanding and control in Human-Robot collaborative settings

Future robotic applications are believed to a greater extent include collaboration with humans, humans that do not necessarily have a technical background. Interaction between human and robot thus need to be in a manner that the human finds natural. A collaborative robot should adapt to changes in the environment and tasks that are placed on it. It needs to be in constant learning mode and gradually adjust its behaviours given feedback from both its sensory system and the human collaborator. Research under this theme will focus on a combination of deep learning for scene understanding and generative action modelling, with reinforcement learning applied for control. Emphasis will be placed on methods with which a human can teach a robot the best way of solving a particular task, either through demonstration or by physically guiding the robot. The research will be supervised by Mårten Björkman, Associate Professor at RPL.

This is a four-year time-limited position that can be extended up to a year with the inclusion of a maximum of 20% departmental duties, usually teaching. In order to be employed, you must apply and be accepted as a doctoral student at KTH.