[Opt-Net] PhD position at LIX, Ecole Polytechnique

[Leo Liberti]

Ph.D. position in Optimization/Simulation (with an application to
smart buildings)
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Call for applications

Leo Liberti (1), Claudia D’Ambrosio (1), Youssef Hamadi (2)

(1) LIX École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
(2) Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK

A Ph.D. position is open at LIX, Ecole Polytechnique (until filled) on
the topic of optimization techniques in simulation, motivated by an
application to smart buildings.

Smart buildings integrate architecture, construction, technology and
energy systems; they make use of building automation, safety and
telecommunication devices, and they are managed automatically or
semi-automatically on the basis of local information provided by a
sensor network. The functioning of such a complex system necessarily
depends on several tunable parameters, with respect to which the whole
system can optimize several objectives (cost, energy efficiency,
ambience comfort and so on). For any given parameter value, system
performance can only be evaluated by a computationally costly
simulation procedure. The object of this Ph.D. thesis is to devise new
methodologies for optimizing smart building systems under such
computational constraints.

The successful Ph.D. candidate will be co-supervised by:
•       Dr. Youssef Hamadi (Microsoft Research, Cambridge,
research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/youssefh/).

•       Dr. Claudia D’Ambrosio (LIX, Ecole Polytechnique,
www.lix.polytechnique.fr/~dambrosio/)

•       Prof. Leo Liberti (LIX, Ecole Polytechnique,
www.lix.polytechnique.fr/~liberti/)

Most of the thesis work will take place at the Laboratoire
d’Informatique (LIX) of Ecole Polytechnique, within the System
Modelling and Optimization (SYSMO) research team, which counts around
10-15 people, including 6 permanent researchers, and more precisely
within the research group that grew around the Microsoft-CNRS
“Optimization and Sustainable Development (OSD)” Chair. A part of the
thesis work will take place at Microsoft Research headquarters in
Cambridge.

The salary will be 33,333EUR/year gross for a non-renewable maximum of
three years, which should roughly correspond to 1500-1600EUR/net plus
social security (the precise amount depends on the personal situation
and cannot be foreseen precisely). Some internships at Microsoft
Research Cambridge might provide additional remuneration for short
time periods.

Interested candidates should send a PDF-formatted CV and two
PDF-formatted, signed reference letters to Dr. D’Ambrosio
(dambrosio at lix.polytechnique.fr).