Doctoral student position in an interdisciplinary speech technology project “Computational Modeling of Language Acquisition”

Job description:
The Speech Technology Team of Aalto University offers a full-time doctoral student position on computational modeling of language acquisition. Those who wish to do their master’s thesis on the topic and are willing to pursue post-graduate studies after their graduation are also welcome to apply.
The high-level goal of the research project is to understand how human children learn to understand and produce speech, and how computers could be programmed with similar learning skills in order to outperform the classical manually engineered speech recognition systems. In short-term, the focus is on the development of ecologically plausible computational models of different aspects of human language processing (perception, production, multimodal interactions) and evaluating these models with respect to data from behavioural studies. The research is simultaneously concerned with the development and application of low-level machine learning and signal processing algorithms and on the development of high-level models of language learning, making the work highly interdisciplinary, diverse and challenging.
The more specific content of the current position is not fixed in advance, but will be planned together with a successful applicant. The focus can be more on the technical side (machine learning/signal processing algorithm development), on the behavioural side (collecting and modelling behavioural data), or both.

Requirements:
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the work, we are looking for an applicant with a strong background, skills and a burning interest in one or more of the following fields: speech/signal processing, auditory modeling, speech acoustics, machine learning, cognitive science, cognitive psychology, computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, or mathematics.
A successful applicant will have a M.Sc. (tech.) or an equivalent degree in a relevant field or has nearly completed the degree, has good programming skills (e.g., MATLAB, Java or C) and is a fluent user of English (both written and verbal). Capability for self-driven independent and productive work is a must. Basic or advanced knowledge in signal processing, machine learning, and/or statistics are a significant advantage.

Job details:
The current work will take place in a project Computational Modeling of Language Acquisition, funded by the Academy of Finland. The first contract will be a 6–month trial period for doctoral students or 6 months for the M.Sc. thesis work. Extension up to a total of 2.5 years is envisioned upon successful performance. The work will take place in the Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics of Aalto ELEC.

Salary:
Salary level will be based on the local-agreement salary system of Aalto University.

How to apply:
Please send your application to D.Sc. Okko Räsänen (okko.rasanen@aalto.fi) by email. The deadline for applications is 31.4.2014. Please include at least the following documents in your application: a cover letter describing your background and motivation for the position, CV, a transcript of bachelor and master’s level study records, and possible letters of recommendation.

For more information, please contact:
D.Sc. Okko RäsänenorProf. Unto K. Laine
okko.rasanen@aalto.fiunto.laine@aalto.fi
+358-50-441 9511+358-50-593 0251