[clean-list] Postdoctoral position in Functional Programming and Many-Cores

[Sven-Bodo Scholz]

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           POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW IN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

                      School of Computer Science
                     University of Hertfordshire, UK

Applications are invited for a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship
in  functional programming,  to  work  with Dr  Sven-Bodo Scholz on  the
EU-funded project "Architecture Paradigms and Programming Languages for
Efficient programming of multiple CORES" (Apple-CORE).

The advent of multicore processors has raised new demand for techniques
that allow mainstream programmers to effectively utilise machines with a
rapidly growing amount of concurrency available at the hardware level.
Decades of research into parallel programming have identified several
challenges that need to be overcome to achieve this goal.  Although the
functional paradigm substantially facilitates the identification of
concurrently executable tasks, its resource scheduling has proven to be
a major challenge. Only in restricted settings, such as the data parallel
setting of the functional language SaC (<http://www.sac-home.org/>), has it
been shown that satisfactory auto-parallelisation can be achieved by means
of sophisticated program analysis.

This project is based on a novel micro-threaded hardware
architecture developed at the University of Amsterdam
(<http://www.science.uva.nl/research/csa/microgrids.html>).  Its unique
features are support for resource scheduling and fine-grain synchronisation
facilities in hardware. These features make it an ideal target architecture
for functional programs. The aim of the project is to explore how this
may be achieved. If successful, we expect not only an improvement in the
data-prallel setting, but we also believe that scalable auto-parallelisation
could be possible with other forms of concurrency.

Applicants for this  position will hold a PhD  in Computer Science, and have
research   experience  in  programming languages. Experience in any of the
following areas is desireable: functional programming, compiler construction,
type systems, concurrency theory, high-performance computing, or scientific
applications.

The  successful applicant will  work in  collaboration with the Compiler
Technology and Computer Architecture group at the University of Hertfordshire,
a rapidly expanding centre for research  on functionally inspired approaches
to the efficient utilisation of highly parallel architectures. The group
currently comprises 4 academic staff, 1 research staff, and 4 PhD students
plus a regular influx of shorter-term research visitors from other labs in
the EU, Japan, and the US.

Salary  will be  within the  range 25,134  - 32,796  pounds  per year,
depending  on qualifications  and experience.   The post  is available
immediately, and will be offered on a term contract for 3 years.

Further details regarding the position and how to apply are available
from Dr Sven-Bodo Scholz, S.Scholz at herts.ac.uk.


Applications will be screened as they arrive. For full consideration
apply before 9. January 2008.

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| Dr Sven-Bodo Scholz            Email : S.Scholz at herts.ac.uk                |
| School of Computer Science                                                 |
| University of Herfordshire     Web   : hompages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqss/  |
| College Lane Campus                                                        |
| Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB, UK  Phone : +44 (0)1707 28 6403                 |
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