Postdoc positions in Scientific Machine Learning

The Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Aarhus University, invites applications for two 2-year postdoc positions offering applicants an exciting opportunity to join the ERC-funded project “ALPS - AI-based Learning for Physical Simulation”.
Expected start date and duration of employment
These are 2–year positions from 1 March 2025 or as soon possible.
Job description

• You will be contributing to developing novel algorithms at the intersection of computational physics and machine learning.
• You will be working primarily with machine learning, evolutionary algorithms, neural networks and reinforcement learning.
• The positions focus on aspects of implementation, optimization/parallelization of open-source libraries that we are developing as a part of the project and on their applications to data-driven model discovery in different research (including mechanics of materials and fluids) and engineering (robotics and dynamical systems) fields.

Your profile
Applicants should hold a PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Physics, Mathematical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or similar.

Relevant skills:

• Strong Python programming skills (as a plus: C++ or Julia) and knowledge of scientific computing libraries (numpy, scipy, JAX…)
• High-performance computing expertise (including the use of multi-processing libraries and GPU computing)
• Use of Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning libraries (e.g. scikit-learn, PyTorch, Flax, RLax, Stable Baselines)
• Deep knowledge of neural network architectures (as a plus: PINNs, neural operators, transformers/LLM)

Who we are
The Computational Physics and Machine Learning Lab led by prof. Lucantonio is a newly established group within the Mechanics and Materials Section of the Mechanical and Production Engineering Department. The group currently consists of 3 PhD students and is expected to grow in the next few years, mainly thanks to the funding provided by the European Research Council through the Starting Grant “ALPS” awarded to the PI. Our focus is to develop new algorithms that allow to discover interpretable and accurate models of complex physical systems starting from data. These algorithms will be implemented in high-performance computing libraries to make them scalable and available to researchers and engineers for a wide range of applications.
What we offer
Aarhus University offers:

• an exciting interdisciplinary environment with many national, international and industrial collaborators
• the opportunity to co-supervise PhD and MSc students working in related topics
• a workplace characterised by professionalism, equality and a healthy work-life balance.

Place of work and area of employment
Place of employment is Aarhus University, and place of work is Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Katrinebjergvej 89, 8200 Aarhus N.
Contact information
For further information, please contact: Prof. Alessandro Lucantonio, +45 93517776, [email protected].
Deadline
Applications must be received no later than 15 November 2024.

Application procedure
Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.
Letter of reference
If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.
Formalities and salary range
Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.

Aarhus University
Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/

Department: Mekanik og Materialer/Mechanics and Materials

Deadline: 15 November 2024

Location: Aarhus C Inge Lehmanns Gade 10