(Please distribute to suitable candidates. Apologies for multiple postings.) ----------------------------------------------------- Computer Science PhD Position at University of Zurich ----------------------------------------------------- Within the research project 'Practical Applications of Attempto Controlled English' funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation we seek applications for the open position of a PhD student. The goal of this project is the practical application of the specification language Attempto Controlled English in the fields: medical documentation, Internet programming, and program specification & synthesis. Background information on this project and on the Attempto project in general can be found at the end of this message or on our web page http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/~fuchs/. We offer - a well equipped and stimulating working environment, - interdisciplinary research combining software engineering, computational logic, computational linguistics and theorem proving, - an innovative and exciting research project performed in cooperation with our partners at the universities of Barcelona, Edinburgh, São Paolo, Uppsala, and the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates who - have a master's degree or equivalent in computer science, computational logic, computational linguistics, or mathematics, - have experience in at least one of the following fields: software engineering, computational logic, computational linguistics; experience in Prolog programming would be an asset, - have an excellent command of English, - have a basic knowledge of German or are willing to learn German, - enjoy teamwork, - are highly motivated and committed to success oriented work. The position is available from the beginning of the year 2001 for initially 2 years. An extension by another 2 years is almost guaranteed. Payment is SFr. 27'000 in the first year, SFr. 30'000 in the second year, and SFr. 33'000 in the following years. Interested candidates are encouraged to immediately contact the project leader Norbert E. Fuchs ([log in to unmask]) for further information. Please take into account that I may not be able to respond right away to your emails from December 22, 2000 to January, 5, 2001. Applications including a resume and curriculum vitae should be sent until January 15, 2001 to Norbert E. Fuchs Institut fuer Informatik Universitaet Zuerich CH-8057 Zuerich Switzerland [log in to unmask] http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/~fuchs/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background Information ---------------------- The specification language Attempto Controlled English (ACE) is a controlled natural language, i.e. a subset of standard English with a domain-specific vocabulary and a restricted grammar. ACE specifications can be unambiguously translated into first-order predicate logic, and can be queried and executed to support prototyping and validation. Thus ACE makes formal methods available in familiar natural language. Using ACE, we have already specified a simple automated teller machine, a small library database, Schubert's steam-roller, data base integrity constraints, and several other problems. In cooperation with the University of Munich, we successfully used ACE as input language to a model generator. Since 1999 ACE has received a great deal of attention and recognition by other researchers who realised that ACE could help them to solve their problems. With several groups of researchers at other universities we started a project to investigate the practical applications of Attempto Controlled English (ACE) in the following three fields: Natural Language Processing in Medicine --------------------------------------- Together with the Department of Information Science, Uppsala University, we will investigate the use of ACE for the description of medical diseases and their courses. Web Site Synthesis and Knowledge Sharing ---------------------------------------- With the Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh, the Institute for Artificial Intelligence, University of Barcelona, and the Department of Computer Science, University of São Paulo we will use ACE for the synthesis of web sites and for knowledge sharing between web sites. Synthesis of (Constraint) Logic Programs ---------------------------------------- In cooperation with the Department of Information Science, Uppsala University, and the Department of Computing and Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, we will investigate the use of ACE as the input language of a logic program synthesiser. In each cooperation our partner groups will be responsible for the technical contents of their respective applications while the Zurich group will be responsible for the necessary extensions of ACE and for the further development of the Attempto system. This involves conceptual and practical work in natural language processing and theorem proving, as well as implementing Prolog programs and web interfaces. --------------------------------------------------------------------------