The VU University Amsterdam is one of the leading institutions for higher education in Europe. It is part of international science networks and collaborates with many major universities throughout the world. The Faculty of Sciences consists of four departments, with 650 employees including researchers, lecturers, full- and part-time professors. In the research group of Computer Systems, we have a vacancy for a Ph.D. student in the project ‘Ibis: Large-scale grid computing’.

Summary
We are looking for a Ph.D. student to do experimental research in new application domains for the Ibis grid computing system.

Research project
The main goal of the Ibis project (http://www.cs.vu.nl/ibis/) is to create an efficient Java-based platform for grid computing. The project consists of a communication library, a variety of programming models, the Java Grid Application Toolkit, and the Zorilla peer-to-peer grid middleware. All components can be deployed on any grid platform, due to the use of Java. Ibis has been used for many applications, including search algorithms, multimedia content analysis, video processing, and many others. Ibis is part of the Dutch Virtual Laboratory for e-Science (VL-e) project (http://www.vl-e.nl/). The project makes extensive use of the Distributed ASCI Supercomputer 3 (DAS-3), which is a Dutch Computer Science grid with a dedicated optical (40 Gb/s) wide-area interconnect (http://www.cs.vu.nl/das3).

The new Ph.D. student is expected to perform experimental research in new application domains for Ibis. Of particular importance are: distributed model checking (for which we have a prototype implementation on wide-area DAS-3), e-Science applications, and cloud computing. The main aim of the research is to explore the potential benefits of large-scale distributed supercomputing in new and emerging application areas, and to expand the capabilities of the Ibis system as a whole.

University Graduate
Requirements
A M. Sc. in Computer Science, ample experience with systems programming, knowledge of parallel computing. Fluent English reading/writing skills are mandatory.

VU University Amsterdam Faculty of Sciences

Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, has been a renowned cultural, scientific and commercial centre for many centuries. It was here, in 1880, that the VU University Amsterdam first opened its doors to students. VU stands for 'Vrije Universiteit', which means 'Free University'. Here, 'free' refers to freedom of state and church interference. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam was established in 1880 by orthodox protestants. Nowadays it aims to be inspiring, innovative and involved.

Throughout the past century, the university has continued to expand. It now comprises twelve faculties and has teaching facilities for 18,000 students.

Click here for an overview of faculties and institutes: http://www.english.vu.nl/About_the_VU/

The university campus and university hospital are situated in the south-western part of Amsterdam, one of the most dynamic and fast-growing business districts in the Netherlands. The international airport of Schiphol-Amsterdam is 10 kilometres away, just 8 minutes by train. With more than fifty undergraduate (or bachelor’s) programmes and almost a hundred postgraduate (or master’s) programmes, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam offers a wide choice of study options. The programmes are of a high quality, the atmosphere is very conducive to study, and the teaching staff is easily accessible.

The Faculty of Sciences offers 9 Bachelor’s and 12 Master’s programmes within the disciplines Computer Sciences, Physics & Astronomy, Chemistry & Pharmacochemistry and Mathematics. The education programme is strongly connected to the various research activities. The faculty offers excellent research facilities in highly specialized laboratories as well as unique computing facilities.

Employment basis: Temporary for specified period
Duration of the contract: temporary

Additional conditions of employment:
Appointment
The appointment will be initially for 1 year. If the results are satisfactory the appointed period will be prolonged for 3 more years, and is intended to result in a dissertation. You can visit our website http://www.vu.nl/vacatures for a review of working conditions at the VU.

Salary
Gross monthly salary starts at € 2.000,- in the first year and increases to € 2.558,- in the last year of the appointment, based on a full-time employment.

 
Or additional information can be obtained through one of the following links.

You can apply for this job before 20-10-2008 by sending your application to:

Information and application
For more information you can contact Prof. Dr. H.E. Bal, e-mail: (away during 7-29 July) and
Dr. F. Seinstra, e-mail:
Applications including a detailed CV with one or two references should be sent before Oktober 20 , 2008
to the VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Sciences - Dept. P&O, attn. Prof. Dr. H.E. Bal, De Boelelaan
1083-A, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands, or by e-mail: . The vacancy number should be mentioned in the e-mail header or at the upper left corner of the letter and envelope.


Any other correspondence in response to this advertisement will not be dealt with.

When applying for this job always mention the vacancy number 1.2008.00218.