If you are interested in one of the positions listed below send your CV and cover letter to jobs@graphitech.it


GraphiTech has been established in order to conduct and to perform world class research and development activities in the broad technology area of advanced computer graphics and virtual reality.

GraphiTech's competencies include the following areas:

• virtual engineering (virtual and augmented reality, cooperative virtual environments, 3D visualization and interaction), 
• interactive graphics systems (visual programming,  multi-modal interfaces),
• e-business and e-commerce (m-commerce, e-publishing...),
• digital media technologies (interactive television, data bases, streaming, multi-media for web, Internet broadcasting…), 
• new generation internet (wireless and new generation    networks, services, communication, privacy, …),
• knowledge and content engineering (knowledge    management, …) 
• secure information technology (agent systems, platforms, biometry, watermarking, communication).

The following positions are immediately to be filled:

• One Position – REF: iTour - OPEN
  details
  
  
• One Junior Scientist Position – REF: NATSDI - OPEN
  details
  
  
• One PhD Position – REF: SAGA-PHD - CLOSED
  details
  
  
• One PostDoc Position on GeoVisual Analytics – REF: GEO-PD - OPEN
  details - download pdf
  
  
• One PostDoc Position on Technoculture, Art and Games – REF: SER-PD - OPEN
  details - download pdf
  
  
• One PostDoc Position on Virtual Engineering – REF: PDP-PD - OPEN
  details - download pdf
  
  
• One PostDoc Position – REF: SAGA-POST - OPEN
  
details

Postdoctoral Position on GeoVisual Analytics towards a tenure track leading to a position as research unit head
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Research Goals
On 2007 a major milestone was set at the EU level in the GI domain by the entering in force of the INSPIRE (INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe) directive (2007/2/EC). The latter is having profound effects, in technological, operational and political terms as it defines a legal as well as technical framework with the precise intent to provide harmonized access to data of environmental interest across Europe. From the technical standpoint INSPIRE is leading to the definition of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) based on a multi-level federated approach based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Through the ESDI, institutions at different levels, from all member states, will expose standardised data of interest for the EU through harmonized geographical web services. 

Within this scenario the domain of GeoVisual Analytics (GVA) can provide effective solutions to ensure better environmental control and to prevent environmental crisis. This research work will tackle a number of challenges that GVA needs to face in context such as environmental control, planning and environmental protection, exploiting current technological, infrastructural development and considering economical and legal implications at the international level. For this the research work will specifically work on development of new GVA techniques and tools to reduce complexity present within the vast heterogeneous information flow and to help operators formulate theories and conclusions in an interactive manner.

Job description and responsibilities
The successful candidates must be enthusiastic about:

• conducting research at the highest international level,
• developing and conducting excellent graduate and under-graduate teaching,
• actively taking part in developing the Research Centre and its relations with external partners.

The candidate will be actively involved in every aspect of this research activities, from the preliminary investigations, systems research, systems development & study, to its dissemination, i.e. will be actively engaged in writing of scientific and technical papers. The candidate will establish strong team work with the other senior staff at Graphitech. The candidate will be also responsible to prepare and submit, with support from other staff members, of research proposals to national and international funding programmes. Research funds gathered within the three year timeframe will be used to start a research unit of which the candidate shall become head. The successful candidate is expected to coordinate the work of a number of junior scientists (PhD students and IT developers).

The candidate will work within a motivated and highly competent international context, in close contact with leading EU Universities, Research Centers and Industries. Frequent travel within Europe is expected.

Minimum Requirements:

• Master degree in Computer Science or Mathematics , Physics or Engineering .
• PhD degree in one of the following topics: GIS Science, geocomputation, geoinformatics, spatial statistics, or similar with an emphasis on a topic related to visual analytics, Information Visualization, Geovisual Analytics, Geovisualisation, Visual Data Mining, Visual Knowledge Discovery or similar.
• Proved expertise in EU or international R&D projects.
• Fluent English spoken and written (and willingness to learn Italian) is mandatory: the candidate must be fluent in English and must be able to write technical documents (system requirements, use case document etc. in English) as well as scientific publications.
• Teamwork and interpersonal skills represent an essential preconditions as the candidate will be working in close contact with an international working group.
• Strong publication record (minimum five scientific publications in top peer-reviewed conferences and journals in the domain of reference).

The candidate has significant experience in one or more of the following topics:

• Geographic Information Systems with sound background in GIS-related basic principles. Knowledge of all phases of computer map preparation including digitization, data transmission, data reformatting, and map production.
• Scientific Visualization and Visual Analytics, Human-Computer Interaction, GeoComputation, Spatial statistics, Data mining, Data Filtering, Machine learning, Intelligent complexity reduction.
• Interoperability issues in the GIS domain.

IT requirements

• Good experience with databases (incl. Oracle, PostGres).
• Solid knowledge of the Object-Oriented paradigm and Java programming language.
• Experience in the development of servlets as well as JEE services (e.g. EJB).
• Sound knowledge in the field of web-services and SOA (Service Oriented Architectures) in the context of Spatial Data Infrastructures.
• Software engineering background (specific experience in designing of web-GIS services is a plus) and knowledge of UML.
• Familiarity with OGC protocol such as WMS, WFS, GML.
• Previous experience in the development or deployment of web-GIS services (client and server).
• Knowledge and experience in Metadata creation.
• Experience with GIS software (ESRI, InterGraph or Open Source etc.).
• Experience with GeoDB (Oracle Spatial, PostGIS).
• Experience in the definition of software requirements and technical specification for web-GIS infrastructures.
• Knowledge of semantic model of metadata (e.g. thesauri such as GEMET - General European Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus).
• Previous experience with GeoTools API, JBoss, Oracle Spatial.

Expectations

• Develop and carry out a research project under the control of Graphitech’s management.
• Present the proposed research to at least three top peer-reviewed conferences and/or journals in the domain of reference per year, with the exception of the first year for which only one top peer-reviewed  publication is expected.
• Prepare a research grant applications to national and international funding programs or equivalent organization.
• Design and teach one undergraduate course during the three-year fellowship on a topic proposed and developed in collaboration with Graphitech’s management.
• Participate actively in the bi-monthly Graphitech Seminar
• Conform to worldwide standards of responsible conduct in research and comply with all applicable policies and procedures.
• Participate in open and timely discussion with staff at Graphitech regarding all facets of the fellow’s research and educational activities.

Application process:
The items below should be submitted as Word or PDF attachments in an email message to be sent to jobs@graphitech.it. Include the words “Postdoctoral Fellowship Application - GEO-PD” in the subject line. Application materials will be reviewed by a selection committee.

The application will follow a two step process:

1. The candidates must send to: jobs@graphitech.it
1. Letter of application describing the applicant’s research interest (500 words maximum).
2. Proposal of the applicant’s research plan for the duration of the three-year fellowship (two A4 pages). This section should also include a 1-2 paragraph description of a course the fellow would propose to teach.
3. Official transcript of academic or research experience.
4. Recent writing sample (30 pages maximum).
5. Two letters of recommendation that speak to the applicant’s ability to thrive in an interdisciplinary setting, to develop and carry out a research project, and to contribute to research. These letters should be sent directly from the recommenders to raffaele.de.amicis@graphitech.it
6. Current CV.
2. Selected participants will be invited to prepare a full research proposal to be submitted by the candidate to Fondazione Graphitech. Besides describing technical aspects the project proposal shall include training, mobility and career development activities on an international level as fundamental part of the activities of the project.

In case of successful evaluation of the proposal Graphitech will provide all the necessary infrastructural and administrative support to ensure that the researcher can carry out the project effectively. Salary commensurate with prior experience. Approximately, salary offer will be between EUR 32.000 and EUR 40.000 per year based on experience, scientific background, and qualification, essentially  commensurated with prior experience.

Important: due to Italian Privacy Protection Law n.196/03 any resume not mentioning explicitly the following sentence: “­­I authorize the use of my personal data in accordance with Italian Privacy Protection Law (30/06/2003, n.196/03)” will be automatically deleted from our database and consequently not taken into consideration.

Postdoctoral Position on Technoculture, Art and Games towards a tenure track leading to a position as research unit head
- download pdf
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Research Goals
Providing access to information-rich environments characterized by high interactivity represents a very effective way to engage users in the context of cultural heritage. The latter issue has a key relevance in the case of young users, such as pupils and school students, as it engages them in a learning process which resembles a gaming experience. This makes the use of 3D interactive technologies particularly effective in terms of learning process as it yields a more attractive and engaging learning process therefore delivering better learning results. This serious-game approach makes it very attractive especially among pupils and stimulates its use, together with the consequent advantages for the learning process.

The research will have an interdisciplinary approach tackling fields including game programming, serious games, 3D multimedia application, mobile interactive applications, human-computer interaction.

Job description and responsibilities
The successful candidates must be enthusiastic about:

• conducting research at the highest international level,
• developing and conducting excellent graduate and under-graduate teaching,
• actively taking part in developing the Research Center and its relations with external partners.

The candidate will be actively involved in every aspect of this research activities, from the preliminary investigations, systems research, systems development & study, to its dissemination, i.e. will be actively engaged in writing of scientific and technical papers. The candidate will establish strong team work with the other senior staff at Graphitech. The candidate will be also responsible to prepare and submit, with support from other staff members, of research proposals to national and international funding programmes. Research funds gathered within the three year timeframe will be used to start a research unit of which the candidate shall become head. The successful candidate is expected to coordinate the work of a number of junior scientists (PhD students and IT developers).

Candidates should demonstrate a commitment to innovation in game research and development and must be enthusiastic about multi-disciplinary work that brings together students and faculty from a range of backgrounds. Relevant areas of research and teaching are:

• Game Development.
• Software Engineering.
• Game Engine Components including but not limited to: Physics, Audio, Interactive Graphics, Novel Interfaces, and Procedural Animation.
• Game AI.
• Game Systems Architecture.
• Human Computer Interaction.

Knowledge of Game Design principles and current discussions in the field of Game Studies will be regarded as assets. Candidates should be pursuing a strong research program in the field of game research and development and the ability to attract external funding is also highly valued.

We seek candidates with backgrounds in fields such as game design, game studies, new media arts, digital humanities, communications, media studies and computer science who have some experience working in an interdisciplinary and teamwork based setting. The ideal candidate would be an experienced game designer working within the broader context of digital game studies.

Minimum Requirements:

• Master degree in Computer Science or Mathematics , Physics or Engineering with a PhD degree in one of the following topics: Video Games, Serious Games, Interactive Application for Cultural Heritage.
• Proved expertise in EU or international R&D projects.
• Fluent English (spoken and written) is mandatory: the candidate must be fluent in English and must be able to write technical documents (system requirements, use case document etc. in English) as well as scientific publications (and willingness to learn Italian).
• Teamwork and interpersonal skills represent an essential preconditions as the candidate will be working in close contact with an international working group.
• Strong publication record (minimum five scientific publications in top peer-reviewed conferences and journals in the domain of reference).

The candidate has significant experience in one or more of the following topics:

• Use of 3D interactive technologies in the field of cultural heritage.
• Video Games development.
• Serious Games development.

IT requirements

• Excellent programming skills (C++ and/or Java).

• Expert in software engineering and specific knowledge of UML.
• Knowledge of OpenGL , JOGL.
• Knowledge of at least one SceneGraph-based API such as: -Open Inventor -Java3D -OpenSceneGraph –OpenSG. Familiarity with the other similar tools/APIs is considered a plus.
• Proficiency in game engine programming (Unity3D, Unreal etc.).
• Knowledge of and experience in: Software Engineering, Distributed Systems, Usability Engineering, Web Engineering, or Machine Learning.
• Knowledge of JME (for mobile devices) or specific experience with programming of mobile devices (especially using Android) will be regarded as a very strong added value.

Expectations

• Develop and carry out a research project under the control of Graphitech’s management.
• Present the proposed research to at least three top peer-reviewed conferences and/or journals in the domain of reference per year, with the exception of the first year for which only one top peer-reviewed  publication is expected.
• Prepare a research grant applications to national and international funding programs or equivalent organization.
• Design and teach one undergraduate course during the three-year fellowship on a topic proposed and developed in collaboration with Graphitech’s management.
• Participate actively in the bi-monthly Graphitech Seminar.
• Conform to worldwide standards of responsible conduct in research and comply with all applicable policies and procedures.
• Participate in open and timely discussion with staff at Graphitech regarding all facets of the fellow’s research and educational activities.

Application process:
The items below should be submitted as Word or PDF attachments in an email message to be sent to jobs@graphitech.it. Include the words “Postdoctoral Fellowship Application - SER-PD” in the subject line. Application materials will be reviewed by a selected committee.

The application will follow a two step process:

1. The candidates must send to: jobs@graphitech.it
1. Letter of application describing the applicant’s research interest (500 words maximum).
2. Proposal of the applicant’s research plan for the duration of the three-year fellowship (two A4 pages). This section should also include a 1-2 paragraph description of a course the fellow would propose to teach.
3. Official transcript of academic or research experience.
4. Recent writing sample (30 pages maximum).
5. Two letters of recommendation that speak to the applicant’s ability to thrive in an interdisciplinary setting, to develop and carry out a research project, and to contribute to research. These letters should be sent directly from the recommenders to raffaele.de.amicis@graphitech.it
6. Current CV.
2. Selected participants will be invited to prepare a full research proposal to be submitted by the candidate to Fondazione Graphitech. Besides describing technical aspects the project proposal shall include training, mobility and career development activities on an international level as fundamental part of the activities of the project.

In case of successful evaluation of the proposal Graphitech will provide all the necessary infrastructural and administrative support to ensure that the researcher can carry out the project effectively. Salary commensurate with prior experience. Approximately, salary offer will be between EUR 32.000 and EUR 40.000 per year based on experience, scientific background, and qualification, essentially  commensurated with prior experience.

Important: due to Italian Privacy Protection Law n.196/03 any resume not mentioning explicitly the following sentence: “­­I authorize the use of my personal data in accordance with Italian Privacy Protection Law (30/06/2003, n.196/03)” will be automatically deleted from our database and consequently not taken into consideration.

Postdoctoral Position on Virtual Engineering towards a tenure track leading to  a position as research unit head
- download pdf
top

Research Goals
Creating shapes in a three dimensional environment is a complex operation which often requires the adoption of very constrained techniques. The shape modeling phase plays a fundamental role within the product development and design process because it allows the improvement of the visual appeal of products. It also enhances ergonomics and the product’s commercial competitiveness through product differentiation. Natural and intuitive, yet mathematically correct, creation and modification of surfaces is a fundamental requirement when flexibility and intuition have to be privileged to unleash the designer’s creativity during the concept design phase. Efficient and intuitive shape manipulation techniques are therefore vital to the success of geometric modeling, computer animation, physical simulation and other computing areas. 

The research will have an interdisciplinary approach tackling fields including Computer Aided Design, Geometrical Modeling, Interactive Graphics Systems, Human Computer Interaction, CAD-CAE process integration, Virtual/Augmented and Mixed Reality, CAD/VR Interfaces, Virtual Product Development Process, Simulation-Optimization and Interactive Visualization, Computer Supported Co-operative Work.

Job description and responsibilities
The successful candidates must be enthusiastic about:

• conducting research at the highest international level,
• developing and conducting excellent graduate and under-graduate teaching,
• actively taking part in developing the Research Centre and its relations with external partners.

The candidate will be actively involved in every aspect of this research activities, from the preliminary investigations, systems research, systems development & study, to its dissemination, i.e. will be actively engaged in writing of scientific and technical papers. The candidate will establish strong teamwork with the other senior staff at Graphitech. The candidate will be also responsible to prepare and submit, with support from other staff members, research proposals to national and international funding programmes. Research funds gathered within the three year timeframe will be used to start a research unit of which the candidate shall become head. The successful candidate is expected to coordinate the work of a number of junior scientists and IT developers.

Candidates should demonstrate a commitment to innovation in interactive constrained modeling or design by sketch and must be enthusiastic about multi-disciplinary work that brings together students and faculty from a range of backgrounds.

The candidate will work within a motivated and highly competent international context, in close contact with leading EU universities, research centres and industries. Frequent travel within Europe is expected. The position foresees a very competitive salary depending on the experience of the candidate.

Minimum Requirements:

• Master degree in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science or Physics, with a PhD degree in one of the following topics: Geometrical Modeling, Computational Geometry, Approximation Theory, Numerical Analysis, 3D Computer Graphics.
• Proved expertise in EU or international R&D projects.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to communicate across domains.
• Fluent English (spoken and written) is mandatory (and willingness to learn Italian).
• Strong publication record (minimum five scientific publications in top peer-reviewed conferences and journals in the domain of reference).

The candidate has significant experience in one or more of the following topics:

• Mathematical issues associated with CAD/CAM.
• Use of use CAD/CAM within the industrial process including problems caused by tolerances and inaccuracies.
• Problems related to conversion between representations of curves and surfaces.
• Mathematical issues behind surface and solid modeling.
• Topological operations between shapes.
• Background in high performance scientific computations.
• GPU (Graphics Processing Units) architectures.
• GPU programming and CUDA.
• Solid background in mechanics and finite elements
• Calculation parallelization using multi-core CPUs and/or multiple GPUs.
• Experience in developing 3D interactive applications using OpenGl and JOGL

IT requirements

• Excellent programming skills especially C++ and/or Java.

• Expertise in software engineering and specific knowledge of UML.
• Knowledge of at least one SceneGraph-based API such as: -Open Inventor -Java3D -OpenSceneGraph –OpenSG. Familiarity with similar tools/APIs is considered a plus.
• Any CAM/CAD software.
• Any commercial 3D surface or solid modeler.
• 3D kernel (OpenCascade and/or ACIS).
• CG and and/or GLSL.
• Experience with tracking technologies and related APIs (e.g. OpenTracker).

Expectations

• Develop and carry out a research project under the control of Graphitech’s management.
• Present the proposed research to at least three top peer-reviewed conferences and/or journals in the domain of reference per year, with the exception of the first year for which only one top peer-reviewed  publication is expected.
• Prepare a research grant application to national and international funding programs or equivalent organization.
• Design and teach one undergraduate course during the three-year fellowship on a topic proposed and developed in collaboration with Graphitech’s management.
• Participate actively in the bi-monthly Graphitech Seminar.
• Conform to worldwide standards of responsible conduct in research and comply with all applicable policies and procedures.
• Participate in open and timely discussion with staff at Graphitech regarding all facets of the fellow’s research and educational activities.

Application process:
The items below should be submitted as Word or PDF attachments in an email message to be sent to jobs@graphitech.it. Include the words “Postdoctoral Fellowship Application - PDP-PD” in the subject line. Application materials will be reviewed by a selected committee.

The application will follow a two step process:

1. The candidates must send to: jobs@graphitech.it
1. Letter of application describing the applicant’s research interest (500 words maximum).
2. Proposal of the applicant’s research plan for the duration of the three-year fellowship (two A4 pages). This section should also include a 1-2 paragraph description of a course the fellow would propose to teach.
3. Official transcript of academic or research experience.
4. Recent writing sample (30 pages maximum).
5. Two letters of recommendation that speak to the applicant’s ability to thrive in an interdisciplinary setting, to develop and carry out a research project, and to contribute to research. These letters should be sent directly from the recommenders to raffaele.de.amicis@graphitech.it
6. Current CV.
2. Selected participants will be invited to prepare a full research proposal to be submitted by the candidate to Fondazione Graphitech. Besides describing technical aspects the project proposal shall include training, mobility and career development activities on an international level as fundamental part of the activities of the project.

In case of successful evaluation of the proposal Graphitech will provide all the necessary infrastructural and administrative support to ensure that the researcher can carry out the project effectively. Salary commensurate with prior experience. Approximately, salary offer will be between EUR 32.000 and EUR 40.000 per year based on experience, scientific background, and qualification, essentially  commensurated with prior experience.

Important: due to Italian Privacy Protection Law n.196/03 any resume not mentioning explicitly the following sentence: “­­I authorize the use of my personal data in accordance with Italian Privacy Protection Law (30/06/2003, n.196/03)” will be automatically deleted from our database and consequently not taken into consideration.

Position – REF: iTour
top

Graphitech is available for a young and motivated candidate to involve in the development activities of a forthcoming 3-year long European project on info-mobility services. The candidate will have to deploy a mobile application using Android technology, capable to access geographic information from a wide range of web services through novel forms of interaction techniques. Frequent travelling across Europe is expected.

Profile

The candidate holds a Master degree (or equivalent) in computer science or software engineering. He/she has excellent Java programming skills with specific regards to networking and graphical user interfaces. The candidate must be proficient in web services technologies. Knowledge of JME (for mobile devices) or specific experience with programming of mobile devices (especially using Android) will be regarded as a very strong added value. Similarly previous knowledge in the geo-spatial field and/or Location-Based services is considered a strong plus. The candidate must be fluent in English and must be able to write technical documents (system requirements, use case document etc. in English) as well as scientific publications. Teamwork and interpersonal skills represent an essential preconditions as the candidate will be working in close contact with an international working group.

PhD Position – REF: SAGA-PHD
top

Fondazione Graphitech, Trento - Italy (www.graphitech.it) is looking for two young and motivated candidates willing to work on a forthcoming European project. At the moment two positions are to be filled: one for a PhD and one for a postdoc.  The candidates will work within a motivated and highly competent international context, in close contact with leading EU Universities, Research Centres and Industries. Frequent travel within Europe is expected. Both positions foresee a very competitive salary depending on the experience of the candidate.

Candidates must not be Italian and must not have resided or carried out their main activity in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. Candidates’ research experience may not exceed 5 years at the time of the appointment.  They must speak fluent English, should be capable to confront new scientific challenges and should have a  problem-solving attitude.

The two candidates will have to address the following research goals.

Research Goal

Creating shapes in a three dimensional environment is a complex operation which often requires the adoption of very constrained techniques. The shape modelling phase plays a fundamental role within the design process because it allows the improvement of the visual appeal of artefacts. It also enhances ergonomics and the product’s commercial competitiveness through product differentiation. Natural and intuitive, yet mathematically correct, creation and modification of surfaces is a fundamental requirement when flexibility and intuition have to be privileged to unleash the designer’s creativity during the concept design phase. Efficient and intuitive shape manipulation techniques are therefore vital to the success of geometric modelling, computer animation, physical simulation and other computing areas.

The goal of the research is to define and support different forms of constraint-based design. In this context “constraints” are design features, preliminary defined by an operator, which should be properly integrated with the final CAD product. The activities include:

• Study of the type of representation of constraints within a CAD model.
• Analysis of CAD models’ geometry and topology.
• Identification of the points at which a constraint can fit the designed object as well as how the object should be evolved to satisfy the constraints.

This will be done within a software framework for interactive Virtual Reality-based applications. The framework allows the definition of design applications capable of providing multimodal user interfaces combining sketches, gestures and speech among others.

PhD Position – REF: SAGA-PHD

The position will lead to a full PhD title, to be acquired by the candidate at the end of a 3 years’ research work. Typical candidates are at the first four years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers, starting at the date of obtaining the degree which would formally entitle them to embark on a doctorate.

Required profile

Candidate holds a master degree in Computer Science or Mathematics. He/she is proficient in the fields of Computational Geometry, Approximation Theory (in particular the theory of spline functions), Numerical Analysis with proved experience in the field of 3D Computer Graphics. He/she has experience in software engineering and has excellent programming skills.

Preference will be given to those candidates with experience in one (or more) among the following topics:

• Knowledge of mathematical issues associated with CAD/CAM technology.
• Experience in the use of use CAD/CAM within the industrial process including problems caused by tolerances and inaccuracies.
• Knowledge of mathematical issues related to conversion between representations of curves and surfaces.
• Knowledge of mathematical foundations behind surface / solid modelling.
• Knowledge of topological operations between shapes.
• Knowledge of GPU (Graphics Processing Units) architectures and programming.
• Experience with calculation parallelization using multi-core CPUs and/or multiple GPUs.
• Knowledge or experience with visualisation systems and virtual reality set-ups.

Technical Requirements:

• Excellent programming skills (C++ and/or Java).
• Knowledge of UML
• Knowledge of OpenGL
• Knowledge of at least one SceneGraph-based API such as:
• Open Inventor
• Java3D
• OpenSceneGraph
• OpenSG

Familiarity with the following tools/APIs is considered a plus:

• Any CAM/CAD software.
• Any commercial 3D surface or solid modeller.
• OpenCascade and/or ACIS.
• CG and and/or GLSL.
• Experience with tracking technologies and related APIs (e.g. OpenTracker)
  

One PostDoc Position – REF: SAGA-POST
top

Fondazione Graphitech, Trento - Italy (www.graphitech.it) is looking for two young and motivated candidates willing to work on a forthcoming European project. At the moment two positions are to be filled: one for a PhD and one for a postdoc.  The candidates will work within a motivated and highly competent international context, in close contact with leading EU Universities, Research Centres and Industries. Frequent travel within Europe is expected. Both positions foresee a very competitive salary depending on the experience of the candidate.

Candidates must not be Italian and must not have resided or carried out their main activity in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. Candidates’ research experience may not exceed 5 years at the time of the appointment.  They must speak fluent English, should be capable to confront new scientific challenges and should have a  problem-solving attitude.

The two candidates will have to address the following research goals.

Research Goal

Creating shapes in a three dimensional environment is a complex operation which often requires the adoption of very constrained techniques. The shape modelling phase plays a fundamental role within the design process because it allows the improvement of the visual appeal of artefacts. It also enhances ergonomics and the product’s commercial competitiveness through product differentiation. Natural and intuitive, yet mathematically correct, creation and modification of surfaces is a fundamental requirement when flexibility and intuition have to be privileged to unleash the designer’s creativity during the concept design phase. Efficient and intuitive shape manipulation techniques are therefore vital to the success of geometric modelling, computer animation, physical simulation and other computing areas.

The goal of the research is to define and support different forms of constraint-based design. In this context “constraints” are design features, preliminary defined by an operator, which should be properly integrated with the final CAD product. The activities include:

• Study of the type of representation of constraints within a CAD model.
• Analysis of CAD models’ geometry and topology.
• Identification of the points at which a constraint can fit the designed object as well as how the object should be evolved to satisfy the constraints.

This will be done within a software framework for interactive Virtual Reality-based applications. The framework allows the definition of design applications capable of providing multimodal user interfaces combining sketches, gestures and speech among others.

One PostDoc Position – REF: SAGA-POST

The position will lead to a postdoc project for a duration of at least 9 months. The candidate must either:

• be in possession of a doctoral degree, independently of the time taken to acquire it,
  
  or
  
  
• have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience, including the 9 months period envisaged by the contract, after obtaining the degree which formally allowed them to embark on a doctorate.

In either cases his/her research experience may not exceed 5 years at the time of the appointment.  

Required profile

The candidate holds a master degree in Computer Science or Mathematics or Engineering with a PhD degree in one of the following topics: Computational Geometry, Approximation Theory, Numerical Analysis, 3D Computer Graphics. The candidate has significant experience in at least one of the following topics:

• Mathematical issues associated with CAD/CAM.
• Use of use CAD/CAM within the industrial process including problems caused by tolerances and inaccuracies.
• Problems related to conversion between representations of curves and surfaces.
• Mathematical issues behind surface and solid modelling.
• Topological operations between shapes.
• GPU (Graphics Processing Units) architectures and programming.
• Calculation parallelization using multi-core CPUs and/or multiple GPUs.

Requirements (additionally to those required for the PhD position):

• Five scientific publications in top peer-reviewed conferences and journals in the domain of reference.
• Previous experience/involvement in a EU project is considered a plus.
  

One Junior Scientist Position – REF: NATSDI
top

Fondazione Graphitech, Trento - Italy (www.graphitech.it) is looking for one young and motivated candidate willing to work on a forthcoming European project in the field of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The candidate will work on a EU project (see following description) to improve harmonisation of national GI datasets and to make them more accessible and exploitable. For this reason the candidate must speak fluent English and must be capable to confront new scientific challenges and have a  problem-solving attitude. Good knowledge of written English is essential as the candidate will be asked to write technical reports. Good interpersonal and communication skills are considered essential as the candidate will work within a motivated and highly competent international context, in close contact with leading EU Universities, Research Centres and Industries. Frequent travel within Europe is expected.
The position foresees a very competitive salary depending on experience of the candidate.

The project

On 2007 a major milestone was set at the EU level in the GI domain by the entering in force of the INSPIRE (INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe) directive (2007/2/EC). The latter is having profound effects, in technological, operational and political terms as it defines a legal as well as technical framework with the precise intent to provide harmonised access to data of environmental interest across Europe. From the technical standpoint INSPIRE is leading to the definition of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) based on a multi-level federated approach based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Through the ESDI, institutions at different levels, from all member states, will expose standardised data of interest for the EU through harmonised geographical web services.
The goal of the project is to define a common multilingual and multicultural approach for a simpler, standard access to spatial data within one of the theme specified within the Annexes of INSPIRE. For this reason the project will develop a complete specific metadata profile with the creation of common geographical thesaurus to support and harmonize the metadata entry. A demonstration geoportal, supported by web services, will provide data accessibility for the different stakeholders.

The profile

The candidate holds a master degree (or five years equivalent) in Engineering or Computer Science and he/she has specific experience in the field of Geographic Information Systems with sound background in GIS-related basic principles. Knowledge of all phases of computer map preparation including digitization, data transmission, data reformatting, and map production is required. A strong software engineering background as well as strong programming experience (Java) is also considered essential.
The candidate will work at the general design of a large-scale web-GIS portal and the additional services. This includes the specification of the functionalities of the portal, the definition of the user interface, the specification of a multi-lingual service (metadata validator and multi-lingual search support).

Requirements

• Very good knowledge of the Object-Oriented paradigm and Java programming language.
• Experience in the development of servlets as well as JEE services (e.g. EJB).
• Sound knowledge in the field of web-services and SOA (Service Oriented Architectures) in the context of Spatial Data Infrastructures.
• Software engineering background (specific experience in designing of web-GIS services is a plus) and knowledge of UML.
• Familiarity with OGC protocol such as WMS, WFS, GML.
• Previous experience in the development or deployment of web-GIS services (client and server).
• Knowledge and experience in Metadata creation.
• Experience with GIS software (ESRI, InterGraph or Open Source etc.).
• Experience with GeoDB (PostGIS is a plus)

Meeting one or more of the following is considered a plus:

• Previous experience or knowledge of interoperability issues in the GIS domain.
• Experience in the definition of software requirements and technical specification for web-GIS infrastructures.
• Knowledge of semantic model of metadata (e.g. thesauri such as GEMET - General European Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus)
• Knowledge of the following ISO standard:

• ISO 19146 Cross Domain Vocabularies
• ISO 19132 Location-based service Reference models
• ISO 19104 terminology Geographic information

• Previous experience with GeoTools API, JBoss, Oracle Spatial.