The Laboratory for Energy Conversion at ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland), Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) offers a PhD position:

PhD Position in High Performance Computing and Visualization for Future Urban and Infrastructural Planning Tools

The position is devoted to improving computing performance of integrated modeling framework, which can reflect the dynamic and chaotic behavior of the built urban environment and various flows that it incorporates in a realistic way. Currently, even though such capacity would be of a great importance for planning of future development, the computational cost associated with the sophisticated models limits the usage of these models to a small scale. This PhD position is dedicated to development and performance improvement of a modeling tool that can simulate the major built and infrastructural interrelations. The tool consists of multiple modules each responsible for simulating different aspects of built environment. The computational cost is associated especially with modules like traffic. In this regard, this position is partially on the high performance computing for urban modeling which involves re-designing of the existing numerical methods and models for the many-core hardware architectures (graphic processors) and implementation of them with the use of appropriate programming models. This position also involves integration of the ray tracing based rendering libraries into the modeling tool. The candidate will complement our existing multi-disciplinary team comprised of researchers from different backgrounds, including engineers and architects. The interaction between the other members of the group and adapting the developed tool according to the evolving needs is also strongly expected. This is an opportunity to participate in a project with highly recognized national partners to develop a holistic tool that can be used to evaluate different development scenarios and strategies.

We are looking for outstanding candidates who hold master’s degree in engineering, math or physics who can design and implement algorithms for heterogeneous hardware platforms. The candidate should have excellent programming skills in Phyton, C, C++ and basic skills in Java. Experience in programming with many core architectures in particular with graphic processors is absolutely essential. Some background in mathematical modeling is also required. Preliminary knowledge on the usage of the ray tracing engines is beneficiary but not mandatory. Excellent written and verbal English required; knowledge of German is desirable but not mandatory. The candidate should have the ability and self-motivation to work both independently and as a team player.

For further information you may contact Dr. Anna Gawlikowska by e-mail annaga@ethz.ch (no applications).

We look forward to receiving your application online until 14th July 2016 with attention to: ETH Zurich, Mr. Matthias Steiger, Human Resources, CH-8092 Zürich. Please submit your application including a cover letter stating your motivation for this position and explaining your experience on software development in particular on many core (graphic processors or similar) hardware architectures. Please state in CV your programming skills and the programming projects you are involved, fluidity levels in programming languages, names and addresses of two references.