ERC Advanced Investigator Grant to Dale Miller

Even though this is not really news any more, I am happy to report that  Dale Miller has been awarded one of the prestigious Advanced Investigators Grants by the ERC for the project ProofCert: Broad Spectrum Proof Certificates. This is a 2.2 million euro grant (about 3 million USD) for the five years 2012-2016. A news item pertaining to this award is here and the list of all awards for 2011 is available from this link.

The following excerpt is taken from the proposal’s abstract.

The ProofCert proposal aims at building a foundation that will allow a broad spectrum of formal methods—ranging from automatic model checkers to interactive theorem provers—to work together to establish formal properties of computer systems. This project starts with a wonderful gift to us from decades of work by logicians and proof theorist: their efforts on logic and proof has given us a universally accepted means of communicating proofs between people and computer systems. Logic can be used to state desirable security and correctness properties of software and hardware systems and proofs are uncontroversial evidence that statements are, in fact, true. The current state-of-the-art of formal methods used in academics and industry shows, however, that the notion of logic and proof is severely fractured: there is little or no communication between any two such systems. Thus any efforts on computer system correctness is needlessly repeated many time in the many different systems: sometimes this work is even redone when a given prover is upgraded. In ProofCert, we will build on the bedrock of decades of research into logic and proof theory the notion of proof certificates. Such certificates will allow for a complete reshaping of the way that formal methods are employed.

More technical details are available from the project's web page.

It is good to see that the ERC is actively supporting researchers of Dale's calibre in carrying out this kind of work. I look forward to seeing the outcome of this five-year project.

First Alan Turing Year event at Reykjavík University

Last Thursday, I kicked off  the Alan Turing Year at Reykjavik University  by delivering a talk for the general public entitled Alan Turing: The Father of Computer Science (organized jointly by ICE-TCS , the School of Computer Science at Reykjavik University and the Icelandic Mathematical Society).  In case anyone is interested, the audio of the talk, with the accompanying slides, is here in .avi format.

We plan to record all the talks in the series and to make them available on line here. 

It is not easy to give a talk for a general audience. In enjoyed the experience, but I was mightily relieved when the talk was over :-)

The Alan Turing Year at Reykjavik University is part of the Alan Turing Year, a centenary celebration of the life and work of Alan Turing.

What is a good research environment?

On January 27, I will be giving a ten-minute presentation at a town-hall meeting that will take place at Reykjavik University on the theme "What is a good research environment?". I roughly know what I am going to say, but I am curious to hear what would be the items on my readers' wish list when they think about a good research environment.

• What do you look for in a research environment you would be happy to work in? 
• What are the best aspects of your current research environment?
• What would you improve in your current research environment?

Two PhD fellowships at Reykjavík University in Design of Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks

I am very happy to post the following announcement of two Ph.D. fellowships on behalf of my colleague, and work-space neighbour, Magnús M. Halldórsson. I trust that it will be of interest to some of the readers of this blog and/or their students. The project "Design of Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks", which has Magnus as PI and sees the participation of ICE-TCS members Pradipta Mitra, Eyjólfur Ásgeirsson, Henning Úlfarsson and Ymir Vigfusson, has just been awarded a three-year excellence grant  by The Icelandic Research Fund.



Design of Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks

School of Computer Science, Reykjavik University

Two Ph.D. fellowships



Applications are invited for two Ph.D. fellowships at the School of Computer Science (SCS), Reykjavik University. The positions are part of a three-year research project funded by a grant-of-excellence by the Icelandic Research Fund, under the direction of Magnús M. Halldórsson.

Aim of the project

The aim of this project is to elucidate fundamental properties of wireless networks, broadly construed. Our focus is on general provable properties that hold for arbitrary configurations and are independent of situation-specific characteristics. We explore realistic models of interference, with the aim of bridging some of the gap between theoretical and applied research. We will also investigate practical protocols to disseminate information in general networks.



Some of the aspects of the projects include:

· Spectrum management, including game theory and spectrum auctions, and cognitive radio.

· Analysis of increasingly realistic models of wireless communication, including shadowing and obstacles, mobility, and network coding.

· Installation of a comprehensive wireless testbed, and the implementation of empirical confirmation studies.

· Resolution of fundamental open questions on wireless scheduling and capacity, and the design of communication primitives.

· Creating and evaluating protocols for information dissemination in combined wired and wireless networks.

· Devising practical systems and implementing applications for general networks.



The mode of operation of the project is three-pronged:

· Designing and implementing systems and kernel primitives.

· Conducting empirical studies in a wireless testbed, along with simulations studies.

· Designing and analysing algorithms with provable performance bounds.





Research environment

The research group consists of faculty members from three schools at Reykjavik University and collaborators at TU Aachen and ETH Zurich. The group includes Ýmir Vigfússon, Henning Úlfarsson and Pradipta Mitra (SCS), Eyjólfur Ásgeirsson (School of Science and Engineering) and Sverrir Ólafsson (School of Business and School of Science and Engineering). The project director is Magnús M. Halldórsson (SCS). Our primary collaborators are Berthold Vöcking (TU Aachen) and Roger Wattenhofer (ETH Zurich); we also collaborate with other world-class researchers in Europe, N-America, and Asia. The research group website is http://alnet.ru.is/sinr.html.


The successful candidates will benefit from, and contribute to, the research environment at the Icelandic Centre of Excellence in Theoretical Computer Science (ICE-TCS). ICE-TCS has currently 14 permanent members, five postdoctoral researchers and three Ph.D. students. For more information about ICE-TCS, its members and its activities, see http://www.icetcs.ru.is/.

Qualification requirements

Applicants for the Ph.D. fellowships should have a MSc degree in Computer Science, or closely related fields, and have a solid background in the analysis of algorithms and a good understanding of networking. One of the studentships is expected to be systems-oriented, for which an experience with systems design and implementation is essential. The other will be focused on algorithmic analysis, for which mathematical competence is crucial.

Remuneration

Each Ph.D position provides a stipend of 250,000 ISK (roughly 1600€[1]) per month before taxes, for three years, starting as early as possible and no later than September 2012.

Application details

By Friday, 15 February 2012, interested applicants should send their CV, including a list of publications where applicable, as a PDF document to mmh@ru.is, together with a transcript of their academic record, a 1-2 page statement outlining their suitability for the project and the names of two referees who can comment on the research potential of the candidate.

We will start reviewing applications as soon as they arrive, and will continue to accept applications until the positions are filled. However, we strongly encourage interested applicants to send in their applications as soon as possible.

About the School of Computer Science at Reykjavik University

The School of Computer Science at RU (http://en.ru.is/CS) has approximately 440 students at the undergraduate, masters and doctorate levels. The School is home to several strong research groups and the main research areas are algorithmics, artificial intelligence, combinatorics, concurrency theory, databases, human-computer interaction, natural language processing, engineering software systems, theoretical computer science and virtual environments.

The School of Computer Science at Reykjavik University has ties with several leading foreign universities, facilitating collaboration, as well as faculty and student exchanges. In particular, the School has a joint M.Sc. degree in Computer Science with the University of Camerino, Italy, and joint Ph.D. degree programs with KTH, Stockholm, Sweden, and Eindhoven University of Technology, Holland.

Information about Ph.D. studies at the School of Computer Science is available at
http://en.ru.is/departments/school-of-computer-science/ph.d-studies/



[1] Up-to-date Exchange Rate can be obtained from http://sedlabanki.is/?PageID=183

Merry Christmas, if it comes.....

From xkcd. My daughter would not be very happy with this Zeno behaviour :-)

Accepted papers for FOSSACS 2012

The list of accepted papers for FOSSACS 2012 is now available. The competition for the available slots was very hard, and several deserving submissions could not be selected for the conference.

On a personal note, the more I serve on PCs for competitive conferences, the more I have the feeling that the quality of the competition is increasing. The same holds true for grant applications, job applications, promotions and just about any other aspect of academic life.

News from the LICS Community

Here is some news I just discovered by looking at the web page for LICS 2012.

Highlights and changes for LICS 2012

1. Starting 2012, LICS is jointly organized by ACM and IEEE, and is cosponsored by ACM SIGACT and the IEEE Computer Society's Technical Committee on Mathematical Foundations of Computing.
2. In response to concerns about LICS becoming overly selective with a too-narrow technical focus, the program committee will employ a merit-based selection with no a priori limit on the number of accepted papers.
3. LICS 2012 will continue the tradition of pre-conference tutorials that was initiated in 2011. This year, Jan Willem Klop will give a tutorial on term rewriting systems and Andre Platzer will give a tutorial on logics of dynamical systems.
4. Special Events and Invited Lectures: There will be an invited lecture by Robert J. Aumann, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and a plenary session in honor of Alan Turing on the occasion of his centenary, with talks by Robert L. Constable, E. Allen Emerson (co-winner of 2008 A. M. Turing Award), Joan Feigenbaum, and Leonid Levin. 

These are very interesting developments for the LICS community, some of which should be of interest for the TCS community as a whole.

Development A above paves the way to the formation of an ACM Special Interest Group on Logic in CS, say a SIGLOG, about which I have heard reports in private conversations with key players in the LICS community. Such a special interest group would play an important role in the development of volume B TCS research in North America.

Development B is most interesting and might be a watershed event, if it pans out. LICS plays the role of FOCS/STOC for the volume B TCS community and I believe that all of TCS will be interested in observing the outcome of the LICS 2012 experiment. Typically, the quality of an average LICS submission is very high and this new policy might encourage even more submissions to the conference than usual. How will the PC handle these submissions? Will the conference move to parallel sessions? Will this development decrease the value of the "LICS currency"? Will other conferences follow the lead of LICS, if the experiment "succeeds"?

Time will tell. In any event, this is a courageous step taken by the LICS conference and I look forward to seeing how it will affect the conference and the LICS/TCS community.

Last, but not least, items C and D above look exciting. I have heard from several sources that the tutorials at LICS 2011 were a resounding success. (See here, here and here for the slides used by Prakash Panangaden, one of my favourite speakers, in his tutorial on Semantics. Albert Atserias gave a tutorial on Finite Model Theory.)

Standards for promotions

My department is developing its strategy for the next five years. As part of this strategy work, we are working on a "promotion strategy" and we are discussing standards for promotion to associate and full professor positions. Needless to say, there is a wide array of opinions amongst my colleagues on this point. In order to obtain a broad survey of current best practices, let me ask any reader out there:

• What does it typically take to be promoted to associate and full professorships at your institution? 
• What role does teaching performance play in such decisions? And how is it measured?
• What are the incentives to undergo a promotion process, apart from the obvious ones like tenure and possibly higher wages?

Thanks in advance!

Dr. Cimini, I presume

Last Friday, Matteo Cimini successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled Contributions to the Meta-theory of Structural Operational Semantics. Congratulations to Dr. Cimini! I expect that his thesis will be available on line soon, but, for the moment, you can read some of the papers that form the bulk of that tome.

A PhD is not enough, however. I wish Matteo the best of luck for his future career.