[plt-scheme] Research Job: Compositional Reasoning & Analysis for Software Systems @ Heriot-Watt U., Scotland, UK

[ This is relevant to Schemers because ultimately we'd like to do full
  static type analysis for languages like Scheme. ]

                             Research Position

    Useful Logics, Types, Rewriting, and their Automation (ULTRA) Group
                        Computer Science Department
                School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
                           Heriot-Watt University
                          Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

The HTML version of this job posting can be found at:

  http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~jbw/position-ad.html

Description of the Position

   A research position is available working on modular reasoning and
   compositional analysis for software at Heriot-Watt University working
   with Joe Wells.  The position is in the ULTRA (Useful Logics, Types,
   Rewriting, and their Automation) group in the Computer Science
   Department in the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences at
   Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.  The
   position involves close collaboration with both the EC-funded DART
   (Dynamic Assembly, Reconfiguration, and Type-checking) project
   (members:  Genova Univ., Heriot-Watt Univ., Imperial Coll., and Torino
   Univ.) and the EC, EPSRC, NATO, and NSF-funded Church Project
   (members:  Boston Coll., Boston Univ., Heriot-Watt Univ., Wellesley
   Coll., etc.).

   It will be helpful if the researcher is competent in 1 or more of the
   following knowledge areas which are likely to be used in the project.

     * Formal calculi for reasoning about the meaning of computer systems
       (including computer programs), especially those with aspects of
       (a) modules, linking, and loading, (b) concurrency, (c) mobility,
       (d) staged compilation, (e) resource usage, (f) classes and
       objects, etc.
     * Analysis of systems represented in formal calculi.
     * Constraint solving and unification.
     * Type systems, especially those with intersection and union types.
     * Programming languages used for any of the above.

   The duration of the position is from 6 months to 1.5 years, depending
   on the circumstances of the researcher, with extensions possible
   depending on salary, experience, performance, and funding.
   Applications to spend a shorter period (e.g., the sabbatical leave of
   an established academic) will be considered.  The initial salary will
   be commensurate with qualifications and experience in the range from
   20311 GBP to 27339 GBP per year.  The position is available as soon as
   2003-07-16 with the ideal start date being 2003-08-01.  It is preferred
   that before starting the researcher will have completed a Ph.D. in a
   relevant discipline within Computer Science.  Very good Ph.D. students
   elsewhere who want to spend part of their studies visiting Heriot-Watt
   will be considered.  Applicants from outside the European Economic Area
   (EEA) will be considered.

   The researcher will probably collaborate on 1 or more of the following
   activities.  The specific activities will be matched to the strengths
   of the researcher.

     * Designing new type systems for compositional (modular) analysis of
       systems that may involve one or more aspects of concurrency,
       mobility, modularity, objects, run-time code generation, etc.
     * Designing analysis algorithms for the new type systems.
     * Designing theories (e.g., "calculi") for reasoning about the
       meaning of dynamic software assembly, i.e., doing in a
       non-traditional order one or more of type checking, code
       generation, linking, loading, etc.
     * Making software systems incorporating the new type systems,
       algorithms, and calculi.
     * Writing scientific reports on the work done.

Contact Information

   Informal inquiries should be directed to Joe Wells at:

   web:     http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~jbw/
   e-mail:  jbw at macs.hw.ac.uk
   fax:     +44 131 449 3834

   Formal applications should be directed to the Heriot-Watt Personnel
   Office at:

   web:         http://www.hw.ac.uk/personnel/
   e-mail:      personnel at hw.ac.uk (responses will usually be by paper
                mail, telephone, or fax)
   voice mail:  +44 131 451 3475
   fax:         +44 131 451 3475
   minicom:     +44 131 451 8212
   post:        The Personnel Office
                Lord Balerno Building
                Heriot-Watt University
                EDINBURGH
                EH14 4AS
                GREAT BRITAIN

Applying for the Position

   Please use the reference code 59/03/L to help prevent your application
   from getting mixed up.  Please convert Microsoft Word documents to a
   public, standard, and non-proprietary format.  The best format is PDF,
   because some of our staff will encounter difficulties with HTML or
   PostScript.

   To formally apply for this position, please do as many as possible of
   the items in the following list by 2003-06-13.  The first 2 are
   absolutely necessary and the 3rd is quite important.  If you expect
   trouble meeting the deadline, please ask Joe Wells what to do.

     * Cause 3 reference letters to be sent.  (If someone tells you the
       letters are not needed yet or that less than 3 are needed, this is
       a mistake.  We want to see the letters before choosing who to
       interview.)
     * Send the following yourself:
          + your complete curriculum vitae, and
          + contact details for the people writing your reference
            letters.
     * Get the Heriot-Watt Personnel Office to send you an "application
       pack".  (This contains an application form, an equal opportunities
       monitoring form, information for applicants with disabilities, and
       some additional information about Heriot-Watt and the position.)
       Fill out and return the application form and the equal
       opportunities monitoring form.  If your curriculum vitae is well
       constructed, then some information requested will be redundant, so
       just write "see c.v." in those blanks, but please return the
       application form anyway.
     * Optionally, also send either of the following:
          + a brief statement about why your research accomplishments and
            interests are a good match for the position, and
          + up to 3 relevant publications of yours.
     * It is helpful to inform Joe Wells that you are applying so that he
       knows to ask our personnel office for your application materials.
     * Anyone who might need a work permit if hired (usually someone who
       is not a citizen of an EEA country) should also do the following.
       In addition to possibly being e-mailed or faxed, each letter of
       reference should also be sent by post on official-looking headed
       stationery paper and should include details on your whereabouts
       over the last two years.  A work permit application also needs
       copies of any degree certificates, so it is a good idea to send
       those also at the same time as you send the rest of your
       application.  Work permit applications can take quite some time for
       the UK's Home Office to process, so please avoid delays.

   For your information, the standard solicitation for a reference letter
   by Heriot-Watt Personnel Office asks the letter writer for details of:

     * the capacity in which they know the candidate,
     * the candidate's skills, abilities and performance in relation to
       the post applied for,
     * the candidate's employment record including details of the
       candidate's role and service dates,
     * their view of the candidate's suitability for the post as a whole,
       in light of the attached details and their knowledge of the
       candidate's experience and abilities,
     * any further relevant information which would assist us in making
       an appointment.