The Multiagent Systems Research Group in the Computer Science Department of Washington University St. Louis has an opening for a doctoral student as a Graduate Research Assistant. The group is growing, and is one of the leading research groups within its specialization, see http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~mas.
The Multiagent Systems Research Group, under the direction of Assistant Professor Tuomas Sandholm, is concerned with designing, analyzing and implementing sophisticated AI systems consisting of multiple agents. Special focus is on the coordination of self-interested agents in open systems. In this endeavor, we use techniques from game theory and other fields of microeconomics, and we extend those theories with normative models of bounded rationality, such as limited computation and communication. This work has also led us to develop new techniques for single agent resource-bounded reasoning, constraint satisfaction, and machine learning. The group's work has led to several academic awards, and many of the inventions are being patented and fielded via close ties to a startup company.
Applications with self-interested, bounded rational agents are ubiquitous, including vehicle routing among independent dispatch centers; manufacturing planning and scheduling among multiple companies in subcontracting networks; meeting scheduling; scheduling of patient treatments across hospitals; classroom scheduling; planning and scheduling of multi-contractor software projects; digital libraries; multiagent information gathering on the Web; routing and bandwidth allocation in multi-provider multi-consumer computer networks; air combat planning; electronic commerce; and electronic trading of equities, to name just a few.
The Research Assistant position has long term NSF funding, and involves state-of-the-art research in automated negotiation, electronic commerce, contracting, coalition formation, game theory, and resource-bounded reasoning. The position comes with a full Research Assistant salary and a complete tuition waiver. Interested applicants should contact Tuomas Sandholm (sandholm@cs.wustl.edu).
Necessary qualifications:
1. University degree in computer science, operations research, mathematical economics, mathematics, or a related field.
2. Desire to work hard toward a PhD degree, and do state-of-the-art research in multiagent systems.
3. Demonstrated exceptional intellectual caliber.
4. Command of the English language.
Desired qualifications:
1. Mathematical sophistication.
2. Experience in C++, Java, and Unix.
3. Knowledge of game theory, artificial intelligence, multiagent systems, or mobile agents.