Vacancies

PhD vacancy at Eindhoven University of Technology
Dissertation topic: Dynamic traffic control through in-car navigation systems

The Section Stochastics of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Eindhoven University of Technology invites applications for a PhD position in the area of Applied Probability
and Operations Research. The PhD project is part of the Dynafloat program, funded by NWO/Topsector Logistics. Dynafloat involves three PhD projects, in a collaboration between UvA/CWI, UT and TU Eindhoven.

Brief description of the PhD project:
The growing urbanization concentrated in large cities poses enormous challenges to our society. The efficient use of available infrastructure and sound mobility and logistics planning and control frameworks are among the main challenges. This project focuses on the use of massively available planning and floating car data in addition to data from roadside equipment, to enable dynamic control of both freight and passenger flows. We exploit the data to provide users with suggestions for alternative routes that they can use to reach their destinations, in order to improve the performance of the network as a whole, taking into account the actual heterogeneity of traffic.
We aim to steer users through the network by (primarily) making use of the communication between in-car navigation systems. In this project we assume that the control and detection mechanisms of the roadside equipment make no use of the available floating-car data. Conversely, in-car navigation devices try to use floating-car data efficiently in order to make the best decisions regarding the speed and/or route that is being advised to the driver. Hence we focus on dynamically steering traffic flows through the network, instead of dynamically controlling traffic lights. In contrast to existing implementations, not only the individual benefits are taken into account when determining the individualized advice, but the overall performance of the global network should be considered. The PhD candidate will use statistical and probabilistic techniques to do traffic light prediction based on floating car data, and techniques from stochastic processes and operations research to incorporate queueing phenomena in the mathematical and simulation models that will be developed.

Job requirements
Candidates are expected to be fluent in English, both oral and in writing, and have an excellent background in (applied) mathematics, as evidenced by an MSc degree in preferably (applied) mathematics, or possibly econometrics, operations research or civil engineering (the latter with a specialization in traffic modeling).

Terms of employment
PhD candidates are appointed as temporary university employees for a four-year period, based on an initial one-year contract, with a three-year extension after a positive evaluation as to whether the research is expected to result in a PhD degree after four years. The terms of employment are governed by the Collective Labor Agreement of Universities in The Netherlands, with a monthly salary starting at 2173 Euro in the first year and increasing to 2778 Euro in the fourth year, and in addition 8% holiday allowance and 8% end-of-year bonus.

Information
For further information, please contact:
Prof.dr.ir. I.J.B.F. Adan, i.adan@tue.nl, +31 40 2472932, or
Dr.ir. M.A.A. Boon, marko@win.tue.nl, +31 40 2472989, or
Prof.dr.ir. O.J. Boxma, o.j.boxma@tue.nl, +31 40 2472858.

Application
In order to apply, please send a detailed curriculum vitae, along with a brief cover letter motivating your interest, to O.J. Boxma, o.j.boxma@tue.nl

 

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PhD position in Science Communication & Mathematics at Leiden University & Eindhoven University of Technology

NETWORKS is looking for a strong, motivated PhD candidate for a four-year PhD project at the intersection of Science Communication and Mathematics, on the topic of Citizen Science Projects (CSPs) in the context of networks.

Key responsibilities
There is currently a boost of projects where citizens are involved with science (see www.iedereenwetenschapper.nl). This PhD project is expected to spark theoretical advances in the theory behind citizen science, making fundamental contributions in the area of science communication. Who are the participants and what do they take away from a project? How can these projects be used for communicating scientific ideas? And what makes a citizen science project successful?

This PhD project is carried out in the framework of the NWO Gravity project NETWORKS (www.thenetworkcenter.nl/). The combination of large populations of interested citizens and the availability of wireless technology and digital infrastructures creates unprecedented possibilities to gather data and reveal underlying network structures. The project goals are to gain theoretical knowledge about citizen science projects and to use this theory to develop, execute and evaluate a new citizen science project for human networks.

This is a joint project of the Science, Communication and Society group in Leiden and the Stochastics Networks and Applied Probability group in Eindhoven, under the supervision of Ionica Smeets (Leiden) and Johan van Leeuwaarden (Eindhoven). The PhD candidate will be based in Leiden with regular visits to Eindhoven.

More information: NETWORKS