[Imageworld] PhD position in shape-based object recognition

[Iasonas Kokkinos]

A PhD position in shape-based object recognition is available in the  
Computer Vision group of the Applied Mathematics Department of Ecole  
Centrale Paris (Paris, France). The PhD will be supervised by Iasonas  
Kokkinos.

Project:
Our goal is to develop image and object representations that will  
allow object recognition systems to scale up to hundreds of object  
categories.
We will pursue an approach analogous to the one that led to the  
development of large-scale speech recognition systems, by extracting a  
generic low-level signal
representation, finding a small set of common mid-level parts shared  
among multiple objects and finally putting such parts together in a  
probabilistic manner to form high-level structures.

We will focus primarily on the development and learning of appropriate  
mid-level representations by relying on shape-based cues, such as  
boundaries, symmetry axes, and the relations among such structures.  
The main challenge will be to develop a rigorous and robust method to  
exploit shape-based information in high-level vision tasks. Aspects of  
this problem include perceptual grouping, building probabilistic  
models of shape variation, and developing shape representations that  
facilitate the efficient indexing into object databases.

For more details about the group, see:
http://www.mas.ecp.fr/vision/Personnel/iasonas/
http://www.mas.ecp.fr/vision/

Requirements:
The applicant must have a strong background in applied mathematics,
computer vision and/or machine learning and good programming skills.
He should hold a master's level degree in Electrical Engineering,
Computer Science or a related discipline.
Previous exposure to object recognition is preferred but not required.

The applicant does not have to be French or speak French.

To apply:
Please send a CV, a letter of interest, and at least two reference letters to
iasonas.kokkinos at ecp.fr

Higher priority will be given to applications received before July 15, 2010.
The PhD can start as early as September 2010.