17 February:

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The Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI) at Stanford
University is seeking one or more Research Scientists to work on multimodal
spoken-language dialogue systems, starting as soon as the candidate's schedule
allows.

The ideal candidate is a Computational Linguist with an interest in the
computational semantics and pragmatics of dialogue, and/or with a specific
interest in natural language generation (NLG) for dialogue. The position
requires a Ph.D. in computational linguistics, natural language processing,
artificial intelligence, cognitive science, or a related field. Applicants
should have a demonstrated capacity to define and implement a research plan, and
to conduct individual and collaborative research consonant with the
dialogue-systems projects underway at CSLI.

Current research into dialogue at CSLI centers around the information-state
update approach to dialogue modeling, and employs a variety of techniques,
including symbolic and stochastic, theory and data-driven. Proficiency in
multiple approaches relevant to current CSLI application areas will be highly
valueed, as will an ability to oversee implementation.

Candidates with a track-record in the following topic areas are particularly
encouraged to apply:
- Natural Language Generation, specifically in the context of human-centered
conversational dialogue systems;
- Dialogue systems architecture, including using ontologies and language
resources for broad-coverage systems;
- Robust interpretation and interaction for dialogue, such as handling utterance
fragments, repairs, noisy input, and/or multi-party turn-taking;
- Managing uncertainty in dialogue, e.g., using underspecification and/or
probabilistic techniques.

The successful candidate will work with faculty, postdoctoral, and student
researchers in the Dialogue Systems Group at CSLI, performing novel research and
developing core infrastructure for multimodal conversational systems for a range
of interactions and applications. Responsibilities will include supervising
student research assistants and participating in proposal-preparation to attract
new funding.

The CSLI Dialogue Systems Group consists of about thirteen people, and is
involved in a number of projects involving close collaboration with other
Stanford departments, numerous other academic institutions, government agencies
such as NASA, and various commercial enterprises. Current projects include:
conversational control of in-car devices; understanding multi-party interaction
in physical meeting spaces; speech-enabled intelligent tutoring systems;
collaborative control of teams of robotic devices.

The position is initially for 1 year, renewable for up to 3 years (contingent on
continuing funding). Salary is dependent on qualifications and experience, but
is expected to be in a range starting from $70,000 for a junior appointee, to
$90,000 for a senior appointee. Candidates who may be more appropriate for a
more senior appointment are encouraged to contact us directly and may be
considered at a higher salary.

Applicants should submit a letter of application and a full resume or curriculum
vitae with names and email addresses of at least three referees. Please contact
Stanley Peters and/or Lawrence Cavedon for
further information.

Stanford University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.


Address for Applications:

Lawrence Cavedon
CSLI, Stanford University
210 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
United States of America

Application Deadline: Open until filled.

Contact Information:

Lawrence Cavedon
Email: lcavedon@csli.stanford.edu
Phone: 1-650-725-2318
Website: http://www-csli.stanford.edu/semlab

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