Open Positions at the Global Computing Lab (GCLab)

List of open positions (a description of the positions follows):
Graduate student position (3 positions available)
Undergraduate student position (2 positions available)

Project: DAPLDS Dynamically adaptive protein-ligand docking system using volunteer computing

Position: Graduate students (1 positions); Undergraduate student (1 position)

Description: One enthusiastic student is sought to pursue Ph.D.-thesis studies in the area of global and grid computing to engage in interdisciplinary research and development activities within a NSF-funded project called "DAPLDS - a Dynamically Adaptive Protein-Ligand Docking System based on Multi-Scale Modeling". DAPLDS involves collaborations with The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, California and the University of California Berkeley. Research visits to these schools are part of the funded project. This project aims to implement and use volunteer computing cyber-infrastructures that enable adaptive multi-scale modeling to acquire further knowledge of the atomic details of protein-ligand interactions (i.e., protein-ligand docking simulations).
The ideal candidate is a talented and highly motivated student who is willing to learn and work in a team. A strong interest in research and excellent programming skills in at least two programming languages such as FORTRAN, C/C++, and Java are required. The multidisciplinary nature of the work makes individuals with a background in bioinformatics, computational sciences and computational biology/chemistry ideal for the position. Students with a degree in computer science, bioinformatics, or computational engineering are especially encouraged to apply.
Undergraduate students are also encouraged to apply for this position. For the undergraduate position, preference will be given to self-motivated undergraduate students who are looking for some experience in volunteer computing and have the following qualifications: programming experience and kills in C/C++ and Java and knowledge in Linux and Windows.

Project web page: DAPLDS web page.

Project: Topaz - Extending Firefox to integrate the GridFTP protocol

Position: Graduate student (1 position)

Description: To leverage the capabilities of the Firefox browser to provide rich end-user tools that seamlessly integrate with remote grid services and data repositories, we have implemented a first prototype of a Firefox browser that allows scientists to perform data upload, download, and directory listing from a GridFTP server (a data repository based on the grid toolkit Globus). This project aims to integrate these new features in our Firefox extension: third-party transfers, parallel data transfers, and partial file transfers.
For more information please contact Michela Taufer at taufer AT acm.org.

Project web page: Topaz web page.

Project: RNAVLab: An Open-source User-friendly Virtual Laboratory for RNA Secondary Structure Predictions

Position: Graduate student (1 position)

Description: One for a graduate student and another for an undergraduate student, are available immediately at the Global Computing Lab to work on interdisciplinary research that combines computer science and bioinformatics. The aim of this project is to design and build an adaptive grid computing system that, at runtime, identifies and exploits grid computing resources across the campus to predict secondary structures of large numbers of RNA segments using a variety of prediction programs. For the graduate position, preference will be given to self-motivated students who are looking for Ph.D. or M.S. research topics and have the following qualifications: strong programming experience and skills in C/C++ and Java; strong knowledge in Linux and Windows; knowledge in parallel and distributed computing; sincere curiosity toward interdisciplinary research, in particular research that combines computer science and bioinformatics.
Undergraduate students are also encouraged to apply for this position. For the undergraduate position, preference will be given to self-motivated undergraduate students who are looking for some experience in grid computing and have the following qualifications: programming experience and kills in C/C++ and Java and knowledge in Linux and Windows.

Project web page: RNAVLab web page.