The Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory (VSCL) at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas (USA), has multiple fully funded Ph.D. positions in Aerospace Engineering that are available in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, focused on the following areas:
Human-in-the-Loop Artificial Intelligence, which includes integrating multiple human interaction modalities to learning algorithms such as reinforcement learning; learning from human demonstrations, interventions and/or evaluations; unsupervised and/or weakly supervised segmentation of task demonstrations; human-agent teaming and task hierarchy discovery on multi-agent scenarios; and others.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Coordinated Autonomous Unmanned Air Systems (UAS), which includes learning algorithms such as deep reinforcement learning; policy optimization and policy gradient methods; target tracking from computer vision; multi-agent teaming; human-agent teaming, task hierarchy on multi-agent scenarios; and others.
U.S. citizenship is required for some positions, but not all of them.
Requirements
- Bachelor of Science degree in computer science, statistics, engineering, or a related field
- Experience in a machine learning subfield such as reinforcement, supervised, or unsupervised learning
- Proficiency in Python or any object-oriented programming language
- Experience in Linux platforms
Preferred Requirements
- Master of Science degree in computer science, statistics, engineering, or a related field
- Experience implementing novel artificial intelligence algorithms published in research papers
- Publications in any artificial intelligence subfield
- Hands-on experience in robotics and Unmanned Air Systems (UAS)
How to apply
Contact Dr. John Valasek at valasek@tamu.edu and send the following documents:
- One page cover letter describing your interests, research goal, and how your background fits the position descriptions
- Detailed CV or resume including GRE scores and TOEFL/IELTS scores if applicable
About the Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory (VSCL) and Texas A&M University
The VSCL vision is to integrate Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) with autonomy to establish trust, providing a game-changing capability that transforms the way manned and unmanned air, space, and ground systems are designed, controlled, and operated to effectively accomplish missions and tasks. In the Artificial Intelligence (AI) subfield, VSCL has been researching reinforcement learning algorithms since 2002 focusing on control of morphing vehicles and structures, since 2010 researching reinforcement learning to track ground targets from UAS, and since 2017 researching human-in-the-loop reinforcement learning algorithms. The lab has 21 years of UAS flight research under FAA auspices, with a 2,000-acre testing site and hangar 9 km from the main campus. More information about VSCL and our research can be found at https://vscl.tamu.edu/.