Wanted: EE PhD Candidate

See it, hear it. That is the essence of an engineering project underway at the University of Applied Sciences in Fribourg, Switzerland—one that needs the assistance of a highly qualified PhD student.

The position is intended for an "enthusiastic and open-minded graduate," who will participate in "Sound Extraction from Images of Disc Records," a "VisualAudio" research project. The student chosen for the project will join the "GIRAF group" in the Computer Science Department under the guidance of Professor Rolf Ingold of the University of Fribourg, the degree-granting institution.

"Sound Extraction from Images of Disc Records" involves archiving vinyl records as high-resolution photographs, then reading the archives through an image scanning system and "groove extraction algorithm." The announcement claims that a prototype disc-reading system is already in operation. The doctoral candidate's thesis will involve algorithm modeling and "correction of the various distortions accumulated at each step of the process." (Interestingly, the smallest undulations in vinyl records were not visible until the invention of the electron microscope. The announcement does not mention whether the university has such a device available for this project, nor does it specify the degree of photographic resolution.-Ed.)

Candidates applying for the two-year position must have a degree in electrical engineering from a Swiss university or a master's degree from a foreign university. They must be competent in the C programming language; be familiar with pattern-recognition technology, audio signal processing, and image processing; and be fluent in French and English. A good understanding of German is also beneficial, as Fribourg is a bilingual French-German city. The position will require some teaching duties as well as possible involvement in other research projects, and may be extended for an additional two years. Email submissions are encouraged, according to an Internet newsgroup posting by Professor Frederic Bapst of the university's school of engineering. The position is available beginning January 1, 2002, and is sponsored by the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research.

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