DTU Informatics invites applications for a 3-year PhD position with preferred start date 1^st of September 2010. The project is fully financed by “Center for Imaging Food Quality”, see www.CIFQ.dk.

The position is part of the “Center for Imaging Food Quality” project where the aim is to relate relevant food quality characteristics to optical properties of food material. The project started in March 2010 and will run for five years. CIFQ is a cooperative research centre with university partners from DTU Informatics and DTU Photonics as well as industrial partners from Danisco, Arla Foods, DMRI/Technological Institute, NKT Photonics and Videometer. The project has received a grant from the The Danish Council for Strategic Research.

Project description
The PhD project will focus on developments of multivariate methods for regression and classification in highly structured data with an emphasis on obtaining sparse solutions. Such sparsity may be obtained using the lasso penalty (the L1-norm of the parameter estimates), but other methods should also be considered. The sparse methods considered will be applied to spectral data of food and/or food ingredients. Based on the spectral data of food we wish to estimate food quality parameters such as “mouth feel” of a chocolate mousse or tenderness of a piece of meat, but also more quantitative measures of ingredient proportions or fat distributions. Due to the unique combination of spectral data with high-resolution images, the project will also consider development of methods where spatial information is included into spectral techniques or vice versa.

Qualifications

• Candidates must hold a master degree in engineering, natural sciences or similar degree with an academic level equivalent to the master’s degree.
• Preferably the candidate has an excellent academic track record and previous research experience, and is motivated towards developing new data analytic methods for vision inspection of food quality.
• Preferably the candidate has documented knowledge within spectral science, image analysis and multivariate statistics/data analysis.
• Good programming skills are an advantage.

Approval and Enrolment
The scholarship for the PhD degree is subject to academic approval, and the candidate will be enrolled in the ITMAN Graduate School Programme of DTU Informatics. Information about the general requirements for enrolment and the general planning of the scholarship studies is included in the general rules at DTU, which may be obtained here.

Salary and appointment terms
The salary and appointment terms are consistent with the current Danish rules for PhD degree students.

Further information
Further information may be obtained from Professor Bjarne Kjær Ersbøll, +45 45253413 or Assistant Professor Line Clemmensen, +45 4553764.

Further information concerning the application is available at the DTU Informatics PhD homepage, the DTU Informatics Graduate School ITMAN homepage or by contacting the responsible ITMAN Graduate School secretary: Ulla Jensen, phone: + 45 4525 3359.

Application
Applications must be submitted in English and we must have your online application by Monday 12^th July 2010. Please open the link in the grey bar below: "apply for this job online" (“søg stillingen online”).

Applications must include:

• application (letter of motivation)
• CV
• documentation of a relevant completed M.Sc. or M.Eng.-degree
• course and grade list of bachelor and master degrees
• excel sheet with calculated weighted average

All candidates irrespective of age, gender, race, religion or ethnic background are encouraged to apply.

Apply for this job online