Positions available within the VICI project the Final Parsec
At the moment we have 3 vacancies (closeing date 1 March 2009)
PhD student (4 years, official link of vacancy no. 09-1005)
Postdoctoral researcher (3 years, official link of vacancy no. 09-1004)
Scientific software developer (2 years, official link of vacancy no. 09-1003)


Background information:
We have received extensive funding for starting an challenging research project, called "the Final Parsec". Successful candidates will become an essential part in our research team, which consists of a senior researcher, several programmers, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. We collaborate internationally with researchers of all nationalities in particular across the EU, Japan and the US. There will be ample of opportunity to visit the collaborating research teams and international conferences or to participate in workshops and advanced schools. Within the research group you will be exposed to researchers in grid computing, commodity and high-performance computing, gravitational stellar dynamics, stellar evolution and cosmology.

The objective of the Final Parsec project is to study the merging of super-massive black holes in the central regions of galaxies throughout the process in which two galaxies merge. Our theoretical understanding of the circumstances under which super-massive black holes (SMBHs) coalesce is poorly developed, in particular if the host galaxies contain little gas. The research will be conducted using hierarchical and hybrid simulation environments with wide variety of gravitational N-body solvers. Our objective is to study the circumstances under which the two SMBHs coalesce as a result of a galaxy merger. The calculations will be run on a cluster graphical processing units, the building and utilization of which is part of the project.

You are invited to submit your application (CV, bibliography and cover letter) and include a 1-page vision on how your unique expertise will help realizing the objected research project. This can be in the form of a plan for addressing the scientific or technical challenges, or by listing the limitations in our understanding of the posed problem, the initial conditions, the adopted numerical techniques or our understanding of the physics.

How to apply:

Submit resumes to:	drs. S.H.M. Jongerius
	Universiteit van Amsterdam,
	Faculty of Science (Office of Personnel)
	Kruislaan 403
	1098 SM Amsterdam
	the Netherlands
	email: application-science@uva.nl

Please, mention VICI, the vacature number and the position you intend to apply to in the subject heading. The vacature numbers are:
PhD student: 09-1005
Postdoctoral researcher: 09-1004
SCientific software Developer: 09-1003


For more information:
Dr. S. Portegies Zwart
email S.PortegiesZwart@uva.nl
Tel. +31 20 525 7491/7492
FAX: +31 20 525 7484


URL1: http://staff.science.uva.nl/~spz/ (P.I. Homepage)
URL2: http://modesta.science.uva.nl/ (Modeling Dense Stellar Systems project page)
Or read the Final Parsec proposal summary

Position requirements::
We are looking for: 1 PhD student, 1 software engineer and 1 postdoctoral researcher. Each candidate should have an advanced degree in computational science, astrophysics or a related field. Experience in software development and programming in Python or C/C++ are an advantage. You will be working as a problem solver in an international research team. The candidate need to perform on a scientific level.

An interest in astrophysics and numerical applications is an advantage, as is experience in any of the astronomical applications (stellar dynamics, stellar evolution, hydrodynamics or radiative transfer). Are you interest in research and would like to use your unique skills to support the development of our problem solving environments this may be the job for you.

Information on the organization:
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is a university with an internationally acclaimed profile, located at the heart of the Dutch capital. As well as a world center for business and research, Amsterdam is a hub of cultural and media activities. The University of Amsterdam is a member of the League of European Research Universities.

The Faculty of Science at the Universiteit van Amsterdam is one of Europe's foremost institutions of higher education and research in its chosen fields of specialization. It plays an active role in international science networks and collaborates with universities and industry. The Faculty has approximately 2,000 students and 1,500 staff members spread over four departments and ten research institutes. Each institute has its own research program, a substantial part of which is externally funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), the Dutch government, the EU and various private enterprises.

The Astronomical Institute "Anton Pannekoek" and the Section Computational Science have an outstanding reputation in the fields of computational astrophysics, multi-scale modeling, computational stellar dynamics and high-energy astrophysics. There is easy access to excellent computer facilities, visualization and astronomical observatories. A wide variety of terrestrial telescopes like Herschel and ALMA are available including large radio facilities like LOFAR and space-based instruments like Fermi, Spitzer, SWIFT and the Hubble Space Telescope. The nearby National supercomputer center (SARA) is the hub for international high-speed networking with an outstanding selection of supercomputers among which Huygens, a 60TFlop Power6, and several smaller machines.

Details of appointment:
The appointment will be on a temporary basis for a period of two (Programmer), three (PostDoc) and 4 (PhD student) years. The salary will be in accordance with the University regulations for academic personnel (Collective Labor Agreement) and is fixed for the PhD student, the programmer and Postdoc salaries depend on previous experience and range from 2.379,-Euro to a maximum of 4.374,-Euro gross per month based on a full-time appointment and depending on qualifications and previous experience. The salary will be increased with 8 % holiday allowance and 8,3 % end-of-year bonus.

Interested candidates should send their resume, cover letter and provvide the names of three persons who are willing to send a recommendation (Postdoc and Software engineer only) to the above address or email to application-science@uva.nl

Positions within the AMUSE project
At the moment we have 4 vacancies within AMUSE
Postdoctoral fellow (official link)
Software Engineer (official link)
Programmer (official link) (2 vacancies)

More information about the AMUSE project is published in the following paper

Download the AMUSE Programmer responses

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