Jobs

We are looking for students (undergraduate or graduate) with strong software engineering, computer science or system engineering skills for a range of topics:

• data and simulation result visualization for urban platform
• IoT and urban sensor data communication and analysis
• coding support for urban modeling and data analytics platform

We are looking to employ up to three students.

Research program title
Explainable AI approaches for smart buildings applications

Reference number
9001

Supervisors
Nizar Bouguila and Ursula Eicker

Program description
Recently, the progress in Internet of Things platforms has allowed the collection of large amounts of sensing data. Using this large-scale sensing data in real-world applications is a challenging problem. Motivated by applications related to smart buildings, the goal of this research program is to develop explainable AI techniques for challenging tasks using sensor data. Examples of tasks include but not limited to: estimating and predicting the approximate number of people in a smart building, recognizing the occupants’ activities, predicting future activity occurrence time, energy consumption forecasting, etc.

Academic qualifications required
PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Buildings or related fields with experience in machine learning, data mining.

Eligibility requirements

• Applicants must not currently hold a postdoctoral appointment at Concordia
• Priority will be given to postdoctoral fellows who have obtained their PhD from another university although in exceptional cases Concordia graduates may be considered
  Applicants must adhere to the postdoctoral fellow eligibility criteria outlined in
• Concordia University’s Postdoctoral Policy.

Timeline
The Postdoctoral Fellow must start their appointment by March 1, 2022.

Submission process

• All documents must be submitted to Niyusha Samadi at Horizon.Postdocs@concordia.ca
• Please include the reference number with your application

Application checklist

• One to three (1-3) page research statement demonstrating fit with the program described above
• Current curriculum vitae demonstrating research excellence and a capacity for leadership in the domain (maximum 5 pages)
• Two letters of reference from academic supervisors or current employers to be sent via e-mail directly to Niyusha Samadi

Value
The prestigious two-year Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowships are valued at $50,000 per year plus benefits and full access to Concordia’s services, including GradProSkills.

Posted on: August 2, 2021
Deadline: August 15, 2021
Start date: September 6, 2021

Notes

This is a 1-year contract with a high possibility of renewal. Work hours will be 30 hours per week with possibility to be increased in the next months.

Scope

The incumbent will provide administrative, logistical, secretarial and team assistance for the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) team. They will ensure the smooth and efficient running of the unit’s daily operations and activities and will be the first line of contact for students seeking support or information. They will take initiative to identify opportunities for new projects and propose solutions to operations issues. We are looking for someone who has an interest in the topics of smart and sustainable cities and who has the drive to grow and take on more responsibilities in our centre in the future.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the daily operations and provide administrative support to the CERC unit and the Chair.
• Participate in the development and implementation of team activities. Assist with the organization of the team’s weekly meetings and other meetings and workshops.
• Maintain the unit’s filing system in an organized, accurate and timely manner; ensure that documents are analyzed for content, classified accordingly, and appropriately archived. Make sure presentations and reports from meetings are placed in the appropriate folders on MS Teams. Enter and maintain data in information management databases.
• Track unit’s expenditures, prepare expense reports, process invoices, purchase requisitions and other related financial documentation.
• Manage the calendars and contacts for the Chair.
• Schedule and organize internal and external meetings; book rooms; prepare agenda and meeting documents, produce minutes, conduct background research for briefing notes, and conduct and/or coordinate follow-up. Provide logistical support for unit events and activities.
• Make all travel arrangements for the unit members.
• Collect and prepare relevant information required for administrative reports.
• Screen and respond to telephone, email and in-person inquiries; open and distribute mail; direct requests for information to the appropriate staff member and follow up as appropriate.
• May maintain and make basic website updates.
• Perform other duties in support of the unit and the Chair.

Requirements

• Completed or in progress undergraduate degree in any pertinent field.
• Previous work experience providing administrative support is an asset.
• Interest in the topics of smart and sustainable cities.
• Good knowledge (Level 4) spoken and written English to provide adequate information in a variety of situations. Knowledge of French is an asset.
• Good knowledge (Intermediate Level) of Word (to create reports and edit documents), of Excel (to create and modify spreadsheets, and use simple formulas), of PowerPoint (to modify templates and prepare presentations).
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to prioritize tasks and to meet deadlines.
• Detail-oriented.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team in a collaborative environment.
• Demonstrated proactive work style and solution-oriented; will take initiative to propose improvements to existing processes and to start new projects.
• Experience in an educational institution is an asset.
• Experience administering and tracking budgets is an asset.
• Experience with writing for the web and for social media is an asset.

Salary

From $23 per hour

Application instructions

Interested applicants must submit a resume and a cover letter in one pdf file by August 15, 2021 to cerc@concordia.ca. They must also complete the assessment that will be sent to them. We will review complete applications.

Concordia University is strongly committed to employment equity within its community, and to recruiting a diverse faculty and staff. The University encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous persons, members of sexual minorities, persons with disabilities, and others who may contribute to diversification; candidates are invited to self-identify in their applications.

Posted on: April 25, 2021
Deadline: July 25, 2021
Start date: September 7, 2021
End date: December 17, 2021
Work hours: 35 hours per week
Department: CERC / Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Scope

The Canada Excellence Research Chair in Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Communities and Cities is seeking an outstanding and motivated Research Assistant to help explore the opportunities at the intersection between transportation modelling and Internet of Things. Reporting to Dr. Ursula Eicker (CERC) and working with Dr. Milad Aghamohamadnia (Postdoctoral Fellow), the incumbent will play a key role in CERC’s urban platform development, by contributing to the development of a traffic simulation software as a digital twin of the city.

Responsibilities

• Development and programming of state-of-the-art transportation simulation and IoT software infrastructure, e.g., using open-source multi-agent projects such as SUMO as a backend or for data visualization modules and data-driven user experiences (depending on qualifications). 
• Actively seek open-source projects which can be either used in our workflow or modified for further adaptation. 
• Participate in regular meetings and contribute to the overall goals of the team.
• Collaborate with members of the team Urban gamified simulation platform and discuss possibilities on how to integrate transportation simulation in the platform and the case studies.

Requirements

• A preferred candidate is currently a student in computer science, electrical engineering, or other programming-oriented majors. 
• Be comfortable with a range of languages and open-source tools and frameworks and make good decisions about which to use to solve a particular problem. 
• Have flexibility to work on the team’s most pressing problems. 
• Preferred candidates will have strong problem solving and creativity skills coupled with knowledge of current technologies used commonly for the topics above.
• Preferred candidates will have proven and strong knowledge of either Python/C++ (firmware and backend) or JavaScript/D3/Mapbox (frontend and dataviz).
• Ability to work in a team with diverse backgrounds and regular meetings, deadlines, and close supervision. 
• Ability to work with version control tools such as GitHub and Gitlab.
• The incumbent needs to be able to hit the ground running. You are excited to learn something new when the need arises.
• Good knowledge (Level 4) of spoken and written English.

Salary

PhD Student: $29 / hr
Master Student: $22 / hr
Undergraduate Student: $18 / hr

Union/Association

TRAC

Interested applicants must submit a curriculum vitae with a cover letter and portfolio to cerc@concordia.ca

IMPORTANT: The interview will consist of an introductory meeting followed by a technical hands-on coding session.

Concordia University is committed to Employment Equity and encourages applications from women, Aboriginal Peoples, visible minorities, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities.