Call for applications for 2015 Aalto Science Institute (AScI) Internships

The AScI internship program offers undergraduate students (BSc level) the opportunity to participate in topical research at Aalto University and to establish their international academic network. Students who are not yet connected with Aalto University are especially encouraged to apply. For more information on the program, see the official web page

You can apply using the online Application Form

Key dates:

Applications open
05.12.2014 00:01:00 EET
Applications close
02.02.2015 23:59:00 EET
Decisions
15.3.2015

Overview

These independent projects all relate to the theme of analyzing data with combinatorial methods.

The projects will be hosted at AScI and ICS and supervised jointly by:

Departments involved are:

With additional support from

  • The AScI Thematic Program “Challenges in Large Geometric Structures and Big Data” (financial support)

About AScI Internships

AScI interns will work with mentors at the Aalto Science Institute (AScI) in Otaniemi.

Dates: The internships run from June 1–August 31 (can be flexible)

Salary: About €1600/month, depending on experience (e.g., credits earned)

Additional perks: In addition, AScI interns receive

  • Reimbursement for an economy class round-trip ticket to the country where they study
  • Finnish language and culture classes in June and July
  • The possibility to rent housing from the Aalto Student’s Union at below-market rates

EU or Finnish residency is not required to take up the internship. (Citizens of Annex II countries do not need to apply in advance for an entry visa of any type. Aalto Human Resources will give specific instructions to selected students.)

Project descriptions

Flows and circulations in large-scale data analysis

Field of study: Computer science, Mathematics, Statistics

Contact person(s): Louis, Petteri

Professor: Petteri Kaski

Behind the buzzword “Big Data” is the task to extract structure out of extremely large sets of measurements generated by applications at “Internet” or “societal” scale. Working at this scale is computationally challenging, but also offers the possibility for novel analysis methods. In this project we will explore how to extract structure from very large graphs arising from sources such as financial markets and public transport networks.

You will learn the combinatorial, algebraic, and algorithmic tools that underly state-of-the art algorithms for large graphs. Along the way you will gain intuition on the problem by performing descriptive data analysis.

Students with a strong background in mathematics or theoretical computer science are especially encouraged to apply. Programming skills are a necessity.

Motif search with massively parallel computing

Field of study: Computer science

Contact person(s): Petteri, Louis

Professor: Petteri Kaski

Recent theoretical work in combinatorial search has leveraged implicit representations of polynomial generating functions on substructures of the input. In this project, we will combine this emerging algorithmic theme with that of massively parallel computing technologies such as GPGPU and MIC from high-performance computing. At Aalto we have access to substantial computing resources both within the School of Science and through CSC, the Finnish IT Center for Science.

You will learn how to exploit clusters of compute nodes with co-processors such as GPUs and use technologies such as CUDA and OpenCL. Along the way, you will become profficient with the scaffold technologies required to deploy on a modern scientific cluster.

Students with experience either in algebraic algorithms or parallel computing are especially encouraged to apply. Strong programming skills and familiarity with the Unix environment are strongly encouraged.