PhD position in SAT solving at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden)

The TCS Group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology invites applications for a PhD position in computer science focused on SAT solving.

The PhD student will be working in the research group of Jakob Nordstrom. Much of the activities of this research group revolve around the themes of efficient algorithms for satisfiability in propositional logic (SAT solving) and lower bounds on the efficiency of methods for reasoning about SAT (proof complexity). On the practical side, one problem of interest is to gain a better understanding of, and improve, the performance of current state-of-the-art SAT solvers --- in particular, solvers using conflict-driven clause learning (CDCL). We are even more interested in exploring new techniques that hold out the theoretical possibility of exponential improvements over CDCL, but seem hard to implement efficiently in practice, e.g., algebraic methods such as Groebner bases or geometric methods such as pseudo-Boolean solving (basically 0/1 integer linear programming).

This is a four-year full-time employed position, but PhD positions usually (though not necessarily) include 20% teaching, in which case they are prolonged for one more year. The successful candidate is expected to start at the latest in August-September 2017, although this is to some extent negotiable. The position is fully funded and comes with a competitive salary.