We have an opening for a funded PhD student to begin by January 2026 or at their earliest convenience. Applications will be reviewed in early-July 2025. This position is in GPGPU processing.

Designing Algorithms for GPU Acceleration

By now, GPUs have become a mainstream computing paradigm. Today’s applications require processing such a volume of data that massive parallelism is prerequisite. However, when going beyond simple dot products and matrix multiplications, mapping sophisticated computation onto the architectural needs of a GPU platform requires substantial innovation. This position will focus on designing and empirically evaluating algorithms to accelerate data-driven applications using GPUs. For a sense of the sort of work expected, please refer to our recent publications.

The topic of the project will be narrowed to fit the profile of the successful candidate, keeping in mind the research vision of the lab.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for creative, analytical, smart team members who are committed to self-improvement and want to push scientific boundaries. You should probably have (or expect to have before starting) a thesis-based master’s degree in an Engineering discipline (such as, but not necessarily, Computer Science) from a very strong university or at least four years of industry experience writing fast and/or multithreaded code. Prior experience with GPU/CUDA programming is expected, but not strictly required.

Application Process

Formally, you must follow the process outlined on the department website prior to receiving an offer.

Informally, you must also:

  • contact me directly by email prior to midnight UTC-7, Tuesday, 1 July 2025, providing, at a minimum, a CV, an unofficial transcript, and a brief summary of personal achievements
  • for priority consideration, answer the following prompts in at most 500 words each:
    • In what ways are GPU and CPU computing similar and in what ways are they different?
    • Describe a specific challenge you have encountered in doing research.

The timeline is as follows:

  • in the first full week of July (week number 28), I will contact shortlisted candidates who have the strongest evidence that they fit the profile above and meet the formal requirements of the university
  • in the second full week of July (week number 29), we will conduct technical interviews with the shortlisted candidates
  • in the third full week of July (week number 30), we will conduct second round interviews and extend an offer

Applications that have used LLMs, like ChatGPT, will be discarded. The lab is open-minded to LLMs, but this is not an appropriate place to use them.

Research Environment

Our gender-balanced, multinational research team consists of one Assistant Professor, two PhD researchers, five master’s students, and two undergraduate scholars, collectively from five countries. We are growth- and excellence-oriented: we have weekly skill development sessions and all students should strive to publish their research at top conferences. I meet at least weekly in a one-to-one context and am heavily involved in the research itself. We also communicate asynchronously with collaboration tools outside of those meetings. The team meets at least once per month for social activities. Researchers typically have access to a shared research lab if they plan to work in-person on campus. I hire in small cohorts and the intent is to have four researchers start and learn together in Fall/Winter 2025/2026.

The university is situated near beautiful coastal old growth rainforest on an island that is slightly larger than Belgium. The temperature is moderate with only a week or two of snow in the city each year. It is common to enjoy skiing in the mountains in the winter, hiking and water sports, whale watching, swimming in the many large lakes in the city, the outsized variety of restaurants and cafes of a mid-sized capitol city, and expansive beaches. Canada is a liberal country in which you are strongly encouraged to become who you want to be.