Assistant Professor - Supervisory Control for Complex System

Position

Assistant Professor

Irène Curie Fellowship

No

Department(s)

Mechanical Engineering

Reference number

V35.5938

Do you want to join us in making key contributions to future societal challenges by developing your own research line? We believe engineered systems and their control are essential to address these future societal challenges in a large range of domains where we are active in, including health, mobility, energy, manufacturing, and food. The increasing complexity of these systems requires systematic design, modelling, optimization, and control to improve their performance, monitor their health for maintenance, and allow interaction between systems as well as their users.

Who are we? We are the Control Systems Technology (CST) section of the department of Mechanical Engineering (TU/e), where we address these challenges every day combining excellence in research and teaching, teamwork, and individual career paths and a lot of fun in the process of improving the world around us. The CST section is among the largest and high-impact research centres in control globally, where both fundamental and applied research are performed at the highest level. Current research lines include model-based engineering of supervisory control, control and systems theory, cyber-physical systems, optimization, artificial intelligence, machine learning, systems engineering, as well as mechanical design. Applications are often done in close collaboration with industry, where the CST section is uniquely positioned in a key high-tech region (Brainport Eindhoven). Application areas include manufacturing systems, mechatronic and motion systems, robotics, autonomous vehicles and mobility, smart medical devices, energy systems including nuclear fusion, thermal therapies, and agrofood.

The CST section currently consists of a diverse and committed team of 29 full-time and parttime staff members and 50+ post-doc and PhD researchers. The section currently consists of 8 Principal Investigators (PIs), who are responsible for specific scientific research lines and act as mentor for tenure-track researchers, with the aim to promote teamwork and individual growth of tenure-track researchers into Principal Investigators. This position will start immediately at the tenure-track level, where the candidate will have a mentor to guide him/her to build a leading research line in her/his discipline, while at the same time has a unique opportunity to enrichen her/his research with close collaborations with researchers within the section, as well as outside within our unique ecosystem. Our vision is that high-quality research and teaching are strongly connected, and teaching activities are therefore strongly connected to the envisioned research lines.

To strengthen our team we have an open tenure-track assistant professor position in the area of Supervisory Control of Complex Systems in the CST section with the aim to address future challenges in emerging application areas including high-tech systems, manufacturing systems, safety-critical systems (examples are robotics, precision agriculture, medical systems, transportation systems, infrastructural systems) through advancing the field of Supervisory Control. Breakthroughs in model-based engineering, data-driven learning, optimization, and control technologies are essential to enable accurate operation of future engineered systems.

The candidate will be given the opportunity to build a strong network to relevant partners in the Brainport area .

• Motivated researcher, with a PhD in systems and control, control engineering, computer science or another relevant engineering field.
• Proven expertise in a relevant core discipline, for instance discrete-event systems, performance optimization of manufacturing systems, model-based engineering and supervisory control.
• Knowledge or interest in relevant application domains, for instance, in high-tech systems, manufacturing systems, safety critical systems, autonomous systems and complex systems.
• Ability to conduct high quality academic research, reflected in demonstratable outputs.
• Ability to teach, demonstrated by experience or assistance in teaching. Informed vision on teaching and learning within your own discipline.
• Strong cooperation skills and ability to work in an interdisciplinary team.
• Effective communication and leadership skills, including coaching and mentoring of students and staff, leading a project or chairing a group.
• Excellent (written and verbal) proficiency in English. 
• We find it important that our staff reflects the 50% gender balance in our student population and therefore specifically invite female talent to apply.

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• A Tenure Track of five years with the prospect of becoming an Associate Professor. If you have a more senior profile, a tailor-made career proposal will be considered.
• The opportunity to focus your career on education, research or impact. You can develop your personal ambitions and objections within the strategic objectives of the university.
• Salary in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• A dedicated mentoring program to help you get to know the university and the Dutch (research) environment.
• High-quality training programs for academic leadership and teaching.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• Partially paid parental leave and an allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team is available for international candidates, as are a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) and partner career support .

About us

Eindhoven University of Technology is an internationally top-ranking university in the Netherlands that combines scientific curiosity with a hands-on attitude. Our spirit of collaboration translates into an open culture and a top-five position in collaborating with advanced industries. Fundamental knowledge enables us to design solutions for the highly complex problems of today and tomorrow. 

The CST section has the vision that a fruitful synergy between the fields of systems and control, engineering design, and artificial intelligence will be a key enabler in taking on the future societal and industrial challenges in the fields of high-tech systems, mobility, sustainability and health. The section shows that fundamental research and education go hand in hand with societal and industrial valorization, as is demonstrated via innovative research projects directly with our industrial partners and the creation of multiple spin-off companies. Indeed, high-quality research and high-quality education are two sides of the same coin, and we educate many engineers for Dutch and international industries and universities. This vision is supported also by the success of our student teams (several times world champion robot soccer and the design of solar cars). The section has a broad funding base and a strong track record in attracting industrial funding and international collaborations, as well as personal grants.

Curious to hear more about what it is like as a professor at TU/e? Please view the video . 

Information

Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more?
Please contact the hiring manager dr.ir. Michel Reniers (Associate Professor), m.a.reniers[at]tue.nl.

Visit our website for more information about the application process or the conditions of employment. You can also contact Josje van Oudenaarden, Senior Recruiter, j.e.v.oudenaarden[at]tue.nl or +31 643559575.

Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page .

Application

We invite you to submit a complete application. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references.
• Description of your scientific interests and plans (1-2 pages).
• Statement of your teaching goals and experience (1-2 pages).

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.