University of Pennsylvania, USA

We have the need for a PostDoc or applied research programmer (introducing KQML or FIPA types of speech act sequences into a social agent architecture) as well as for junior level production programmers related to our PMFserv, an architecture for agent affective cognition and decision making under stress (from pscyhophysiological parameters as well as from events in the world) that is written in Python. We use this to conduct studies of multiple agents making micro-decisions that lead to emergence of macro-behaviors. Lately we have been embedding PMFserv in various game worlds to drive the bots of that world -- e.g., in Unreal Tournament. However, we also have a project for using it in a game we are creating from scratch that will be something like an Age of Empires, but for current troublespots around the globe. In addition in my group we also work on interactive dramas, and on game generators for those dramas. Recently in that work we have evolved a new way to manage dialog chains based on argumentation and defeasible reasoning (though this is not natural language processing), and there is research needed to connect this approach to PMFserv and to better understand how a generator might help story authors bridge the division separating gaming and interactive fiction. In all of this work, we focus on the behaviors and AI of the bots, less so on the graphics or animation. There is a lot more info about us at http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~barryg/HBMR.html and at http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~barryg/edutain.html

Those interested in being considered should forward their resume, work history, college transcripts, and reference list to barryg@seas.upenn.edu. Given the nature of several of our sponsors, preference will be given to natural born US citizens.