PhD Position in Database Integration

PhD Position in Database Integration

The Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University of
Newfoundland is inviting applications for a PhD in Information Systems
with an emphasis on database integration. The project is supported by a
grant from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada (NSERC).

Project Description:

Database integration is a process with multiple steps, leading from the
identification of the databases to the testing of the integrated system.
The central step of this process is the identification of database
elements that are similar to each other. This step is called schema
matching. Human users perceive schema-matching methods as successful
when they match database elements according to the same similarity
criteria that the users would apply. Many automatic software-supported
schema-matching methods have been proposed, using a range of different
notions of similarity. However, existing research has paid little
attention to empirical work: There is little knowledge of how human data
integrators judge the similarity of database elements. A recent study
has shown that a "one-size-fits-all" approach does not apply and that
human notions of similarity are strongly affected by the database
integration context. The proposed research is a study to systematically
examine how human database integrators carry out schema matching. This
knowledge will then be applied to implement improved schema matching
methods.

Application Criteria:

The applicant will have a Bachelor (Hon) or Master's degree and strong
interest and background in information systems, computer science, or
cognitive science with knowledge of databases or knowledge
representation. Interest (and preferably experience) in both technical
and empirical research is required.
Applications must meet the regular admission criteria and will undergo
the regular admissions process for the PhD program.
(http://www.business.mun.ca/programs/PhD/phd_overview.php)

Funding:

The Faculty of Business Administration will provide support to all
admitted students for a period of four years. The level of support will
be competitive with that offered by other Canadian universities, and may
consist of a combination of grant, research assistantship, and teaching
assistantship.

Information and Application:

The deadline for applications is March 1. Late applications may be
considered as time and resources permit. Please contact Dr. Joerg
Evermann at jevermann@mun.ca for further information about the project.
Information about the PhD program and the application procedure can be
found here: http://www.business.mun.ca/programs/PhD/phd_overview.php
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