The U.S. State Department Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs and the U.S. Embassy in Armenia are pleased to announce a summer institute for young Americans and Europeans, following the model of the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows institutes convened in the summers of 2006, 2007, and 2008. All of these institutes intend to foster relationships among the younger generations of Europeans and Americans to promote awareness of shared values in light of the global challenges of the 21st Century.
The initiative is named after the legendary American statesman and diplomat Benjamin Franklin in honor of the inspiration his own life and career provides to those who are working to strengthen transatlantic cooperation. In today’s terms, Franklin could be called a transatlantic man, someone whose career, interests, studies and life took him back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, bringing Americans and Europeans closer in understanding. Even 300 years after his birth, Franklin’s life offers inspiration to young citizens of today in the effort to bridge the Atlantic. As a diplomat and a printer, he leveraged the powers of diplomacy and of the media to explore how Americans and Europeans see each other and the world.
The goals of the Institute are:
– to develop a commitment to transatlantic cooperation;
– to foster relationships between American and European youth from different ethnic, religious, and national groups;
– to promote mutual understanding between the United States and Europe/Eurasia, and
– to develop a cadre of youth leaders who will share their knowledge and skills with their peers through positive action.
The Summer Institute will enable teenagers ages 16-18 to participate in an intensive, three- to four-week exchange program in the United States that focuses on the global issues that European and American youth face on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Students will participate in a variety of activities such as training sessions, workshops, community-based programs, study tours, and cultural events. Participants will work together to prepare a joint project that presents and promotes the stated goals and objectives of the Institute.
Before and during the Institute, students will gather information on young adults’ views about one or two areas of common or global interest, such as sustainable development, inter-ethnic cooperation, or human rights. The program will also provide the participants with a new perspective on mass media and how they learn about each other and the communities they live in, and the broader media culture. This will include training on the critical reading of printed, broadcast, and electronic media and the ability to judge the content and accuracy for themselves. Training will cover communication and presentation skills, problem solving, and team building.
Community service activities, social and cultural activities, and home stays with American families will deepen the participants’ experience of U.S. society during their exchange.
Very good knowledge of English is required as the seminars are conducted in English.
APPLICATIONS SHOULD BE RETURNED TO THE US EMBASSY IN ARMENIA NO LATER THAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010.
Application forms can be downloaded from the U.S. Embassy website http://www.usa.am/cms/job_opportunities.php
For additional information about the program, please contact Lusine Mkrtchyan at the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia; e-mail: [email protected]; phone: 010-494211; address: 1 American Ave., Yerevan, 0082.
PhD Studentship in Natural Language Processing
Applications are invited for a PhD position in the Computational Learning and Computational Linguistics (CLCL) group of the University of Geneva. The successful candidate will pursue research in connection with a project on statistical machine translation funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, in collaboration with researchers in Geneva’s Linguistics Department and the IDIAP Research Institute.
Candidates should have a solid background in computer science or computational linguistics. They should have excellent programming skills as well as communication skills in English (and ideally in French as well). Preference will be given to candidates with a strong interest and/or experience in machine learning or statistical methods, and in computational linguistics or natural language processing. A strong academic record, excellent analytical skills, and a clear aptitude for autonomous, creative research will be priority selection criteria.
For details, please visit: http://scholarships -links.com/ viewdetail/ 814/PhD-Students hip-in-Natural- Language- Processing. html