Job Summary:
The CCL Lab at Northwestern University is looking for a full-time Scala/Java Software Developer to work on the NetLogo desktop application, a celebrated modeling environment used in both education and research. The developer we seek will also participate in the design of web based modeling applications in Javascript.
This Software Developer position is based at Northwestern University’s Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling (CCL), working in a small collaborative development team in a university research group that also includes professors, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates, supporting the needs of multiple research projects. A major focus would be on development of NetLogo, an open-source modeling environment for both education and scientific research. CCL grants also involve development work on HubNet and other associated tools for NetLogo, including research and educational NSF grants involving building NetLogo-based science curricula for schools.
NetLogo is a programming language and agent-based modeling environment. The NetLogo language is a dialect of Logo/Lisp specialized for building agent-based simulations of natural and social phenomena. NetLogo has many tens of thousands of users ranging from grade school students to advanced researchers. A collaborative extension of NetLogo, called HubNet, enables groups of participants to run participatory simulation activities in classrooms and distributed participatory simulations in social science research. NetLogo can also be extended to interface with external software such as R, Mathematica and Python.
Application information:
The Northwestern campus is in Evanston, Illinois on the Lake Michigan shore, adjacent to Chicago and easily reachable by public transportation.
To apply, please contact Uri Wilensky, Director of the CCL, at the following email address: [email protected]
Please put ‘Developer Job’ in the subject line. Please include a PDF version of your resume and, optionally, links to any relevant development projects you feel illustrate your abilities.
Specific Responsibilities:
• Collaborates with the NetLogo development team in designing features for NetLogo, HubNet, NetLogo extensions, and web-based versions of these applications; writes code independently, and in the context of a team of experienced software engineers and principal investigator;
• Creates, updates and documents existing models using NetLogo, HubNet, NetLogo extensions, and web-based applications; creates new such models;
• Interacts with commercial and academic partners to help determine design and functional requirements for NetLogo, HubNet, and NetLogo extension features or projects;
• Interacts with user community including responding to bug reports, questions, and suggestions, and interacting with open-source contributors;
• Mentor undergraduate student workers and guide Google Summer of Code participants on contributions to the NetLogo codebase; assist graduate students with issues encountered during their work;
• Performs data collection, organization, and summarization for projects; assists with coordination of team activities;
• Performs other duties as required or assigned.
Minimum Qualifications:
• A bachelor’s degree in computer science or a closely related field or the equivalent combination of education, training and experience from which comparable skills and abilities may be acquired;
• Demonstrated experience and enthusiasm for writing clean, modular, well-tested code.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience with working effectively as part of a small software development team, including close collaboration, distributed version control, and automated testing;
• Experience with at least one JVM language, Scala strongly preferred;
• Experience developing GUI applications, especially Java Swing-based applications;
• Experience with programming language design and implementation, functional programming (especially Haskell or Lisp), and compilers;
• Interest in and experience with computer-based modeling and simulation, especially agent-based simulation;
• Interest in and experience with distributed, multiplayer, networked systems like HubNet;
• Experience working on research projects in an academic environment;
• Experience with open-source software development and supporting the growth of an open-source community;
• Experience with Linux/Unix system administration;
• Experience with building web-based applications, both server-side and client-side components, particularly with html5 and JavaScript and/or CoffeeScript;
• Interest in education and an understanding of secondary school math and science content.
As per Northwestern University policy, this position requires a criminal background check. Successful applicants will need to submit to a criminal background check prior to employment.
Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes including veterans and individuals with disabilities.