[Tccc] PhD position at EURECOM on "Robust pricing of cloud resources through mean-field games"

Patrick Loiseau patrick.loiseau
Thu Jul 5 21:46:42 EDT 2012


Please find below the description of an open PhD position at EURECOM in 
computer science/applied mathematics, in the area of game theory and 
network economics.


**** Title:
Robust pricing of cloud resources through mean-field games


**** Keywords:
Game theory; network economics; pricing; cloud computing; mean-field games


**** Descritption:

Cloud computing has now become the main paradigm for computing, storage 
and many other applications, for both companies and individuals. An 
appropriate pricing schemes for cloud resources is therefore of great 
importance for cloud providers to maximize their revenue. Currently, 
cloud providers mostly use a fixed usage-based pricing, sometimes in 
association with a spot market to sell remaining resources through 
auctions. However, preliminary studies have shown that this pricing 
scheme may not be optimal [1]. This leaves open the crucial question of 
how to optimally price cloud resources.

One of the main difficulties in designing a good pricing scheme is that 
optimizing the scheme?s parameters generally requires knowledge of the 
variation of user demand with prices. Such information is very hard to 
estimate. Therefore, a key aspect of the designed pricing scheme 
considered in this PhD will be its robustness to mis-estimation of the 
users reaction to prices. To design a robust pricing scheme, a possible 
source of inspiration will be the concept of probabilistic pricing, 
recently proposed in [2,3], which was shown to exhibit interesting 
robustness properties in a different context.

The overall goal of the PhD work will be to design a good pricing 
mechanism for cloud resources and to analytically assess its performance 
using a game-theoretic model. The student will elaborate a model using 
the mean-field game method [4,5], which leverages the large number of 
users to simplify the analysis. He/she will study the performance of the 
designed pricing scheme (and compare it to other schemes) under various 
scenarios: in stationary situation, with external dynamics, with 
iterative learning algorithms, etc. Although the main case study will be 
cloud computing, the PhD work is expected to bring general results on 
the design of robust pricing schemes for a shared resource in a dynamic 
environment with many users.


Opportunities of collaboration with Sup?lec may be available during the PhD.


[1] ?Fixed and Market Pricing for Cloud Services?, V. Abhishek, I. A. 
Kash and P. Key, in Proceedings of Netecon ?12.
[2] ?Incentive Schemes for Internet Congestion Management: Raffles 
versus Time-of-Day Pricing?, P. Loiseau, G. Schwartz, J. Musacchio and 
S. Amin, in Proceedings of Allerton ?11
[3] ?Congestion Pricing Using a Raffle-Based Scheme?, P. Loiseau, G. 
Schwartz, J. Musacchio, S. Amin, S. S. Sastry, in Proceedings of 
Netgcoop ?11
[4] ?Mean field games?, J.-M. Lasry, P.-L. Lions, Jpn. J. Math. 2(1), 
229?260 (2007).
[5] ?Mean field stochastic games?, H. Tembine, tutorial given at 
Sup?lec, 2012. Short version available as arXiv:1111.2285.


**** Candidate profile:

- The candidate should hold (or be about to obtain) a Master degree (or 
equivalent), in applied mathematics, computer science, electrical 
engineering or a related field.
- The successful candidate should have a good mathematical background in 
probability/stochastic processes, optimization and/or game theory; and a 
strong interest in doing theoretical work in these areas.
- Knowledge in one or several of the following areas would be a plus: 
network economics, cloud computing, advanced probability, asymptotic 
analysis (e.g., mean-field).


**** Practical information:

- The position is funded by a ?Futur&Ruptures? grant from Institut-Mines 
Telecom.
- The successful candidate will work as a PhD student in the "Networking 
and Security" department of EURECOM, under supervision of Prof. Patrick 
Loiseau. He/She will be affiliated with the EDITE doctoral school.
- The working language is English (knowledge of French is not required).
- Starting date: Fall 2012 -- Duration: 3 years.
- Competitive salary and benefits packages (including medical insurance) 
are offered for the duration of the PhD.


**** Application procedure:

To apply or to obtain any further information, please contact directly 
Prof. Patrick Loiseau (patrick.loiseau at eurecom.fr). Your application 
email should include:
- A short motivation statement explaining why you would like to do a PhD 
and your relevant past experience (e.g., projects or internships on 
topics related to the PhD).
- A detailed CV and a complete transcript record of master grades 
(preferably include transcript record of bachelor/undergraduate grades 
too).
- The name of two persons (preferably professors or researchers with 
whom you have interacted) who are willing to provide a reference letter 
for your application.

The position is open until filled. To ensure full consideration of the 
application, interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as 
possible.

See http://www.eurecom.fr/~loiseau/open_positions.html for more 
information and for a PDF version.





-- 
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Patrick Loiseau
Assistant Professor, Networking and Security
EURECOM, Sophia-Antipolis, France

Web: http://www.eurecom.fr/~loiseau/
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