Recently the Computing Community Consortium announced a call for short videos describing exciting research and results in computer science — with the goal of communicating to undergraduates what computing research is all about. Today the first of these videos hit the CCC web – “Exploring Photobios” from UW CSE’s Graphics and Imaging Laboratory.
Read the CCC post and watch the video here. Learn more about the research here. Read more →
Seattlest pays homage to OneBusAway and its creator, UW CSE Ph.D. student Brian Ferris.
“OneBusAway, the magical app of our bus riding dreams, has done wonders for the Seattle Metro experience. OneBusAway gives reliable, up-to-the-minute information about the buses in Seattle: where they are, where they are going, and how long until they get there. It’s a freaking Godsend, and has saved the butts of every single bus riding person who uses it at least a hundred times.
“The good people of KUOW are saying that OneBusAway may go offline soon. Apparently only one man has been saving our bus lives this whole time. Brian Ferris, the God of Metro, is a grad student at the University of Washington. He is graduating soon and has been recruited to work for Google Transit in Zurich …
“Brian Ferris, oh mighty one, please don’t leave us adrift in a sea of never coming transfers and missed buses. Who is this ‘Google’ you are leaving us for and how could they possibly be better than a 15 minute layover at Third & Pike? We love you, we need you.
“Please don’t go.”
Read the rest here. Visit OneBusAway here. Contribute to the “Keep Brian Ferris in Seattle” fund here.
Update: Brian assures us that OneBusAway will live on! Seattlest update post here. Seattle Times article here. Read more →
Welcome to the Spring 2011 edition of Most Significant Bits, the UW Computer Science & Engineering newsletter. It’s available in pdf or html format. Read more →
Anne Condon, Ph.D. 1987
Jeremy Jaech, M.S. 1980
Today UW Computer Science & Engineering conferred its Alumni Achievement Award on Anne Condon and Jeremy Jaech.
Anne, a 1987 Ph.D. alumna, will become Head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia on July 1. An expert in theoretical computer science and algorithms for biology, Anne also received the 2010 Computing Research Association A. Nico Habermann Award for her “long-standing and impactful service toward the goal of increasing the participation of women in computer science research.”
Jeremy, a 1980 Masters alumnus, is Seattle’s preeminent serial software entrepreneur. He co-founded Aldus, which invented desktop publishing through its Pagemaker software; Aldus was eventually acquired by Adobe and is responsible for Adobe’s substantial presence in Seattle. He then led the team that founded Visio, another game-changing software company that brought engineering drawing to the masses; Visio was eventually acquired by Microsoft. He led the founding team at Trumba, and most recently served as CEO of Verdiem, a company in the enterprise PC energy management space. For the past quarter he has spent considerable time in CSE, mentoring students and faculty on entrepreneurship.
Today’s graduates join a long line of UW CSE alumni who have changed the world! Read more about Anne and Jeremy in the MSB excerpt here. Read more →
UW CSE 2010-11 Ph.D. graduates
This morning in Meany Hall, UW Computer Science & Engineering recognized 185 Bachelors graduates, 80 Masters graduates, and 22 Ph.D. graduates. Congratulations to our extraordinary students, and to their extraordinary families!
See the program (and list of graduates) here.
Many wonderful Bruce Hemingway photographs:
In a front page article, the New York Times reports on booming interest in computer science across the nation.
“The new curriculums emphasize the breadth of careers that use computer science, as diverse as finance and linguistics, and the practical results of engineering, like iPhone apps, Pixar films and robots …
“Still, computer science graduates do not come close to filling the jobs available. Technology is one of the few bright spots in the economy, with jobs growing at double the rate of job growth over all, according to federal statistics …
“At Stanford, which has never lacked computer science students, majors nearly doubled after a new curriculum in 2008 let students choose a focus, like artificial intelligence. At the University of Washington, enrollment in the introductory computer science course is at a record high of 1,700. At Harvard, the size of the introductory computer science class has nearly quadrupled in five years …
“‘What we’re seeing now is a better-motivated upsurge,’ said Ed Lazowska, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, ‘students who understand that they really need to know this material.’”
Read the terrific New York Times article here. Related background here, here, and here. Read more →
Today at the annual University of Washington awards ceremony, Stuart Reges was recognized with the UW Distinguished Teaching Award. And he even wore a tie!
Congratulations, Stuart. And, a million thanks for your extraordinary accomplishments with our introductory sequence. Read more →
UW Today published a special supplement, highlighting recipients of the 2011 UW Awards of Excellence. As reported earlier, UW CSE’s Stuart Reges has won this year’s University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award, which is given to faculty who show “a mastery of their subject matter, intellectual rigor and a passion for teaching.”
Congratulations again to Stuart!
Full UW Today special award edition here. Read more →
“A Study of Skew in MapReduce Applications,” a paper describing the causes and manifestations of skew in MapReduce applications with best practice recommendations to avoid such behavior, has received the “Best Student Paper” award at the Open Cirrus Summit 2011. The paper was authored by UW CSE graduate student YongChul Kwon, UW CSE faculty members Magda Balazinska and Bill Howe, and Jerome Rolia from HP Labs. Open Cirrus is an open cloud-computing research testbed designed to support research into the design, provisioning, and management of services at a global, multi-datacenter scale.
Congratulations!
More information about the SkewReduce project may be viewed here. The paper may be read here. Read more →
US News, in a May 31 article, identifies 9 major companies who are recruiting like crazy. Many have a big Seattle presence, including:
“1. Boeing. The company … plans to hire a total of 4,000 to 5,000 employees this year … The bulk of those positions are located in the Puget Sound region … Boeing’s looking first and foremost for engineers … ‘We look for individuals who have a passion for technology and innovation’ … The company is also hiring about 1,000 interns this year.
“2. Google. The Internet giant is hiring more employees this year than any other, including its record of 6,000 hires in 2007 … While the bulk of those positions are located at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., other offices are also growing significantly, including those in Seattle and New York City … ‘We’re looking for people who are leaders in their schools … We want people that everyone’s going to want to work with.’
“6. Amazon. On Amazon’s website, the online marketplace lists positions open in product management, sales, and software development.
“8. Facebook. The company … lists hundreds of openings on its website. Facebook is looking for recruiters, salespeople, data analysts, engineers, business associates, and more.”
Read the US News article here.
Separately, NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, reports that Computer Science is the major with the top offer rate for the Class of 2011 – see here.
And the Wall Street Journal reports “Bay Area Technology Firms Put Down Roots in Seattle” – see here. Read more →