A video illustrating UW CSE Ph.D. student Ricardo Martin’s AMAZING research on “Time-Lapse Mining from Internet Photos” has been nominated for a Vizzie award from the National Science Foundation.
Vote for the Ricardo of your choice, but vote! HERE! Read more →
Many thanks to Nathan Myhrvold for providing a deeply substantive rebuttal to a nonsensical Wall Street Journal piece by Matt Ridley. Nathan writes, in email:
Matt Ridley wrote a recent piece in the WSJ (to promote a new book) arguing that basic science has nothing to do with technology and that the government should stop funding it. It’s natural for writers to want to come out with a contrarian piece that reverses all conventional wisdom, but it tends to work out better if the evidence one quotes is factually true. Alas Ridley’s evidence isn’t – his examples are all, so far as I can tell, either completely wrong or at best, selectively quoted. I also think his logic is wrong and to be honest, I don’t think much of the ideology that drives his argument either. …
A lot of wrong things aren’t worth correcting (there are so many!), but this one is. The idea that we should cut science funding will be too tempting for politicians to let stand. While the current system could certainly be improved, Ridley’s piece, and the ideology behind it, isn’t constructive. It will only play into the hands of people who are anti-science or anti-technology.
Read Nathan’s superb rebuttal here. Read more →
UW CSE’s Ed Lazowska responds to an article in GeekWire by Jeff Meyerson of Software Engineering Daily, titled “Coding bootcamps question the need for computer science degrees.”
“One of the many great things about the tech industry is that it creates all kinds of jobs for all kinds of people with all kinds of preparation.
“But students, their parents, and adults seeking to re-direct their careers shouldn’t kid themselves about what sort of preparation is most likely to lead to a career as a software engineer at a leading-edge tech company – whether the smallest startup, or one of the giants like Amazon, Google, or Microsoft. …
“Marijuana is making a comeback in Washington, and with it, books of matches. Keep an eye out for the 21st century version of the advertisement to the right – with women included, and an additional zero on the salary.”
Read Ed’s complete post here. Read more →
In September, our friends at GeekWire reported an amazing feat by Seattle Country Day School students Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung (ages 8 and 10, respectively): launching a weather balloon filled with helium and equipped with a flight computer, two GoPro cameras, and a picture of their cat next to a Lego R2-D2 (the “Loki Lego Launcher”) to a height of 78,000 feet, and recovering it next to a cow pie in Stratford, WA. Read the terrific GeekWire article here.
Today, Kimberly and Rebecca, along with their friend Ava Barnhart (age 10), participated in a less thrilling but hopefully equally educational expedition: to UW CSE. And there were no cow pies at the landing site!
Kids like Kimberly, Rebecca and Ava are our future!
Read more →
Today our friend and neighbor Amazon announced Amazon Catalyst, a grant program to inspire grassroots innovation at the University of Washington.
The program is open to all members of the UW community – all people, all fields.
It’s a partnership with huge potential! Thank you Amazon!
Learn more here.
GeekWire here. Seattle Times here. Read more →
The Seattle Times reports opinions pro and con on the effort by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to unionize UW’s faculty. The article quotes CSE’s Ed Lazowska, and references a website created by Lazowska and Chemistry professor Paul Hopkins. Read the article here.
CampusReform.org focuses on the con, again quoting Lazowska. Read the article here.
A complex issue. While individual UW CSE faculty members have opinions and voice them, UW CSE itself is careful to express no opinion. Read more →
“‘It always comes back to what you are passionate about,’ said Mr. Allen, 62. Through philanthropy, he said, ‘you are transmitting your hopes, and keeping them going in the future.'”
Oren Etzioni – UW CSE professor and CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence – is quoted.
Terrific article – read it here. Read more →
The November issue of Seattle Magazine contains its annual list of “Seattle’s Most Influential People” – a list that was particularly kind to UW CSE friends and family this year. Among those recognized:
Read about these, and more, here. Read more →
Here’s a terrific interactive map produced by NPR’s “Planet Money” based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It shows the most common job in each state, biennially from 1978 through 2014.
As of 2014, in Washington, Utah, Colorado, and Virginia, it’s “Software Developer.” (In the majority of the states, it’s “Truck Driver.”
Check it out here! And think about what we need to do in order to sustain this advantage, and ensure that our own kids are the beneficiaries of Washington’s booming tech economy! Read more →
Microsoft President Brad Smith is an extraordinary civic leader in so many ways – including serving as chair of the committee tasked with raising the private funding for a second building that will enable UW CSE to double its enrollment, responding to student demand, employer demand, and intellectual opportunity.
His message at today’s Seattle Metro Chamber Leadership Conference: “We need a second CSE building at UW.”
Thank you Brad! Read more →