Allen School News

Katharina Reinecke, currently Assistant Professor of Information and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, will be joining UW CSE next fall.

Katharina’s research focuses on Human-Computer Interaction, specifically on understanding the cultural implications of user interfaces and designing interfaces that are culturally adaptive. She is particularly known for developing LabInTheWild, an online virtual lab for conducting behavioral studies, which she has used to obtain data from over 2.5 million visitors from over 200 countries.  Before joining Michigan, Katharina received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Zurich, Switzerland in 2010, followed by a three-year postdoc at Harvard.

Welcome, Katharina!

(We had previously announced the recruiting this year of Ras Bodik, Sham Kakade, Sergey Levine, and Dan Ports. More news to follow!) Read more →

At today’s annual “State of Technology” luncheon sponsored by the Tech Alliance and attended by 750+ regional leaders, Madrona Venture Group’s Tom Alberg interviewed Steve Singh of Seattle’s Concur Technologies, acquired by SAP in late 2014 for $8.3 billion.

UW CSE came up several times in the conversation:

Regarding funding for increased enrollment: “UW CSE could double its degree production and Concur would hire all of them!”

Regarding funding for a new building: “It’s a few tens of millions of dollars in a $40 billion annual budget. Give me a break!”

Thanks, Tom and Steve, for your tremendous support! Read more →

Jeremy Stribling delivers the PoCSci ’15 keynote address

Today marked the 15th annual UW CSE Symposium on Potentially Computer Science (PoCSci ’15) “The Premier Sham Conference for Potentially Computer Science Research.”

PoCSci is the conference that in 2002 – its second year – revolutionized the field of Potentially Computer Science research through Doug Zongker’s work “Chicken Chicken Chicken: Chicken Chicken” (YouTube video of Zongker’s presentation at AAAS 2007 here). Fittingly, Zongker was honored this year with the PoCSci “Test of Time” award.

The keynote was delivered by Jeremy Stribling, the creator of the SciGen random paper generator. While SciGen has been featured in venues ranging from Nature to Reddit, Jeremy was, by his own admission, a mere shadow of last year’s PoCSci keynote speaker, Dr. James Mickens, recipient of the 2040 ACM A.M. Turing Award.

Doug Zongker receives the PoCSci ’15 “Test of Time” award

Our thanks to the PoCSci organizing committee, Brandon Holt and Irene Zhang. Read more →

Shwetak Patel

UW Daily reporter Arunabh Satpathy writes:

“A house that knows when you’re inside. A cellphone that doubles as a spirometer. A sensor that gauges how much energy is being consumed and by what device. These are some of the applications of a developing field of computing called ‘ubiquitous computing,’ or ‘ubicomp.’

“Shwetak Patel, professor in the Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering, defines ubicomp as ‘the next paradigm of computing.’

“‘Computing is going to be pushed into everywhere into the environment,’ Patel said.”

Mayank Goel

Shwetak goes on to explain how continuous interaction between humans and sensors has transformed the automobile. He also talks about the potential benefits of extending these interactions into the home where, for example, sensors could be used to monitor the health of a person inside.

The article also quotes UW CSE Ph.D. student Mayank Goel, whose research focuses on novel uses of mobile phone sensors. One of his projects is focused on using a smart phone’s accelerometer to stabilize the keyboard and reduce texting errors. Another project, SpiroSmart, turns a smart phone’s microphone into a spirometer for measuring lung function.

Read the entire article here.

Learn more about the UbiComp Lab here. Read more →

A UW research project that seeks to power the Internet of Things using Wi-Fi signals – dubbed “power over Wi-Fi” or “PoWiFi” for short – is the topic of a recent paper and an article in MIT Technology Review. The project was developed by a team that includes CSE professor Shyam Gollakota, CSE and EE professor Josh Smith, EE Ph.D. student Vamsi Talla, CSE alum (and current EE Ph.D. student) Bryce Kellogg, former CSE postdoc Ben Ransford, and EE Ph.D. student Saman Naderiparizi.

From the article:

“The idea is simple in concept. Wi-Fi radio broadcasts are a form of energy that a simple antenna can pick up. Until now, Wi-Fi receivers have all been designed to harvest the information that these broadcasts carry. But Talla and co point out that there is no reason why the energy shouldn’t be harvested as well. The question is how much can be gathered in this way. And therein lies the challenge …

“The problem is that Wi-Fi broadcasts are not continuous. Routers tend to broadcast on a single channel in bursts. This provides enough power for the sensor but as soon as the broadcast stops, the voltages drop … That gave Talla and pals an idea. Why not program the router to broadcast noise when it is not broadcasting information and employ adjacent Wi-Fi channels to carry it so that it doesn’t interfere with data rates.”

Calling the results “impressive,” the article explains how the researchers used their new PoWiFi system to wirelessly power a battery-free temperature sensor and a camera without compromising network performance, in real-world conditions. They also were able to recharge coin-cell batteries using PoWiFi from distances of up to 28 feet.

The article concludes:

“The ability to deliver power wirelessly to a wide range of autonomous devices and sensors is hugely significant. But the real icing on the cake here is the ability to do this with ordinary technology that is commonly available all over the developed world and beyond. As such, PoWi-Fi could be the enabling technology that finally brings the Internet of Things to life.”

Read the complete article here.

Read a PDF of the team’s paper, “Powering the Next Billion Devices with WiFi,” here. Read more →

The Seattle Times editorial board writes:

“WHILE computer science and engineering jobs boom in Washington, the state is graduating too few of its own residents in this field, which plays such a crucial role in the state’s fortunes.

“The University of Washington argues persuasively that it needs more space to address the demand both from students and employers.

“The state Legislature should appropriate funds this year to help pay for a new 130,000-square-foot computer science and engineering building.

“The university asked lawmakers for $40 million of the $105 million total, with plans to raise the remaining costs from private donors. So far, the Senate’s capital budget set aside $32 million, while the House budget appropriated only $6 million …

“Washington is fortunate to have a thriving technology industry. State lawmakers and educators must enable more homegrown students to prepare for and seize these opportunities.”

Read more here. Read more →

UW CSE’s DawgBytes is one of three programs recently selected by mobile marketing company TUNE (formerly HasOffers) and Seattle Women in Technology as beneficiaries of a new partnership that aims to cultivate more women leaders in technology fields. DawgBytes, which hosts girls-only and co-ed summer day camps in computing, in addition to engaging in teacher support, community partnerships and other outreach activities, is part of a long tradition at UW CSE of encouraging women to pursue computer science education and careers.

Each summer, DawgBytes engages 88 middle and high school girls in computer science through our girls-only camps and reaches many more through its co-ed camps, including a session for elementary school students. This is part of a multi-pronged approach aimed at increasing the diversity of our student body and of our industry. We outperform our peers when it comes to cultivating the next generation of women computer scientists, awarding 30 percent of our CS bachelor’s degrees to women (roughly twice the national average). We also have made it a priority to recruit women who are rising stars in the field to the UW CSE faculty, including recent hires Maya Cakmak (robotics), Yejin Choi (natural language processing), Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman (computer vision), Franzi Roesner (security and privacy), and Emina Torlak (programming languages and software engineering).

While UW CSE is a recognized leader in advancing women in computer science education and careers, there is more work to be done. To support our efforts and those of other like-minded organizations, TUNE, in partnership with Seattle WiT, is encouraging donations to DawgBytes, Tech Trek and Ada Developers Academy in the run-up to its big annual event, Postback, which will be held July 23-24 in Seattle.

Read more about the partnership on the TUNE company blog here and check out the details on Postback 2015 here.

Check out our DawgBytes 2015 summer camp lineup here.

Read earlier coverage of UW CSE’s nationally recognized efforts to engage more women in computer science here, here and here.

Many thanks to our friends at TUNE and Seattle Women in Technology for their support! Read more →

Amazon ranks Seattle as the #1 “well-read city.”

NerdWallet ranks Seattle top 5 in opportunities for new STEM grads (but you wouldn’t want to live in the other 4).

Read more here and here. Read more →

UW CSE Ph.D. alum Brian Ferris is the patron saint of transit riders. Not only did he create the wildly popular app OneBusAway while a Ph.D. student here, but now he has gone one better: he and his team at Google have added enhanced real-time transit data to Google Maps for a handful of cities, including Seattle. The new feature will enable transit riders to make judgments about which mode or route to use based on actual traffic conditions and transit performance, using data from King County Metro and Sound Transit.

Brian is quoted by GeekWire on the new functionality:

“With traffic congestion in Seattle getting worse every year, real-time information is essential for making our transit system usable … I might not be able to build a new light-rail line through Seattle or add new bus service myself, but I can help build tools to make everyone’s commute a little more pleasant.”

Read more on GeekWire here and on VentureBeat here.

Thanks, Brian, for helping to keep Seattle commuters – including many of us here at UW CSE – rolling! Read more →

A terrific new short video from the Washington Tech Industry Association, “Why Washington,” explains why the Puget Sound region is the software capital of America.

Watch it here. Read more →