UW CSE’s Shwetak Patel is developing a system to make it easier for individuals and companies monitor “home” activity by using strategically placed sensors on air, water, gas, and electrical infrastructure. Patel expects his approach, which he calls infrastructure-mediated sensing (IMS), to be more cost effective and less labor intensive than other activity-sensing platforms.
“IMS uses a single sensor in a strategic place to measure pressure signals in air vents and waterlines as well as electrical signals in power lines. Machine-learning technologies correlate physical events such as turning on a light, flushing a toilet, or opening a door with different signals. According to Patel, the primary goal of IMS is to reduce the economic, aesthetic, installation, and maintenance barriers to home monitoring by reducing the cost and complexity of deploying and maintaining and activity-sensing infrastructure. Patel said that in large volumes the water, pressure, and power sensors will cost as little as $50 each.”
Read the Computing Now article here. Read more →
University Week reports on the work of UW CSE’s Shwetak Patel.
“Most of the technology that will be installed as part of the UW smart grid demonstration project is commercially available. But UW engineers developing the next generation of smart-grid technologies will use data from the pilot project to advance their research.
“UW CSE’s Shwetak Patel is developing easily installed devices that measure consumption in real time down to the level of a single outlet. The device uses electrical noise to measure how much power is being used by everything from your coffee maker to your TiVo. A growing number of gadgets can measure electricity consumption. What is unique about Patel’s system is it consists of a single, low-cost device that can be stuck on the outside of a residential fuse box and record electrical activity throughout the home — no electrician required. ”
Read the complete UWeek article here. Read more about the research here. Read more →
Kiplinger ranks the top values in public education. The University of Washington is #7. Read all about it here. Read more →
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UW CSE’s winter recruiting fair is a madhouse! More photographs here. See previous post here. Read more →
Brett Allen
UW CSE Ph.D. alumni Brett Allen and Per Christensen each have been selected to receive Scientific and Technical Academy Awards (“Oscars”) from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Brett (Ph.D. 2005, advised by Brian Curless and Zoran Popovic) was part of a four-man team at San Francisco’s Industrial Light & Magic that won for the development of the Imocap, a way for capturing actors’ movements to create realistic computer-animated characters. Imocap uses sensor-studded suits and custom software to allow performance capture on movie sets, rather than in motion-capture studios. The system generated Davy Jones and other human-crustacean hybrids in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
Per (Ph.D. 1995, advised by David Salesin Tony DeRose), of Pixar’s Seattle office, is one of two people honored for developing a faster and more realistic way to create shading for complex scenes. The technique is incorporated in Pixar’s RenderMan software, used in dozens of movies ranging from Terminator II to WALL-E. (UW CSE alumnus Loren Carpenter received an Oscar in 1992 for the original development of RenderMan.)
Per Christensen
Current UW CSE graphics, imaging, and animation research is described here. TechFlash post here. Read more →
William Johnson
Mark Bun
Each year the University of Washington recognizes the top student (of roughly 7,000) in the previous year’s Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior classes as class Medalists.
This year, in a double-header, CSE’s Mark Bun has been named the University of Washington Sophomore Medalist, and CSE’s William Johnson has been named the University of Washington Junior Medalist.
In the past decade, 12 CSE students have been recognized as University of Washington Medalists — an extraordinary record.
Read the University Week article here. Read more →
The UW Daily reports on the impact of stereotypes of the field. “Junior Emma Lynch and senior Justine Sherry … feel that people should not be turned away from the major by inaccurate stereotypes.” Read the article here. Read about the true nature of the field here. Read more →
Barbie has had over 120 careers! What do you think her next job should be? Vote for your favorite, then check back to find out what Barbie will be next.
- Environmentalist
- Surgeon
- Architect
- News Anchor
- Computer Engineer
Get out the vote! http://www.barbie.com/vote/ Read more →
OneBusAway, designed by UW CSE graduate student Brian Ferris with the goal of making public transit more usable, has been named one of three finalists in the “Government, Non-profit or Educational Sector” category of the 2010 Washington Technology Industry Association Industry Achievement Awards. The winner will be announced at the WTIA IAA awards event on March 4. Read more →
Unfortunately, his mug is all you can get without a premium subscription. The article is “New Search Challenges and Opportunities.” Read more →
