Xconomy reports on Charles Simonyi’s kickoff of the 2009-10 UW Computer Science & Engineering Distinguished Lecturer Series.
“Simonyi, the father of Microsoft Word and Excel, and now head of Bellevue, WA-based Intentional Software, regaled the crowd of a couple hundred students, faculty, and guests with stories and videos from his second trip to space last March. Simonyi rode a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS), docked and spent some time there, and returned safely to Earth, looking none the worse for wear. He is an outspoken proponent of space tourism, and he pointed out that Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, is currently making his way aboard the space station as ‘the first clown in space’ (and the seventh space tourist ever).”
Read the whole article here.
UW CSE Distinguished Lecturer Series here.
On-demand video of this terrific presentation here. Read more →
UW CSE’s Dieter Fox is the fourth director of Seattle’s Intel Labs, officially succeeding UW CSE’s David Wetherall two weeks ago. At Intel Labs Seattle’s open house yesterday afternoon, Xconomy’s Gregory Huang had a chance to talk to both about the lab’s role in shaping the future of computing.
“‘Our role with respect to Intel is performing what they call disrupting research that is off-roadmap, but essentially our task is also to surprise Intel,’ Fox says. ‘If we show what can be done with future computing systems, then we are serving our purpose. And beyond surprising Intel, we also want to surprise consumers by what can be done. It’s becoming more and more important that these computational systems are going to be observing the environment, using sensors. Today’s smartphones all have GPS, accelerometers, and all that. The key question is, how can we extract relevant information to make it more interesting for users?'”
Read the full article here. Xconomy article regarding projects highlighted at the open house here. Brier Dudley’s blog here. Read more →
Voice of San Diego profiles UW CSE Ph.D. alumnus and UCSD CSE faculty member Stefan Savage.
“The poster outside the third-floor office in the University of California, San Diego’s computer sciences building depicts Doc Savage, the big-muscled, bald-headed, fearsome-faced comic book hero. Inside the office sits a different Doc Savage.
“Stefan Savage is a pale-faced, 40-year-old, T-shirt-and-shorts-wearing college professor. But in the world of cybercrime fighting — where the strength of your code, not your biceps, is what matters — this Doc Savage cuts quite the imposing figure.”
Read it! Read more →
For the first time since its inception in 1996, the UW CSE Professional Master’s Program (PMP) is expanding: from 130 students to 160, and from three offered courses each quarter to four. The PMP – a part-time evening program targeted towards talented software industry professionals with strong undergraduate preparation in computer science or computer engineering and three or more years of professional experience – has awarded nearly 500 degrees since its inception.
Longtime PMP Advisor Dave Rispoli is excited about the change. “Demand had grown to the point where we were unable to accommodate a significant number of highly qualified applicants. The expansion will restore balance. There has never been a better time to apply!”
To earn their degree, PMP students complete one four-credit course plus a one-credit colloquium course for eight quarters. PMP courses are taught by the same top-ranked faculty who teach UW CSE’s full-time graduate and undergraduate courses. “We have an 85% graduation rate,” says Rispoli, “which means that even students who are putting in extraordinary work hours can earn their degree in a reasonable time and maintain some semblance of a home life. It’s not easy, but the program’s flexibility means that, at least for the vast majority of those who are accepted, it’s doable.”
The next PMP application deadline is November 1, for a Winter Quarter start. Additional application deadlines are February 1 for Spring Quarter, and July 1 for Autumn Quarter.
Additional information on CSE’s Professional Master’s Program can be found by contacting Dave at rispoli@cs.washington.edu or by viewing the PMP Web page at http://pmp.cs.washington.edu/. Read more →
TechFlash interviews UW CSE students participating in the Kindle DX academic pilot project.
“At the University of Washington, more than 30 computer science graduate students are taking part in the pilot, and are just receiving their devices. We sat in on a Kindle DX orientation on the UW campus this morning, and talked to a couple students about their expectations for the reader, which they’ll be using in various courses.”
See the article and video here. Learn more about the UW CSE Kindle DX pilot project here. Read more →
UW CSE professor Dan Grossman discusses the UW CSE Kindle DX pilot project with KOMO-4 TV news. Watch the video here. Learn more about the UW CSE Kindle DX pilot project here. Read more →
UW CSE graduate students Dan Halperin and Kathleen Tuite are among 26 exemplary Ph.D. students from across the nation who have been named recipients of Intel Ph.D. Fellowships. The Intel Ph.D. Fellowship program focuses on research in Intel’s principal technical areas: Hardware Systems Technology and Design, Software Technology and Design, and Semiconductor Technology and Manufacturing.
Dan, who is advised by Tom Anderson and David Wetherall, was awarded his fellowship for research “enabling the realistic design of next generation wireless systems.”
Kathleen, who is advised by Zoran Popovic, was awarded her fellowship for “active world reconstruction through a real-world multiplayer game.”
Information about the fellowships may be found here.
Congratulations Dan and Kathleen! Read more →
The LA Times discusses the Internet and the government’s role in basic research.
“Since it’s so fashionable these days to question whether government can do anything right … it’s worth noting that we’re about to celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of the most important federal initiatives of our time … the Internet.
“[Bob] Taylor tried to interest private industry in his project, but the companies he approached dismissed the idea. IBM told him its computers already talked to one another, completely missing his point that their computers should talk to everyone else’s. AT&T, then the monopoly proprietor of the phone system over which the network would operate, fought Taylor’s project tooth and nail, contending that the network’s ‘packet switching’ technology (a method of transmitting data in discrete blocks) wouldn’t work on its phone lines and might even damage them. Packet switching remains the Internet’s governing technology to this day.
“[Taylor’s] experience underscores the importance of a government role in fields like basic research, which profit-seeking enterprises tend to shun.
“‘Industry generally avoids long-term research because it entails risk,’ the veteran computer scientist Ed Lazowska told Congress a few years ago. Why? Because it’s hard to predict the results of such research, and since it has to be published and publicly validated, corporations can’t capitalize on their investments in isolation. Yet once the research reaches a certain point, private industry piles in – Lazowska cited a National Research Council list of 19 multibillion-dollar industries that had been incubated with federal funding, generally via university grants – including the Internet, Web browsers and cellphones – before becoming commercially viable. Taylor’s ARPAnet was eventually turned over to the National Science Foundation, which in 1991 opened what was then known as NSFnet to commercial exploitation. Four years later, the dot-com boom was underway.
“The real world brims with other examples.”
Complete article here. Read more →
The Seattle Times discusses college costs. “Still, undergraduate tuition and fees at the UW — $7,700 this year — remain a bargain when compared to what people pay at private colleges, says UW computer-science professor Ed Lazowska: ‘Why is a parent willing to pay $35,000 for an education that’s not any better? I don’t understand the psychology of it.'”
Read the article here. Read more →
2008 UW CSE Ph.D. alumnus Noah Snavely, now on the computer science faculty at Cornell University, has received the University of Washington Graduate School “6th Chapter” Dissertation Award.
Named by former Dean of the Graduate School Suzanne Ortega, the 6th Chapter Award refers to the five-chapter length of most dissertations. In a hypothetical sixth chapter, Ortega reasoned, candidates would propose practical applications resulting from their research, translating their insights into real-world policies or programs.
Noah’s Ph.D. work, co-supervised by Steve Seitz and Rick Szeliski (Szeliski, an affiliate professor in CSE, is at Microsoft Research), concerned recovering 3D structure from large community photo collections. Microsoft’s widely-praised Photosynth offering represents technology transfer from Noah’s work. Very recently, another Snavely / Seitz / Szeliski collaboration, “Building Rome in a Day,” has received widespread attention.
Congratulations Noah! Read more →
