Allen School News

UW CSE professor Anna Karlin and Ph.D. alum Jeff Dean have been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The American Academy, established in 1780, is one of the nation’s oldest and most revered learned societies whose members are among the most accomplished individuals in their disciplines—disciplines that span mathematics, the biological and physical sciences, medicine, the social sciences, business, government, humanities and the arts. Karlin and Dean are among only six computer scientists who were elected to the Academy this year out of 212 new members.

Karlin is the Microsoft Professor of Computer Science & Engineering and a member of UW CSE’s Theory group. Her research primarily focuses on the design and analysis of algorithms, particularly probabilistic and online algorithms. She also works at the interface between theory and other areas, such as economics and game theory, data mining, operating systems, networks and distributed systems. In addition to her research and teaching within CSE, Karlin designed and taught a course for non-majors that examined the intellectual underpinnings and societal impacts of computer science. Before her arrival at UW CSE, Karlin spent five years as a researcher at Digital Equipment Corporation’s Systems Research Center. As one of the founding members of rock band Severe Tire Damage, she has the distinction of having participated in the first-ever live music broadcast on the internet in 1993. Karlin earned her Ph.D. from Stanford in 1987 and is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. She joins CSE faculty members Susan Eggers and Ed Lazowska as fellows of the Academy.

Dean is a Google Senior Fellow, where he leads the Google Brain project. Since he joined Google in 1999, Dean has contributed to a number of significant developments at the company, including five generations of crawling, indexing and query serving systems; the initial development of the company’s AdSense for Content product; MapReduce, which simplifies the development of large-scale data processing applications; BigTable, a large-scale, semi-structured storage system that underpins a number of Google products; the system design for Google Translate; and the design of DistBelief and TensorFlow for large-scale training and deployment of deep learning models—among many others. Dean earned his Ph.D. from UW CSE in 1996 working with Craig Chambers on whole-program optimization techniques for object oriented languages. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2009 and is a fellow of the ACM and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Karlin, Dean and their fellow new members will be inducted at a ceremony in October in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Read the Academy press release here.

Congratulations to Anna and Jeff on this outstanding recognition! Read more →

The University of Washington Board of Regents has approved the first interdisciplinary master’s degree program to be offered through the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), a partnership between the UW and Tsinghua University launched last spring with support from Microsoft. The new Master of Science in Technology Innovation (MSTI) degree was developed with the collaboration of UW CSE and other units within the College of Engineering, the Foster School of Business, the iSchool and the School of Law.

From the UW News release:

“Launching in fall 2017, the newly approved 15-month degree focuses on the technology development, design thinking, and entrepreneurial skills needed to invent, build and launch innovative products using connected devices – a vital element in the development of the ‘Internet of Things.’ Under the guidance of leading UW professors and industry mentors, students will gain hands-on experience in the processes required to create new technology solutions, plus the business skills to bring them to market.”

UW CSE and Electrical Engineering professor Shwetak Patel led the development of the MSTI curriculum, and also serves as chief technology officer of GIX. According to Patel, “The program’s intent is to teach students just enough in each area to build their confidence in pursuing their own innovations in high-impact fields, such as health and sustainability, and improving standards of living both locally and globally….Technology innovation requires developing a global mindset to have a true impact.”

Students enrolled in GIX will engage in project-based learning encompassing user-centered design, technology development, and entrepreneurship. Participants may choose to pursue a dual-degree option in which they will have an opportunity to study in Beijing and earn a Master of Engineering in Information Technology from Tsinghua University. Application information will be available in July.

Read the full UW news release here, and learn more about the MSTI here.

Photo credit: Matt Hagen/University of Washington Read more →

On Thursday UW CSE hosted an alumni event at Amazon’s still-under-construction new buildings on 7th Avenue in downtown Seattle. Amazon is one of the largest employers of UW CSE graduates, and UW CSE is one of the largest sources of new graduates to Amazon.

Can’t wait for those domes to be finished! Read more →

GeekWire reports on a King County Superior Court ruling that UW may replace More Hall Annex – an abandoned research nuclear reactor building that a local preservation group has tried to nominate as a landmark under a city ordinance – with a facility that will enable the expansion of UW Computer Science & Engineering.

“On Thursday, Judge Suzanne Parisien ruled that the ordinance does not apply to the UW, adding that ‘public purpose requires that the campus continue to be developed to meet the growing and changing education needs of the State’ …

“Ed Lazowska, the computer science department’s Bill & Melinda Gates Chair, told GeekWire that the having the second building across the street from the existing space is ‘essential.’

“The [new building] won’t merely duplicate spaces we already have — it will provide spaces that we currently lack and that all of us will use, such as a large lecture theater, several large classrooms, many dedicated undergraduate labs and project spaces, and a large robotics lab,’ Lazowska said. ‘So the space currently occupied by More Hall Annex is the only practical site.

“Added Lazowska: ‘The [new building] is essential if we’re to continue to grow, allowing us to prepare more of Washington’s kids for Washington’s top tech jobs.'”

Read more here. Read more →

UW CSE professor Shyam Gollakota of the Networks & Mobile Systems Lab recently shared with Medium details about the development of Passive Wi-Fi—the breakthrough technology that could usher in a new era of mobile computing and power the Internet of Things—with industry blog Inside Frequency Control.

In the interview, Gollakota talked about how Passive Wi-Fi could eliminate power consumption as a barrier to creating a truly smart environment in which every device and every object can communicate. He also emphasized the importance of collaboration when asked what advice he would give to aspiring engineers, saying he draws inspiration from the perspectives of people outside of his own field.

It’s an interesting read about a truly cutting-edge project from an interdisciplinary team that includes UW Electrical Engineering Ph.D. students Bryce Kellogg and Vamsi Talla and joint UW CSE and EE professor Josh Smith. Check out the full interview on Medium here. Read more →

Last night, Microsoft treated UW students who will join the company this year as either full-time employees or interns to a dinner cruise on Lake Union and Lake Washington. More than 60 of the more than 100 UW recruits heading to Microsoft this year—the majority from CSE—joined in the fun, including a spectacular Seattle sunset.

Thanks to Microsoft for its continuing support of UW CSE and our students! (And special thanks to our phenomenal Microsoft recruiter, Becky Tucker!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The UW Tech Policy Lab will welcome General Kevin Chilton, retired head of U.S. Strategic Command, to campus next week as part of its Distinguished Lecture Series. General Chilton will address the topic “Deterrence in the 21st Century: From Nuclear, to Space, to Cyberspace.”

General Chilton served for nearly 35 years as a member of the U.S. Air Force. As Commander of U.S. Strategic Command from 2007 until his retirement in 2011, he directed planning and operations for U.S. forces engaged in strategic deterrence and Department of Defense space and cyberspace operations. Before that, General Chilton was the head of Air Force Space Command and spent 11 years with NASA, where he served as a Command Astronaut Pilot and completed three Space Shuttle missions.

The lecture will be held on Tuesday, April 19 at 7:00 pm in the UW’s Kane Hall. Admission is free but advance registration is encouraged. Learn more and RSVP here. Read more →

UW sophomore Austin Stromme, who is pursuing a double major in computer science and mathematics, has been selected as a 2016 Goldwater Scholar.

Stromme worked with professor James Lee of UW CSE’s Theory group last year on graph theoretic methods in computational linear algebra. Currently, he is working with math professor Jim Morrow on the use of discrete harmonic cohomology modules to understand the geometry of boundary graphs, and with Ph.D. student Matthew Junge to analyze the frog model and related random models on graphs.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program supports outstanding undergraduate students who intend to pursue careers in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. After he earns his bachelor’s degree, Stromme plans to obtain his Ph.D. in math and pursue a career in academic research and teaching at the intersection of algebra and geometry. He is one of 252 scholars chosen on the basis of academic merit from among more than 1,100 nominations.

Congratulations, Austin! Read more →

UW CSE professor Rajesh Rao, an expert in brain-computer interfaces, has been recognized with a 2016 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. Rao, who leads the National Science Foundation’s Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, was chosen based on his past achievements and exceptional potential to make future contributions in the field of neuroscience. He is the third UW CSE faculty member to receive this prestigious award.

The Guggenheim Fellowship is designed for mid-career scientists, scholars and artists who demonstrate the capacity to make a significant impact in their respective fields. The fellowship will support Rao’s work on a project titled “The Computational Brain: Understanding and Interfacing with Neuronal Networks.”  He and UW colleagues Katharyne Mitchell (geography) and Helen O’Toole (art) were among 178 winners selected from a pool of roughly 3,000 applicants across the U.S.A. and Canada.

Foundation president Edward Hirsch observed in announcing the awards, “These artists and writers, scholars and scientists, represent the best of the best. Each year since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has bet everything on the individual, and we’re thrilled to continue to do so with this wonderfully talented and diverse group. It’s an honor to be able to support these individuals to do the work they were meant to do.”

Read the full press release here and Rao’s fellowship profile here. Learn more about all three UW winners here.

Congratulations, Raj! Read more →

UW senior Krittika D’Silva has been named a 2016 Gates Cambridge Scholar, one of the most prestigious international scholarships in the world. D’Silva, who will graduate from the UW this June with a degree in computer engineering and bioengineering, will pursue her Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Cambridge’s Jesus College starting in the fall.

D’Silva currently works with UW CSE professor Luis Ceze in the Molecular Information Systems Lab, where she is assisting the development of a novel DNA-based system for long-term data storage. Previously, she collaborated with the late CSE professor Gaetano Borriello and CSE Ph.D. alum Nicki Dell on the development of mobile health apps for use in low-resource settings in the Information & Communications Technology for Development (ICTD) Lab. D’Silva also spent more than two years as a researcher in the Department of Bioengineering, where she focused on improving the design of prosthetic devices used by people living with lower limb amputations.

The Gates Cambridge scholarship program supports academically outstanding students who have demonstrated strong leadership and a commitment to improving the lives of others. D’Silva is one of 55 scholars selected from a global pool of more than 3,700 highly competitive applicants. Check out her new Gates Cambridge scholar profile here.

Congratulations, Krittika! Read more →