“People of ACM” highlights the unique scientific accomplishments and compelling personal attributes of ACM members who are making a difference in advancing computing as a science and a profession. These bulletins feature ACM members whose personal and professional stories are worthy of sharing with the larger computing community.
Today’s topic highlights UW CSE Ph.D. alum and Google Fellow Jeff Dean.
Read the profile here.… Read more →
“When All Science Becomes Data Science”
An article in Science Careers profiles activities in the University of Washington eScience Institute. Ed Lazowska, Bill Howe, Sarah Loebman, and Jevin West are quoted, as well as Greg Wilson from the Mozilla Foundation who taught a “Software Carpentry” course (a Python bootcamp for scientists) through the eScience Institute:
“Ed Lazowska, who holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at UW, believes that data-driven discovery will become the norm, as he told Science Careers in… Read more →
Washington becomes 10th state to allow computer science be integrated as part of math and science curriculum in high schools
Washington Governor Jay Inslee today signed into law HB 1472, which directs school districts to award a math or science credit to students who complete an AP Computer Science class.
We disagree with many aspects of the motivation as described in the Governor’s news release – “This bill will help students train for high-paying jobs in the technology industry and start addressing our state’s computer programmer shortage” is one of the least compelling reasons to encourage kids to study computer… Read more →
UW CSE startup GraphLab announces $6.75 million in funding from Madrona, NEA
GraphLab Inc. today announced a $6.75 million Series A funding led by Madrona Venture Group and NEA. GraphLab is innovating on the popular GraphLab open source distributed graph computation framework that is used millions of times per day to deliver recommendations through popular consumer services.
Complex data sets such as those describing social media networks are commonly described as graph datasets. These graphs describe relationships between people, the products they buy, the pages they like, etc. Graph datasets require novel… Read more →
“Computer Science: It’s where the jobs are. It’s also where the future is.”
In a Seattle Times Sunday op-ed, UW CSE’s Ed Lazowska sets the record straight on the demand for computer science graduates:
“Technology workforce issues are much in the news these days, stimulated by proposed changes to the nation’s H-1B ‘guest worker’ visa policy …
“Allow me to inject a few facts into the conversation. (As Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, ‘Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.’)
“It’s indeed the case, both nationwide and in… Read more →
The Washington State Algebra Challenge
UW CSE’s Center for Game Science has partnered with the Technology Alliance to launch the first Washington State Algebra Challenge.
During the week of June 3-7, students in Washington State K-12 classrooms will attempt to complete 250,000 algebra equations, using the school-adapted algebra learning game DragonBox. Even students who have never been exposed to algebra before will be encouraged to participate!
Learn more about the Washington State Algebra Challenge here. Read a press release here. Learn about… Read more →
And the GeekWire “Geek of the Year” is …
UW CSE’s Oren Etzioni! (Along with a real live geeky physician, in an unprecedented GeekWire Awards tie vote.)… Read more →
Startup Seattle
Today, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn launched Startup Seattle, a multi-pronged initiative to further enhance Seattle’s climate for tech startups. GeekWire reports:
“As part of the Startup Initiative, the City does plan on centering its first ‘innovation hub’ around the UW. Lazowska said that, given the critical role of research universities in innovation, he and his colleagues have worked hard to get more tech companies to open up their HQs in the U-District. But because the surrounding area is ‘an ocean… Read more →
CSE alums Albert Wong, Hannah Tang in GeekWire for Google breakthough
“Albert Wong had spent his whole life trying —and failing — to type Cantonese characters on a computer.
“But now, thanks to time allowed by Google’s 20-percent projects, some terrific teamwork and a whole lot of effort, he’s helped build an answer.
“A year’s worth of work has come to fruition today, as Google just released the first tool ever that allows users to easily input Cantonese into a web browser using English phonetics, solving a problem that’s existed for… Read more →
Luis Ceze, Karin Strauss join informal “ISCA Hall of Fame”
For a number of years, Mark Hill and Guri Sohi of the University of Wisconsin have maintained an informal “Hall of Fame” for the International Symposium on Computer Architecture, based on the (admittedly imperfect) metric of having co-authored 8 or more papers that have appeared in this premier venue for computer architecture research.
CSE professor Luis Ceze and CSE affiliate professor (and Microsoft Research staff member, as well as Luis’s partner) Karin Strauss have just been “inducted.”
Stanford, the University… Read more →