UW CSE’s Open Data Kit (ODK), a collection of free and open source tools, in use around the world, that make data collection easier and more flexible, has received the 2011 Washington Technology Industry Association Industry Achievement Award for Best Use of Technology in Government, Non-Profit, or Education.
ODK began as a collaboration between UW CSE and Google.
Learn more about ODK here. Learn more about the WTIA Industry Achievement Awards here.
UW CSE’s Living Voters Guide was… Read more →
“Q&A: The meaning of Watson”
TechFlash interviews UW CSE’s Oren Etzioni:
“The folks at University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering have been watching IBM’s Watson computer on ‘Jeopardy!’ this week with even more interest than the rest of us. They even hosted a viewing party last night on campus, followed by expert commentary. We followed up today with one of those experts, computer science professor Oren Etzioni, the director of the UW Turing Center, to get his take on the whole thing. Continue reading… Read more →
Jeopardy!
On February 15, UW CSE and IBM hosted a viewing of the second of three Jeopardy! matches pitting IBM’s Watson Artificial Intelligence system against two human champions.
More than 250 fans, ranging in age from 7 to 70, turned out! Commentary was provided by UW CSE’s Oren Etzioni, Ed Lazowska, and Luke Zettlemoyer, Microsoft Research’s Eric Horvitz, and IBM’s Greg Dietzel.
There are some wonderful background videos on the IBM Watson website, here.
And don’t miss “Watson, The … Read more →
Oren Etzioni in Nature News on Watson
“‘It is, in my mind, a historic moment,’ says Oren Etzioni, director of the Turing Center at the University of Washington, Seattle. ‘I watched Gary Kasparov playing Deep Blue. This absolutely ranks up there with that.'”
Read the complete interview here.… Read more →
Anup Rao, Georg Seelig win Sloan Research Fellowships
CSE’s Anup Rao and Georg Seelig have been selected to receive 2011 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowships, among the most selective awards for young scientists.
Rao, an expert in the theory of computation, joined CSE in 2010, following graduate work at the University of Texas and postdocs at the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton. His interests include finding mathematical explanations for why some computational problems are fundamentally harder than others, and discovering the limitations of efficient computational… Read more →
CSE’s Oren Etzioni interviewed by NPR on IBM Watson Jeopardy challenge
UW CSE’s Oren Etzioni was interviewed today on NPR’s “Morning Edition” regarding the forthcoming Jeopardy match pitting IBM’s Watson AI system against two human champions.
“Artificial intelligence experts say that even with the occasional error, Watson has what it takes to perform very well against humanity’s best. Etzioni expects to see a Watson win in the competition, which will air Feb. 14, 15 and 16. ‘Does that mean that it’s ‘Game Over’ for humans, that robots will keep us as… Read more →
UW CSE undergraduate Golf Sinteppadon creates Seattle Band Map
UW CSE undergraduate Golf Sinteppadon, in collaboration with KEXP’s Rachel Ratner and musician Keith Whiteman, has released Seattle Band Map, an interactive website that showcases the Pacific Northwest’s vibrant music scene by documenting the thousands of bands who have performed throughout the decades, and exploring how these bands are interconnected through personal relationships and collaborations.… Read more →
CSE alum Mohamed El-Zohairy’s return to Egypt featured in TechCrunch
A recent TechCrunch post describes UW CSE 2007 alum Mohamed El-Zohairy‘s return to Egypt to participate in the revolution with his family. Mohamed’s Facebook page contains fascinating posts from before and after his return to Egypt.… Read more →
Hank Levy elected to National Academy of Engineering
Hank Levy, Wissner-Slivka Chair in Computer Science & Engineering and CSE department chair, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of 9 leading computer scientists and computer engineers elected in the NAE class of 2011, announced today.
Hank was recognized “For contributions to the design, implementation, and evaluation of operating systems, distributed systems, and processor architectures.”
Quoting from the NAE: “Members are elected to NAE by their peers (current NAE members). Election to membership is… Read more →
UW CSE’s SNUPI at Technology Alliance “Innovation Showcase”
SNUPI (Sensor Nodes Utilizing Powerline Infrastructure) nodes are ultra-low-power, general-purpose wireless sensor nodes that transmit their data by coupling over the powerline to a single receiver attached to the powerline in the home. SNUPI nodes provide whole-home coverage while consuming less than 1 mW of power when transmitting (one order of magnitude lower than existing nodes), and a new custom CMOS transmitter consumes only 65 µW (two orders of magnitude lower than existing nodes). SNUPI was one of five technologies… Read more →