Allen School Ph.D. students James Bornholt and Eunsol Choi have won 2018 Facebook Fellowships, which are designed to support and recognize promising doctoral students who are pursing innovative research in computer science and engineering. Only 17 students from around the globe were chosen out of more than 800 applicants to receive one of these competitive awards, which provide each fellow with up to two years of tuition, grant support, conference travel support, and multiple opportunities to engage with Facebook researchers.… Read more →
Crossing the “uncanny valley”: Allen School researchers achieve realistic audio-to-video conversion with lip-syncing Obama
Researchers in the Allen School’s Graphics & Imaging Laboratory (GRAIL) have developed a new technique that enables them to generate photorealistic videos from audio clips. The team, which includes recent Ph.D. graduate Supasorn Suwajanakorn and professors Steven Seitz and Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman, demonstrated their approach by producing a video of former president Barack Obama lip-syncing audio on a range of topics, complete with natural-looking facial expressions and mouth movements.
To achieve such a lifelike result, the researchers had to overcome… Read more →
Allen School privacy researchers shed light on secret surveillance with SeaGlass
A team of researchers in the Allen School’s Security and Privacy Research Lab have developed a new system, SeaGlass, which could bring more transparency and accountability to cell-phone surveillance. SeaGlass is capable of detecting anomalies in the cellular network that may indicate the presence of surveillance devices called IMSI-catchers (also known as cell-site simulators or Stingrays), which track individuals through their International Mobile Subscriber Identity by posing as a legitimate cell tower.
WIRED magazine recently talked to the researchers … Read more →
UW CSE alum startup Sift Science in GigaOm
Sift Science, a Bay Area startup involving UW CSE alums Brandon Ballinger, Jason Tan, and Grace Kim, is featured in GigaOm:
“The problem of online fraud, fake reviews and sock puppetry is only going to get worse, according to recent research. But there are ways to identify likely perpetrators and that’s what Sift Science aims to do.
“The 8-person San Francisco startup uses machine learning to analyze user interaction with web sites and create a digital profile of who… Read more →
CSE’s Hank Levy turns 60!
Time flies when you’re having fun … Hank Levy, CSE department chair and Wissner-Slivka Chair, celebrated his 60th today at a French-themed (don’t ask …) luncheon.
Happy birthday Hank, and thanks for all you’ve done for CSE and for your many friends!
More Bruce Hemingway photographs of the event here.
(One of the high points of the luncheon: University of Washington Provost Ana Mari Cauce, ever a great friend of CSE and ever a good sport, drew herself… Read more →
Stefan Savage, Geoff Voelker in May issue of Playboy
This is what happens to UW CSE Ph.D. alums who do research on the spam value chain using fake viagra sales as their case study.
Page 45 of the May issue, here.
[In a followup to this post, Savage notes: “Now, one might suggest that there is a trend among UW CSE Ph.D. alums on the UCSD faculty, given Sorin Lerner’s 2010 recognition by the adult entertainment industry. As Yoshi might say, ‘Interesting!’ However, I can assure you… Read more →