Daniel Berry celebrates half a century as a professor of computer science

This article was originally published on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.

Any computer scientist 70 or more years of age today knows almost every other computer scientist of those same ages, as few were in the discipline during its fledgling days. One such individual from that era is Daniel Berry, a professor in the Software Engineering group at the Cheriton School of Computer Science.

During his 50-year career as a computer science professor, he has studied, researched, and taught computer science across three countries and multiple institutions. Over those years Ive had the privilege of meeting many of the pioneers in computer science and working with some of them, Dan said.

Like many of his generation, his love of computers and programming began early. I started programming in 1965 during the summer between my junior and senior years in high school, he reflects. I wrote my first real-world application, a party date matching program, in 1966, during my senior year in high school. As an undergraduate at Rensselaer Polytechnic, I was programming to make some money, but I was firmly a math major. When I got to graduate school at Brown in 1969, I discovered that I had promoted myself to my level of incompetence in math. I saw that Applied Math had just started a Computer Science program. Figuring that I was still competent in that, I moved over to Computer Science. At some point during my graduate studies, Brown changed from giving a PhD in Applied Math with a concentration in Computer Science to a PhD in Computer Science. I was the first, or maybe the second, student at Brown to get a PhDinComputer Science.

Dan ended up earning a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, in 1969, followed by a PhD in Computer Science from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in 1974. He never bothered to get a Masters degree because he knew that he wanted to be a professor.

While writing up his doctorate, Dan joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1972. He was the first faculty member at UCLA with a degree in computer science. Other faculty members were mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and engineers who used computers in their original fields and got hooked.

Back in the seventies, when I started being a professor at UCLA, everyone taking CS classes was there because he or she loved computers and programming, he recalls. The students and faculty were real live computer geeks. Studentswantedprogramming assignments. They were not something to be avoided, because this was the only way you could get access to a computer. Computer science departments then typically had one, big computer. You couldnt just go up to it and start using it. You needed to have a reason, and a programming assignment was a good reason.

UCLA, of course, is also the birthplace of the Internet, and Dan arrived only three years after its launch in 1969.

Dan reminisced, UCLA is where the APRANET, what is now the Internet, was born. Len Kleinrock, a faculty member, was a key developer of the ARPANET, and Vint Cerf, an inventor of TCP/IP, was a student who had just graduated when I arrived at UCLA. Steve Crocker, Charlie Kline, and Jon Postel all those pioneers instrumental in creating the Internet were at UCLA at that time.

Experiencing history-making moments at UCLA must have been in the cards because it was during this time that the university also pulled off a series of seemingly impossible wins.

I enjoyed watching UCLA football at the Coliseum, Dan said. But the best, of course, was watching UCLA basketball, especially at that time. It was incredible. UCLAs head basketball coach, John Wooden, was the best coach for any college sport at any college across the USA. He led the Bruins to seven consecutive NCAA March Madness Championships. No coach since has ever done better than back-to-back victories. I was there for the last half of that winning streak.

After 15 years at UCLA, Dan joined the Computer Science Faculty at the Technion in Haifa, Israel.

I loved being at UCLA, but I joined the Technion as faculty because I wanted to live in Israel and because I felt I could make a bigger difference there than I could in the US. While at the Technion for 11 years, he worked half-time for four years at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

CMUs School of CS wanted to start a Master of Software Engineering program, Dan said. I had already gone into the new field of Requirements Engineering at this point. The program was supposed to have a requirements engineering course. So, I joined the SEI group that was prototyping the MSE degree program for the School of CS, specifically to develop the requirements engineering course. The course we teach today follows the same basic syllabus I set up 50 per cent of what I teach in CS445 and SE463 today is based on that original course.

In 1998, Dan moved to Canada to join the University of Waterloo in what was then its Department of Computer Science.

Those who have worked with Dan know that his hearing impairment limits his perception to sounds below middle C, making spoken language for him all but impossible to understand by ear. He communicates face-to-face readily using a combination of the lower-pitch sounds he can hear coupled with lip reading to understand spoken English.

Almost everyone in Israel speaks English as a school-acquired second language so I could get by, but I could never learn to read lips in Hebrew despite much effort, he said. I enjoyed my time at the Technion, but because it was hard to communicate with people in Hebrew, I decided to move back to North America to a North-American-English-speaking place. But I also wanted to be within a nonstop flight to Israel so I could visit easily. And I wanted the place to be safe and affordable. That meant eastern Canada.

Since coming to Waterloo, Dans research has focused mainly on requirements engineering.

We have come to the realization that the lack of good requirements specifications for software that is, a complete description of what software youre developing is supposed to do is the main cause of software defects. My current research is trying to identify the nature of the requirements whose failure to be implemented causes software to fail. It turns out that most, about 70 per cent, of these missing requirements concern handling the inevitable exception conditions to requirements that are already implemented.

Interestingly, this often means that more than 90 per cent of the code is necessary to deal with the exceptions that happen less than 10 per cent of the time. The less frequent and more obscure an exception is, the more code is required to handle it.

Key moments in Daniel Berrys career.

The big problem is that too often in the name of agility and getting software launched before the competition, it is developed without spending the time to identify the exception conditions. Dan, his students, and colleagues try to identify the reasons that requirements engineering is not done in practice in industry, the consequences of that failure, and how to remedy it.

With regard to teaching, Dan says, Ive learned so much from my students at all levels. I try not to give a student a topic Im interested in. With such a topic, its very hard formenot to impose my ideas about how the topic should be pursued, and thats not good for the student. I very much prefer that the student come to meall excitedabout a topiche or shehas picked and teachmeall about it.

Waterloo Regional Police are investigating several suspicious person incidents in neighbourhoods near the University district that occurred over the first few weeks of July.

Global News reports that a man was spotted in a backyard on Hickory Street at 2:00 a.m. on July 1, and again in the area two days later. On July 13, a man was seen peeking through windows at a house on Hickory Street near Spruce Street.

For more detailed information visit the Region of Waterloo Police Services website.

Anyone with information or who may have witnessed unusual activity in the area is encouraged to contact police at519-570-9777or Crime Stoppers at1-800-222-8477.

The University of Waterloo Special Constable Service (UWSCS) would ask that all our community members remain vigilant when traveling alone and utilize personal safety strategies at all times, says a note from UWSCS. In the event you have any questions or concerns on this matter, the University of Waterloo Special Constable Service remain available 24/7 and can be reached via phone at (519) 888-4911 or email:uw-special-constable-service@uwaterloo.ca.

Please stay safe and look after each other.

A message from the Centre for Extended Learning.

The University of Waterloo has long been a leader in online learning in Canada and offers 26 fully online programs and more than 525 individual courses. We celebrate Waterloos expertise in this area with our Online Teaching Awards which recognize teaching and course design excellence in fully online undergraduate or graduate-level courses and programs. The Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) and the Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic congratulate Josh Neufeld, Amanda Garcia and Burcu Karabinato the winners of the 2021 awards.

Josh Neufeld: Biology 240: Fundamentals of Microbiology

This award recognizes course instructors who exemplify a high standard of teaching in one or more of Waterloo's fully online courses.

Many students were enthusiastic in their praise:

...Professor Josh Neufeld truly deserves this award for his excellent formatting of the online course, his care and compassion for his students, and his outstanding enthusiasm and passion for microbiology that makes his course greatly enjoyed.

Math 237: Calculus 3 for Honours Mathematics created by Amanda Garcia and Burcu Karabina

This award recognizes exemplary courses that meet or exceed the Quality Guidelines for University of Waterloo Online Courses. Amanda and Burcu worked collaboratively with CEL in the design and development.

Math 237 was designed to be highly interactive and engaging, leveraging the online environment to allow more practice opportunities and hands-on exploration of concepts than would be possible in a classroom.

Nominations for this years awards, which include the Fall 2021, Winter 2022 and Spring 2022 academic terms are open until August 31, 2022.

Congratulations to Josh, Amanda and Burcu as well as all the other extraordinary instructors providing engaging, innovative, and academically rigorous online learning for our students.

A message from Information Systems & Technology (IST).

As an extension of the N: drive to OneDrive project and the move to SharePoint Online, IST will work with Academic Support Units (ASUs) to migrate content from the network file solution, R: drive (\filed), which uses the NetApp service, to SharePoint Online and/or Teams. Creation of new R: drives for ASUs will cease immediately.

In comparison tothe R:drive,SharePoint Online and/or Teams offers a more user-friendly and robust file storage solution, providing a greater amount of storage space and allowing users to access, share, and collaborate on files from anywhere on any device. VisittheMigratingR:drives to SharePoint and/or Teams Project pagefor more benefits.

In preparation for this change, IST will pilot the migration process, create a migration plan, and ensure the necessary documentation and supports are available. It is anticipated that users in Academic Support Units withIST-managed Windows machines will begin migrationsfromR:driveto SharePoint Online and/or Teams in the Fall 2022 term (migration schedule to be confirmed and communicated). IST will work with ASUs to determine the most appropriate migration path.

Participating faculties ready to begin R: drive to SharePoint Online and/or Teams migrations cancontact ISTfor assistance.

Additional resources

Questions or concerns about this work can be submitted to Andrew McAlorum (amcalorum@uwaterloo.ca), Director, Client Services, IST.

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Wednesday, July 27, 2022 | Daily Bulletin - The Iron Warrior

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A robot created at Stanford University in California is diving down to shipwrecks and sunken planes in a way that humans cant. Known as OceanOneK, the robot allows its operators to feel like theyre underwater explorers, too.

OceanOneK resembles a human diver from the front, with arms and hands and eyes that have 3D vision, capturing the underwater world in full color.

The back of the robot has computers and eight multidirectional thrusters that help it carefully maneuver the sites of fragile sunken ships.

When an operator at the oceans surface uses controls to direct OceanOneK, the robots haptic (touch-based) feedback system causes the person to feel the waters resistance as well as the contours of artifacts.

OceanOneKs realistic sight and touch capabilities are enough to make people feel like theyre diving down to the depths without the dangers or immense underwater pressure a human diver would experience.

Stanford University roboticist Oussama Khatib and his students teamed up with deep-sea archaeologists and began sending the robot on dives in September. The team just finished another underwater expedition in July.

So far, OceanOneK has explored a sunken Beechcraft Baron F-GDPV plane, Italian steamship Le Francesco Crispi, a second century Roman ship off Corsica, a World War II P-38 Lightning aircraft and a submarine called Le Prote.

The Crispi sits about 1,640 feet (500 meters) below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea.

You are moving very close to this amazing structure, and something incredible happens when you touch it: You actually feel it, said Khatib, the Weichai Professor in Stanfords School of Engineering and director of the Stanford Robotics Lab.

Id never experienced anything like that in my life. I can say Im the one who touched the Crispi at 500 (meters). And I did I touched it, I felt it.

OceanOneK could be just the beginning of a future where robots take on underwater exploration too dangerous for humans and help us see oceans in a completely new way.

The challenge in creating OceanOneK and its predecessor, OceanOne, was building a robot that could endure an underwater environment and the immense pressure at various depths, Khatib said.

OceanOne made its debut in 2016, exploring King Louis XIVs wrecked flagship La Lune, which sits 328 feet (100 meters) below the Mediterranean 20 miles (32 kilometers) off southern France. The 1664 shipwreck remained untouched by humans.

The robot recovered a vase about the size of a grapefruit, and Khatib felt the sensations in his hands when OceanOne touched the vase before placing it in a recovery basket.

The idea for OceanOne came from a desire to study coral reefs within the Red Sea at depths beyond the normal range for divers. The Stanford team wanted to create something that came as close to a human diver as possible, integrating artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and haptic feedback.

The robot is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, and its brain can register how carefully it must handle an object without breaking it like coral or sea-weathered artifacts. An operator can control the bot, but its outfitted with sensors and uploaded with algorithms so it can function autonomously and avoid collisions.

While OceanOne was designed to reach maximum depths of 656 feet (200 meters), researchers had a new goal: 1 kilometer (0.62 miles), hence the new name for OceanOneK.

The team changed the robots body by using special foam that includes glass microspheres to increase buoyancy and combat the pressures of 1,000 meters more than 100 times what humans experience at sea level.

The researchers upgraded the robots arms with an oil and spring mechanism that prevents compression as it descends to the ocean depths. OceanOneK also got two new types of hands and increased arm and head motion.

The project comes with challenges hes never seen in any other system, said Wesley Guo, a doctoral student at Stanfords School of Engineering. It requires a lot of out-of-the-box thinking to make those solutions work.

The team used Stanfords recreation pool to test out the robot and run through experiments, such as carrying a video camera on a boom and collecting objects. Then came the ultimate test for OceanOneK.

A Mediterranean tour that began in 2021 saw OceanOneK diving to these successive depths: 406 feet (124 meters) to the submarine, 1,095 feet (334 meters) to the Roman ship remains and ultimately 0.5 miles (852 meters) to prove it has the capability of diving to nearly 1 kilometer. But it wasnt without problems.

Guo and another Stanford doctoral student, Adrian Piedra, had to fix one of the robots disabled arms on the deck of their boat at night during a storm.

To me, the robot is eight years in the making, Piedra said. You have to understand how every single part of this robot is functioning what are all of the things that can go wrong, and things are always going wrong. So its always like a puzzle. Being able to dive deep into the ocean and exploring some wrecks that would have never been seen this close up is very rewarding.

During OceanOneKs deep dive in February, team members discovered the robot couldnt ascend when they stopped for a thruster check. Flotations on the communications and power line had collapsed, causing the line to pile on top of the robot.

They were able to pull in the slack, and OceanOneKs descent was a success. It dropped off a commemorative marker on the seabed that reads, A robots first touch of the deep seafloor/A vast new world for humans to explore.

Khatib, a professor of computer science, called the experience an incredible journey. This is the first time that a robot has been capable of going to such a depth, interacting with the environment, and permitting the human operator to feel that environment, he said.

In July, the team revisited the Roman ship and the Crispi. While the former has all but disappeared, its cargo remains scattered across the seafloor, Khatib said. At the site of the Roman ship, OceanOneK successfully collected ancient vases and oil lamps, which still bear their manufacturers name.

The robot carefully placed a boom camera inside the Crispis fractured hull to capture video of corals and rust formations while bacteria feast on the ships iron.

We go all the way to France for the expedition, and there, surrounded by a much larger team, coming from a wide array of backgrounds, you realize that the piece of this robot youve been working on at Stanford is actually part of something much bigger, Piedra said.

You get a sense of how important this is, how novel and significant the dive is going to be, and what this means for science overall.

The project born from an idea in 2014 has a long future of planned expeditions to lost underwater cities, coral reefs and deep wrecks. The innovations of OceanOneK also lay the groundwork for safer underwater engineering projects such as repairing boats, piers and pipelines.

One upcoming mission will explore a sunken steamboat in Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia.

But Khatib and his team have even bigger dreams for the project: space.

Khatib said the European Space Agency has expressed interest in the robot. A haptic device aboard the International Space Station would allow astronauts to interact with the robot.

They can interact with the robot deep in the water, Khatib said, and this would be amazing because this would simulate the task of doing this on a different planet or different moon.

Original post:

Humanoid diving robot explores shipwrecks on the bottom of the ocean - CNN

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Are you interested in a career in tech, and youre wondering, What is computer programming? In this article, well fill you in on everything you need to know about this dynamic career path. Well explore job expectations, how to break into the field of computer programming and earning potential for computer programmers.

Computer programming is a high-tech field thats growing in popularity. Programmers work on code to find and solve issues. They come up with strategies for enhancing and streamlining code, and they use code to implement company initiatives.

While computer programmers come from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds, all computer programmers must have knowledge of different programming languages.

Todays more popular programming languages include C++, Java, Python and Go. Programmers should be familiar with multiple coding languages, especially these.

Computer programmers main task is writing code. Code provides instructions to a computer, written in a language the computer can understand. Many programming languages exist, and computer programmers typically know several coding languages.

Computer programmers might also:

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 10% decline in computer programmer employment from 2020 to 2030. However, skills for computer programmersespecially coding in a variety of languagescould translate to several other positions as well, many of which have better growth projections. For example, the BLS projects software developers to grow by 22% and information security analysts to grow by 33%.

The BLS lists the median annual salary for computer programmers as $93,000. Workers in this role often enjoy other corporate perks like an annual bonus and a 401K package.

Regardless of job and industry, many employers prefer candidates to hold college degrees. The field of computer programming is no different. Aspiring programmers can pursue a variety of degrees in both computer programming and related fields. Below, well take a look at just a few degree options for computer programmers.

You can earn an associate degree in computer programming at a community college. Associate programs tend to be shorter than bachelors programs, lasting only two years versus four, respectively. They also tend to cost less: Two-year programs cost an average of $3,900 per year, versus $9,400 for four-year programs, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Moreover, many community colleges offer programs that expose students to a variety of programming languages. Associate programs entail fewer non-technical courses as well.

A bachelors degree in computer programming typically takes four years of full-time study to complete. This degree involves both general education courses and programming-related courses, preparing students to work as computer programmers.

Degrees that may qualify you to work in computer programming include information technology, computer science and information systems.

Most masters programs entail two or three more years of study after youve completed your bachelors degree. Masters students can usually study either part-time or full-time.

Masters programs are a good option for those hoping to change careers or enhance their skills as software engineers or computer programmers.

If youd like to pursue a job as a computer programmer without attending a college or university, your best bet is to attend a computer programming bootcamp.

A bootcamp provides you with an immersive learning experience in a condensed schedule. Most bootcamps take four to 20 weeks of full-time study to complete, or up to 12 months for part-time students.

Bootcamps cost $11,900 on average, according to a report by RTI International. If youre wondering how to pay for a coding bootcamp, consider scholarships and payment plans. In some cases, your employer might be willing to subsidize the cost of your bootcamp. Speak to your boss or HR manager for more information.

If youre wondering whether you can find a job after completing a bootcamp, the answer is likely yes. Most computer programming bootcamps have a high rate of job placement upon completion, as per RTI Internationals report. Some bootcamps even offer job guarantees.

Most bootcamps structure their learning modules specifically to prepare learners for their future careers. They may assign portfolio-building projects, teach interview skills and provide networking opportunities.

Once you complete a computer programming bootcamp, youll be eligible for computer programming roles and similar job titles like web developer, data analyst, technical support specialist and web designer.

Most employers prefer computer programming candidates to hold bachelors degrees, but you may qualify to work as a computer programmer by completing a coding bootcamp.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for computer programmers is $93,000. However, salaries can vary widely based on experience level, location and other factors.

Link:

What Is Computer Programming? Everything You Need To Know - Forbes

July 27, 2022

Columbus State Universitys Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President announces its 2022 faculty promotion and tenure awards, as well as the faculty who received emeritus status.

Associate Professor with Tenure

College of the Arts: Andrew Donofrio, Department of Communication.

College of Education & Health Professions: Parul Acharya, Department of Teacher Education, Leadership & Counseling; Anna Hart, Department of Teacher Education, Leadership & Counseling; Hanna Lainas, Department of Teacher Education, Leadership & Counseling; and Gwendolyn Miller, School of Nursing.

College of Letters and Sciences: Dae Woo Lee, Politics, Philosophy & Public Administration; Natalia Temesgen, Department of English; Rebecca Gerdes-McClain, Department of English; and Scott Wilkerson, Department of English.

Turner College of Business and Computer Science: Wen Shi, Department of Accounting & Finance.

Professor with Tenure

College of Letters & Sciences: Joseph Miller, Department of English.

Professor

College of the Arts: Yuichiro Komatsu, Department of Art; David Turner, Department of Theatre & Dance.

College of Letters & Sciences: Clifton Ruehl, Department of Biology; and Nehal Shukla, Department of Mathematics.

Turner College of Business and Computer Science: Brett Cotten, Department of Accounting & Finance; and Lixin Wang, TSYS School of Computer Science.

Dean Emeritus

College of the Arts: Richard Baxter.

Professor Emeritus

College of Arts: Clarence Earl Coleman, Music.

College of Education & Health Professions: Gary Shouppe, Counseling.

College of Letters & Sciences: John Davis, Biology; and Richard Stephens, Mathematics.

The rest is here:

Columbus State announces 2022 faculty promotion and tenure - Columbus State University News