Category Archives: Computer Science
Bowdoin Selected for National Initiative on AI Ethics – Bowdoin College
L-r: Eric Chown, Allison Cooper, Michael Franz, Fernando Nascimento
This is exactly the sort of area we focus on at the DCS program, so Im sure thats one of the reasons we were chosen for this award, said Chown. One example of this kind of work thats already underway is the Computing Ethics Narratives, another national initiative involving Bowdoin faculty aimed at integrating ethics into undergraduate computer science curricula at American colleges and universities.
Other faculty involved in the NHC project are cinema studies scholar Allison Cooper, who is also an assistant professor of Romance languages and literatures, and Professor of Government Michael Franz. While his colleagues will work on the broader ethical issues regarding AI, Chowns focus will be more on teaching the nuts and bolts behind the subject.
My work in machine learning and artificial intelligence will serve basically to study what's going on in AI and how it works. Then we'll look at various applications and, using the work of Fernando and Alison, students will be asked to consider questions like What are the developers goals when they're doing this? How is this impacting users? Franz, meanwhile, will focus on issues surrounding government regulation in the AI sphere and what the political implications might be.
The selection of Bowdoin as one of the fifteen institutions sponsored by the initiative indicates the relevance of liberal arts to the discussion, said Nascimento, who heads to NHC headquarters in North Carolina on June 20, representing the College at a five-day conference to discuss next steps. Its important that we define our objectives and our limitations as we develop this transformative technology so that it effectively promotes the common good.
"Students will be asked to consider questions like What are the developers goals...? How is this impacting users?
I was thrilled to learn that Bowdoin was one of the institutions selected by the National Humanities Center, and also to have the opportunity to work with colleagues in DCS and government on the project, said Cooper, who uses computational methods to analyze film language in her research and contributed moving image narratives from film and television to the Computing Ethics Narratives project.
We all share the belief that contemporary films and media can raise especially thought-provoking questions about AI for our students, she added, citing movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ex Machina, and The Matrix. Cooper anticipates the new collaborative course will involve integrating this type of study with classes about actual technologies. This should offer our students a truly unique opportunity to move back and forth between speculative and applied approaches to understanding AI. (Learn more about Kinolaban online searchable database of media clips launched by Cooper for cinema students and scholars.)
Participants in the new project will, over the next twelve months, design a semester-long course to be taught during the following academic year. They will then reconvene in the summer of 2024 to share their experiences and discuss the future of the project. Cooper and Franz anticipate that their experience coteaching with their DCS colleagues will lead to the future development of stand-alone courses focusing on AI in their respective fields of cinema studies and government.
Its really exciting for Bowdoin to be involved with such a diverse cross section of schools in this project, said Director of Academic Advancement and Strategic Priorities Allison Crosscup, whose responsibilities include the development of grant-seeking opportunities at the College. Crosscup identified three factors above all that make Bowdoin an ideal partner in the project.At the faculty level weve got the Computing Ethics Narratives project; at the academic level weve got DCS, which in 2019 became a full-fledgedacademic program; and at the institutional level we have the K report,* which also promotes ethical decision-making, so were hitting all three levels.Overall, she concluded,this project presents a great opportunity to leverage work thats already being done here and to build on it.
According to the projects timeline, students will be able to enroll in the new collaborative course on ethics in AI during the 20232024 academic year. The class will be taught over one semester by the four faculty members highlighted above.
*Refers to the KSCD report, an initiative launched by President Clayton Rose in 2018 to identify the knowledge, skills, and creative dispositions every Bowdoin student should possess in a decade's time.
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Bowdoin Selected for National Initiative on AI Ethics - Bowdoin College
Governor Wolf Announces Nearly $20 Million in School Grants to Increase STEM and Computer Science Programming – pa.gov
Governor Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced nearly $20 million in PAsmart Advancing Grants to expand access to computer science and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for learners across the commonwealth.
Our historic investments in education throughout my administration are ensuring a better future for our children and a stronger Pennsylvania, Governor Wolf said. These PAsmart awards focused on STEM education are particularly valuable in putting commonwealth students on a path to the best jobs of the future.
Projects funded by the PAsmart Advancing Grants range from the development of a K-12 data science pathway, to a project to increase the number of K-8 educators with computer science endorsements in northeastern PA, to engineering and digital fabrication experiences for elementary students, to a dedicated computer science-focused high school in Philadelphia.
PAsmart prepares students for the jobs of tomorrow, no matter where they live in the commonwealth or where they plan to live in the future, said Acting Secretary of Education Eric Hagarty. Equitable access to STEM and computer science programs gives students from all walks of life the skills they need to obtain meaningful, family-sustaining careers, and these grants will provide thousands more learners the opportunity to build on their skillset, grow, and achieve.
Awards can be found here.
Highlights among the 42 awarded proposals include:
Each of Pennsylvanias 67 counties will be served by at least three of the projects awarded grants, and more than three-quarters of counties will be impacted by at least four different projects.
Over the past eight years, the Wolf Administration has invested $116 million in STEM education, and has secured $20 million annually for PAsmart. PDE has awarded 495 PAsmart grants to expand computer science and STEM education and teacher training at more than 765 schools across the commonwealth since the 2018-19 school year.
The Center for Workforce Information and Analysis at the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has projected that by 2028, there will be about 157,000 more occupations in Pennsylvania that require mathematics knowledge (representing 65% of all employment in the commonwealth), and about 125,000 more occupations that require knowledge in computers and electronics (representing 54% of all employment).
For more information about Pennsylvanias education policies and programs, please visit the Department of Educations website at http://www.education.pa.gov or follow PDE on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
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Mixing the Creative & Digital into an Independent Concentration – Hamilton
Mix a passion for technology and design with a self-motivated student focused on crypto, NFTs, blockchain, and the metaverse, and you have the ingredients for a personalized concentration that combines art and computer science.
Courtney Connerly 22 immersed herself in coding clubs, local hackathons, IT, and technology tutoring from the moment she stepped on campus. She had always had a passion for technology and had started coding in 2016. She pursued a concentration in computer science until her junior year. And then she took her first art course, Introduction to Animation with Professor of Art Ella Gant.
I suddenly didnt feel that computer science was fully satisfying my passions anymore, Connerly said. After verbalizing my existential crisis to advisors, I was encouraged to create my own concentration using the interdisciplinary track at Hamilton. It sounded too good to be true. I was able to transition to a more personalized concentration.
Connerly got creative by working as the layout editor and website designer for the school fashion magazine, creating apparel for clubs and societies, contributing as a teachers assistant for digital arts, and working with faculty to create independent studies doing website development and marketing.
Courtney was one of ourDigital Media Tutors.It was her exposure to this on-campus job that also gave her the insight and opportunity to learn. Her thesis was a culmination of her academic work and the opportunities Library & Information Technology Services has to offer for students interested in Digital Hamilton, said Associate Director for Digital Innovation, Learning & Research Nhora Serrano.
I was able to design my own senior thesis project exploring virtual reality while Hamilton supported me by providing the necessary equipment, she said. I maintained internships throughout my junior and senior years, working professionally in UX/UI design and marketing.
Connerlys thesis, titled I am Rich: A Virtual Reality Exploration of Metavalue Through the Lens of Non-Fungible Tokens, is a play off the I Am Rich app, released in 2008, that in exchange for $1,000, offered a work of art with no hidden function at all. When run, the app displayed a glowing red gem and an icon that, when pressed, displayed text: I am rich, I deserve it, I am good, healthy & successful. Connerly explained that the app acted as a status symbol and highly resembles the structure of the digital economy today. Through her thesis she sought to answer how value in the digital age differs from traditional value systems and how others can use this knowledge to understand the business models of the future.
Having explored virtual reality and metavalue within the digital ecosystem during the year, Connerly presented a virtual reality art gallery that acted as a satirical takedown of NFTs and perceived wealth in the digital world.
Her gallery is filled with NFTs she has created and sold as well as some pieces that she believes represent the digital value system. These pieces are intended to illustrate her knowledge of digital tools including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Unity, Blender, and Unreal Engine, while also poking fun at some of her own art - for example, a series of bad still lifes.
People are avoiding these ideas because they are black boxes complicated concepts in which the underlying mechanisms are not understood. But that shouldnt mean we neglect them. If the general public had to understand the intricacies of everything, then we wouldnt have iPhones, planes, or electricity, Connerly said. These topics require some acceptance of ignorance but Im here to break these concepts down into digestible pieces to get us a little more comfortable.
Digital Hamilton encompasses learning opportunities using advanced technologies to explore and create research projects across the Colleges disciplines.
Our plunge into the metaverse is inevitable. Instead of feeling impending doom, I believe we should feel great hope. I urge people to stay ahead of the curve. The future is bright!
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Mixing the Creative & Digital into an Independent Concentration - Hamilton
Seeing the whole from some of the parts | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT News
Upon looking at photographs and drawing on their past experiences, humans can often perceive depth in pictures that are, themselves, perfectly flat. However, getting computers to do the same thing has proved quite challenging.
The problem is difficult for several reasons, one being that information is inevitably lost when a scene that takes place in three dimensions is reduced to a two-dimensional (2D) representation. There are some well-established strategies for recovering 3D information from multiple 2D images, but they each have some limitations. A new approach called virtual correspondence, which was developed by researchers at MIT and other institutions, can get around some of these shortcomings and succeed in cases where conventional methodology falters.
Existing methods that reconstruct 3D scenes from 2D images rely on the images that contain some of the same features. Virtual correspondence is a method of 3D reconstruction that works even with images taken from extremely different views that do not show the same features.
The standard approach, called structure from motion, is modeled on a key aspect of human vision. Because our eyes are separated from each other, they each offer slightly different views of an object. A triangle can be formed whose sides consist of the line segment connecting the two eyes, plus the line segments connecting each eye to a common point on the object in question. Knowing the angles in the triangle and the distance between the eyes, its possible to determine the distance to that point using elementary geometry although the human visual system, of course, can make rough judgments about distance without having to go through arduous trigonometric calculations. This same basic idea of triangulation or parallax views has been exploited by astronomers for centuries to calculate the distance to faraway stars.
Triangulation is a key element of structure from motion. Suppose you have two pictures of an object a sculpted figure of a rabbit, for instance one taken from the left side of the figure and the other from the right. The first step would be to find points or pixels on the rabbits surface that both images share. A researcher could go from there to determine the poses of the two cameras the positions where the photos were taken from and the direction each camera was facing. Knowing the distance between the cameras and the way they were oriented, one could then triangulate to work out the distance to a selected point on the rabbit. And if enough common points are identified, it might be possible to obtain a detailed sense of the objects (or rabbits) overall shape.
Considerable progress has been made with this technique, comments Wei-Chiu Ma, a PhD student in MITs Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and people are now matching pixels with greater and greater accuracy. So long as we can observe the same point, or points, across different images, we can use existing algorithms to determine the relative positions between cameras. But the approach only works if the two images have a large overlap. If the input images have very different viewpoints and hence contain few, if any, points in common he adds, the system may fail.
During summer 2020, Ma came up with a novel way of doing things that could greatly expand the reach of structure from motion. MIT was closed at the time due to the pandemic, and Ma was home in Taiwan, relaxing on the couch. While looking at the palm of his hand and his fingertips in particular, it occurred to him that he could clearly picture his fingernails, even though they were not visible to him.
That was the inspiration for the notion of virtual correspondence, which Ma has subsequently pursued with his advisor, Antonio Torralba, an EECS professor and investigator at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, along with Anqi Joyce Yang and Raquel Urtasun of the University of Toronto and Shenlong Wang of the University of Illinois. We want to incorporate human knowledge and reasoning into our existing 3D algorithms Ma says, the same reasoning that enabled him to look at his fingertips and conjure up fingernails on the other side the side he could not see.
Structure from motion works when two images have points in common, because that means a triangle can always be drawn connecting the cameras to the common point, and depth information can thereby be gleaned from that. Virtual correspondence offers a way to carry things further. Suppose, once again, that one photo is taken from the left side of a rabbit and another photo is taken from the right side. The first photo might reveal a spot on the rabbits left leg. But since light travels in a straight line, one could use general knowledge of the rabbits anatomy to know where a light ray going from the camera to the leg would emerge on the rabbits other side. That point may be visible in the other image (taken from the right-hand side) and, if so, it could be used via triangulation to compute distances in the third dimension.
Virtual correspondence, in other words, allows one to take a point from the first image on the rabbits left flank and connect it with a point on the rabbits unseen right flank. The advantage here is that you dont need overlapping images to proceed, Ma notes. By looking through the object and coming out the other end, this technique provides points in common to work with that werent initially available. And in that way, the constraints imposed on the conventional method can be circumvented.
One might inquire as to how much prior knowledge is needed for this to work, because if you had to know the shape of everything in the image from the outset, no calculations would be required. The trick that Ma and his colleagues employ is to use certain familiar objects in an image such as the human form to serve as a kind of anchor, and theyve devised methods for using our knowledge of the human shape to help pin down the camera poses and, in some cases, infer depth within the image. In addition, Ma explains, the prior knowledge and common sense that is built into our algorithms is first captured and encoded by neural networks.
The teams ultimate goal is far more ambitious, Ma says. We want to make computers that can understand the three-dimensional world just like humans do. That objective is still far from realization, he acknowledges. But to go beyond where we are today, and build a system that acts like humans, we need a more challenging setting. In other words, we need to develop computers that can not only interpret still images but can also understand short video clips and eventually full-length movies.
A scene in the film Good Will Hunting demonstrates what he has in mind. The audience sees Matt Damon and Robin Williams from behind, sitting on a bench that overlooks a pond in Bostons Public Garden. The next shot, taken from the opposite side, offers frontal (though fully clothed) views of Damon and Williams with an entirely different background. Everyone watching the movie immediately knows theyre watching the same two people, even though the two shots have nothing in common. Computers cant make that conceptual leap yet, but Ma and his colleagues are working hard to make these machines more adept and at least when it comes to vision more like us.
The teams work will be presented next week at the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.
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Cal Poly College of Engineering Receives Transformational Gift to Create The Noyce School of Applied Computing – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo News
New interdisciplinary program is made possible by donations from Robert N. Noyce Trust, in honor of Intel-founder and Silicon Valley icon Robert N. NoyceSAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. Cal Poly is pleased to announce the establishment of The Noyce School of Applied Computing, a new interdisciplinary school (the first of its kind at Cal Poly) combining three departments under one umbrella Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Software Engineering, and Computer Engineering to create interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities for departments and faculty doing applied computing across the university in fields such as statistics.
The Noyce School is made possible by donations received from the Robert N. Noyce Trust with its current intention to make a future eight-figure bequest to Cal Poly's College of Engineering. Robert N. Noyce was a co-founder of Intel and inventor of the integrated circuit, which fueled the personal computer revolution and gave Silicon Valley its name. Nicknamed the "Mayor of Silicon Valley," Noyces impact on the field of computing and society at large cannot be overstated.
The creation of The Noyce School (pending California State University Board of Trustee approval) will among other things provide faculty with additional resources for teaching and applied research and undergraduate students in computing with opportunities to further their interests in teaching and learning. Students will also benefit from industry opportunities for paid internships and opportunities for mentors to provide guidance and counseling along the way.
These donations and the proposed extraordinary bequest from the Noyce Trust will help to fulfill a vision that the faculty of the college have been promoting for a long time, which is to establish a school of applied computing at Cal Poly, said Amy Fleischer, dean of the College of Engineering. By combining these three departments into one endowed school, well be able to create new resources for students and faculty in the application of computing, develop unique educational student experiences and support interdisciplinary and collaborative research, teaching, and learning within this field. We are so thankful to the Robert N. Noyce Trust for helping us make this vision a reality.
Said Michael Groom, a trustee of the Robert N. Noyce Trust: We are thrilled that Dr. Noyces legacy will be recognized and appreciated by the students and faculty at Cal Poly for generations to come. We believe the establishment of The Noyce School of Applied Computing comes at a pivotal time, when there is a major deficit of new graduates in the fields of computing and computer sciences, and the need and demand for these skilled workers remains very high.
Cal Poly's renowned Learn by Doing, hands-on model will prepare a pipeline of well-qualified students to face the challenges of the 21st century. We think this is a wonderful way to honor Dr. Noyce's name and his accomplishments.
Added Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong: As a state institution, Cal Poly has a mandate to educate its students to help solve the challenges of tomorrow. This transformational gift by the Robert N. Noyce Trust helps enable Cal Polys ongoing growth in this field and will create increased interest and investment from government and industry. It will also serve to further differentiate and elevate the status of Cal Poly and make the university even more attractive to potential students.
June 14, 2022Contact: Grant Kirkpatrick805-458-6596; gkirkpat@calpoly.edu
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Performance under pressure at NASA’s Lunabotics competition – University of Rochester
June 17, 2022
Weve got movement! announced Kurt Leucht, a NASA engineer and emcee of the space agencys 2022 Lunabotics competition.
A team of University of Rochester undergraduates had to overcome one crisis after another to get their automated mining robot crawling over a replica lunar landscape at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It was a rollercoaster, to say the least, says team cocaptain Francesca Daszak 23, a mechanical engineering major.
Although the team did not finish as well as it had hoped against 47 other collegiate teams, Daszak is proud of the way her teammatescompeting together for the first timeresponded under pressure.
Each year, the Lunabotics challenge invites select college students to receive practical experience in the full engineering lifecycle process, from a project management plan to testing a prototype. The goal of this years competition, simulating an upcoming Artemis mission to the moon, was to field a robot that could navigate through the regolith of the simulated lunar surface, dig far enough to retrieve a payload of gravel, then deliver the gravel to a designated container.
The undergraduate robotics team put months of work into their automated mining robot.The complex technological challenges of a fully autonomous robot required breaking the project into multiple tasks, assigning each task to a sub-team, then coordinating across sub-teams. That is the essence of systems engineering, which NASA emphasizes as a key part of the competition. (Read about the teams preparation.)
Lunabotics team members work on their automated mining robot at the Kennedy Space Center. Left to right: Francesca Daszak, Owen Wacha, Joshua Choi, and Benned Hedegaard.
The Rochester team aimed high, opting for a fully automated robot that would operate without any input from team members.However, on the first day they discovered mechanical issues with the digging and deposition apparatus. Then the USB ports of the main computer failed. Then a bug in the coding made the robot almost impossible to control.
Cocaptain Benned Hedegaard 22 of computer science and Joshua Choi 25 of electrical and computer engineering got to work finding and replacing the main computer board. Rachael He 22 of computer science worked with them well into the night and the following morning to completely rewrite code and develop workarounds for compatibility issues.
It was a testament to the strength of our team that through all of this, there was no blame placed on any team members. Everyone understood that the prime directive was to field the robot, Daszak says. Given the circumstances, our team did an excellent job pulling together and showing NASA what we could do.
The teams faculty advisor, Thomas Howard, an expert in robotics and an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was pleased that the students were able to overcome the problems in 24 hours, then get the robot moving in two attempts in the competition arena.
Im really proud of the way they worked together and applied engineering principles to field a robot. For a first-year team, I think they did quite well and learned a lot.
University of Rochester Lunabotics team members at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Left to right: Christopher Piatek, Owen Wacha, Jack Rollman, Rachael He, Joshua Choi, Francesca Daszak, Benned Hedegaard, and faculty advisor Thomas Howard.
Tags: Department of Computer Science, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, featured-post-side, Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Thomas Howard, undergraduate research
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Performance under pressure at NASA's Lunabotics competition - University of Rochester
MIT-Northpond Program created to advance innovation in engineering and life sciences – MIT News
MIT School of Engineering and Northpond Ventures today announced the launch of the MIT-Northpond Program Advancing Life Science and Engineering Innovation. The five-year engagement is funded through Northpond Labs, the research and development-focused affiliate ofNorthpond Ventures. The program aims to generate ideas in the life sciences by connecting Northponds experienced venture capital investors with MITs scientific entrepreneurs, advancing commercialization through close mentorship and collaboration.
Centered within the Department of Biological Engineering, the program will identify MIT researchers engaging in proof-of-concept research projects in the areas of diagnostics, R&D solutions, platforms for therapeutic solutions, biomanufacturing, and artificial intelligence and software for treatment selection, all with the goal of commercializing their ideas.
This unique program was established with the intent to couple incredible advancements in engineering and biology with innovative entrepreneurial and business opportunities. There is tremendous potential for the MIT-Northpond Program to impact human health by accelerating and commercializing visionary breakthroughs in engineering and life science, says Anantha P. Chandrakasan, dean of the MIT School of Engineering and Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
The MIT-Northpond Program will support postdocs working at the intersection of engineering and life science, in addition to providing mentorship for faculty and students. The program will also provide funding to the School of Engineering for its work in the life sciences.
We are honored to be a part of this incredible collaboration and to have the opportunity to provide our faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students working at the intersection of engineering and biology, with the chance to drive fundamental change and impact, says Angela Belcher, head of the Department of Biological Engineering, the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science, and member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
The MIT-Northpond Program will include:
We have a shared mission and vision to promote and advance science and engineering and to make a marked impact on humanity. We see ourselves as a part of an ecosystem with the potential to advance engineering, science, innovation, and entrepreneurship, says Michael Rubin, founder and CEO of Northpond Ventures, who will also serve as a visiting scholar in the Department of Biological Engineering.
Ernest Fraenkel will serve as faculty lead for the MIT-Northpond Program. Fraenkel is a professor in the Department of Biological Engineering and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The program will also include a joint steering committee, comprised of members from both MIT and Northpond, where Belcher and Rubin will serve as co-chairs.
Through this program, we can provide transformational entrepreneurial and business opportunities to MITs incredible engineering and science talent, says Sharon Kedar, co-founder and partner of Northpond Ventures. Together, we will be able to impact humanity.
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MIT-Northpond Program created to advance innovation in engineering and life sciences - MIT News
Data Scientist II (NLP), School of Computer Science – CeADAR job with UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN (UCD) | 297425 – Times Higher Education
Applications are invited from suitably qualified persons for the position of Data Scientist II with expertise in NLP (Transformers) in the National Centre for Applied Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence (CeADAR).
CeADAR is part funded by Enterprise Ireland and the IDA and is the national centre for applied data analytics and machine intelligence. Its market-focussed agenda is developed in conjunction with its strong membership base of over 80 MNCs and SMEs. See http://www.ceadar.ie for further details. CeADAR is based in UCD and the team conducts applied research in data analytics and develops applications in cooperation with our industry partners. The applied research at CeADAR covers broad aspects of AI and data analytics using the latest techniques in advanced machine learning for NLP, Computer Vision and Structured Data modelling.. This is a unique opportunity to work on a range of advanced data analytics and AI projects in collaboration with industry partners and other applied researchers at the cutting edge of the 'recently possible'. CeADAR is seeking an experienced individual who has a demonstrated successful track record in applied machine learning, specifically using Transformers.
This is an opportunity to work on a number of diverse and exciting projects in the area of data science with real application to a variety of verticals in the industry sector including the start-up ecosystem. The individual will be part of CeADAR's Innovation & Development Group, participating in projects demanding skills in applied data science for the development of solid machine learning solutions for industry. This is an exciting opportunity to be involved in this strategic and nationally important area of AI and Analytics and potentially be part of start-up projects.
Salary range: 53,000 - 63,000 per annum
Appointment on the above range will be dependent on qualifications and experience and in line with UCD HR salary regulations.
Closing date: 17:00hrs (local Irish time) on 28th June 2022
Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 17:00hrs (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications.
UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CV's submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.
Prior to application, further information (including application procedure) should be obtained from the Work at UCD website: https://www.ucd.ie/workatucd/jobs/.
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Adam Novak Spent 100 Hours in Meditative Silence. From This, Shift SC Was Born. – USC Viterbi | School of Engineering – USC Viterbi School of…
Shift SC cofounder Adam Novak (Photo/Courtesy of Adam Novack)
The 4 a.m. gong roused USC Viterbi student Adam Novak from a deep sleep. After quickly dressing in drab, loose fitting, gray cotton pants, a black T-shirt and sandals, he made his way to breakfast, eating some oatmeal and fruit one of only two meals he would eat that day.
Walking down a long corridor, Novak made his way to the meditation room. He kicked off his shoes, sat down on a thin mat, crossed his legs, put his hands on his lap, and turned inward, toward my breath and body, in the present moment. Novak spent 10 hours that day in quiet thought.
The place: a Buddhist monastery in Tiaong, Philippines. The time: January 2020. The purpose: to live as a monk on a 10-day silent meditation retreat to achieve deeper self-understanding and move closer toward contentment, clarity and inner peace.
As Novak slipped deeper into himself at the monastery, his mind turned to technology and his longstanding ambivalence toward it. During his first year at USC, the computer science and East Asian languages and cultures double major concluded that he and his classmates focused far too much on creating technologys next big thing, but not enough considering its potential downsides, such as political divisions fueled by social media algorithms.
Now, at the monastery, Novaks recurring goal of reducing his time on social media was fully realized in an environment where no personal devices were allowed. Ten days without smartphones and filled with meditation left him feeling less anxious and better overall, challenging his perspectives on tech. How do our devices and apps not just add to our quality of life, but also take away from it? he contemplated.
Over the course of his meditation retreat, Novak promised himself that he would one day create an organization at USC that would explore technology in all its dimensions and challenge students to think deeper about its effects on society. The thought, which had come first to him during his freshman year, now solidified in his mind.
I felt this responsibility to help start this type of movement, to create this space for others, Novak said.
Shift SC
John Heo and Adam Novak of Shift SC (Photo/Courtesy of Adam Novak)
In fall 2021, Novak and USC Viterbi computer engineering student, John Heo, cofounded Shift SC, which bills itself as USCs student-led platform for human-centered and socially responsible technology. Its goal: to promote interdisciplinary conversation and action at USC around the social implications and ethical issues of tech.
In its first year, Shift SC held weekly meetings and digital well-being workshops addressing topics such as our relationship with social media and our personal devices; established a fund for student researchers to examine the social impacts of technology; and hosted a major Tech4Good symposium that attracted 150 students.
At that April 2022 gathering, USCs first-ever, student-led annual conference for tech and social good, several USC design teams and students presented their human-centered technology inventions, such as Heard, a USC-based web platform for connecting elected officials with their constituents. David Jay, the chief mobilization officer (CMO) at the Center for Humane Technology, delivered a keynote address about the importance of young leaders taking action towards ethical tech; and Novak, Shift SCs president, shared his thoughts with the assembled.
Technology has improved our lives in so many ways, but should we consider it holistically? he asked. When might some innovation, while making one thing better, make another thing worse? How do we ensure a future thats truly aligned with our best interest?
Novak believes that Shift SC represents a meaningful step toward grappling with such important questions. In our increasingly technological world, we have a growing responsibility to steer innovation in the right direction and limit its unintended consequences on society, he said.
Elisa Warford agrees.
A USC Viterbi associate professor of technical communication practice who teaches courses on engineering ethics, Warford said Shift SCs mission complements that of the recently launched Engineering in Society Program, an expansion of the Engineering Writing Program. Both Shift SC and the Engineering in Society Program, she said, cultivate character and self-reflection.
Shift SC is a great opportunity to advance these conversations about tech ethics at Viterbi, said Warford, who serves as the clubs faculty adviser. We want Viterbi students to think critically about the designs they will be working on as professional engineers, including unintendedconsequences.
Warford credits Shift SCs success to the vision, commitment and tenacity of Novak and Heo, both of whom she had as students. She also said that Novaks commitment to doing good in the world has played an integral role.
A difference maker
At Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee, Novaks dedication to making positive contributions, whenever and wherever possible, began to manifest, along with his interest in service, meditation and technology.
As student body president his senior year, Novak revived the moribund homecoming dance to bring students closer together. As head of the student council a couple years earlier, he oversaw the creation of a formal for freshmen and sophomores, so that they no longer felt excluded during the prom, he said.
When a dying school garden became an eyesore, Novak and some high school friends acted. On their own, they raised $500 and rebuilt it with absorbent flora and fauna that not only beautified the area but prevented flooding.
I just like helping people, said Novak, a mantra repeated often.
Also in high school, he developed an interest in meditation. His AP psychology teacher would lead 15-minute guided meditation sessions after class that Novak religiously attended. I remember feeling noticeably calmer afterwards, he said.
Strong in every subject, Novak especially excelled in math and science. He looked forward to studying computer science in college, which, Novak said, would be another tool in my toolkit for making the world a better place.
College crisis and reinvention
Adam Novak and friends enjoying dinner next to Han River in Seoul, South Korea in 2019 (Photo/Courtesy of Adam Novak)
Novak started USC in fall 2018. Although he loved the campus, his classmates, and studying computer science, he felt a bit unworldly and lost. Several students told him about taking a gap year before starting college and how their international travels had transformed them, including trips to Brazil to volunteer in an orphanage and a sojourn in New Zealand to work for a nonprofit. Novak had never left the country.
At the same time, he began to ruminate about technology and the need to consider all its impacts. By contrast, he said, his peers dreamed of becoming the next Elon Musk. After studying Korean during his second semester, Novak said he decided to take a year off and embark on a journey into the unknown.
His first stop was South Korea, where Novak spent three months working on a farm and intensely studying the language. Coming home for a few months to intern for a sustainability consulting firm and save money, he returned to Asia in early 2020, first to the Philippines to silently mediate and then to Malaysia and Japan to teach English. The worsening COVID outbreak forced him to return home to Tennessee in April 2020.
Novak said his time away changed everything.
I would say that my biggest takeaways were how beautiful it is to live in a new culture, learn a new language and see the world from other peoples eyes, he said. I also realized how much potential I have to make a positive impact in the world with this incredible USC education and as someone from the U.S. with so much privilege. All in all, the experience made me even more motivated to take advantage of the great opportunities and resources around me to really help others.
Korea bound
Adam Novak at a meditation retreat in Delaware in 2021 (Photo/Courtesy of Adam Novak)
Now a rising senior, Novak said he expects Shift SC to continue to grow and tackle new challenges. In the next academic year, for instance, he said the USC club plans to partner with local grade schools to offer digital well-being workshops to younger students and to post to its website a newly developed curriculum about the ethics and social responsibility of artificial intelligence.
Were incredibly proud of what Shift SC has become, and we expect it will keep growing as we continue to launch innovative initiatives on campus and around LA, said Heo, the Shift SC cofounder.
There wouldnt be Shift SC without Adam because he is the human manifestation of the club, he added.
Looking forward, Novak said he plans to move to Korea after graduation. He wants to master the language, earn a masters degree in tech policy, and to again live in a monastery, something he did in the summer of 2021 at Dhamma Pubbananda in Claymont, Delaware.
Whatever path he ends up pursuing, perhaps as a think tank analyst or the head of a digital well-being movement in Asia, Novak said he wants to leave an indelible impression.
I would like to be remembered as somebody who spent their life working to improve the lives of others, he said.
Visit Adam Novaks blog
Published on June 17th, 2022
Last updated on June 17th, 2022
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Udupi pappad sellers daughter is among toppers in science stream – The Hindu
Ms. Bhavya secured 100 marks in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science and in Sanskrit and got 97 marks in English
Ms. Bhavya secured 100 marks in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science and in Sanskrit and got 97 marks in English
Daughter of a pappad maker and seller in Udupi has emerged as one among the toppers in science stream of the second year pre university examination.
Bhavya Nayak from Poornaprajna Pre University College, Udupi, who is the daughter of Narayana Nayak, is among the four students from the State who have scored 597 marks and are placed in second position.
Ms. Bhavya was among the fourth toppers in the SSLC examination in the State two years ago.
Mr. Narayana Nayak has been preparing and distributing pappad from his house in Ambagilu of Udupi district for the last 30 years. I am happy that my effort has paid dividends and my daughter has also emerged as the topper of Udupi district in science stream, he said.
Ms. Bhavya secured 100 marks in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science and in Sanskrit and got 97 marks in English. I was revising the lessons taught every day. It helped me to remember the matters well she said.
I did not take much stress for preparing to the examination, she said adding that she was taking coaching for preparing to face the CET.
She wants to become an engineer like her elder sister Pavithra Nayak. Ms. Bhavya has already written the Common Entrance Test and is preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) examination. She studied Class 10 at the Government High School Volakad. Her mother Uma is a home maker.
Ilham from St. Aloysius Pre University College Mangaluru, who has also secured 597 marks, said she will pursue a bachelors degree in Clinical Psychology at the Yenepoya Deemed to be University. Since my Class 10 days, I was interested in studying functions of Brain. I am realising my dream, she told reporters.
Anisha Mallya from St. Aloysius Pre University College and Aachal Praveen Ullal from Canara Pre University College, both from Mangaluru, who are among the six students who scored 595 and placed second in Commerce stream, want to study B.Com. Doing B.Com helps me in my preparations for Company Secretary course, Mr. Ullal told reporters.
P.S. Shrikrisha Pejathaya from the science stream of Alvas PU College Moodbidri, who has secured 597 marks, wants to pursue his career in Physiotherapy. I have written CET and now preparing for NEET (to be held on July 17). He is the son of P.R. Satish Kumar, who is into catering in Bengaluru and homemaker P.S. Srividya
Samath Vishwanath Joshi, also from Alvas PU College, who has secured 595 marks in the commerce stream, wants to pursue his career as Chartered Accountant.
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Udupi pappad sellers daughter is among toppers in science stream - The Hindu