Category Archives: Computer Science
Teaching Fellow, Department of Computer Science job with ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON | 266289 – Times Higher Education (THE)
Department of Computer Science
Location: EghamSalary: 36,438 to 43,061 per annum - including London AllowancePostType: Full TimeClosingDate: 23.59 hours BST on Sunday 26 September 2021Reference: 0921-370
Full-Time, Fixed-Term
Applications are invited for the post of Teaching Fellow in the Computer Science Department.
The Department of Computer Science at Royal Holloway is looking to appoint Teaching Fellows to support high-quality teaching and supervision at undergraduate and postgraduate taught level.
We carry out outstanding research and deliver excellent teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level:we ranked 11thin the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) for the quality of our research output, and in teaching we are in the top 10 in the UK for graduate prospects (Complete University Guide 2021) and staff have won several teaching awards. Our teaching of software engineering was described as Best Practice by the British Computer Society.
Specific duties and responsibilities of these posts include: contributing to teaching, assessment, and supervision of student projects; coordinating (or assisting in the coordination) and delivering laboratory-based teaching in the Department; marking coursework and returning feedback to students; contributing to the development of software applications that support laboratory-based teaching or departmental administration; and contributing to departmental outreach activities, including Open Days, Applicant Visit Days, Taster Days, and participation in festivals.
The successful candidates will hold a bachelors or postgraduate degree in Computer Science or equivalent. The posts are for two years and are available immediately. Part-time appointments (at 50%) can be considered. Successful candidates who are not enrolled in studies at the moment would be appointed via fixed-term contracts, whilst successful candidates who are current PhD students would work through a casual working arrangement.
In return we offer a highly competitive rewards and benefits package including:
The post is based in Egham, Surrey where the College is situated in a beautiful, leafy campus near to Windsor Great Park and within commuting distance from London.
For further details of the Department seeroyalholloway.ac.uk/computerscienceor contact the Head of Department at magnus.wahlstrom@rhul.ac.uk.
To view further details of this post and to apply please visithttps://jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk. For queries on the application process the Human Resources Department can be contacted by email at:recruitment@rhul.ac.uk
Please quote the reference: 0921-370
Closing Date: Midnight, 1stOctober 2021
Interview Date: TBC
Please note that it will not be possible for the College to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for successful candidates as this role does not fall into one of the standard occupational codes deemed eligible for sponsorship by UK Visas and Immigration.
We particularly welcome female applicants as they are under-represented at this level in the Department of Computer Science within Royal Holloway, University of London.
Furtherdetails: JobDescription PersonSpecification
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Participate in a historic (and tasty) science project this fall – CU Boulder Today
Banner image: Amy Dunbar-Wallis of the Boulder Apple Tree Project and two students hold up a grafted apple tree specimen.(Credit: CU Boulder)
Fall means cooler temperatures, changing leaves and apples ready for the picking. This year, there is a bumper crop of ripe Delicious, Ben Davis and yet-to-be-identified fruits in and around Boulder thanks to a wet spring.
For some, it may come as a surprise that apples can flourish along the dry Front Range, but due to the wide variety of genetic diversity in apple trees, some varieties dont mind the drier climate. In fact, the trees here have a history: In the late 1800s, settlers brought their own seeds from farther eastand planted apple trees for subsistence and agriculture. The offspring of those early apple trees are still hereand they need our help.
This weekend, the CU Boulder-based Boulder Apple Tree Project invites the community to help preserve this local apple legacy by locating and collecting data on apple trees in Boulder backyards and on public lands.
Were excited to leverage these fantastic old apples across Boulder as educational experiences for our students and to serve the local Boulder community, said Lisa Corwin, co-investigator of the project and assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Founded in the second half of 2017 by Katherine Sudingof the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and supported in part by the Office of Outreach and Engagement, the Boulder Apple Tree Project is an educational research endeavor that explores the genetics and history of apple varieties in Boulder and the surrounding area. The goal? To better understand these heirloom trees and how to keep their unique varieties fruiting into the future.
Top: Lisa Corwin measures an apple tree on the CU Boulder campus. Middle: Lisa Corwin and two students shake an apple tree to retrieve samples for data collection. Bottom: Metal tags, which do not harm the trees,are used to tag and identify trees as part of the Boulder Apple Tree Project. (Credit: CU Boulder)
While states like Washington and New York are best known for their apple-centric agriculture, Colorado was once one of the top apple-growing states in the country. This trend declined in the early 1900s as environmental and economic changes proved unfavorable for Colorado orchards, but many of these old trees remain throughout the Boulder area.
However, the life expectancy for an apple tree is at most 100 years. Do the math backwards from 2021, and it becomes clear that there is real urgency to capture the unique biodiversity in these varieties from the early 20th century before they disappear.
They're beautiful, wonderful pieces of our heritage, said Corwin. These trees can also help us understand if different varieties would fare better in Boulder County. Should we be planting specific varieties in future orchards and in people's backyards that might fare better in the dry and cold weather that we have here?
Amy Dunbar-Wallis, project manager of the Boulder Apple Tree Project and a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology, works to connect the community with students on and off campus and use the projects research to benefit local citizens, the city and county.
This is the projects fourth year of offering programmingand this weekend presents a hands-on opportunity. This Saturday, the project is hosting the 2021 Apple Blitz, which will focus on locating and sampling trees from neighborhoods in Martin Acres and North Boulder.
Teams of undergraduate students, who are studying the apple trees to understand local ecological systems, will partner with community members to survey these neighborhood trees, adding to the 700 local trees already tagged and measured. Theyll measure a trees canopy, its trunk, how many apples its producing and whether there is any wildlife in the area.
Amy Dunbar-Wallis demonstrates how the Boulder Apple Tree Project's online map can be used to locate documented apple trees in the Boulder area. (Credit: CU Boulder)
The results will be fed into the projects interactive, online map of all documented trees. A mobile phone map app, created by CU Boulder computer science students, will debut by the end of the year.
People can actually see where these different apple trees are, and they can go and explore the ones that are on public land. Its a really cool piece of living history because we're adding to that historic record of where these trees are, what their health isand so on, said Dunbar-Wallis. And we're really excited to continue to work as a community-university partnership.
After the data collection, participants will be able to share their stories at the CU Museum of Natural History, taste the apples and get exclusive access to the museum's exhibit about apple trees in Boulder. The exhibit is the combined effort of undergraduate research, computer science students, historians, artists and community members, and opens to the public on Monday, Sept. 27.
In addition to data collection, the project grafts selected specimens onto healthy apple tree rootstock in the hopes of growing new, robust genetic copies.
And in October, visiting artist Sam Van Aken will plant what will become multi-grafted art trees on campus. Beginning as one variety of apple tree, Van Aken will return over the next three spring semesters to grafup to 20 to 30 different types of apples all onto the same tree.
Two students examine grafted apple trees in the CU Boulder Greenhouse. Grafting is the process by which you make clones of an apple tree.(Credit: CU Boulder)
Not only will these individual trees grow different varieties of apples, but they will flower in different places at different times each spring, according to Corwin.
You'll have different flower colors, different flower scents, potentially different types of pollinators, different types of bees for whichever variety they're most drawn to. It's going to be really lovely and very visually stimulating, said Dunbar-Wallis.
The public is welcome to register and attend Van Akens talk about The Open Orchard Projectat the CU Museum of Natural History on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 1 p.m. This collaboration through the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is part of CU Boulder's Art + Science + Action Cohort.
Learn more about the Boulder Apple Tree Projectand its history.
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Participate in a historic (and tasty) science project this fall - CU Boulder Today
Why the Term ‘JEDI’ Is Problematic for Describing Programs That Promote Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Scientific American
The acronym JEDI has become a popular term for branding academic committees and labeling STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) initiatives focused on social justice issues. Used in this context, JEDI stands for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. In recent years, this acronym has been employed by a growing number of prominent institutions and organizations, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. At first glance, JEDI may simply appear to be an elegant way to explicitly build justice into the more common formula of DEI (an abbreviation for diversity, equity and inclusion), productively shifting our ethical focus in the process. JEDI has these important affordancesbut also inherits another notable set of meanings: It shares a name with the superheroic protagonists of the science fiction Star Wars franchise, the Jedi. Within the narrative world of Star Wars, to be a member of the Jedi is seemingly to be a paragon of goodness, a principled guardian of order and protector of the innocent. This set of pop cultural associations is one that some JEDI initiatives and advocates explicitly allude to.
Whether intentionally or not, the labels we choose for our justice-oriented initiatives open them up to a broader universe of associations, branding them with meaningand, in the case of JEDI, binding them to consumer brands. Through its connections to Star Wars, the name JEDI can inadvertently associate our justice work with stories and stereotypes that are a galaxy far, far away from the values of justice, equity,diversity and inclusion. The question we must ask is whether the conversations started by these connections are the ones that we want to have.
As we will argue, our justice-oriented projects should approach connections to the Jedi and Star Wars with great caution, and perhaps even avoid the acronym JEDI entirely. Below, we outline five reasons why.
The Jedi are inappropriate mascots for social justice. Although theyre ostensibly heroes within the Star Wars universe, the Jedi are inappropriate symbols for justice work. They are a religious order of intergalactic police-monks, prone to (white) saviorism and toxically masculine approaches to conflict resolution (violent duels with phallic lightsabers, gaslighting by means of Jedi mind tricks, etc.). The Jedi are also an exclusionary cult, membership to which is partly predicated on the possession of heightened psychic and physical abilities (or Force-sensitivity). Strikingly, Force-wielding talents are narratively explained in Star Wars not merely in spiritual termsbut also in ableist and eugenic ones: These supernatural powers are naturalized as biological, hereditary attributes. So it is that Force potential is framed as a dynastic property of noble bloodlines (for example, the Skywalker dynasty), and Force disparities are rendered innate physical properties, measurable via midi-chlorian counts (not unlike a Force genetics test) and augmentable via human(oid) engineering. The heroic Jedi are thus emblems for a host of dangerously reactionary values and assumptions. Sending the message that justice work is akin to cosplay is bad enough; dressing up our initiatives in the symbolic garb of the Jedi is worse.
This caution about JEDI can be generalized: We must be intentional about how we name our work and mindful of the associations any name may bring upperhaps particularly when such names double as existing words with complex histories.
Star Wars has a problematic cultural legacy. The space opera franchise has been critiqued for trafficking in injustices such as sexism, racism and ableism. Think, for example, of the so-called Slave Leia costume, infamous for stripping down and chaining up the movie series first leading woman as part of an Orientalist subplot. Star Wars arguably conflates alienness with nonwhiteness, often seeming to rely on racist stereotypes when depicting nonhuman species. The series regularly defaults onto ableist tropes, memorably in its portrayal of Darth Vader, which links the villains physical disability with machinic inhumanity and moral deviance, presenting his technology-assisted breathing as a sinister auditory marker of danger and doom. Whats more, the bodies and voices centered in Star Wars have, with few exceptions, historically been those of white men. And while recent films have increased gender and racial diversity, important questions remain regarding how meaningfully such changes represent a departure from the series problematic past. Indeed, a notable segment of the Star Wars fandom has aggressively advocated the (re)centering of white men in the franchise, with some equating recent casting decisions with white genocide. Additionally, the franchises cultural footprint can be tracked in the saga of United States military-industrial investment and expansion, from debates around Reagans Star Wars Strategic Defense Initiative to the planned Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (another JEDI program), sometimes winkingly framed with Star Wars allusions. Taken together, the controversies surrounding Star Wars make JEDI at best an inappropriate way to brand justice worka kind of double-edged sword (or better yet, double-bladed lightsaber). At worst, this way of branding our initiatives is freighted with the very violence that our justice work seeks to counter.
When we consider the relationship of JEDI to Star Wars and its fraught cultural legacy, a more general caution comes into view: When we label our initiatives, we must be careful about the universe of narratives and symbols within which we situate our workand the cultural associations and meanings that our projects may take on, as a result.
JEDI connects justice initiatives to corporate capital. JEDI/Jedi is more than just a name: Its a product. Circulating that products name can promote and benefit the corporation that owns it, even if we do not mean to do so. We are, in effect, providing that corporationDisneywith a form of free advertising, commodifying and cheapening our justice work in the process. Such informalco-branding entangles our initiatives in Disneys morally messy past and present. It may also serve to rebrand and whitewash Disney by linking one of its signature product lines to social justice. After all, Disney has a long and troubling history of circulating racist, sexist, heterosexistand Orientalist narratives and imagery, which the corporation and its subsidiaries (like Pixar) are publicly reckoning with. Furthermore, Disney is an overtly political entity, critiqued not only for its labor practicesbut also for its political donations and lobbying. Joining forces with Disneys multimedia empire is thus a dangerous co-branding strategy for justice advocates and activists. This form of inadvertent woke-washing extracts ethical currency from so-called JEDI work, robbing from its moral reserves to further enrich corporate capital.
A broader lesson can be learned here: When we brand our initiatives, it pays to be mindful about whether the names we endorse double as products in a culture industry. We must be careful about the company we keepand the companies that our initiatives help to keep in business.
Aligning justice work with Star Wars risks threatening inclusion and sense of belonging. While an overarching goal of JEDI initiatives is to promote inclusion, the term JEDI might make people feel excluded. Star Wars is popular but divisive. Identifying our initiatives with it may nudge them closer to the realm of fandom, manufacturing in-groups and out-groups. Those unfamiliar or uncomfortable with Star Warsincluding those hurt by the messages it sendsmay feel alienated by the parade of jokes, puns and references surrounding the term JEDI. Consider, as one example, its gender exclusionary potential. Studies suggest that the presence of Star Wars and Star Trek memorabilia (such as posters) in computer science classrooms can reinforce masculinist stereotypes about computer sciencecontributing to womens sense that they dont belong in that field. Relatedly, research indicates that even for self-identified female fans of Star Wars, a sense of belonging within that fandom can be experienced as highly conditional, contingent on performances proving their conformity to the preexisting gendered norms of dominant fan culture. At a moment when many professional sectors, including higher education, are seeking to eliminate barriers to inclusionand to change the narrative about who counts as a scientist, political scientist, STEMM professional or historianadopting the term JEDI seems like an ironic move backward.
However we feel about JEDI, a more general insight to apply to our work is this: How we brand an initiative can shape perceptions and feelings about that initiativeand about who belongs in it.
The abbreviation JEDI can distract from justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. When you think about the word JEDI, what comes to mind? Chances are good that for many, the immediate answer isnt the concept justice (or its comrades equity, diversity and inclusion). Insteadthis acronym likely conjures a pageant of spaceships, lightsabersand blaster-wielding stormtroopers. Even if we set aside the four cautions above, the acronym JEDI still evokes imagery that diverts attention away from the meanings of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Such distraction exacerbates existing problems and challenges endemic to institutional justice work. For instance, it is already the case that in institutional contexts, terms like justice, equity, diversity and inclusion are routinely underdefined or conflated, robbed of their specificities and differences. These terms and related abbreviations like DEI can thus come to be treated as institutional buzzwords that are more slogan than substance, signaling commitments that institutions fail to meaningfully honor. We must be more attentive to the meanings and particularities of our words, not less. JEDI does not help us with this. Now is not the time to confuse social justice with science fiction.
Importantly, the acronym JEDI represents an extreme variant of a more general challenge associated with abbreviations: Acronyms are useful for quickly and concisely representing dense concepts, but there is a thin line between indexing ideas and rendering them invisibleand we must be careful to not lose sight of what our abbreviations stand for.
Put simply, the baggage of Jedi and Star Wars is too heavy to burden our justice-oriented initiatives withand may actually undermine these efforts. If we feel that we need to have an abbreviation for labeling our commitments to diversity (D), equity (E), inclusion (I)and justice (J), several alternatives are already available to us, including the abbreviations DEIJ and dije. The additional dangers and distractions imposed by the label JEDI are an unnecessary encumbrance that can strain and stain even our most well-intentioned initiatives.
While weve focused our critical attention on the term JEDI, the cautions above provide us with a list of questions to bring to any effort to label or brand our justice-oriented initiatives:
If you are, like some of the authors of this piece, a longtime fan of Star Wars (or Disney) and have found yourself defensively bristling while reading the paragraphs above, take a moment to consider that response. We suggest that such a reaction reveals how easily Star Wars and JEDI can introduce distractions and confuse conversations. How ready are we to prioritize the cultural dreamscape of the Jedi over the real-world project of social justice? Investing in the term JEDI positions us to apologize for, or explain away, the stereotypes and politics associated with Star Wars and Disney. How eager are we to fight Star Wars battles, when that time and energy could be better spent fighting for social justice?
Its worth remembering and reflecting on the fact that the first Star Wars film opens by telling viewers that its sci-fi story lines take place not in an alternative present or potential futurebut during a period that transpired a long time ago. It should give us pause if we are anchoring our ambitions for a more socially just future in fantasies so dated that they were, at the time of their creation, already the distant past.
This is an opinion and analysis article; the views expressed by theauthor or authorsare not necessarily those of Scientific American.
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Here’s an idea: Verification for computer networks as well as chips and code – The Register
Systems Approach In 1984, artificial intelligence was having a moment. There was enough optimism around it to inspire me to explore the role of AI in chip design for my undergraduate thesis, but there were also early signs that the optimism was unjustified.
The term AI winter was coined the same year and came to pass a few years later. But it was my interest in AI that led me to Edinburgh University for my PhD, where my thesis advisor (who worked in the computer science department and took a dim view of the completely separate department of artificial intelligence) encouraged me to focus on the chip design side of my research rather than AI. That turned out to be good advice at least to the extent that I missed the bursting of the AI bubble of the 1980s.
The outcome of all this was that I studied formal methods for hardware verification at a point in time where hardware description languages (HDLs) were just getting off the ground. These days, HDLs are a central part of chip design and formal verification of chip correctness has been used for about 20 years. Im pretty sure my PhD had no impact on the industry these changes were coming anyway.
My graduate experience which was heavy on theory and, I sensed, was unlikely to have much impact persuaded me I should do something different once I was finished. Which is how I came to work on networks. And now network verification is starting to have its moment, so I find myself looking back at how important formal models, languages, and verification were in computer science 35 years ago. Can the lessons from other fields be applied to networking?
Compared to hardware, and to most software development for that matter, networking is a laggard in terms of verification. Networks are generally not verified in anything like the way chip designs or large software systems are.
Often the best that can be done is to try out some configuration changes in a test network, and if everything works as expected, the changes can then be pushed out into production. But its hard to capture the complexity of production environments in a test lab, and there isnt an easy way to measure coveragehave all the possible failure scenarios been tested?
Consequently, there is no shortage of reports about network configuration changes that led to a production outage (eg, this and this.)
I link these difficulties for networking back to Scott Shenkers influential talk, The Future of Networking, And The Past of Protocols," which I consider one of the foundational talks of SDN. (In fact Id call it one of the best networking talks of all time, still holding up ten years later after many re-watchings. It's embedded below.)
His argument is that networking lacks the strong abstractions of many other fields in computer science, and I believe that this is one of the main reasons that verification has been a tough nut to crack for networking.
Programming languages, for example, have abstractions like virtual memory that save us from worrying about how bits are stored in physical memory, while hardware design has abstractions that keep chip architects from worrying about transistor layouts. Network architects, on the other hand, have to figure out how every router should be configured to implement their policies. They have to both create the high-level design and map it down to low-level configuration of devices.
Youtube Video
That said, I am cautiously optimistic that there is a path out of our current situation. I see a few threads of networking research and development coming together. First, the SDN future that was sketched out by Shenker and others in 2011 is starting to become reality. While we are far from a world where most networks are software-defined, there is widespread adoption of SDN across cloud providers and enterprise networks, especially when we include software-defined WAN and network virtualization systems.
Among the many benefits of SDN is the fact that you can specify the desired state of the network through a central API, and the control plane is responsible for bringing about the changes to realize that desired state. Thus it becomes much more feasible to verify that a network meets the intent of its operator.
Just as HDLs were essential to the specification and verification of hardware, domain-specific languages for networking such as P4 raise the possibility of verifying the correctness of networks
A second thread is the rise of languages to specify network behavior. Just as HDLs were essential to the specification and verification of hardware, domain-specific languages for networking such as P4 raise the possibility of verifying the correctness of networks. This is a subject that weve touched on in the latest updates to our SDN book, and is becoming enough of a mainstream topic to warrant its own tutorial at SIGCOMM this year.
Finally, there is the increasing maturity of network verification and validation tools, both commercial and open source. One of the realities of networking is that brownfields are the common case, so you have to deal with the diversity of device types and protocols that exist in production networks, much as we might wish everything could be cleanly designed again from the ground up. So tools that assist in verifying that networks will behave as expected have to address this complexity, with the ability to model the behavior of real-world networks.
Tools such as Batfish and those of Forward Networks are getting increasingly good at this. And when we do get the opportunity to build greenfield networks, they benefit from the stronger foundation made possible by verification tools.
Arguably the biggest hurdle to proper verification of networks is the culture of the networking industry. Because networking has required us to master complexity (in Scott Shenkers words) we have not always been quick to adopt techniques from other computer science disciplines that would give us access to better abstractions. I saw this play out with the early struggles to get the industry to accept SDN, and I believe we need to do the same in pushing for more adoption of verification approaches that are mainstream in other computing fields.
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Here's an idea: Verification for computer networks as well as chips and code - The Register
MIT, US Space Force to explore opportunities for research and workforce development – MIT News
Advancing human understanding and exploration in space is a long-standing pursuit of researchers and students at MIT. For the U.S. military, space technologies and discovery have wide-ranging implications on national security. With that history and context in mind, the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) hosted an on-campus event on Aug. 31, marking a new research engagement between MIT and the United States Space Force (USSF) to explore mutual interests and identify opportunities in research and education.
As global access to space increases, so does the need to protect the systems in Earth orbit that power much of the technology modern society relies on, such as GPS, telecommunication, and more.
"This engagement will lead to exciting advances in space systems and technology through research, a diverse educational pipeline of students who become guardians, and so much more. The sky is not our limit as we pursue these mutual interests together," says Daniel Hastings, associate dean of engineering for diversity, equity, and inclusion, head of AeroAstro, and Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor. "This marks an exciting first step to apply our commitment to technical excellence and our passion for space to contribute to national security. This new arrangement is a win-win for all of us for AeroAstro, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and the U.S. Space Force."
Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond, chief of space operations for the USSF, met with Hastings, members of AeroAstro faculty, representatives of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and MIT Provost Martin Schmidt to discuss the importance of space as a domain for national defense, the USSF's newly-created University Partnership Program, and MIT's ongoing interest in space research, education, and innovation. During the event, Raymond and Schmidt signed a memorandum of understanding between MIT and the USSF to explore opportunities for engagement.
"MIT's relationship with the military is a fundamental element of its history," said Schmidt during his opening remarks. "While the challenges and technologies have changed over time, MIT's commitment to military research partnerships has not. Our work together has helped to keep America safe while holding to the Institute's core mission and values."
When the USSF was established as an independent military branch in late 2019, one of the highest priorities was building out the workforce to carry out its strategic mission. But to meet the complex, highly technical challenges inherent to the space environment, the guardians military and civilian employees of the Space Force that comprise their workforce would require specialized education and training to operate in a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-focused domain.
To address this need, the USSF created the University Partnership Program, which aims "to recruit, educate, develop, and retain a competent, diverse, and inclusive workforce who possess the technical expertise to develop, field, and operate the world's most advanced systems," according to USSF promotional material. MIT is one of 11 academic institutions from around the country selected for the inaugural cohort of participants in the program based on the quality of STEM degree offerings and space-related research programs; a strong ROTC presence; a diverse student population; and degrees and programming designed to support military veterans and their families.
In addition to AeroAstro, MIT is a hub for space-relevant research and education. Lincoln Laboratory, a Department of Defense federally-funded research and development center, is outfitted with secure facilities to support classified projects. In addition, the Center for International Studies has a policy-related Security Studies Program. The Institute's culture of interdisciplinary collaboration also creates the opportunity to leverage expertise in a wide range of relevant fields such as computer science, communications, cybersecurity, nuclear science, materials science, design, and artificial intelligence.
"We are trying to custom-build the first new military service since 1947 when the Air Force became independent from the Army. We knew we needed to up our STEM focus, and in my opinion, there is no better place to do that than MIT," said Raymond. "We look forward to exploring this relationship together, and we can't thank MIT enough for what this collaboration is going to mean to us in the future."
To conclude his visit, Raymond met with cadets from the MIT Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and spoke with them about his career and his personal experience in the ROTC. He also fielded questions about leadership and the challenges and opportunities of building a new branch of the military.
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MIT, US Space Force to explore opportunities for research and workforce development - MIT News
Apple patches new zero-day bug used to hack iPhones and Macs – BleepingComputer
Apple has released security updates to fix a zero-day vulnerabilityexploited in the wild by attackers to hack into iPhones and Macs running older iOS and macOS versions.
The zero-day patched today (tracked as CVE-2021-30869) [1,2] was found in the XNU operating system kerneland was reported byErye Hernandez and Clment Lecigne of Google Threat Analysis Group, and Ian Beer of Google Project Zero.
Successful exploitation of this bugleads to arbitrary code execution with kernel privileges on compromised devices.
"Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited," Apple said when describing the zero-day bug.
The complete list of impacted devices includes:
Apple also backportedsecurity updates for two previously patchedzero-days, one of themreported by The Citizen Lab andused to deploy NSO Pegasus spyware on hacked devices.
Besides today's zero-day, Apple had to deal with what looks likean unending stream of zero-day bugs used in attacks targeting iOS and macOSdevices:
Update: A previous version of the story said Apple fixed threezero-days, one of themused to deploy spyware. We have updated the storyto correctly say the company patched a single zero-day exploited in the wild.
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Apple patches new zero-day bug used to hack iPhones and Macs - BleepingComputer
New JMU pantry app will improve ordering, privacy – JMU – James Madison University
Harrisonburg, Va. A recent computer science graduate from James Madison University has developed an app he hopes will revolutionize the way college students in need can access basic goods, hygiene products and produce from campus pantries.
Beyond making ordering easier and more efficient, Isaac Smith, a 2020 graduate who now works as a software engineer for American Express in New York City, says the app could address the reluctance some students feel about visiting a food pantry.
The app gives students another level of dignity and control by allowing them to know what is available, said Smith. Using either an iPhone or Android, JMU students will be able to plan ahead and shop anonymously, opting for either in-person or curbside pickup. Currently, students order through an online form which lacks both anonymity and item descriptions.
Jeremy Hawkins, assistant director of Off-Campus Life at JMU, said There is absolutely a stigma around utilizing The Pantry for some of our students. Students experiencing food insecurity report that it has a negative impact on their sense of belonging here at the university, as they look around and don't readily see others struggling in the same manner.
When Isaac sent me an email a few months after he had graduated, letting me know that he had been working on building out the application his group had conceptualized, I was floored. Isaac did this all on his own, no prompting, no grade to be obtained, just a desire to grow his own skillset and help out his community, said Hawkins.
Initially a concept for a project in professor Michael Stewarts interaction design class, Smith and five other students mapped out the design for an app that would make utilizing The Pantry at JMU, an on-campus supply resource, closer to the experience of shopping at a grocery store. Instead of allowing the project to end when the semester did, Smith continued to work on it, programming the back end as well as an administrative website that pantry volunteers can use to manage inventory.
This project felt like it could make a real impact, said Smith, noting that programmers almost always have passion projects that no one ends up using. He saw the opportunity to hone his skills while creating something beneficial for others.
Expected to launch in early October, The Pantry at JMU app will provide nutritional information for each item in addition to an up-to-date inventory.
Smith is continuing to develop the app and hopes it will one day provide an easy and accessible resource for students at other universities too.
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Contact: Eric Gorton, gortonej@jmu.edu, 540-908-1760
More information about James Madison University, including rankings and recognitions can be found at jmu.edu/about.
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New JMU pantry app will improve ordering, privacy - JMU - James Madison University
Making health and motion sensing devices more personal – MIT News
Previous definitions of well-being, limited to taking a brisk walk and eating a few more vegetables, feel in many ways like a distant past. Shiny watches and sleek rings now measure how we eat, sleep, and breathe, calling on a combination of motion sensors and microprocessors to crunch bytes and bits.
Even with today's variety of smart jewelry, clothing, and temporary tattoos that feel equal parts complex and manageable, scientists from MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and Massachusetts General Hospitals (MGH) Center for Artificial Intelligence (CPAI) wanted to make things a little more personal. They created a toolkit for designing health- and motion-sensing devices using something called electrical impedance tomography (EIT), a fancy word for an imaging technique that measures and visualizes a persons internal conductivity. (EIT is typically used for things like observing lung function or detecting cancer.)
Using EIT-kit, the team built a range of devices that support different sensing applications, including a personal muscle monitor for physical rehabilitation, a wearable hand gesture recognizer, and a bracelet that can detect distracted driving.
While EIT sensing usually requires expensive hardware setups and complicated image reconstruction algorithms, the use of printed electronics and open-source EIT image libraries has made it an attractive, low-cost, and portable option. But designing EIT items is still tough, and usually requires a proper fusion of design knowledge, adequate contact between the device and the human, and optimization.
The EIT-kit 3D editor puts the user in the driver's seat for full design direction. Once the sensing electrodes (which measure human activity) are put on the device in the editor, it can be exported to a 3D printer. The item can then be assembled, placed onto the target measuring area, and connected to EIT-kits sensing motherboard. As a final step, an on-board microcontroller library automates the electrical impedance measurement, and lets users see the visual measured data, even on a mobile phone.
EIT-Kit is a toolkit for designing wearable devices that use electrical conductivity to sense motion and monitor health.
Existing devices can also only sense motion, limiting users to understanding only how they change positions over time but EIT-kit can sense actual muscle activity. One device prototyped by the team, which looks like two simple bands, sensed muscle strain and tension in the thigh to monitor muscle recovery post-injury, and may even possibly be used to prevent reinjury. The muscle monitor here used two electrode arrays to create a 3D image of the thigh, as well as augmented reality to view the muscle activity in real-time. In this case, just sensing motion would be useless, since a person doing a rehabilitation exercise correctly requires using the correct muscle. In addition, the researchers sensed biological tissue via an EIT device that analyzed the tenderness of raw meat.
"The EIT-kit project fits my long-term vision of creating personal health-sensing devices with rapid function prototyping techniques and novel sensing technologies, says MIT CSAIL PhD student Junyi Zhu, the lead author on a new paper about EIT-kit. "During our study alongside medical professionals, we discovered that EIT sensing is largely patient- and sensing-location dependent, because of measuring configurations, signal calibration, electrode placements, and other bioelectrical-related factors. These challenges can be resolved with customizable hardware and automation algorithms. Beyond EIT, other health sensing technologies face similar complexities and personalized needs.
The team is currently collaborating with MGH to develop EIT-kit for creating remote rehabilitation devices to monitor different parts of a patients body while healing. Since all EIT-kit devices are mobile and customized to a patients body form and particular injury, they can be easily used at home to give doctors a more holistic picture of the healing process.
Zhu wrote the paper alongside MIT undergraduate Jackson Snowden, alumnii Joshua Verdejo '21, MNG '21 and Emily Chen '21, CSAIL PhD student Paul Zhang, co-director of CPAI at MGH and Harvard Medical School instructor Hamid Ghaednia, chief of spine surgery at MGH and associate professor at Harvard Medical School Joseph H. Schwab, and MIT Associate Professor Stefanie Mueller.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. The project was completed in collaboration with Schwab and Ghaednia. It will be presented at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) 2021 next month.
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Making health and motion sensing devices more personal - MIT News
Rosen Applauds National Science Foundation for Providing Over $735,000 in Grant Funding to Nevada for Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion in Science…
WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, released the following statement applauding the National Science Foundation (NSF) for awarding grants totaling $735,679 to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and Nevada State College to support their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in science education.
To solve the pressing challenges of today and tomorrow, students in every Nevada community must have access to critical science education resources, said Senator Rosen. The NSF grants awarded to UNLV and Nevada State College will make science education more accessible to our students, enabling them to pursue careers in computer science and have a hand in solving the climate crisis. Im proud to support efforts by Nevada colleges and universities to open STEM education to more students, and I will continue fighting for the resources they need to ensure success.
BACKGROUND: The University of Nevada, Las Vegas was awarded $435,679 for its project entitled Developing Integrated Computer Science Curricula for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms in Grades 3-5. This project will develop integrated computer science curricula using educational robotics for linguistically diverse students in grades 3 through 5.
Nevada State College was awarded $300,000 for their project entitled Amplifying Climate Resilience Curriculum Using Informal Learning Opportunities for Undergraduates. This project will build and plan STEM education learning experiences that engage Latino students on the issue of climate change.
In December 2019, Senator Rosens Building Blocks of STEM Act was signed into law. The bipartisan bill created and expanded upon STEM education initiatives at the National Science Foundation for young children, including new research grants to increase the participation of girls in computer science.
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Microsoft expands computer science education program to Juarez, Mexico, and expands reach across 18 U.S. cities to improve high school students’…
The expansion is the largest for Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) since the program was founded 12 years ago.
JUAREZ, Mexico, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Microsoft Corp. joined FECHAC, FUNAX, and community and government leaders to announce the expansion of the Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program to four high schools in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and 252 U.S. high schools across six net new cities and expanded reach in 12 cities. This is the largest program expansion into new cities and regions since TEALS was founded 12 years ago in 2009, and it's also the first time the current English language curriculum will be translated into Spanish through partnerships with curriculum providers such as Carnegie Mellon University.
Conalep III in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, is participating in the Microsoft TEALS computer science education program this 2021-22 school year. Principal Alma Rosa Cital stands with high school students Roberto Delgado Muoz, Daisy Aguilera Suarez and Alexis Garca Amador.
Starting this 2021-2022 school year, TEALS, a Microsoft Philanthropies program that helps high schools develop and grow inclusive and sustainable computer science programs, will operate in four Ciudad Juarez high schools and reach approximately 160 students. Over the next five years, the program will expand to 12 additional high schools with 480 students, 12 teachers and 24 volunteers.
"The TEALS expansion to Mexico marks an important step in our efforts to make computer science education accessible to high school students in the region, increasing the likelihood that they'll continue to study technology and land meaningful, in-demand jobs that offer higher pay and career longevity," said Omar Saucedo, Microsoft TechSpark regional manager based in Ciudad Juarez. "In collaboration with our partners across the border, we will help students, teachers, volunteers and communities play an important role in and benefit from our growing digital economy."
To help make this cross-border expansion possible, Microsoft is partnering with FECHAC, a citizens' initiative in the state of Chihuahua to promote education, health and social capital development projects across civil organizations and public institutions, and Fundacin AXCEL A.C. (FUNAX), a program that empowers the entrepreneurial community to innovate, promote social development, and improve opportunities and quality of life in the region.
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"It is key that our youth have training opportunities like TEALS to secure better future job opportunities," said Gil Cueva, FECHAC Juarez president.
TEALS builds the capacity of teachers by pairing a tech industry volunteer with participating high school teachers to team-teach computer science. Volunteers support the teachers as they learn to teach computer science independently over time using proven curricula. TEALS also provides partner schools with strategies and resources to help increase equity, including creating inclusive learning spaces, promoting diversity in enrollment, and developing strategies for inclusive instruction.
"Our mission is to democratize technological education," said Lennys Snchez, FUNAX director. "TEALS represents a key strategy to achieve our goals in Juarez."
As part of Microsoft's racial equity and justice efforts announced in June 2020, 18 U.S. metropolitan areas with high populations of Black and African American students will offer computer science education through TEALS at 252 high schools, including in Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Charleston, S.C.; Chicago; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Jackson, Miss.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Los Angeles; Memphis, Tenn.; Miami; Montgomery, Ala.; New Orleans; New York (all five boroughs); Rochester, N.Y.; Selma, Ala.; St. Louis; and Washington.
TEALS focuses on serving students excluded from learning computer science because of race, gender or geography. Microsoft is committed to enhancing the program each year and supporting the teachers, volunteers and partners who make the ability to reach and help students learn possible. With its track record of sustained progress, TEALS is now one of the most established computer science education programs in North America.
TEALS has offered a hybrid model of remote teaching options since the program was started in which rural communities have the option of tapping volunteers who are based in regions outside their reach. With the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on in-person learning, TEALS offers virtual classroom options where volunteers participate remotely using video conferencing and other interactive features. During the 2021-2022 school year, about 1,300 remote volunteers will help team-teach students.
Additional facts about computer science education and the TEALS program:
Today, 58% of all new STEM-related jobs are in computing, but just 10% of STEM graduates are in computer science. TEALS aims to help address this gap.
According to Code.org, an organization that Microsoft partners with, 90% of parents want their child to study computer science, but just 47% of high schools teach it.
It's estimated there are currently 400,000 computing job openings, with roles available in every state. This demand is expected to grow at twice the rate of all other jobs.
TEALS operates in 31 states; Washington, D.C.; British Columbia, Canada; and now Juarez, Mexico. The program is composed of over 1,650 volunteers from over 700 companies and serves 17,000 students. Since its founding in 2009, TEALS has served over 93,000 students.
As of the 2020-2021 school year, approximately 29% of TEALS students self-identified as Hispanic or Latinx, 12% self-identified as Black or African American, and 29% self-identified as female. Microsoft aims to work with partners and participating schools to continue improving the diversity of students enrolled in TEALS computer science education programs.
Nearly 1 in 5 schools participating in TEALS are in rural communities.
According to the 2019-2020 end-of-year student survey, 58% of TEALS students report planning to study computer science in college, and 76% say they feel that they can succeed in future computer science classes. TEALS students also scored 8% higher than the national average on the 2018 AP Computer Science A exam.
About FECHAC
FECHACs mission is to create better opportunities for social and human development of Chihuahua's people.
About FUNAX
Our main goal is to develop projects that contribute to democratize knowledge to create equal opportunities to all citizens in the Juarez region.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
High school students learn from remote Microsoft TEALS program volunteers who work in the tech industry, like Magnum Dampier in Smithville, Texas.
During the 2019-20 school year, TEALS students at Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn, Mich., participated in collaborative learning environments taught by instructors and volunteers like Brandy Foster.
Microsoft company logo. (PRNewsFoto/Microsoft Corp.) (PRNewsfoto/Microsoft Corp.)
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SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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