Category Archives: Computer Science
Curriculum enhancements will build awareness of ethics in technology and add language practice opportunities – Northwestern Now
Eun Hee Kim, Chin-Hung Chang and Sara Owsley Sood have been named the 2024 recipients ofthe Alumnae of Northwestern Universitys Award for Curriculum Innovation.
Kim and Chang plan to enhance Korean and Chinese language learning with a conversational chatbot that will help students practice outside the classroom, while Sood will work with fellows to create ethics modules to embed in the Computer Science curriculum.
Administered by the Office of the Provost, the award recognizes and supports faculty who have innovative ideas for new courses, methods of instruction and components of existing classes.
The award comes with $12,500 in funding to be split among expenses for development of the innovation, stipend for the awardee and the faculty members home department. The three recipients will be recognized during a reception in the spring.
Eun Hee Kim is an assistant professor of instruction, and Chin-Hung Chang is an associate professor of instruction in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
Their curricular innovation responds to growing student interest in learning Asian languages. They will develop a customized conversational chatbot to create more extensive practice with the target language outside of the classroom.
This interactive technology will be a powerful tool for facilitating language learning for second-year Korean and Chinese language students, equipping them with scaffolded practice with newly learned vocabulary, grammar and expressions and laying the foundation for effective engagement in diverse cultural communities.
Kim has been teaching Korean for eight years. Her research interests include the investigation of innovative pedagogical approaches within language education settings. Her current research centers on the effectiveness of the use of collaborative tasks for language learning.
Chang has been teaching Chinese for 15 years. Her research interests include the intersection of technology and language learning. Her current research focuses on prompting in generative AI and informal language learning using technology.
Sara Owsley Sood is a professor of instruction and associate chair for undergraduate education in the McCormick School of Engineering.
Her curricular innovation project was inspired and led by student interest in raising awareness about the need to consider the ethical implications of technology. In 2022, a team of mentors and fellows created the Northwestern University Tech Ethics Initiative, which has been developing an open-access resource hub with curricular artifacts that encourage both students and instructors to reflect on their power, position and agency from a technology perspective.
Sood will work with the fellows to create ethics modules that can be embedded across the Computer Science curriculum to encourage majors and minors to develop a habit of reflecting on the implications of their code. The fellows will also support the implementation of the modules in a variety of computer science courses.
Sood has been teaching computer science since completing her Ph.D. at Northwestern in 2007. She was an assistant and then associate professor at Pomona College until 2014, when she returned to Northwestern as faculty in Computer Science. Her teaching interests include introductory programming and artificial intelligence.
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VCU computer science professor Lukasz Kurgan named a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology – VCU News
By VCU College of Engineering staff
Lukasz Kurgan, Ph.D.,the Robert J. Mattauch Endowed Professor and vice chair of the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Commonwealth Universitys College of Engineering, has been named a fellow of theRoyal Society of Biology.
As the leading professional body for the biological sciences in the United Kingdom, the society advises the government on pressing scientific issues and policies; advances education and professional development for its members; and engages and encourages public interest in the life sciences.
Kurgan is a leader in the bioinformatics community the interdisciplinary field, which touches on computer science, biology, math, physics and other specialties, applies computation and analysis to the capture and interpretation of biological data. Kurgan has developed popular bioinformatics tools and databases, and his strong scholarship record includes many multinational and high-impact publications.
I am truly grateful for this recognition and would like to share this honor with my current and former students, postdoctoral fellows and collaborators. This recognition would not have been possible if not for their continuing contributions and support, Kurgan said.
The Royal Society of Biology represents a diverse membership of individuals, learned societies and other organizations. Individual members include practicing scientists; students at all levels; professionals in academia, industry and education; and nonprofessionals with an interest in biology.
Fellows are selected by application and require support from at least two equally or more accomplished scientists. Applications are reviewed by the membership team and fellowship committee, who particularly look for examples of the applicants impact on the biosciences.
Honored to be inducted into the society, Kurgan points to his research teams history of excellence in the area of computational prediction and characterization of protein function and intrinsic disorder in proteins.
We spearheaded a number of large-scale collaborative bioinformatics studies of proteins that range in scale from a single protein to individual proteomes/organisms to hundreds of proteomes, he said.
Kurgan is also a fellow of theAmerican Institute for Medical and Biological Engineeringand a member of theEuropean Academy of Sciences and Arts.
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Mason in the Rankings – George Mason University
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Updated February 1, 2024
"[These] rankings reflect the value and performance families are looking for from a college education, and Masons year-over-year enrollment increases and placement of our graduates confirm that we are now a destination for graduates from Virginia and beyond."
Read - U.S. News & World Report: Mason has 10 graduate programs in the top 30 nationally
Read - Mason's Antonin Scalia Law School ranked second in the commonwealth and D.C. Area
Category
Among publics
Nationally
Overall Ranking
Innovation
8 (best in VA)
20
Social Mobility
51 (best in VA)
72
Best school for veterans
49
69 (tied with American)
Undergraduate programs
Among publics
Nationally
Business
52
84 (tied with American)
Computer Science
59
100
Economics
43
99
Engineering
67
105
Nursing
85
112
Psychology
36
67 (tied with George Washington)
Teaching
17 (tied with UVA)
48 (tied with Gallaudet)
Graduate programs
Among publics
Nationally
Biological Sciences
66 (tied with Virginia Tech)
119
Biological Sciences
59
96
Chemistry
113 (tied with ODU)
173
Civil Engineering
66
90
Clinical Psychology
74
101 (tied with George Washington, Catholic University)
Computer Engineering
38
64 (tied with George Washington)
Computer Science
38
65
Constitutional Law
20
42
Contracts Law
Corporate Law
13
36
Criminal Law
45
94
Criminology
10 (best in VA)
10
Earth Science
91
124
Education
65
83
Electrical Engineering
58
93
Elementary Education
16
20
Engineering
53
82
English
62
99
Fine Arts
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Computer Science Doctoral Candidate Wins ODU’s 3MT Competition – Old Dominion University
Tareq Alghamdi, a doctoral candidate in computer science, won Old Dominion Universitys seventh annual 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition on Jan. 19 at the University Theatre. His presentation was titled: Towards Truth: How Machine Learning Reveals Real Collisions in Particle Physics Experiments and his faculty mentor was Yaohang Li.
Alghamdi was one of five competitors representing two academic colleges during the event, which was viewed by in-person and virtual audiences. He earned a $1,000 prize and a spot in a regional competition hosted by the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools in Greenville, South Carolina on March 13-15.
The 3-Minute Thesis competition was launched by Australias University of Queensland in 2008. The event, which gives students three minutes to present their scholarship in a way that general audiences can understand and appreciate, has been adopted in more than 85 countries. Old Dominion, which has approximately 4,800 graduate students, is among more than 900 participating institutions worldwide.
Preparing for 3MT pushes students to distill the essence of their research so that it engages experts and non-specialists alike, said Robert Wojtowicz, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, that sponsored the event. Perhaps even more importantly, 3MT builds a feeling of confidence in the students that they carry throughout their academic and professional lives.
Alghamdi collaborated with scientists from the Aragone Lab in Chicago and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News for his research. Their primary focus was to replicate real experiments conducted in accelerator facilities, like the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) at JLab. Leveraging an AI tool, they successfully emulated the particle detector machine responsible for recording collisions. Their approach enabled them to generate research data at an accelerated pace with heightened accuracy, efficient storage utilization and cost-effectiveness.
Alghamdi said that winning the competition brings joy, excitement and a sense of validation for effectively communicating complex research in just three minutes.
Rebecca Richardson, a doctoral candidate in chemistry, took the $750 second-place prize and the $500 Peoples Choice Award, which was voted on by the audience, for her presentation: Half a Map, Whole Potential: Enhancing Complex Disease Mechanism Research with LexA Protein Interaction Analysis. Her faculty mentor was Steven Pascal.
Richardsons research focused on understanding protein interactions which are vital in the pursuit of developing treatments and personalized therapies for complex diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. She said she was inspired to find a more affordable and accessible way to do this research.
I'm extremely grateful for the support I received from faculty, staff, friends and family, all of whom contributed to my success, Richardson said. Honestly, earning runner-up and the people's choice award feels like first place to me!
These students put their hearts into their 3MTs, said Bryan Porter, professor of psychology and associate dean of the Graduate School. Imagine taking years of your work and choosing only what you deem the most important to be shared in less than three minutes but doing so in a way that does not minimize the scholarship or importance of the findings. That challenge is daunting and humbling, and their achievement was an honor to witness.
The other competitors and their topics were:
The event was emceed by Barbara Hamm Lee, executive producer and host of Another View on 89.5 WHRV-FM.
The judges were:
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Computer Science Doctoral Candidate Wins ODU's 3MT Competition - Old Dominion University
Students find ‘hidden figures’ in computing – Virginia Tech
The accomplishments of women and people of color have often gone unrecognized in the computing field, but students like Xandra McCoy and Sophya Hargenrater, undergraduates in computer science, have been working to honor the sometimes overlooked computing pioneers who have come before them.
It is daunting to enter a career when no one in the field looks like you. For more young women and people of color to pursue computing, they must be able to see themselves in the field, McCoy said. Our goal is to highlight the diverse contributors that have been there all along as well as encourage diversity in computing for the future.
As part of the Computer Science Genome team, also called CS Genome, McCoy and Hargenrater researched and built Hidden Figures, a database of information about computer scientists throughout history.
The project is part of a Department of Computer Science initiative called Broadening Undergraduate Research Groups in Systems (BURGS). BURGS was formed last spring to help undergraduates gain hands-on skills and experience. It has grown to encompass five projects, including CS Genome the team of nearly 20 students that built Hidden Figures and develops other data repositories for research purposes.
McCoy is a computer science junior who, alongside Hargenrater, a senior, and the rest of the CS Genome team, were invited to present Hidden Figures as the 35th anniversary exhibit forthe International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis, one of the highest profile conferences in computing held this fall in Denver.
The conference organizers gave five students, including McCoy and Hargenrater, a full scholarship to attend and present their work, along with their faculty advisor,Margaret Ellis, associate professor of practice in computer science.
The overall theme for the exhibition was I am HPC an effort to highlight and encourage the diversity in computing.
For more than a decade, the computer science department has worked to recruit students and faculty from around the world and to make itsacademic and research programs widely accessible to underrepresented groups.
In the United States in 2020, self-identified males constituted 77 percent of computer science graduates, and 36 percent of degree recipients self-identified as white the largest single ethnic demographic in the discipline, according to theNational Center for Education Statistics.
The student Hidden Figures database titled after the movie of the same namehighlights computer science-related pioneerswhose stories have been overlooked. As an open source project, it allows users to not only search for information, but to add new entries. Since its creation, it has grown to feature more than 300 computing professionals.
As a woman in computing myself, it can sometimes be daunting to be a minority in my classes, Hargenrater said. And it was encouraging to work on this project and know that women and other minority groups have made major contributions in computing.
Hargenrater describes feeling intimidated by the conference at first, as there were over 13,000 attendees, most of whom were professionals in the computer systems field. However, once she and McCoy began presenting their exhibit, she became more comfortable after seeing how the attendees were impressed by their work.
It was a valuable experience to be able to talk to people around the globe and learn about the hidden figures that they personally know. It was also beneficial to see other projects and talk to professionals to gain new ideas to implement into our project going forward, Hargenrater said.
The conference team was even able to meet some of the computer scientists featured in the database like Valerie Taylor, who has made contributions to parallel computing, and Rosa Badia, who specializes in programming models for complex systems and distributed computing. The two pioneers serve as inspiration to the team members, who spent a semester researching the womens contributions to computing.
They are accomplished in both technical and leadership roles, which is what I strive for in the future, McCoy said.
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Child actor to UH professor: Marcia Brady’s date teaches computer science | University of Hawaii System News – University of Hawaii
Reading time: 3 minutes Scott Robertson (Photo courtesy: TAG The Actors Group)
Scott Robertson delves into the intricacies of human-computer interaction and sociotechnical systems as the chair and professor of the University of Hawaii at Mnoas Information and Computer Sciences Department. Yet, when the academic curtain falls, Robertson seamlessly switches roles, swapping his educator hat for a cloak of creativity as he embarks on another passion: acting.
I think its really important to pursue something that you love, Robertson said. Im really glad that I brought this back into my life so that my career as a professor and my acting career run side by side. Its a big commitment, but if its fulfilling, youre excited and youre happy.
Robertsons acting career began before the age of 3, and he continues to act in films and on stage to this day.
Robertson grew up in Los Angeles raised by his grandmother, and his debut in the limelight came in a local baby contest. A newspaper reporter there suggested that his grandmother get him an agent. Soon after at age 3, he landed a Wheaties commercial, followed by several other commercials and appearances in variety shows, such as the Jack Benny Program and the Dinah Shore Show, as well as television series such as Playhouse 90 and Steve Canyon, and the film Period of Adjustment. He may be most known for playing Marcias date in the Brace Yourself episode of the original Brady Bunch at age 15. He admitted that people still recognized him in college and several years after.
The Brady Bunch gig was the last for a while, though. His grandmother instilled in him the importance of going to college and used the money he made while acting to help pay for his higher education. Robertson earned a BA in social science from UC Irvine, an MA in cognitive psychology from Cal-State Fullerton and a PhD from Yale University in psychology with specialization in cognitive science.
He worked both in academia and the private sector before landing a professor position at Drexel University in Philadelphia in the early 2000s. There he rekindled his interest in acting and auditioned for local plays. Robertson joined the UH Mnoa faculty in 2007 and worked his way up from an assistant professor to a full professor and chair of the ICS department. While in Hawaii, he also auditioned for acting roles, landing a speaking role in the recent Hawaii Five0 series.
To kickoff 2024, Robertson will hit the Kumu Kahua Theatre stage playing novelist and poet Robert Louis Stevenson in Aitu Fafine. The play tells the story of Stevenson and his family, who are captivated by two intriguing guests at their home in Vailima, Smoa, and amidst dreams, literary reflections and ghost tales, relationships undergo transformative and impactful confrontations.
Stage acting is really very different from film acting, Robertson said. One thing is you tell an entire story from start to finish in a couple of hours. And its live in front of an audience so those things are very exciting and dramatic, versus camera acting where you just shoot little scenes completely out of order. Its the locations that drive the shooting schedule of television and film.
Aitu Fafine is directed by UH Mnoa Department of Theatre and Dance Professor Lurana Donnels OMalley. Shows run through February 25 on Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoons. For show dates and more information, visit the Kumu Kahua Theatre website.
Robertson is truly proving that in the theater of life, the script is never one-dimensional.
By Marc Arakaki
Original post:
Foxcroft the lone Virginia school to earn dual computer science female diversity awards – InsideNoVa
The Foxcroft School earned the College Board Advanced Placement Computer Science Female Diversity awards for achieving high female representation in two computer science courses for the 2022-23 school year, the school announced in a news release.
The Middleburg school is the only one in Virginia and one of only 68 worldwide to earn the awards, which are for high female representation in both Advanced Placement Computer Science A and Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles.
Foxcroft continues to lead the way in STEM education for girls, Head of School Cathy S. McGehee said in the release. We encourage our students to take computer science. The technology field is one where women continue to be underrepresented, and efforts such as ours can make a difference."
This is the third time Foxcroft has received both the Computer Science A and Principles course female diversity awards and the fifth time it has received AP Computer Science Female Diversity awards.
Women represent just 24% of the five million people in computing occupations, according to the release. Research from the International Coalition of Girls Schools shows that attending an all-girls school strengthens interest and success in STEM fields. Girls school graduates rate confidence in their abilities at least 10% higher than their co-educated counterparts when it comes to math and computer skills.
A Google study showed that 54% of female computer science majors took AdvancedPlacement Computer Science A in high school. College Board research also found that, for most students Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles serves as a stepping stone to other advanced advanced STEM coursework.
The Foxcroft School in rural western Loudoun County was founded in 1914 and is a college preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9-12.
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Foxcroft the lone Virginia school to earn dual computer science female diversity awards - InsideNoVa
Battle Ground Academy earns College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award – williamsonherald.com
Battle Ground Academy has earned the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science Principles. Schools honored with the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award have expanded girls access in AP computer science courses.
More than 1,100 institutions achieved either 50% or higher female representation in one of the two AP computer science courses or a percentage of the female computer science exam takers meeting or exceeding that of the schools female population during the 2022-23 school year. In 2023, BGA was one of 834 recognized in the category of AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) and one of only 13 schools in Tennessee to earn the award.
"Being honored with this award is a proud acknowledgment of Battle Ground Academy's growth and success in the STEM Concentration," said Will Kesler, Head of School. "This achievement is a reflection of the collective dedication of our faculty and the inherent curiosity of our students, and I eagerly anticipate the continued success of these young women. I am confident their achievements will contribute significantly to any field they pursue."
BGA introduced the STEM Concentration in fall 2022, allowing interested students to explore and study science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a more thorough way.Jennifer Demers is the director of the STEM Program and Makerspace Programming.
The STEM concentration helps students solidify observation and analytical thinking skills through an interdisciplinary approach centered on real-world experience and applications.In addition to the STEM Concentration, BGA offers Concentrations in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Global Studies,with plans for a Fine Arts Concentration in the future.
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Computer programming: What it is and what you need to know to learn it – Fortune
Computer programming, also often simply referred to as coding, has become an increasingly popular career track in recent decades. As the tech sector in the U.S. has blossomed and produced some of the economys largest companies, its largely grown because of a small army of programmers, which includes individuals like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and others.
While programming may sound complicated, it is, at its core, the process of dictating instructions and solving problems. And the ability to do that, at least in front of a computer screen, has been a relatively scarce skill set over the past 50 years or so.
Thats whats driven growth in the tech sector and an interest in programming. Median salaries for programmers, as of 2022, were just shy of $100,000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Programming has become increasingly competitive, but it can still be a viable career option for manybut it all starts with gaining a fundamental understanding of what it is, and what it entails.
Computer programming involves using a programming language to write programs, which are a set of instructions dictating what a computer should do. A computer on its own does nothing, you need to give it instructions so itll do what you want it to do, says Grace Lewis, First Vice President of the IEEE Computer Society.
The essence of coding is telling a computer to perform some task on your behalf, she says. If a certain situation happens, then calculate this in a certain way, she adds, as programmers need to anticipate the decision points that a computer will run into when performing a task, and need instructions as to how to navigate.
Other experts define programming or coding in more or less the same way. An effective programmer needs to be able to tell the computer what to do, to perform an action or response to a users input, says Dr. Sriram Mohan, Ph.D., head of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
That may sound technical and complicated, but Lewis says that we perform similar actions all day long without realizing itor, at least, not recording it into a programming language.
Programming is a lot like driving, she says, explaining that as you drive down the road, youre making decisions about how fast to go, when to brake, what turns to make, and more. Those are the types of instructions that may be written into a program that a computer references to complete a given task.
As such, learning to program can be similar to learning to drive. If you take the driving course, at some point you become good enough to take the driving test and pass itprogramming is the same way, you learn the basics, Lewis says.
Programming works by deciding what task a programmer wants a computer to perform, and then writing the specific instructions (i.e., a program) to perform that taskand doing it in a programming language. A programming language is one that a computer understands.
Depending on the specific task, programmers may choose one language or another, and languages have varying levels of difficulty. Some are high-level languages, which may be easier for humans to understand, as they more closely resemble the English language. Others can be low-level, which are closer to the binary language (zeroes and ones) that computers communicate with, but that are further from English.
But in terms of the nuts and bolts of programming, a coder decides what it wants the computer to do, and uses a programming language to write a program to perform the task. The details can vary significantly from program to program, but what programming boils down to is the act of writing detailed instructions to perform a task in a language that the computer can interpret.
There are different types of programming languages (beyond the high-level and low-level categories) that are used to write various programs. Within those types, there are numerous specific languages as well.
The languages that are ultimately used for one task or another depend on several factors, including how granular a program needs to be, the context in which its being used (say, a specific industry use or within a specific company), and even a programmers personal preferences. But mostly, It comes down to the company and the industry that its in, says Dr. Mohan.
With that, there are three primary types of programming languages: Procedural, functional, and object-oriented.
Procedural programming languages do more or less what they sound like they do: They follow a procedure. A procedural language is the way you provide instructions to a computer or define instructions, Dr. Mohan says. And that generally means using a sort of step-by-step approach to writing a program. As such, a programmer might write a set of instructions to be followed in sequence for the computer to complete a given task.
Some common procedural languages include C, Java, and C++.
Functional languages are more complex than procedural languages, as they rope in different mathematical functions to construct a program. That can require a higher-level skill set than using a procedural language, in many cases. In functional programming, you need to use a technique called recursion, and it can be a tricky concept, says Arjun Chandrasekhar, an assistant professor of computer science at Southwestern University. Recursion involves reducing or simplifying a problem into its simplest formand yes, it can be tricky to grasp.
For programmers who may be more mathematically inclined, utilizing a functional language may feel more natural. Common functional languages include Haskell and Python.
Object-oriented programming languages use objects rather than functions or procedural instructions to create programs. Its yet another abstract concept to wrap your head around, but in a nutshell, object-oriented languages or programming uses classes and objects within its code to build or create programs. Those can then interact with each other to create programs.
Unfortunately, it only gets more abstract from there for those who dont have a programming background. Some examples of object-oriented languages include C#, Ruby, and Rust.
While this all might sound intimidating and overwhelming, especially for someone who lacks a tech background but is interested in programming, the experts say that everyone, even the most experienced coders, at one point had to start from scratch, too.
With that in mind, its best to try not to get discouraged, and if youre interested in a career in programming, to give it a shot and see if you like it, Lewis says. Like anything, you need to try things out.
Computer programmers use programming languages to write programs, which act as instructions for a computer to follow and complete a specific task. In effect, programmers translate English into code, which a computer can interpret to follow a certain function.
Computer programmers tend to be paid relatively well compared to many other professions in the U.S. As of 2022, median annual salaries were just shy of $100,000, whereas median household income that year was around $75,000.
Programming will be difficult for some people and less difficult for others, depending on a number of factors. However, experts say that individuals with a knack for problem-solving and math may find it easier than others.
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Computer programming: What it is and what you need to know to learn it - Fortune
High School Programming Contest Deadline Approaching | University of Arkansas – University of Arkansas Newswire
University of Arkansas
U of A High School Programming Contest; save the date: registration closes Feb. 9.
The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will host this year's annual High School Programming Contest on March 9. High school students from across Arkansas will gather at the U of A to compete in the exciting problem-solving and programming event. These talented students will challenge each other using their skills in the C, C++, Java or Python3 programming languages.
Students interested in participating should contact their high school teachers to register in teams of three. Registration, which closes Feb. 9, can be done athspc.uark.edu.
In the past, hundreds of students have squared off in the all-day problem-solving event. Professor Kevin Jin, who organizes this contest alongside Electrical Engineering and Computer Science staff, is excited to bring the traditions of the previous Computer Science and Computer Engineering Department back to life.
This event is an opportunity to promote the U of A, get high schoolers interested in programming and encourage students to think critically about solving problems in programming. Students interested in volunteering at this event should reach out to the Association for Computing Machinery.
The contest will be held in J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. Center for Academic Excellence on campus. Students who participate will receive door prizes and a free T-shirt with registration, as well as the opportunity to win trophies, prizes and newfound programming knowledge.
Those interested in sponsoring the event may still do so by contactinghspc@csce.uark.edu. More information about the contest can be found athspc.csce.uark.edu.
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