Category Archives: Computer Science
Narrowing the gender gap in venture capital – Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Isabella Mandis discovered the world of venture capital (VC) through a friend at Stanford. Mandis, a rising second-year studying computer science at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), wanted to learn more about that world, so she started joining similar clubs here, such as The MBA Fund and Venture Capital Group. It didnt take long for Mandis to recognize that not enough women were involved in VC.
I loved working for female founders when I was younger, and Im really passionate about supporting them, Mandis said. I wanted to build a community around women, which didnt really exist.
Mandis experience reflects a larger trend. Companies founded by women receive less than 3 percent of all VC investments, according to a recent article from the Harvard Business Review, and under 15 percent of all investors identify as women. Studies have shown women are more likely to invest in companies founded by women, so increasing the number of female venture capitalists could help counter these trends.
Mandis is trying to do this with Girls Who VC, an organization she founded at the start of this year. A mix of college students interested in VC and women already working in that field, the community fosters mentorship opportunities and guidance. The organization, which now has over 2,000 members, also produces podcasts, blog posts, newsletters, social media, mentorship, ambassador and scout programs to give aspiring venture capitalists hands-on experiences.
Ive always been really passionate about equity, Mandis said. A lot of my early responses from women working in the field said things like, This is amazing, I wish I had this, how can I help? That made me realize that we dont have enough women aspiring to be venture capitalists, but thats a problem I can help solve.
Girls Who VC began as a simple LinkedIn post last December, which included an interest form on the groups website. Mandis then spent her winter break building the website, messaging numerous women about potentially joining. Along with established investors, Mandis also reached out to women in computer science or entrepreneurship clubs at other colleges, suggesting venture capital as a potential outlet for their interests. Mandis is a member of the Women in Computer Science club at SEAS. Girls Who VC is inspired by Girls Who Code, an international nonprofit organization she was part of in high school.
Ive always been passionate about technology and knew that was where I wanted to end up, especially emerging technologies, she said. Doing something people actually care about and want to join has been really cool.
At first, Mandis produced all her organizations content. She has since expanded her team to spread out some of the content-creation responsibilities, initially funding them through her Harvard Student Agencies job as a procurement manager at The Harvard Shop. She secured additional funding with a Spark Grant from the Harvard Innovation Labs.
We have aspiring people who want to learn more about the field and know nothing about it, she said. We also have students in organizations that have exposed them to the field, and then we have women acting as mentors who are actually working in VC. Im trying to cater to all of them, where people with more experience share what theyve learned, and the people who know nothing can engage with introductory content.
The organization has already produced positive results. Multiple members have taken on internships at VC funds they discovered through Girls Who VC, and Mandis said a female founder secured investment from a venture capitalist she met through the group. Mandis is hoping to scale up the clubs activities in the coming school year, including a potential in-person conference.
The hardest thing is managing a team and making sure the content we produce is all at a level Im proud of, she said. We want to make sure were helping as many people as we can without sacrificing the quality of the work were doing as we grow.
See the original post here:
Narrowing the gender gap in venture capital - Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
PROOF POINTS: A spate of recent studies on the "Google effect … – The Hechinger Report
One of the great debates in education spans more than two millennia.
Around 370 B.C., Plato wrote that his teacher Socrates fretted that writing things down would cause humans to become ignorant because they wouldnt have to memorize anything. (Ironically, the only reason we know this is because it was written down in Platos Phaedrus, still available today.)
Albert Einstein argued the opposite in 1921. It is not so very important for a person to learn facts, the Nobel laureate said, according to his biographer Philipp Frank. The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.
But neither of these great thinkers could anticipate how the debate would play out in the Age of Google. Not long after the search engine company was founded in 1998, psychologists began to wonder how the ability to have so much information instantly available was changing our brains. A seminal 2011 paper established the so-called Google effect, our tendency to forget information that we can easily look up on the internet.
The researchers didnt actually study how people use Google or any internet search engine. Instead they drafted a list of trivia items, such as the fact that an ostrichs eye is bigger than its brain. Then, in a series of experiments, they documented how university students were less likely to recall these facts when they thought they had saved them in a computer file for future reference. Students who were told they wouldnt be able to refer to the trivia later did much better on recall assessments.
Participants apparently did not make the effort to remember when they thought they could later look up the trivia statements they had read, the researchers wrote, and they believed that this is what was happening to the rest of us every day with Google. Because search engines are continually available to us, we may often be in a state of not feeling we need to encode the information internally. When we need it, we will look it up.
The study made a huge splash in the journal Science, followed by popular articles about the Google effect. Would we all suffer from digital amnesia and cease to learn things that were readily available at our fingertips in seconds? People argued about how serious the problem was in a modern replay of the debate that captivated Socrates and Einstein. Is it better to not waste precious brain space on inane trivia and free the mind for more substantial thoughts? Others argued some things are worth remembering even if we can look them up, and worried that our brains would atrophy without the discipline of memorization.
But here the narrative goes sideways, as it often does in scientific exploration. Other researchers couldnt replicate the Google effect when they repeated similar memory experiments. In a 2018 article, 24 researchers declared that the Google effect was one of many dubious claims in social sciences. That same year, the veracity of the Google effect was debated at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, where scholars described repeated failures. Many researchers said they didnt find that people were able to remember deleted information better than saved information. That conference generated a flurry of essays and commentaries about the confusion over how the internet was changing human cognition and memory.
The skepticism in the research community clashed with our gut feelings. So many of us, including this writer, have had the experience of quickly forgetting information that we have Googled. The debate generated yet more studies that are starting to refine our understanding of the Google effect and suggest ways to cope with it.
Subsequent researchers have since been able to replicate the Google effect when they tweaked the trivia experiment. In a paper published in 2021, University of California Santa Cruz researchers began by adding a confirmation step. Participants first took a practice quiz where they could refer to the trivia they had saved in a file. Later, when researchers intentionally crashed the save feature, those participants were terrible at remembering the facts. Participants who werent expecting to be able to refer to the information later recalled more trivia than those who were planning to refer to their notes, which had vanished.
Still, no actual Googling took place in those adjusted experiments. More interesting are experiments that directly study internet search. Another 2021 paper, Information without knowledge: the effects of Internet search on learning directly compared internet searching to giving people the answers. One might imagine that the active quest of seeking answers should improve our absorption of information, but the opposite happened. Those who were simply given the information on computer screens and told to read it learned more.
When people see how to reliably access new information using Google, they become less likely to store that information in their own memory, the authors concluded.
The problem was not that the Googlers had failed in their online research. Researchers confirmed that the Googlers had found the exact same information that other study participants had been given to read. For example, participants would receive the following instruction: Topic: Autism Treatment Options. Please search online for the apa.org page with the text about this topic to confirm details about it. They were reminded that the quiz questions would be based on the information from the website. Participants searched for the article and read it. To prove they had navigated to the correct place, participants had to copy and paste the URL from the website they accessed.
The researchers also tested whether there was a difference between Googling and clicking on internet links. The links sent people directly to the web pages that had the correct information. Again, the Google searchers lost; they performed worse on an assessment than those who accessed the exact same information through a link.
Across five different experiments, those who searched the internet not only scored lower in a quiz, but they were also just as confident that they had mastered the material. In some cases, the Google searchers were significantly more confident.
There are two lessons from this study. The first is that the stuff were Googling isnt sticking in our memories and is quickly forgotten. Its far more direct proof of the Google effect than the earlier trivia studies. The second lesson is that we are also overestimating how much weve learned from Google searches. That overconfidence is bad for learning because if we think we already know something, we might study less.
Peps McCrea, a U.K. educator and a writer, brought this Google search study to my attention in his newsletter, Evidence Snacks. His advice to teachers: Where possible, its probably best that we just teach it rather than getting our students to just Google it.
That advice runs counter to the notion that students generally learn best when they discover answers for themselves. By no means does this study suggest that all inquiry learning is wrongheaded, but it certainly does suggest that there is a time and place for direct, explicit instruction especially when the alternative is having students conduct research themselves over the internet.
McCrea also highlighted another 2021 paper, which suggests better ways to use Google. In Answer First or Google First? Using the Internet in ways that Enhance, not Impair, Ones Subsequent Retention of Needed Information, study participants who attempted a computer programming task before consulting Google for help outperformed participants who were allowed to search Google right away.
The benefit of attempting a problem before Googling was larger for people who already had computer programming experience. Thats consistent with a large body of cognitive science research that shows the importance of prior knowledge. Without it, its hard to absorb new information because we cant connect it to what we already know.(Socrates had a point; knowing things matters for learning.)
But human nature is to do the opposite and Google before trying. In a 2022 paper, Thinking first versus googling first: Preferences and consequences, the same authors confirmed that people have better recall when they think before they Google, but four out of five participants preferred to Google first. It might seem strange that thinking first helps even if you dont know the answer. But thats consistent with research dating back decades showing that even a failed attempt to remember something can boost the learning of new information. An initial act of thought helps to facilitate the formation of memories.
These studies dont resolve the old debate of what we ought to memorizethat engaged Socrates and Einstein. But it seems worthwhile to pause before Googling and take a guess. Even a wrong guess may help you remember the right information after you Google. And who knows, maybe the arcana will add to your reservoir of knowledge and will ultimately help you learn something far more worthwhile.
This story about theGoogle effect was written by Jill Barshay and produced byThe Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up forProof Pointsand otherHechinger newsletters.
Related articles
The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn't mean it's free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.
Join us today.
Go here to read the rest:
PROOF POINTS: A spate of recent studies on the "Google effect ... - The Hechinger Report
University of Waterloo ranked 22nd on list of world’s top computer … – CTV News Kitchener
Published July 31, 2023 12:59 p.m. ET
The University of Waterloo (UW) is among the top 25 institutions in the world to study computer science at, according to a new list.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a British company that releases regular rankings of universities around the globe, placed UW 22nd on its 2023 list of the best schools for computer science and information systems.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ranked first, while two other Canadian schools cracked the top 25. The University of Toronto and University of British Columbia placed 10th and 21st respectively.
Meanwhile, the Waterloo Economic Development Corporation says recruiters should also look at the number of students enrolled in a particular university a metric that places University of Waterloo on top.
[The QS University Rankings] might tell you which graduates your recruitment team should covet. But it doesnt give any indication of the quantity of graduates theyd be competing for, the Waterloo Economic Development Corporation said in a blog post. Sure, the top schools produce great talent, but when theyre ready to hit the job market, will they even be available?
Among the top 25 schools, University of Waterloo has the most students enrolled in computer science and computer engineering, with 4,790.
Thats more than the three California schools on the list California UC Berkeley, UCLA and Stanford University combined.
Theres a reason the University of Waterloo is also one of the most important sources of talent for Silicon Valley its a school that combines quantity with its incredible quality, the Waterloo Economic Development Corporation said.
Continue reading here:
University of Waterloo ranked 22nd on list of world's top computer ... - CTV News Kitchener
Dr. Daniel J. Rags Ragsdale Tapped for Senior Role in White House Office of the National Cyber Director – Yahoo Finance
Two Six Technologies
40-year DOD, DARPA, and Military Veteran Returns to Government Service as Deputy Assistant Director
ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Two Six Technologies, a high-growth technology company dedicated to providing products and expertise to national security customers, announced that Daniel J. Rags Ragsdale, Ph.D. has accepted a position in the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) as Deputy Assistant Director for Workforce and Education. Ragsdale will assume the new position on August 14, 2023, where he will focus on cyber workforce and education, as part of the national initiative announced by The White House on July 31, 2023. He will also be called upon to lead interagency coordination efforts and to serve in a mentorship capacity.
Ragsdale brought to Two Six Technologies a 40-year record of service in the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), and DARPA, amassing unparalleled expertise in cybersecurity and cyber operations. During his two years at Two Six, he made significant contributions, initially serving as Vice President for Research and Development, and later as Vice President for DoD Strategy. In both positions, his collaborative efforts contributed directly to the notable growth Two Six Technologies experienced in both sponsored research and sponsored transition during his tenure.
Rags as hes affectionately known joined Two Six at a critical juncture, just six months after it was formed, and his contributions to and effect on his team and the company were immediate, said Joe Logue, CEO of Two Six Technologies. Under his direction, the teams he led made a substantial impact on our organic growth and strategic expansion. Were not at all surprised Rags was recruited for this crucial role, where hell apply his dedication, passion, and leadership skills to the benefit of our countrys national security.
Chris Inglis, who served as ONCDs inaugural Director, added: "Dan is a national treasure whose innumerable contributions to the cybersecurity profession over the course of three decades have inspired my work and thousands of others fortunate to have been mentored by him. His skills, experience, and leadership abilities will be an invaluable resource for the ONCD mission, in particular for the Technology and Ecosystem Line of Effort.
Story continues
Prior to Two Six Technologies, Ragsdale served as the DODs Acting Director of Defense Research and Engineering for Modernization, where he was responsible for driving DOD-wide innovation by facilitating development and facilitation of advanced technologies for the Joint force. Before that, he was Principal Director for Cyber, responsible for coordinating cyber modernization efforts across the DOD.
Earlier positions include founding director of the Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center; DARPA Program Manager, overseeing a $175M portfolio cybersecurity, cyber operations, and behavioral science R&D programs; 30 years in the U.S. Army in a variety of operational, R&D, and educational roles; and nearly 15 years on the faculty at the United States Military Academy, West Point, culminating as Vice Dean for Education.
Ragsdale is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. He earned a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University.
Over the past four decades I have had the good fortune to serve in a wide variety of leadership roles as a career Army officer, a DOD civilian, and in the private sector at Two Six Technologies, said Ragsdale. I absolutely resonate with Two Sixs people first, mission-focused mantra, and Im proud to have been part of the companys rapid growth over the past two years. I leave Two Six with a deep sense of accomplishment, and the utmost respect for its truly exceptional leadership team and consistently excellent personnel.
About Two Six Technologies
Two Six Technologies is a high-growth technology company dedicated to providing products and expertise to national security customers. The company solves complex technical challenges in five areas that are key to national security missions: cyber, information operations, electronic systems, analytics, and secure solutions.
The company offers a family of operationally deployed products including IKE, M3, Pulse, SIGMA, and TrustedKeep; a robust suite of sole source contract vehicles; and a global operational footprint that includes a technical presence in more than 40 countries, coupled with native proficiency in more than 20 languages.
Two Sixs major customers include the Department of Defense, including U.S. Special Operations Command, U.S. Cyber Command and DARPA; Department of State; the Intelligence Community; and the Department of Homeland Security. Two Six is headquartered in Arlington, VA and employs more than 650 professionals across the country.
For more information, visittwosixtech.com,@twosixtechon Twitter, and Two Six Technologies onLinkedIn.
More Information and Media Contact:David LeachTwo Six Technologies(703) 782-9473David.Leach@twosixtech.com
Read more:
AI could speed up formation of material laws | Binghamton News – Binghamton
For hundreds of years, scientists and engineers have relied on analytical formulas to codify important material laws. For instance, Hookes law defines a materials elastic properties, and Ohms law calculates the relationship between voltage, current and resistance in an electrical circuit.
Assistant Professor Pu Zhang hopes that liquid metal can be used in wearable electronics, bioelectronics for medical usage and soft robotics. Image Credit: Jonathan Cohen.
Material laws today, however, are far more complicated. Heres one example from Binghamton University Assistant Professor Pu Zhangs research: The electrical conductivity of a soft conductive material, an important component in soft electronics, is generally mapped out as a tensor function form in 12-dimension space.
Recognizing those patterns and breaking them down into simple-to-use mathematical formulas can take years often decades of experimentation and derivation, even for the most skilled scientists and engineers.
Zhang, a faculty member at the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Department of Mechanical Engineering, wants to speed up the material law discovery process with artificial intelligence, and a recent $294,992 grant from the National Science Foundation will fund his research.
Thanks to the launch of ChatGPT last fall, both the promises and pitfalls of AI systems moved into the cultural mainstream. AI is nothing new, though: Researchers have been refining and improving the technology since the 1950s.
Over the past few years, Zhang has studied the conductive properties of liquid metal materials. In 2022, he received an NSF CAREER Award to explore his ideas about liquid metal networks in soft electronics that can bend or stretch without breaking.
He will collaborate with Assistant Professor Lin Cheng at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts to develop a new AI technique to generate analytical material laws.
If we have raw data about how a materials physical properties change during deformation, we aim to find the specific mathematical formulas of material laws, Zhang said. It used to take years to develop one new law. Now with these AI algorithms, maybe in a day you can discover a lot. This will revolutionize the whole field.
To figure out a new path, Zhang and Cheng will look to symbolic AI, which interprets and generates equations instead of words as ChatGPT does.
People have developed plugins you can add to ChatGPT to interpret simple mathematical equations, mostly on a K to 12 level, Zhang said. For university research, what we need is very advanced math on a graduate-school level, and this is still something ChatGPT even the add-ons cannot do.
The researchers also hope to shed more light on the opaque way that AI often works, which makes results difficult to adjust and interpret.
A mainstream approach in the past few years has been AI and data-based modeling, Zhang said. They train a huge neural network thats like a black box you input data, you get output data, thats it. Nobody knows whats really going on in the black box. Its very hard to use because you download a code and not a mathematical formula you can use directly.
Another recurring problem with AI algorithms: They sometimes offer plausible responses that are completely wrong a phenomenon that computer programmers call hallucinations. For instance, it might incorrectly summarize a book that an author never wrote or cite legal precedents that never actually happened.
While clearly any formulas will need to be checked through experimentation, Zhang hopes that hallucinations and other troubling output can be avoided.
One advantage of our symbolic AI technique is that we have a firm mathematical foundation, which will add all the physical constraints with material laws automatically, he said. At least it wont be too wrong, and it will help the algorithm to find the right functions.
Zhang and Cheng submitted their proposal to the NSF before the nonprofit OpenAI launched ChatGPT, but now its a hot topic for researchers, students and the tech industry. Although they are developing their software to solve materials science problems, the principles could be applied to many different endeavors that seek analytical formulas from raw data.
Its a big time for AI, not only for computer science but for all other scientific fields, Zhang said. Before ChatGPT, the research community was still conservative about AI many people were still against it. People would say its a black box or its curve-fitting to predict a desired outcome. After ChatGPT, many people changed their minds. They started to recognize the potential of AI and embrace it.
At the end of the three-year project, the researchers plan to host a website where users can upload data and let the algorithm develop relevant equations for teaching and research purposes. From there, they could expand through further funding to boost hardware and software capabilities or license the technology to a software company.
Zhang admits hes not sure how AI will change his research, academia or society in general, but he expects many things will shift in a short time.
This area is developing very, very quickly, he said. Within five to 10 years, we will see a revolution. Ive never seen such a situation before. In the past 20 years, we have seen so many leaps in nanotechnology, energy and 3D printing, but this wave of AI feels different.
More here:
AI could speed up formation of material laws | Binghamton News - Binghamton
Should You Earn A Masters In Web Development Online? – Forbes
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Take a moment and ask yourself: How many things have you done online today before starting to read this article? Did you browse a few other websites, buy something or enter a search term?
By now, these online activities are so commonplace, we hardly give them a second thought. But you might give a second thought to the web developers who code the sites and build the apps we use all the time. The ubiquity of digital technology means that web developers are consistently in demandand theyre only likely to be more in demand as technology becomes increasingly intertwined with our daily lives.
Even if you already have a bachelors degree in web development or a related field, you can further expand your knowledge and update your skills with additional education. A masters degree in web development will teach you the latest innovations and help qualify you for careers with higher-than-average salaries.
If this idea appeals to you, use this guide to learn about the benefits of earning an online masters in web development.
An online masters in web development expands the coding and programming skills developers use to create websites and apps. These programs build a broader understanding of the technology underlying the internet and prepare workers for senior positions in the field.
A masters degree often requires two years of full-time study, though some programs only take one year. Costs vary by program, ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, so research prospective schools tuition. Credit requirements typically span 30 to 45 credits.
In remote learning programs, classes are often identical to in-person courses. Asynchronous classes post lectures and assignments for students to complete on more flexible schedules, while synchronous courses use technologies like web conferencing to facilitate live virtual classroom experiences.
Often, web development degrees focus on three varieties of development:
As with tuition, admission requirements vary by school. Common application components include:
In this course, students add intermediate and advanced JavaScript to their existing HTML and CSS skills. They use all three languages to create a working client-side (in other words, public-facing) application.
Through Structured Query Language (SQL), learners create relational databases, which store data in rows and columns. Classes like this often end with a capstone where students demonstrate their skills through projects like designing and building a functioning database.
This course explores the analysis and development of information technology (IT) applications from the initial stages of needs assessment and system feasibility through systems-level testing. Students learn to make graphical models of IT project requirements.
This course teaches learners best practices and policies for web graphics creation and manipulation through applications such as Adobe Photoshop. Hands-on assignments train students to correct, manipulate and modify images. The class also covers typography, web production techniques and the use of CSS to combine images and encode them into website layouts.
This class examines best practices for various levels of software development, from the front end to the database back end, which provides a grounding in full-stack development. Cloud-based software development and its attendant security issues are another focus.
The following professionals may benefit from a web development masters degree:
There are several advantagesand potential drawbacksto earning a masters in web development online. Consider these pros and cons before making a decision.
On the positive side, the cost of an online degree is often lower. Distance learners rarely have to pay for student housing or relocate or travel for school. Plus, some schools extend in-state tuition rates to all online students, regardless of where they live. Online degrees also typically offer more flexibility through asynchronous classes.
However, some learners benefit from the more rigid structure of a classroom environment, so evaluate your self-sufficiency before committing to an online degree. Additionally, distance learning programs may not give you opportunities for networking to the same degree as in-person programs.
Whichever option you choose, confirm that any potential online program holds institutional accreditation from an agency with Council for Higher Education Accreditation or Department of Education approval. Accreditation ensures your school meets standards of academic excellence.
An online masters program in web development can deepen your expertise in the field, helping you qualify for senior-level roles where you manage projects or lead a team of developers.
You may not need a college degree to start a web developer career, but many employers prefer candidates with relevant degrees. A bachelors degree in web development is a great entry point to the field.
Read more:
Should You Earn A Masters In Web Development Online? - Forbes
Is a coding bootcamp worth it? – Fortune
Photo illustration by Fortune; Original photo by Getty Images
Breaking into the tech world can seem like an uphill battle in todays fast-paced world.
With the ever-increasing demand for skilled software and web developers, coding bootcamps have popped up around the country as an alternative to degree programs for those seeking a shortcut to a career in coding and a potential salary increase.
With bootcamps, students can pay less money and spend less time skill-building compared to traditional education pathways and still be able to snag a job at a top company.
Many coding bootcamps also boast that more than 90% of job-eligible graduates land a job within a year of graduating. And some programs are so confident that grads will secure a job within a few months that they provide a money-back guarantee.
But are these intensive, short-term programs genuinely worth the investment? The short answer could be yesif youre willing to skip the college degree, have discipline for online coursework, and take advantage of career coaching opportunities.
An emphasis on practical skills and project-based learning
One of the key selling points of coding bootcamps is their emphasis on practical, job-ready skills with a prioritization on hands-on experience and project-based learning.
By focusing on real-world applications and industry-relevant technologies, bootcamp graduates can quickly acquire the necessary skills to enter the workforce and make an immediate impactwhile earning a respectable salary. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual wage for computer and IT occupations exceeds $95,000.
Bootcamps also empower students with the hard and soft skills required to land a jobsomething universities have not historically emphasized, says Seth Greenberg, vice president of program operations at Springboard, an online bootcamp with data science, software engineering, and cybersecurity courses.
Were equipping you with the skills not just to get the first job out of coming out of our programs, but also to navigate future job searches, which you are likely to do many, many times in your career, Greenberg tells Fortune.
Price-wise, an entire bootcamp can cost you less than a semester at a private university and help you avoid general education requirements that may slow your career aspirations. Many bootcamps have total costs between $10,000 and $20,000, which your post-grad salary increase may more than cover.
So, whats the real impact for bootcamp students? According to Course Report, bootcamp alums receive an average salary increase of 51%, with subsequent jobs potentially providing even more significant earnings boosts. At Springboard, in particular, software engineers see an average $28,000 increase in salary.
Coding bootcamp benefits also extend beyond graduate salary bumps. Employers often love that bootcamp candidates have a portfolio of work resulting from skills-based learning while building projects and working in groups, says Lupe Colangelo, manager of outcomes partnerships at General Assemblya firm offering web development, software engineering, and data science training.
With all these perks, learning to code via a bootcamp is gradually becoming a norm. In fact, one in 10 developers reported they learned to code from a coding bootcamp, according to Stack Overflows Developer Survey. Moreover, these camps boost the entire marketplace by training the next generation of developers in the most in-demand languages like Python, SQL and JavaScript.
Access networking and career services
With many bootcamps maintaining strong relationships with startups and large companies alike, students have immediate access to internships and direct employment opportunities after graduation. According to Colangelo, corporations, nonprofits, and even government agencies of all sizes and industries hire bootcamp graduates. Amazon and JPMorgan Chase are two of the largest employers of bootcamp grads, but John Deere and Madison Reed are also examples of landing spots.
Many bootcamps highlight their commitment to helping students search for jobs, network, and negotiate through mentorship and career coaching services.
We just believe that its not just providing access to curriculum, but also a lot of the human support, thats critical to land a job and continue to thrive in your career, Greenberg says.
Some bootcamps, including Springboard, offer a job guarantee. If eligible students cant find employment within six months of graduation, they could be eligible for a full refund. This guarantee can help ensure that time and money dedicated to a bootcamp will net real career results.
With many bootcamps having thousands of graduates, its also possible to use their alum networks to pave your path toward a position at your dream company.
Greater flexibility, accessibility compared to degree programs
Traditional college computer science programs can pose multi-year-long challenges for some students with work or family obligations. Coding bootcamps, on the other hand, stand out with their shorter learning formats. This difference is meaningful for someone eager to swiftly accelerate their tech career and those hoping to save money.
Its much, much more cost-effective. Were doing it in a much shorter amount of time and teaching you what is essential, Greenberg says.
Programs can last anywhere from just a few weeks to a few months, depending on the level of intensity. Bootcamps offer full-time immersive programs, sometimes even in-person (like these New York bootcamps), and part-time options.
A new day for students and recruiters
With ever-increasing hiring needs, employers are challenged when using traditional recruiting methods when searching for skilled tech talent. According to Colangelo, nearly nine out of 10 hiring managers are not confident that their approaches to recruiting and hiring are working. Bootcamp grads could find that theyre in the right place at the right time and ready with the necessary skills to ease employer pain pointsmaking today an intriguing time for potential bootcamp students to consider this path.
So if youre curious whether a coding bootcamp could boost your skill set and salary, the answer is a definite maybe. Bootcamps may provide a shorter, more flexible, and cheaper way to gain skills and access to career and networking services. Still, the key to finding the best bootcamp for your need will be to determine what skills your career interests require and see what educational pathway can best help you achieve that dream. Then, you can change that maybe to a yes.
Excerpt from:
Physics Wallah enters UG education, launches 4-year programme in Computer Science and AI – BusinessLine
Edtech unicorn Physics Wallah has launched an undergraduate residential engineering programme, as the company looks to double down on the upskilling segment.
The company has launched PW Institute of Innovation (PW IOI),with a four year-residential programme in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI). It will begin in September in Bengaluru, with a batch of about 100 students, said Vishwa Mohan, Chief Investment Officer of Physics Wallah and President of the institute, to Businessline.
ALSO READ | Physics Wallah launches MedEd for NEET PG/NExT exam prep
Phycis Wallah has partnered with universities to offer undergraduate degrees, Mohan said, without giving much details. Students will be eligible to pursue a bachelors degree in parallel with the partner premier institute, said Mohan.
What we essentially want to do is have experienced faculty and industry leaders, an industry-oriented curriculum, which will help students with relevant skills. By the time you come out of IOI, you will be ready and from day one you can be deployed in the industry, he added.
The course is priced at 1.5 lakh per year amounting to 6 lakh for the course, and 1.25 lakh per year for acomodation. The institutes placement cell will offer assistance in securing job offers, with its partners including Tata IQ, Siemens, Leadsquared, SAP, Oracle, KPMG, Amazon and others.
Previously, PW Skills has placed more than more than 1,500 learners with an average salary of 22 lakh per annum and and a top salary of 50 lakh per annum.
PhysicsWallah foryaed into the upskilling segment after it acquired iNeuron.ai, which later got spun off as PhysicsWallah Skills. The company disclose how much they plan to invest in the institute.
Founded in 2020, by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, Physics Wallah had raised $100 million from WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures at a valuation of $1.1 billion in June last year.
Read this article:
Deep learning method developed to understand how chronic pain … – EurekAlert
A research team from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), together with University College London in the United Kingdom, has carried out a study to analyze how chronic pain affects each patient's body.Within this framework, a deep learning method has been developed to analyze the biometric data of people with chronic conditions.
The analysis is based on the hypothesis that people with chronic lower back pain have variations in their biometric data compared to healthy people.These variations are related to body movements or walking patterns and are believed to be due to an adaptive response to avoid further pain or injury.
However, research to date has found it difficult to accurately distinguish these biometric differences between people with and without pain.There have been several factors, such as the scarcity of data related to this issue, the particularities of each type of chronic pain and the inherent complexity in the measurement of biometric variables.
People with chronic pain often adapt their movements to protect themselves from further pain or injury.This adaptation makes it difficult for conventional biometric analysis methods to accurately capture physiological changes.Hence the need to develop this system, says Doctor Mohammad Mahdi Dehshibi, a postdoctoral researcher at the i_mBODY Laboratory in UC3M's Computer Science Department, who led this study.
The research carried out by UC3M has developed a new method that uses a type of deep learning called s-RNNs (sparsely connected recurrent neural networks) together with GRUs (closed recurrent units), which are a type of neural network unit that is used to model sequential data.With this development, the team has managed to capture changes in pain-related body behavior over time.Furthermore, it surpasses existing approaches to accurately classify pain levels and pain-related behavior.
The innovation of the proposed method has been to take advantage of an advanced deep learning architecture and add additional features to address the complexities of sequential data modelling.The ultimate goal is to achieve more robust and accurate results related to sequential data analysis.
One of the main research focuses in our lab is the integration of deep learning techniques to develop objective measures that improve our understanding of people's body perceptions through the analysis of body sensor data, without relying exclusively on direct questions to individuals, says Ana Tajadura Jimnez, a lecturer from UC3M's Computer Science Department and lead researcher of the BODYinTRANSIT project, who leads the i_mBODY Laboratory.
The new method developed by the UC3M research team has been tested with the EmoPain database, which contains data on pain levels and behaviors related to these levels.This study also highlights the need for a reference database dedicated to analyzing the relationship between chronic pain and biometrics.This database could be used to develop applications in areas such as security or healthcare, says Mohammad Mahdi.
These results of this research are used in the design of new medical therapies focused on the body and different clinical conditions.In healthcare, the method can be used to improve the measurement and treatment of chronic pain in people with conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis and neuropathic pain.It can help control pain-related behaviors and tailor treatments to improve patient outcomes.In addition, it can be beneficial for monitoring pain responses during post-surgical recovery, says Mohammad Mahdi.
In this regard, Ana Tajadura also highlights the relevance of this research for other medical processes: In addition to chronic pain, altered movement patterns and negative body perceptions have been observed, such as in eating disorders, chronic cardiovascular disease or depression, among others .It is extremely interesting to carry out studies using the above method in these populations in order to better understand medical conditions and their impact on movement.These studies could provide valuable information for the development of more effective screening tools and treatments, and improve the quality of life of people affected by these conditions.
In addition to health applications, the results of this project can be used for the design of sports, virtual reality, robotics or fashion and art applications, among others.
This research is carried out within the framework of the BODYinTRANSIT project, led by Ana Tajadura Jimnez and funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (GA 101002711).
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
More here:
Deep learning method developed to understand how chronic pain ... - EurekAlert
Generative AI is Pushing Human-Computer Interaction Closer to its … – MarketScale
Technological advancements in Generative AI (artificial intelligence) provide a significant opportunity to evolve human-computer interaction (HCI). Still, the path to get there is critical if theres to be success, not resistance.
WiMi Hologram Cloud is one company working on this evolution. Its Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) system that uses a hybrid vision model based on computer vision and mixed reality, enabling real-time, natural interaction between users and computers. This development mirrors the strides made by OpenAIs Chat GPT, an AI language model that is revolutionizing communication by providing personalized, human-like responses.
As these technologies evolve, they will transform various sectors, from gaming and education to customer support, making interactions more efficient and inclusive. However, as companies and industries embrace this transformative period in communication, the need for responsible AI usage becomes paramount, underscoring the importance of ethical considerations in developing and applying these advanced systems.
Tom Ongwere, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at The University of Dayton, doesnt see AI as a takeover for humans but as a powerful tool that can help transform the HCI dynamic.
When were talking about the future of AI in HCI, I look and think about human-centered generative AI and not human-like AI. AIs future in HCI is already here; were living it. But to better understand and respond to this question, I want to take us back to defining the goal of HCI.
Norman, in his work 1988, suggests that HCI should focus on developing functional systems that are usable, safe, and efficient for the end users. So, in other words, when were talking about efficiency, we need that users make a minimum effort to engage with these interfaces and have minimal errors in that process. AI is helping bring this goal to fruition.
So already, we see changes in how these interactive digital interfaces and technologies have been designed. We see the introduction of digital assistants or active actors in digital interfaces, to mention a few.
With that being said, I think that when were talking about the future of AI in HCI, I look and think about human-centered generative AI and not human-like AI. So, generative AI will help tackle a need to really understanding users behaviors, understanding their needs and preferences. And then, with that understanding, inform the design of interfaces and technologies and interactions that may engage human senses, such as vision, hearing, and touch, to bring about this enjoyable experience that every human would love when theyre using those technologies and when they are using any interactive digital interface that they may come by.
Article by James Kent
Read the original:
Generative AI is Pushing Human-Computer Interaction Closer to its ... - MarketScale