Category Archives: Computer Science
From computer science to the alpine botanical garden – greenpeace.org
Growing up in Chinas southwestern Yunnan province, Haixian studied computer science in the early 2000s, but ended up working at the Shangri-La Alpine Botanical Garden after graduation. Speaking to researchers from Greenpeace East Asias Beijing office, she reflects on 20 years monitoring and restoring high-altitude biodiversity in the Hengduan Mountain range.
The hour-plus long interview has been edited for brevity.
Greenpeace: Why did you choose to work there? Why not a more typical job like in a factory?
Haixian: There are pretty much no factories here, and only a few service sector jobs, like hotels or restaurants. So there was an opportunity at the botanical garden, is all. There was no particular reason. Actually at the time I wasnt too familiar with the botanical garden. It was just another job.
Greenpeace: I know youre Nakhi [a minority nationality community of Indigenous People in the Hengduan Mountains]. Do Nakhi people have customs or traditions in forestry or botany?
Haixian: No special traditions. The older generations way of life was farming. My father was not Nakhi he is from Xinjiang. My mother is a real Nakhi. And I am Nakhi, but I dont know much about the specifics of Nakhi culture or customs. I am somewhat sinicized, and I cant read Naxi-Dongba characters, and I havent bothered to learn them.
GreenpeaceHow did you develop your skills in recognizing plant types?
Haixian: As of 2024 Ive been doing this for 20 years. Actually, I really have zero foundation. First I learned to identify the specimens we take. But really you cant identify plant type by using specimens, because the characteristics in shape and color change when the plant dries out. Due to the lack of equipment, we cant do identification by molecular testing. So we can only use the plants morphology. Studying this need to incorporate field work more. In field surveys, you see reds and greens that after drying will change. Even flowers will change color. So field survey and specimen identification need to be synchronized.
Greenpeace: You seem to enjoy it.
Haixian: Yes I really do. Otherwise I wouldnt have kept up with it for 20 years.
Greenpeace: When do you feel most happy doing this?
Haixian: Id rather be in the field, going out into the wilderness. Before I had children, I loved just going off into the countryside. When I was single, I didnt need to care about much and I was in good shape. Now Ive got to watch the kids. So thats that.
Greenpeace: Why do you like going into the wilderness? Its quite tiring for a lot of people, who maybe feel indoor work is more suitable.
Haixian: If youre physically exhausted, you can get over it with some rest. If youre in an office writing materials all day long, and cant get it done in a few hours, then what you need isnt rest. Field work is tough, and for physical labor you just need to rest to get better. Plus, you can travel around for free and see the scenery. Still, when its tough it is tough. If it rains or snows, or sometimes I still get lightheaded when the mountains are above 5,000 meters.
Greenpeace: When you do surveys, do you go by yourself? Or do some colleagues go with you?
Haixian: We have a team. Usually no less than 4 people. Two men and two women, which makes booking accommodation more convenient. Over the the last few years, the longest trip was a scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, going to Tibet and Sichuan for about 20 days. But the conditions were good. We didnt have to camp out in the field. When we work in northwest Yunnan, we have to camp. Weve been doing that program for about 20 years, since 2005 when I was new. We go up to 4,000 meters above sea level and need to stay in the mountains. There are three to four peaks at each site and we need to monitor the peaks and the plantlife there. We stay for five to six days.
Greenpeace: What is the significance of your restoration work?
Haixian: My work is quite crucial for ecological restoration. You first have to look at all the types of vegetation around the area, and see what plants are suitable for the area. People assume you can just bring in seedlings from outside, move them in, plant them, and watch them grow. But you have to restore it to a state close to original vegetation, but of course it wont be exactly the same. After surveying what is most suitable, we go back and pick seeds of fast-growing plants and sow them to first fix the soil. Pioneer plants grow fast and cover large areas.
Greenpeace: Can you give an example of a plant used for ecological restoration??
Haixian: Plants are sensitive to the altitude and the region. Restoration work will differ along with different altitudes and in different areas. There are two or three species that are quite good, but the main one is Evergreen laburnum (Piptanthus nepalensis, also known as Nepal laburnum). This species is suited to altitudes between 2,500 and 4,000 meters. Its evergreen and its leguminous, so its roots have a nitrogen-fixing effect on the soil. Its a shrub, so its fast-growing. So its a good candidate for seeding.
Greenpeace: Can you tell me about a time you encountered a more difficult restoration project?
Haixian: Ecological restoration at high altitudes is difficult, mainly due to environmental and climatic factors. The soil is not very good, and most areas are sand and gravel. Passion can overcome all these obstacles. Even if they cant pay our salaries, we persist.
Greenpeace: Whats the reason? Ive heard from Director Fang that in the early years, the botanical garden owed a lot of money and couldnt pay salaries.
Haixian: In 2008 or 2009, we didnt get wages for about eight months. I cant say I didnt think about quitting. But love is the main reason that I stuck with it. It is much better now. 15 years ago, there was so much construction, and I was doing more biodiversity surveys and environmental impact assessments. After 15 years, the construction is done, and now we definitely need more restoration work. In the early stage we do survey work for as commissioned by companies and the funding isnt much. Now that were doing the restoration theres more funding. The government now also attaches great importance to biodiversity. So in the past few years we have quite a lot of biodiversity survey projects.
Greenpeace: Can you share a project youre particularly proud of?
Haixian: The book Bare Land Vegetation Restoration Research in Northwest Yunnan. Not that I particularly felt fulfilled by publishing the book. But seeing it through from start to finish was fulfilling. I was involved in the initial botanical survey, the assessment of the restoration areas, and various investigations all the way until this book came out. The book started in 08 or 09 to survey the pioneer plants in northwest Yunnan.
Greenpeace: After working in the botanical gardens for many years, how has working on ecological restoration improved or tempered or changed you personally?
Haixian: Quite a big change. When I started doing it before, I felt it was an ordinary thing. But it doesnt feel ordinary, doing it. In the past I imagined like most that Id restore the slope, plant what looks good, you know, whatever to make the slope green. Looking back, I used to be so naive, even a little ridiculous. You have to do things in a professional way.
Greenpeace: And what are the differences between men and women when it comes to restoration work? What particular advantages do you think women have?
Haixian: Attentiveness in observation. Theres a lot of physical labor in ecological restoration, and then a lot of things that appear insignificant but are actually essential. When doing surveys, you have to see what species are growing and looking good. When monitoring, you have to look at both the data and the growth of the plants themselves.
Notes:
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From computer science to the alpine botanical garden - greenpeace.org
UC Merced Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Celebrates CAREER Successes | Newsroom – University of California, Merced
The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program provides some of the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards to higher education faculty. According to the NSF website, these awards are given "in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization."
UC Merced's computer science and engineering faculty has been remarkably successful in attaining these prestigious awards.
"CSE has currently 17 research faculty (not including teaching faculty). Out of them, we have gotten 11 CAREER Awards, said Alberto Cerpa, graduate chair for electrical engineering and computer science at UC Merced. This means that out of the 13 tenured or advanced assistant faculty, we have gotten 11 CAREER Awards.
To put that achievement into context, Cerpa said, Out of all the tenured or advanced assistant faculty, we have a success rate of 85%, and among all the faculty (including many junior faculty that are still applying for the award), our rate is 65%. This is the largest of all the US research universities, and I think it speaks very loudly about the research quality of our program.
In the past year alone, the department faculty has earned four awards:
"As dean of the School of Engineering, I am continually inspired by the outstanding achievements of our NSF CAREER Award-winning faculty," said Dean Rakesh Goel. "This year has been especially remarkable with four faculty from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering winning this prestigious award. Their dedication to advancing knowledge, mentoring students, providing outreach to underserved students, and pushing the boundaries of research exemplifies the highest standards of academic excellence."
Early-career faculty members are selected based on three factors: the strength of their research proposals; their potential to serve as academic role models in research and education; and their leadership in their fields and organizations. Each CAREER award proposal includes an educational outreach component.
"These scholars not only shape the future of their fields but also inspire others to strive for greatness," Goel said. "I am so proud of these colleagues and colleagues who received this award in the recent past. Jointly, we are building the future in the heart of California."
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STEM education and educators inspire success and growth US Black Engineer – BlackEngineer.com
Randi Williams, a recognized advocate for women and minorities in tech, recentlygraduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a PhD in Computer Science, specializing in AI, Education, and Robotics.
In an email to her University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) family, she shared her excitement about career prospects at Georgia Tech and Carnegie Mellon. She also expressed her gratitude for the support she received and proudly acknowledged her roots at UMBC as a Meyerhoff Scholar (2012-2016).
Hrabowski, who served as president of UMBC from 1992 to 2022, was recognized for his outstanding contributions to education at the BEYA STEM Conference.
In 2024, over 10,000 participants, including K-12 students, college students, professionals from corporate, government, and military sectors, as well as business and industry employers, gathered at the BEYA Conference to engage in learning, celebrating excellence, and exploring career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Williams is a member of the National Center for Women in Technology: Aspirations in Computing.
Previously, she served as a senator for the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), where she was involved in planning and decision-making at the regional level.
Williams has received several prestigious fellowships, including the Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship and the LEGO Papert Fellowship, which allowed her to work at the intersection of creativity, play, learning, and new technologies.
She has also earned a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and was a GEM Fellow, preparing her for advanced careers in industry, academia, and government agencies. Additionally, she received the Ida Green Fellowship for outstanding women at MIT.
Williams is also a member of the Algorithmic Justice League, a non-profit organization that uses research, artwork, and policy advocacy to increase societal awareness regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and the harms and biases that AI can pose to society.
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STEM education and educators inspire success and growth US Black Engineer - BlackEngineer.com
Is AI Biased against Some Groups and Spreading Misinformation and Extreme Views? – Boston University
Photo by Lidiia Moor/iStock
Artificial Intelligence
Millions of us have played with artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, testing their ability to write essays, create art, make films, and improve internet searches. Some have even explored if they can provide friendship and companionshipperhaps a dash of romance.
But can we, should we, trust AI? Is it safe, or is it perpetuating biases and spreading hate and misinformation?
Those are questions that Boston University computer scientist Mark Crovella will investigate with a new project backed by a first-of-its-kind National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Energy program. The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot aims to bring a new level of scrutiny to AIs peril and promise by giving 35 projects, including Crovellas, access to advanced supercomputing resources and data.
A BU College of Arts & Sciences professor of computer science and a Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences professor and chair of academic affairs, Crovella will use the high-powered assist to examine a type of AI known as large language models, or LLMs. His goal is to audit LLMsAI programs trained to study and summarize data, produce text and speech, and make predictionsfor socially undesirable behavior. LLMs help drive everything from ChatGPT to automated chatbots to your smart speaker assistant. Crovella will be joined on the project by Evimaria Terzi, a CAS professor of computer science.
According to the NSF, the research resource pilot grew out of President Joe Bidens October 2023 executive order calling for a federally coordinated approach to governing the development and use of AI safely and responsibly.
The Brink asked Crovella about the rapid expansion of AI, how its already part of our everyday lives, and how the NAIRR award will help his team figure out if its trustworthy and safe.
Crovella: Large language models are software tools like ChatGPT that are very rapidly becoming widely used. LLMs are quickly finding uses in educationboth students and teachers use LLMs to accelerate their work; in social settingsmany companies now are selling LLMs as online companions or assistants; and in scienceresearchers use LLMs to find and summarize important developments from the flood of research results published every day. Apple, Microsoft, and Meta have all announced integrations of LLMs into their product lines. In fact, ChatGPT had the fastest uptake of any new software, reaching 100 million users in just two monthsmuch faster than did TikTok or Facebook.
Crovella: Given that millions of people will soon be interacting with LLMs on a daily basis, we think its important to ask questions about what social values these models incorporate. Wed like to know whether such models incorporate biases against protected groups, tendencies to propagate extreme or hateful views, or conversational patterns that steer users toward unreliable information.
Given that millions of people will soon be interacting with LLMs on a daily basis, we think its important to ask questions about what social values these models incorporate.
The question is how to assess these tendencies in a system as complex as ChatGPT. In previous research, weve studied simpler systems from the outside. That is, we gave those systems inputs and observed whether their outputs were biased. However, when we look at LLMs, this strategy starts to break down. For example, weve found cases where an LLM will correctly refuse to answer a question on a sensitive topic when the question is posed in English, but simply by asking the same question in a different language (Portuguese), the model provides an answer that it shouldnt.
So, looking at an LLM just from the outside is not reliable. The genesis of this new project is to ask whether we can look inside an LLM, observe the representations of concepts that it is using, observe the logic that it is following, and, from that, detect whether the system is likely to incorporate undesirable social behaviors. In essence, we want to study an LLM the way a neuroscientist studies a brain in an fMRI machine.
I take Senator Markeys views as emphasizing the need for independent research on AI systems. These fantastically capable systems wouldnt exist without Big Techtheres just no way to marshal the resources needed elsewhere. At the same time, we need a lot of eyes on the problem of whether these new systems are serving us well. I want to point out that our work depends on the fact that some large tech companies have actually open-sourced their modelsgiven their code and data away for free. This has been a socially beneficial act on their part and it has been crucial for the kind of work we are doing.
An LLM is large in two ways: it contains a huge amount of knowledge, obtained from vast training data, and it has an enormously complex system for generating output that makes use of billions of parameters. As a result, the internal representations used in LLMs have been referred to as giant and inscrutable. Just processing the huge amount of information inside a modern LLM is an enormous computational task. Our NAIRR grant gives us access to supercomputing facilities at top national laboratories that will enable us to efficiently analyze the internals of modern LLMs.
There are currently over half a million different LLMs available for the public to use. No doubt in the near future, we will each have our own personalized LLM that will know a lot about us and will help us with many tasks on a minute-to-minute basis. How will we know that these giant and inscrutable systems are trustworthy and safe? Our research is intended to provide methods for answering those questions.
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Is AI Biased against Some Groups and Spreading Misinformation and Extreme Views? - Boston University
NSF invests $36M in computing projects that promise to maximize performance, reduce energy demands – National Science Foundation (.gov)
The U.S. National Science Foundation is awarding $36 million to three projects selected for their potential to revolutionize computing and make significant impacts in reducing the carbon footprint of the lifecycle of computers. Funding for the projects comes from the NSF Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions) program, an ambitious initiative that supports transformative research poised to yield lasting impacts on society, the economy and technological advancement. Projects funded by Expeditions are characterized by their ambition and potential for transformation, leveraging advances in computing and cyberinfrastructure to accelerate discovery and innovation across various domains of science and engineering.
"We are thrilled to announce these visionary projects that will advance environmental responsibility and foster innovation in the field of computing," said Dilma DaSilva, acting assistant director for the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). "Congratulations to these pioneering teams whose research will forge new pathways in computational decarbonization and in revolutionizing operating system design with machine learning.
NSF Expeditions in Computing: Carbon Connect--An Ecosystem for Sustainable Computing. Led by Harvard University, this multi-institutional, five-year research initiative will lay the foundations for sustainable computing, with a focus on reducing the environmental impact of computer systems. This shift toward sustainability could spark a transformation in how computer systems are manufactured, allocated and consumed, leading to a more responsible and sustainable approach to advancing computing technologies. By redefining the way computer scientists consider environmental sustainability, Carbon Connect will establish new standards for carbon accounting in the computing industry, thereby influencing future energy policy and legislation.
Collaborators on this project include the University of Pennsylvania, the California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Yale University and The Ohio State University.
NSF Expeditions in Computing for Computational Decarbonization of Societal Infrastructures at Mesoscales. Led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, this project will develop the new field of computational decarbonization, (CoDec), which focuses on optimizing and reducing the lifecycle of carbon emissions of complex computing and societal infrastructure systems. CoDec will tackle interdependencies across multiple aspects of infrastructure, including computing, transportation, buildings and the electric power grid. Through innovative sensing approaches, optimization methods grounded in theory and artificial intelligence, and software-defined interfaces, CoDec seeks to automate and coordinate carbon-efficiency optimizations across time, space and sectors. These efforts will enable scientific discoveries in decarbonization while supporting sustainable growth, advancing technology and strengthening national security.
Collaborators of this project include Carnegie Mellon University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, UCLA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
NSF Expeditions in Computing: Learning Directed Operating System--A Clean-Slate Paradigm for Operating Systems Design and Implementation. Led by The University of Texas at Austin, this project aims to revolutionize the design of operating systems (OSes) by integrating advanced machine learning (ML) into resource management. Current OSes employ rigid, manually designed approaches for allocating hardware resources among running applications. This inflexibility makes it hard to adapt to evolving application needs and hardware, leading to inefficiency and poor performance. This research will develop a learning-directed operating system with intrinsic intelligence and auto-adaptation, enabling ML-driven resource management that optimizes performance and efficiency and requires minimal human intervention. By fundamentally rethinking OS design with ML at its core, this research has the potential to significantly improve the energy efficiency of cloud computing, enable real-time edge computing applications and create innovative computing devices.
Established in 2008, the NSF Expeditions awards represent some of the largest investments provided by the CISE directorate. Pioneering work funded by the program includes the Robobee Project and CompSustNet.
Expeditions projects focus on creating transformative technologies, methodologies and infrastructure that can be adopted by the broader research community, industry or society at large. The program emphasizes the translation of research outcomes into practical applications, thus driving advancements in computer science and its real-world applications.
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CS professors Godfrey and Wang join project building an intelligent and self-adaptive operating system – Illinois Computer Science News
Whenever we use a laptop or even a phone, underneath the hood, an operating system is running everything allowing a plethora of applications to dynamically share a system, and managing memory, compute, and network communication resources, said the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Computer Science professor Brighten Godfrey. Today, that happens mostly through manually-written heuristic policies, but this is becoming difficult with complex applications running in complex environments, like compute clouds and robots. Could an intelligent and self-adaptive operating system do better?
This is the crux of a ground-up effort to build a new way of operating systems for computers.
Godfrey and CS colleague Gang Wang are principal investigators in a five-year, $12 million research project funded by the National Science Foundation that aims to harness artificial intelligence to boost the performance and energy efficiency of computer operating systems.
NSF Expeditions in Computing: Learning Directed Operating System (LDOS) A Clean-Slate Paradigm for Operating Systems Design and Implementation will be led by a team from the University of Texas at Austin with lead PI Aditya Akella, Professor and Regents Chair of Computer Sciences at UT Austin. In addition to Godfrey and Wang, the team includes computer scientists from the Texas Advanced Computing Center, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with industry partners from Amazon, Bosch, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, and Microsoft.
Wang recalled his involvement began whenAkella told him of a vision of building a brand new operating system that is completely machine learning based.
Wang, whose research topics include security, said, When you build a brand-new operating system, you're going to have security problems. You're going to haveprivacy problems to address, and that's where I feel that my research can come in and contribute. There are a lot of new problems related to the intersection of systems and AI that make me super interested.
Todays operating systems often have rigid rules for allocating hardware resources between different applications running simultaneously. This inflexibility prevents the integration of new advancements, leads to poor performance and inefficient use, and poses a significant barrier to computer hardware and application innovations.
Wang described the LDOS goal: We're going to tear down all the existing barriers and start to build something that learns from the data and adapts as the environment changes or as the need changes. That's a really exciting vision. It allows you to build new applications or capacities that are not easily achievable in the past model.
Godfreys research group at Illinois had previously investigated applying learning approaches to systems components such as congestion control, where the OS needs to make quick decisions about how fast to send data. Learning-based techniques helped there, because simple heuristics, which make simplistic assumptions about the network environment, can lead to poor performance. Similarly, an LDOS will try to figure out the right way to manage its resources. But we will have to solve some very challenging problems like how to coordinate many learning-based agents acting on different components of the system simultaneously, and how to ensure consistent, dependable performance.
TheNSF Expeditions in Computing program was established by the NSFs Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) to build on past successes and provide the CISE research and education community with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, fundamental research agendas that promise to dene the future of computing and information.
TheLDOS project will include instructional and outreach elements, creating undergraduate and graduate curricula consisting of modules, courses, and certificates. Initiatives to broaden participation will cultivate leadership skills among underrepresented groups in AI and prepare them for careers in AI and computer systems technology and research.
Godfrey will be involved in the effort and said, "One of the big goals is to draw more students into systems research, which we think is hugely important. Systems are underlying everything we do, and every time there's a new technological development like AI, we need new systems to help realize it. We want to make people aware of these interesting, challenging problems.
The project will include summer institutes for students, includingpre-college and undergraduates, that will help draw them into this world of systems plus machine learning research. And my regular courses here at Illinois will also certainly be influenced by the work in this project, he said.
Wang added that This is going to be a pipeline, so to speak, for a cohort of high school students to undergraduates to graduate students and evenpostgrads. They will attend summer schools, and they will participate in research. Curriculum development is an addition that integrates research with teaching and student training. I think we have a lot of students in AI, but we need more students in systems and AI who have this joint knowledge and expertise to do great things.
The NSF Expeditions program is highly selective. This year, three projects were funded with $36 million.LDOS is the second Expeditions project to feature Grainger College of Engineering faculty. In Fall 2022, NSF awarded a seven-year, $15 million project to a multi-disciplinary, multi-university team led by The Grainger College of Engineering. Mind in VitroComputing with Living Neurons will imagine computers and robots that are human-designed but living. Mind in Vitro was one of two projects funded that year.
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VCU College of Engineering to offer new B.A. degree in computer science in fall 2024 – VCU News
By Becca Antler
The Virginia Commonwealth UniversityCollege of Engineeringis introducing a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science, available to students in the upcoming 2024-25 school year. Distinct from the colleges Bachelor of Science degree, the new program fills a crucial gap by allowing students to combine computer science education with other specialized fields of study.
The proposal for the Bachelor of Arts degree cited recent statistics showing that the majority of information technology jobs are now concentrated in nontech industries, highlighting the importance of a pathway for students from all backgrounds to gain proficiency in computer science.
Through a blend of theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience, the B.A. program will give students expertise in client computing needs assessment, computing system design, coding, testing and system documentation generation. Graduates will be prepared to work as entry-level computer programmers, computer support specialists, computer systems analysts, software developers, quality assurance analysts, software testers, web developers and digital designers.
VCUs current offering, an ABET-accredited Bachelor of Science degree, provides a concentrated curriculum tailored to students seeking advanced study in highly specialized areas of computer science. Alternatively, the new B.A. intends to provide an interdisciplinary pathway to computer science that promotes collaboration between diverse industries, meeting the growing demand for IT experience.
As the technological landscape shifts, VCU is committed to providing students with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in an ever-evolving industry.
We created this degree program to enable students in any major to attain a degree in computer science, saidCaroline Budwell, Ph.D., associate professor and undergraduate director in theDepartment of Computer Science. We recognize the value of a multidisciplinary program of study and how important computing knowledge is in every industry.
Subscribe to VCU News at newsletter.vcu.edu and receive a selection of stories, videos, photos, news clips and event listings in your inbox.
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VCU College of Engineering to offer new B.A. degree in computer science in fall 2024 - VCU News
USF Computer Science & Engineering graduate student takes top prize in DoD’s national cyber competition – University of South Florida
The Department of Defense challenged the countrys top cybersecurity minds to compete in a skills competition and USF Computer Science and Engineering student and CyberHerd team captain Waseem Albaba came out on top during the spring 2024 event.
The DoDs Cyber Sentinel Skills Challenge invites any U.S. citizen 18 and older to apply for entry. Around 3,000 competitors, including seasoned industry veterans and university students, logged on for the 8-hour capture-the-flag (CTF) contest.
Taking a top prize with a cash reward between $500 and $5,000 puts winners in an elite class of cybersecurity pros.
For Albaba, its proof that educational opportunities paired with a dedication to the craft are a recipe for success.
"I am honored to have won the DOD Cyber Sentinel CTF and am deeply grateful for the support of my coaches and my school, Albaba said, adding that a little luck never hurts. The competition's focus on topics in which I tend to be good at played a significant role in my success.
During the competition, participants are given real-world challenges that require in-demand skillsets. The DoD said the tests measure understanding of technical, analytical and strategic abilities in forensics, web security, reverse engineering, reconnaissance and malware analysis.
The DoD says the competition is designed to identify individuals interested in pursuing a cybersecurity career with the DoD, but it also highlights the agencys focus on ongoing improvement of human cybersecurity skills.
While pursuing a masters degree in computer science from the USF College of Engineering, Albaba is an offensive security engineer at Trace3. His plans do not currently include employment at the DoD, but he sees the Departments competitions as an ongoing opportunity to grow.
I eagerly anticipate participating in more competitions like this in the future, he said.
Another part of Albabas ongoing growth in cybersecurity skills is his leadership role in the CyberHerd competition team. Team coach and faculty member Marbin Pazos Revilla pointed out the everchanging landscape of cyber defense.
"The cybersecurity landscape has evolved very rapidly over the past several years, and the challenges we face as a nation and globally demand critical thinking and a broad set of cybersecurity skills, Pazos Revilla said. The DoD Cyber Sentinel Challenge demanded these skills as a clear representation of real-world scenarios, and I extremely proud that our USF CyberHerd Team Captain Waseem Albaba took home the First Place Award. This is also a very encouraging sign reflecting on the strategic decisions and investments our institution has placed in cybersecurity education."
Team faculty advisor and faculty member Sriram Chellapan added that the formation of the CyberHerd team was a response to the growing need for graduates to be seen as skilled cybersecurity professionals.
The CyberHerd team was formed in 2023 August, specifically geared to improve the competitive mindset of our students to thrive in a high-risk high-reward field, impacting National and Global security. This accomplishment from Waseem demonstrates our strong commitment towards student success, Chellapan said.
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UCF Hosts ‘Battle of the Brains’ Programming Championship, Seeking 13th Straight Trip to World Finals – UCF
UCFs Apocalypse Attack students will be among 50 teams from the U.S. and Canada competing May 27 in the nations most prestigious computer programming contest, showcasing their exceptional talents to leading employers.
The UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science will host the International Collegiate Programming Contests (ICPC) North America Championship. Known as the Battle of Brains, the five-hour contest involves a race to solve the most brain teasers and logic problems correctly over five hours. Each problem is solved by writing a computer program that generates the correct answer.
UCF will compete alongside the most elite teams on the continent, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Columbia University and Stanford University.
The top 16 teams will move on to the world finals, to be held in September in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The worlds most prestigious collegiate competition builds students problem-solving skills, which are valuable to those seeking a career in software development, data science and research, and related fields.
UCFs team will be seeking to advance to the world finals for the 13th consecutive year. Team advisor and Professor of Computer Science Ali Orooji says the team is excited to compete at home, and that he is optimistic about UCFs chances of placing exceptionally well at the championship.
We have a strong team, and they definitely have the talent to finish in top five, Orooji says. It is, however, a five-hour contest with many good teams so the smallest mistakes will make a difference. We are very proud of UCFs consistent record over the last 40 years and appreciate the dedication and hard work of our students.
The NAC and NAPC are sponsored by the National Security Agency, Jane Street, Citadel, Jump Training and Jet Brains. Each sponsor will have representatives on-site at a career fair for the contest participants, giving the students the opportunity to meet with them to discuss future jobs and internships.
It is our pleasure to showcase UCF to so many great institutions in North America, says Michael Georgiopoulos, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. It is also our pleasure to give the opportunity to students and coaches to interact with each other, get to know each other better and exchange ideas of how they can expand the passion and knowledge about computing to a wider audience.
This years NAC is unique in that is also offers a programming camp three days before the championship, offered to the attending teams as practice time before the big event. The North America Programming Camp (NAPC) features six world-class trainers who have coached world finalists or competed on the world stage themselves.
In addition to showcasing their technical talents, teams must display a slew of other strengths to make it through to the next level of competition, including smart time management, grace under pressure and successful collaboration in their teams of three, sharing one computer.
All are champions in their own right, having first been selected to compete from their universities.They bested over 1,000 teams in ICPC competitions throughout North America to advance to the NAC, competing to advance to the ICPC World Finals, the top 1% of nearly 20,000 teams competing globally, says ICPC Executive Director Bill Poucher. How good are they? They are extraordinary.
The hometown team UCF Apocalypse Attack, coached by computer science lecturer Travis Meade, is comprises Tyler Marks 24, who earned bachelors degrees from UCF in both computer science and mechanical engineering; computer science alum Andy Phan 21 23MS, who is working on a second masters degree from UCF in mathematics; and computer science undergraduate Sachin Sivakumar. The team placed first in the Southeast Regional Programming Content to earn their spot in the North America Championship.
Damla Turgut, chair of the UCF Department of Computer Science, says that the competition shines a spotlight on the impressive technical skills students will demonstrate as they compete for a spot in world finals.
We are excited to host the top student programmers from across North America at the UCF campus and to cheer on our own team in the competition, Turgut says. This event will showcase the exceptional talents and skills of our graduates to leading tech employers.
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UH grad students train with national experts to tackle clean energy issues | University of Hawaii System News – University of Hawaii System
Reading time: 3 minutes Students during a hands-on activity using the software PISALE
Nearly 20 University of Hawaii at Mnoa graduate students across several disciplines participated in a one-week intensive training program on computational modeling to solve complex problems related to Earth and energy. The workshop, hosted at UH Mnoa, is supported by a $5 million grant through the U.S. Department of Energys Earthshots Initiative to advance clean energy technologies within the next decade.
The participants learned theoretical and computational skills to model and understand geothermal energy and how partial differential equations are used to model complex physical processes and solved numerically. One of the codes the students learned about is PISALE, which was developed by UH researchers in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) labs and other universities.
Key to this workshop was the breadth of research interests represented by the students, from atmospheric sciences to engineering, physics, computer sciences and mathematics, said UH Mnoa Department of Mathematics Professor Monique Chyba. Each discipline comes with its own particular challenges and opportunities, but the extent to which the software described in this workshop can adapt to each situation is remarkable. Training the next generation of scientists that will go on working on the world climate issue as well as the health crisis is a primary mission of each university. These graduate students are our future.
organized and led the workshop, and was assisted by computational scientists from two of the DOE labs, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Due to its geographic location, students at UH are often isolated from opportunities like this compared with students in the continental U.S.
The scientists conducted hands-on problem solving sessions where the students ran software on specific problems using Koa, UHs high performance computing cluster, as well as Amazon Web Services and the Perlmutter supercomputer, run by DOEs National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center.
We were excited to be able to share our knowledge with these students, said Ann Almgren, a senior scientist at LBNL. Having these in-person interactions where we are able to talk about the types of projects we work on and how we solve these problems is really satisfying. Its also wonderful for us to hear from the students about what theyre working on and how enthusiastic they are to tackle the next generation of challenges.
Exposing the students to Earthshot applications was a priority. The workshop focused on geothermal energy (heat, water and permeability can support cost-competitive rates of energy extraction), and wind energy. Experts from N Pua Makani, a wind energy project in Kahuku, presented on the wind farm, followed by an open discussion on the use and capabilities of wind turbines. The students also visited UHs Applied Research Laboratory and LAVA lab.
I am now eager to learn about the particles, geothermal, these terms are really new, said Azibun Nuder, a masters student in computer science. I will think about the opportunities to collaborate because now I have the idea how to collaborate, how to do computational theories and everything. That was a new perspective for my research.
The summer program is supported by a UH Mnoa project, Ka mana o ka l: Modeling our energy future, that will address fundamental applied mathematics and computer science issues relevant to advanced high-performance computational modeling for Energy Earthshots.
The principal investigator of this project is Alice Koniges, graduate faculty in the UH Mnoa Department of Information and Computer Sciences. The project is one of 29 across the country that received a total of $264 million from the Department of Energy. All projects will help to develop solutions for the scientific challenges outlined by the DOEs Energy Earthshots Initiative to advance clean energy technologies within the decade.
The workshop, as part of our important Science Foundations for Energy Earthshot award, is fundamental to educating the UH community and students, while also serving as a conduit for Hawaii to understand and participate in clean energy options, Koniges said. The workshop format is particularly conducive to providing educational opportunities locally and for mainland participants to understand Hawaiian values.
By Marc Arakaki
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