Welcome to the Alumni website for the School of Computer Science in St Andrews!
Feel free to look around, reminisce, and contribute. We're always looking for good stories and pictures to put onto the site. If you think you can help, you can email us at alumni [[at]] cs.st-andrews.ac.uk
Hi Guys;
For those looking for employment within the Edinburgh area, we have recently been informed, by Niall Bree of edenscott, of graduate job openings with Avaloq. The positions available can be found online at:
http://www.edenscott.com/avaloq
Application is through email to: Avaloq@edenscott.com
Niall’s blurb:
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For the June intake they are ideally looking for new employees to start on June 6th. However, it would be still worthwhile for students [finishing later] to apply as they will have another intake in September/ October time.
We are also able to help candidates with writing a cv if required.
Happy to answer any questions if any of them wish to email or call me.
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Niall’s contact details are at the foot of the above web page.
Thanking you for your time.
Jan de Muijnck-Hughes
Congratulations to the class of 2011, who graduated last week. Below is a video of their graduation ceremony as well as the graduation address from Professor Quigley:
And the graduation address from Professor Quigley:
Congratulations to our class of 2011 (pictured below), who are graduating today in Younger Hall.
The class are pictured below as they gave poster presentations on their final year project. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.
This post is one of a series looking at the department as it is today.
Coffee Area
A critical part of any institution, the school’s coffee area allows staff and students to sit down and relax over their favourite caffeinated drink. The patio outside is also an ideal place for end of year barbecues.
Note that in the photo-synth below if you go to the honours photographs on the wall (to the right of the fish tank) you can click into them!
This post is one of a series looking at the department as it is today.
The Sub-Honours lab in the Jack Cole Building
The current first and second year lab is located in our (relatively) new Jack Cole building, located opposite the John Honey Building. The lab has been recently kitted out with new macs, as you can see from the above photo, and the photosynth below.
The Masters class of 2010 recently gave poster presentations on their end of year projects, but stopped for a second to take their class photograph.
Masters Class of 2010
We wish all of our students good luck as they finish their dissertations and move closer to graduation!
Top (L to R): Marc Steele, Aurélien Bonnel, Ali Scott, Ben Burt, Alan Dearle, Adam Williams, John McCaffery; Middle: Joe McGinty, Robert Tomsick, Olga Wojciechowska, Lauren Bogdan, Theerawich Wanichakul, Rachel Phillips; Bottom: Graeme Miller, Michael Booth, redacted, Duncan Gauld, Reid Henderson; On the grass: Matt Hailey
The honours photograph from this year (2010), featuring Senior Honours students and our very own head of School.
The annual Senior Honours Barbecue also took place on 14th May this year, giving everyone a chance to relax before exams. You can see photos from the event below.
Wojciechowska
This post is the first in a series looking at the department as it is today.
In 2003 Computer Science moved into a new building – the Jack Cole building – but most student labs were kept in the John Honey building across the road. The pictures below show the building as it is now, and the various labs housed in it.
John Honey Building (left) next to the Jack Cole Building (right)
The John Honey building currently houses all undergraduate teaching labs along with a single tutorial/lecture room. Staff offices are situated across the road in the newly constructed Jack Cole Building.
First Year Lab
The current first year lab has around 70 shuttle PCs which can boot into either Windows Vista or Linux (CentOS). The lab is used for lectures in the morning and practical sessions in the afternoon.
Break Area looking into the Second Year Lab
When the Jack Cole building was created the staff coffee area was moved away from here, but this space remains to allow students to relax away from the noise of the labs. In the background is the overspill lab, used mainly by second years. This is also the departments Mac lab.
View from the John Honey Building Entrance
The final photo shows the view out of the entrance of the John Honey Building. To the right is the School of Mathematics and Statistic, to the left the Computer Science Jack Cole Building, and in the middle the new Medical Sciences building, which has not yet officially opened.
Name: Matt Little
Year of Graduation: 1999
What is your favourite memory from your time studying Computer Science in St Andrews?
The team spirit which was built up amongst the students through long hours in the labs was fantastic. I’m still in touch with several members of my class 10 years after graduation.
I enjoyed learning about the principles of programming as well as the practice. Learning the fundamentals has made picking up different languages and skills far easier and has allowed me to use my skills in many diverse scenarios and, through courses such as PSAC (Professional and Social Aspects of Computing), I learnt how these skills should be used to positively benefit a wider audience.
My favourite memory however must be the Reading Trips to the Burn – they were an opportunity to research topics that weren’t normally on the syllabus and also to practise softer skills such as presenting to groups – something that has proven very useful in my career.
What are you doing now?
I am Head of Development for Barrie and Hibbert. I am responsible for the software development, testing and project management teams. Barrie and Hibbert is a global Financial Risk Consultancy and our services and software are used worldwide by some of the largest names in the financial services industry.
Globally over $10 trillion of insurance and pension assets and liabilities are managed with the support of our products and services.
Our market-leading stochastic modelling framework allows our clients to model economic and asset scenarios, to help them to improve their understanding of financial market risk. Armed with this knowledge, our clients are able to make appropriate adjustments within their business.
What was your favourite module, and why?
I greatly enjoyed most of my studies, especially those in the honours years. I have two favourites – the classes on Computational Logic and also the class on Data Communications and Networks.
I enjoyed the class on logic as it was totally different to anything else that we had studied and provided a new and rewarding set of challenges.
Data Communications and Networks was a class that taught me a lot at a time when the Internet was just becoming widely used. Learning about how a PC actually ‘talked’ to other machines removed a lot of the ‘black box’ nature of the Internet and topics such as IP v6 and RFC1149 are still topics that are relevant today 10 years after graduation.
Favourite Quote
“Theory is when you know something, but it doesn’t work
Practice is when something works, but you don’t know why
We combine theory and practice: nothing works and we don’t know why.”
For many years the school has taken honours students on trips to The Burn, a large country house outside Edzell in Aberdeenshire. These photos are the earliest we have on record, showing Professors Jack Cole and Ron Morrison among students on the trip.
