MSc Poster and Demo Session 2015

In September 2014 a diverse group of students commenced their studies on our MSc portfolio. Some are pictured below at our annual welcome reception.

MSc and PhD students enjoy some rare September sunshine

Postgraduate welcome reception 2014

Fast forward to August 2015 and after a year of hard work, and an intensive summer dissertation project, they submitted their dissertation. Today they presented their posters and demonstrated project artefacts.

The eventful poster session provided the perfect occasion for students to meet with second markers, reflect upon their MSc journey and appreciate the projects completed by their peers.
Congratulations to Milena Marzluff, who will receive the coveted amazon voucher for best poster.

We wish them all, every success with future plans, and look forward to seeing them again at November graduation.

NSS 2015: Computer Science Students 100% Satisfied

The results of the 2015 National Student Survey (NSS) were released this week and 100% of our students reported themselves “satisfied” with 93% responding that they were “very satisfied” with their course.

The School was also rated highly in a number of other categories including “Staff are good at explaining things”, “Feedback on my work has helped me to clarify things i didn’t understand”, “The course has helped me present myself with confidence” and “As a result of the course I feel confident in tackling unfamiliar problems”.

The NSS collects satisfaction levels from undergraduate students in the UK, via a survey. The survey is sent to all students in the UK a few months before they graduate and gets a very high return rate.

We are delighted that our recent graduates (pictured below) feel so positive about their student experience and wish them every success with future endeavours.

Computer Science: Senior Honours 2015

IVF-predict: Predicting Personalised IVF Success

The IVF-predict application has been designed based on years of academic research carried out by top medical and academic laureates. Using data from more than 144,000 IVF cycles a mathematical model has been developed that allows couples to have the most accurate prediction of their chance of a live birth with IVF.

In conjunction with Dr Tom Kelsey here in the school of Computer Science, the complex formula has been transformed into a smartphone application based, calculator presented in just 9 simple steps.

The personalised, accurate and validated app has been designed to give couples the most accurate value (in %) which represents the rate of a successful outcome if they decide to undergo the IVF process. No other model predicts your chance of success with IVF taking into account your personal medical history. In addition, the application does not transmit any data outside of the device (see Privacy Policy), any data generated or calculations is stored on your device.

The research underpinning IVF-predict has now been published in the highly prestigious medical journal PLOS Medicine and is available for free download.

Find out more about IVF-Predict on the dedicated website, download the app for android or iOS and watch a short demonstration video on youtube.

Computer Science Great Scottish Swim

On August 29th the School will be participating in the Great Scottish Swim, the team comprising Percy Perez, David Symons, Julie Dunsire, Alex Voss and Ruth Letham are swimming for Médecins Sans Frontières, an independent humanitarian charity that is committed to providing medical aid where it is most needed.

The team have been training hard in various pools around Fife in preparation for the swim challenge taking place in Loch Lomond. We also have photographic evidence of some team members road-testing their wetsuits at the East Sands.

Their target is £1k, visit the JustGiving page and reward all their hard work while supporting a great charity.

https://www.justgiving.com/uoscompsci/

PhD Viva Success: Ward Jaradat

Congratulations to Dr Ward Jaradat, who successfully defended his PhD thesis last week. He was supervised by Dr Adam Barker. Prof. Omer Rana from Cardiff University and Dr Stuart Purdie acted as External and Internal Examiner respectively.

PhD Viva Success

Congratulations to Dr Luke Hutton, who successfully defended his PhD thesis earlier today. He is pictured below with Supervisor Dr Tristan Henderson, External Examiner Prof. Bernd Stahl from De Montfort University and Internal Examiner Prof. Ian Gent.

Computer Science: June Graduation Reception 2015

Congratulations to our Senior Honours Class of 2015, and a bumper crop of PhD students Dr Ruth Hoffmann, Dr Jonathan Ward, Dr Masih Hajiarabderkani, Dr John McCaffery, Dr Ross Nicol, Dr Lei Fang, Dr Yi Yu and Dr Graeme Stevenson who graduated last week. Students were invited to a reception in the school to celebrate their achievement with staff, friends and family. Our graduates move on to a wide variety of interesting and challenging employment and further study opportunities, and we wish them all well with their future careers.

Computer Science: Senior Honours 2015 (image courtesy of Callum Hyland)

In express agreement with Computer Science Law, a new supply of Toblerone arrives just in time for graduation, courtesy of Ruth Hoffmann.

A good vintage: A sea of blue gowns equals talented PhD students.

Graduation 2015: A Computer Science Symposium with Dr Vint Cerf

The University of St Andrews awarded Dr. Vint Cerf, a founding father of the Internet, an honorary doctorate alongside our graduating students last week. In advance of this, the School of Computer Science organised a one day symposium entitled “The Internet at 100” that encompassed a host of prominent speakers and closed with “Digital Dark Age? Digital Vellum”. The Keynote by Dr Cerf contemplated that the information we have now might be lost unless we plan carefully for the longevity of the applications and data that we use today.

The interesting and thought provoking talks challenged a diverse range of Internet related research absorbing video, the technology and politics of privacy and surveillance, things and sensors, research directions and a true history of the Internet were considered by Dr Colin Perkins, Prof Ian Brown, Prof Julie McCann, Dr Lars Eggert and Prof Jon Crowcroft respectively.

Read more about the schedule and the speakers on the event website. Images courtesy of Xu Zhu.

Join us for June Graduation Reception

The School will be celebrating more student successes and accomplishments next week, when our Senior Honours and PhD students graduate. We look forward to toasting their success at our Graduation reception next Wednesday. The occasion is a great opportunity for staff to meet family and friends and, for us to keep some photographic memories. Over the years graduation has involved cakes, fizz, laughter, changeable weather and lots of reminiscing as pictured below.

Summer and Winter Graduations 2010 – 2014.

Celebrations, Kilts and the Dean of Science. Graduation 2010- 2014.

Computer Science Interns Accelerate Impact

Congratulations to Computer Science Interns Gergely Flamich, Jack Cargill, Iveta Dulova, Tatiana Tay and Finlay Marno for designing a prize winning poster, and providing an excellent demonstration session at the recent EPSRC Impact Showcase held in the School of Medicine.

From left: Gergely, Jack, Iveta and Tatiana complete with winning poster.

The research presented, focuses on biomedical data science by identifying, integrating and simulating data from both previous studies and current collaborations.

The EPSRC awarded Impact acceleration award (IAA) funding to The University of St Andrews to promote a step change in the delivery of knowledge exchange. There were more than 30 projects funded by the EPSRC. The recent showcase offered an opportunity for university staff and students to find out more about the projects via posters, exhibits and demonstrations.

Computer Science Blog