Congratulations to Amjad Al Tobi, who successfully defended his thesis last week. He is pictured with supervisor Dr Ishbel Duncan, Internal examiner Dr Tom Kelsey and external examiner Dr Xavier Bellekens, from Abertay University.
Author: lisa
Young Software Engineer of the Year 2018 Awards
Congratulations to Keno Schwalb, a runner-up at last night’s Young Software Engineer of the Year Awards. His final year project IDS test comparison of intrusion detection systems using malware samples was shortlisted earlier in September.
The Young Software Engineer of the Year accolades are awarded to the best undergraduate software projects from students studying computer science and software engineering in Scotland.
The awards were announced at the closing event of ScotSoft, Scotland’s leading tech conference at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Previous finalists and prize winners have included, Gala Malbasic, Simone Ivan Conte, Sam Elliott,Thomas Grimes, Alistair Scott, Craig Paul, Angus MacDonald, Ben Catherall, Graeme Bell and Ian Miguel. The number of finalists is further testament to the quality of talented students graduating from the School of Computer Science at St Andrews.
Dasip 2018 Keynote: Professor Simon Dobson
Head of School Simon Dobson will deliver a keynote at Dasip, the Conference on Design and Architectures for Signal and Image Processing in October in Porto. Dasip provides an international forum for innovation and developments in the field of embedded signal processing systems. Simon’s keynote will focus on making the transition from sensors to sensor systems software.
Abstract: Signal processing underpins everything we do with sensors. The physical limits of sensors, and the effects of their exposure to their environment, in turn constrain their accuracy, and therefore affect the trust we can place in sensor-driven systems. But this is a long pipeline, and it’s by no means clear how to trace from low-level errors and inaccuracies to their high-level consequences. In this talk I will try to tease-out some of the desiderata we might look for in such a pipeline, with a view to understanding how we can go about building sensor systems that deserve our trust.
MSc and Honours receptions 2018
After a busy week of orientation, advising and module talks, MSc and Honours students are pictured socialising during their welcome receptions on Tuesday and Thursday evening last week. The popular and lively events highlight the friendly student community within the School and provide a chance to chat to staff and students before a semester of hard work begins.
Images courtesy of Xu Zhu and Sylvia Laesecke
Computer Science orientation and welcome 2018
After advising and induction events, staff and students are pictured enjoying a welcome reception and orientation activities, coordinated by Alice Toniolo. The annual gaming session proved as popular as ever and offered retro classic digital games and traditional board games. The gaming session was closely followed by a well attended welcome reception for First Year students.
Images courtesy of Lisa Dow and Andrew Wong
Google@St Andrews
Next Wednesday, October 3rd between 2 and 4pm, Google will be hosting an event at St Andrews. Come along to the Purdie building (Lecture Theatre A) to learn the ins and outs of technical roles at Google. You’ll learn about software and site reliability engineering, product management, and engineering at Google in general. You’ll also get insights into the technical interviewing process, and learn about the internships and scholarships available to students.
When: Oct 3rd, 2018 2-4pm
Where: Purdie Lecture Theatre A
Register: https://goo.gl/qjaHgE
Register by Oct 1st for the chance to be invited to an technical interview workshop 6-8pm on Oct 3rd.
Event details
- When: 3rd October 2018 14:00 - 16:00
- Where: Purdie Bldg
The next big thing or the next big gimmick?
Dr Tom Kelsey will be holding a panel discussion at Computing’s first ever Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Live conference on Monday 19th November in London. Through a variety of expert key-notes, end-user case studies, and panel discussions the conference will highlight key developments within AI.
Tom’s panel discussion: The next big thing or the next big gimmick?
Read more about the conference and programme of events at http://events.computing.co.uk/computingai/programme
MSc Poster Demo Session 2018
After a year of hard work, and an intensive summer project, our MSc students submitted their final dissertation and presented their project posters and artefacts.
Last month’s busy poster demonstration session pictured below, provided a great opportunity for students to meet with second markers, reflect upon their MSc experience and appreciate the diverse projects completed by their peers.
We wish them all, every success with future plans, and look forward to seeing them again at December Graduation.
Images courtesy of Lisa Dow and Xu Zhu
Alumni visit School of Computer Science
A group of alumni who studied in the school over 20 years ago (graduating classes of 1994, 1995 and 1996) organised an informal reunion last month. During their stay in town they organised a visit to the school, where they sampled the school coffee, acquired a coveted CS mug and reminisced around the photo boards. The group were given an overview of the present day Computer Science at St Andrews and proceeded on a tour of the department with current Head of School, Simon Dobson, Professor Emeritus, Ron Morrison and Dave Munro.
Dr Roy Dyckhoff
Our friend and colleague Roy Dyckhoff died in hospital last month. He had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, which was being managed through blood transfusions. His death was however sudden and unexpected.
Roy was educated at Winchester College, before studying at King’s College, Cambridge. He undertook postgraduate study at New College, Oxford. He was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Pure Mathematics in St Andrews in 1975, moving to Computer Science in 1981.
Roy worked in logic and proof theory, having begun his career as a topologist and category theorist (for which one of his thesis advisors was Dana Scott). Much of his work concerned various aspects of intuitionistic logic, but he also contributed to work in programming languages, type theory, natural language processing, and model checking. He was also instrumental in changing the peal of the bells in St Salvator’s chapel, the college church of the University, which he frequently rang at graduations and other events, including the celebration of the 550th anniversary of the consecration of the chapel.
He had retired from St Andrews but retained an honorary position with us, and was a frequent visitor and seminar-goer until very recently. We’ll remember him as someone who was always ready to dive into deep mathematical or philosophical discussions, as well as being someone who could explain the essence of advanced mathematical concepts even to those with a lot less mathematical sophistication than he himself possessed. His engagement with the School and the wider academic community in Scotland and worldwide should have gone on for much longer than it did, and we’ll miss the conversations and interactions that we’ll no longer have with him.
Roy’s funeral will be held on Thursday 6 September at Kirkcaldy Crematorium at 11.45am, and plans are being developed for a Service of Thanksgiving at St Salvator’s Chapel later this year. There’s a card in the front office ready for his funeral later this week.
For those who’d like to mark his passing in some way, the family have suggested giving blood as a suitable marker. Alternatively, they are collecting for the Scottish Mountain Bothies Association, which was a charity he supported for many years.
