SACHI presence at CHI 2016

The SACHI group were well represented at CHI 2016 held in San Jose, California. The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction, and an exciting venue to discover, discuss and learn about the future of how people interact with technology.

SACHI presented five full papers, one note and a workshop paper, ran a successful workshop on Proxemic Mobile Collocated Interactions and designed many of the vibrant SIGCHI banners on display throughout the conference.

Well done to all concerned. SACHI group activities, conference keynote and plenary sessions are pictured below. CHI 2017 will be held in Denver, Colorado next year with a September deadline for papers and notes.

Images courtesy of Aaron Quigley

Fixed term Lectureships in Computer Science

We seek applications for 2 lectureships in Computer Science. We welcome applications from excellent researchers who have a strong research background and excellent publication record in any area of computer science and a commitment to excellent teaching. These are fixed-term posts, lasting three years, however the School’s student numbers are currently growing rapidly, and if this is sustained we expect a number of permanent lectureships to open up over the next few years.

You should have a PhD, a period of postdoctoral experience and an outstanding research record as demonstrated by publications and research funding. You must be willing to cooperate with other researchers across the School and University and to teach in any area of Computer Science. Teaching is important to us and you should be a committed teacher, with appropriate experience.

Candidates interested in this post are welcome to informally contact Steve Linton hos-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk or Dharini Balasubramaniam dot-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk to discuss possible options.

For further information about the School of Computer Science, please see the further particulars.

Applications are particularly welcome from women, who are under-represented in science positions at the University. You can find out more about Equality & Diversity at https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/edi/.

The University of St Andrews is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all, which is further demonstrated through its working on the Gender and Race Equality Charters and being awarded the Athena SWAN award for women in science, HR Excellence in Research Award and the LGBT Charter; http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/edi/diversityawards/.
Information on how to apply.

Closing Date: 29 June 2016

SACHI contributes to Google’s Project Soli

The SACHI group’s contribution to Project Soli was selected and featured in the official alpha developer video released by Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group (ATAP), and has subsequently been shown on stage during the Google I/O ATAP 2016 session earlier in May.

The team systematically explored the Soli and developed machine learning techniques to train and classify objects. Achieving advanced interactions in real time, at this scale with consumer ready devices is an exciting development within the project. Read more about their research and Project Soli experience in “Object recognition with the Project Soli in St Andrews”.

The team consisted of Hui-Shyong Yeo (a PhD student in SACHI), Patrick Schrempf (a 2nd year CS student), Gergely Flamich (a 2nd year CS student), Dr David Harris-Birtill (a senior research fellow in SACHI) and Professor Aaron Quigley.

Google's Project Soli workshop in March 2016

Google’s Project Soli workshop: March 2016

Teaching Rewards: Shyam Reyal

Congratulations to Shyam who featured as Instructor of the month with CodeFirst Girls and was nominated for a teaching award by undergraduate computer science students. Shyam has been busy working on first level modules this semester and his passion for Computer Science, friendly approachable personality and all his hard work, has been duly rewarded.

Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in Computer Science

The School of Computer Science is excited to announce Scotland’s first Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in Computer Science. The innovative research apprenticeship in partnership with The Data Lab, was launched on Monday in Edinburgh and featured in The University News earlier today.

Prospective research engineers and industry sponsors can find essential information and application forms on the EngD website. In partnership with The Data Lab, 5 prize studentships have been announced for 2016. Interested applicants with strong data-intensive and/or data-driven research are encouraged to apply (27th June deadline).

Monday’s launch in Edinburgh

Summer arrives in the CS Garden

Summer has arrived in the CS garden as work begins growing “rabbit tolerant” spuds, carrots and onions as well as salad ingredients, in preparation for our summer BBQs. Staff and students from Computer Science and Transition are pictured working hard to support Computer Science’s contribution to the Edible Campus.

PhD Poster Session 2016

Students and staff are pictured at the yearly PhD poster session, held last week. The dynamic session offers a perfect opportunity for supervisors and reviewers to catch up with student progress, and is a great venue for students to meet up and consider research ideas with their colleagues.

Are there still two cultures?

This Friday the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland is hosting a panel discussion and debate to celebrate the 60th anniversary of one of the most influential essays of all time. CP Snow’s “The two cultures” has passed into popular culture as the idea that arts and sciences are separated by an almost unbridgeable gap in understanding. But is this still true, as science and technology become ever more entwined with our everyday lives? Can we afford to tolerate mutual incomprehension between different groups, and how might we bridge the gap?

A small panel will discuss “The two cultures” and its relevance to modern times in the Studio Theatre at the Byre from 6pm on Friday 13th May, followed by a drinks reception. The panel includes Prof SimonDobson from the School of Computer Science, who also directs the St Andrews Institute for Data-Intensive Research that aims in part to bridge the two cultures by bringing data-driven computational techniques to both arts and science projects.

Event details

When: 13th May 2016 18:00
Where: Byre Theatre

Alex Bain completes 2016 London Marathon

Congratulations to School Administrator Alex Bain, who completed the London Marathon for worldwide cancer research. Alex, runner no 5089 is pictured below with his finisher’s medal. Donations to recognise his achievement and preparatory training, can still be made via his Justgiving page.

Senior Honours: Poster Presentation and Demo Session 2016

Our talented industrious senior honours students presented their posters and final year software artifacts to staff and students last week. The best poster accolade and coveted amazon voucher was presented to Thomas Morrell for his poster – Emotion Recognition from Gait Using Smartphone Accelerometer Data, supervised by Erica .

As Illustrated in the many pictures, the poster session is a perfect opportunity to share research ideas with their peer group. We wish them success with forthcoming exams and look forward to seeing them at June graduation.

Images courtesy of Lisa Dow and Saleem Bhatti

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