News

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

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.

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.

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.
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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.

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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.

Summer and Winter Graduations 2010 – 2014.

Celebrations, Kilts and the Dean of Science. Graduation 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.

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

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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.

June 22nd: Internet at 100 Symposium with Dr Vint Cerf

On Monday June 22nd we are organising a one day symposium entitled “The Internet at 100”. This event features a host of distinguished speakers and culminates with a talk by Dr Cerf, one of the “fathers of the internet” and now vice-president and chief internet evangelist at Google.

Internet at 100

The Internet is, of course, not 100 years old. It’s not even quite 50 years old but the talks at this event will look at its history, its current state and forward to what it might look like at 100. We are looking forward to a day of inspiring talks, time to network and socialise but also time to look back while we consider what might be for the Internet.

The full website for this event can be found here: http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/i@100/

Event details

  • When: 22nd June 2015 09:45 - 20:45
  • Where: N Haugh, St Andrews
  • Format: Symposium

End of Semester Round up

We have reached the end of semester 2 and so many events, activities and accomplishments have taken place, it’s worth reflecting on all the hard work and enthusiasm demonstrated by our talented students.

As stated previously the School is rated highly for student satisfaction, which echoes the continued strong student staff community cultivated by all.

The events and locations pictured below help to highlight why studying Computer Science at St Andrews is such an amazing experience.

Clockwise from top left: Senior Honours demonstrate their final year projects. Junior Honours attempt world domination. PhD students present their posters.

Clockwise from top left: Senior Honours demonstrate their final year projects. Junior Honours attempt world domination. PhD students present their posters.

Computer Science students organise a hugely successful StacsHack.

Computer Science students organise a hugely successful StacsHack.

A bumper crop of PhD students advance towards graduation.

A bumper crop of PhD students advance towards graduation.

The CompSci garden continues to flourish with a little help from the Transitions team.

The CompSci garden continues to flourish with a little help from the Transitions team.

Clockwise from top left: The May Dip, Torchlit procession, Christmas ceilidh, stunning St Andrews.

Clockwise from top left: The May Dip, Torchlit procession, Christmas ceilidh and stunning St Andrews.

Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series. Prof. Mothy Roscoe pictured at the Byre Theatre and Prof. Luca Cardelli pictured in Lower College Hall.

Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series: Prof. Mothy Roscoe pictured at the Byre Theatre and Prof. Luca Cardelli pictured in Lower College Hall.

Images courtesy of Lisa Dow, Xu Zhu, Fearn Bishop, Saleem Bhatti and Simone Conte,

PhD Studentship: Reasoning about Racy Programs under Relaxed Consistency

A PhD studentship on “Reasoning about Racy Programs under Relaxed Consistency” is available in the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews, funded by Microsoft Research and EPSRC.

The project will involve developing reasoning principles and tools for relaxed memory consistency settings. This is a key problem in shared-memory concurrency at the low-level, whether in C or C++, or even higher-level languages such as Java.

The project will be supervised by Dr Susmit Sarkar at the University of St Andrews. Dr Jade Alglave of Microsoft Research Cambridge will be the Microsoft supervisor. During the course of their PhD, Scholars are invited to Microsoft Research in Cambridge for an annual Summer School, and there is also a possibility of paid internships during studies. The studentship is fully funded to pay fees and stipend for students with a relevant connection to the UK.

Applicants are expected to have or expect to obtain a UK first-class Honours or Masters degree (or its equivalent from non-UK institutions) in Computer Science, but the minimum standard we require is an upper second-class Honours degree or equivalent. Some experience in concurrent and/or functional programming and an aptitude for mathematical subjects are required. Knowledge and experience of one or more of formal verification, mechanised proofs, and programming languages is highly desirable.

For further information on how to apply, see our postgraduate web pages. Ideally the student will start in October 2015, or as soon as possible thereafter. Further details on the project and suggested reading is available from Dr Susmit Sarkar.

Codebase Open day

CodeBase Open Day

Friday 5 June 2015 – Friday 5 June 2015
13:00 – 16:00
Edinburgh

The CodeBase Open Day gives a chance for students, professionals and would-be developers and designers to learn more about amazing companies housed within the UK’s largest technology incubator.

It’s a chance to roam our corridors and drop in on companies for an informal chat and find out more about what they do .

Come and learn more about the 60 startups based within the building and explore what the startup scene has to offer. There will also be series of drop-in talks so those who attend get the opportunity to hear, first hand, what it’s like to work for some of the most exciting and interesting tech companies in Edinburgh.

Further details and ticket information: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/codebase-open-day-tickets-16594864687

Event details

  • When: 5th June 2015 13:00 - 16:00