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.
School of Computer Science
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.
There has been lots of work done on proving shared-memory concurrent programs correct, by the use of very sophisticated program logics such as Concurrent Separation Logic and RGsep. However, shared-memory concurrent programs actually do not satisfy a key building block of such logics, an assumption that memory is sequentially consistent. Instead, when programming at the low-level in C or C++, or even in relatively higher-level languages such as Java, programmers have to deal with relaxed memory consistency. How and whether sophisticated program logics can scale up to this setting is the open research question we seek to address. Furthermore, efficient concurrent code often have intentional races, making the problem harder (and rendering the standard prescription of data-race-freedom ineffective). If we can develop such a logic, we can build tools that can automatically analyse code and make them safe, efficient, and correct by suggesting appropriate fences or other mechanisms. With multiprocessors everywhere from personal mobile devices to servers, this is an important problem with a potential of high impact, both in theory and in practice.
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.
Welcome to Mr Nicol Thomson
Welcome to Mr Nicol Thomson who joined us recently as a technician. Nicol has been working in the school casually since 2014 on a number of Lab Designs, technical support and the development of the Laddie unit you can see below. Stuart our head of systems said, “Nicol is an excellent addition to the school’s technical team and I am sure that his experience and knowledge will prove a great asset“.
We all welcome Nicol and wish him well in his new role.
Staff and Students with Dr Vint Cerf
Dr Vint Cerf with staff and new CS PhD graduates
On July 24th, Dr Vinton Cerf was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, by the University of St Andrews. Dr. Vint Cerf, a founding father of the Internet, graduated alongside our new PhD and Honours graduates. In his Laureation address, Professor Saleem Bhatti highlighted to the audience that, “The internet is mankind’s largest and most complex creation. It spans national boundaries and puts global communication at the fingertips of the world’s citizens. It is, in today’s world, difficult to imagine life without the information and many services that are available to us all through the internet. However, it is an invention of our time.”
This graduation ceremony was a memorable day for both staff and students and presented each person the opportunity to reflect on their own research experiences here in the University of St Andrews. Reflecting on our “Internet @ 100” symposium earlier in the week, Professor Bhatti concluded by noting that, “Easy and accessible internet communication is also seen as an empowering service for the citizens of the world“.
We wish all of our new graduates, all the best for the future.
Dr Vint Cerf with staff and new CS PhD and Honours graduates
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.
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.
Computer Science students organise a hugely successful StacsHack.
A bumper crop of PhD students advance towards graduation.
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 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.
Images courtesy of Lisa Dow, Xu Zhu, Fearn Bishop, Saleem Bhatti and Simone Conte,