Senior Honours: Poster Presentation and Demo Session 2017

Our talented hard working SH students from CS4099: Major Software Project and CS4098: Minor Software Project presented their posters and final year software artifact to staff and students earlier this week.

As Illustrated in the above collage, the busy poster session is the perfect opportunity to discuss output from their year long project with markers, and provides time to share research ideas and reflect on the experience with their peer group. We wish them success with forthcoming exams and look forward to seeing them during June graduation celebrations.

Success in the Laidlaw Undergraduate Internship Programme in Research and Leadership

Congratulations to Patrick Schrempf and Billy Brown who have been successful in their applications for a Laidlaw Undergraduate Internship in Research and Leadership for 2017. You can read further details about Billy and Patrick below.

Billy Brown:

I’m a fourth year Computer Science student from Belgium with too much interest for the subject. I play and referee korfball for the university, and I am fascinated by Old English and Norse history and mythology. I plan on using the Laidlaw Internship programme to get into the field of Computer Science research.

Project summary:

The Essence Domain Inference project aims to improve automated decision making by optimising the understanding of the statements used to define a problem specification. As part of the compilation of the high level Essence specification language, this project would tighten the domains to which a specified problem applies, with a domain inference algorithm.

The work is very much in the context of the recently-announced EPSRC grant working on automated constraint modelling in an attempt to advance the state of the art in solving complex combinatorial search problems. The modelling pipeline is akin to a compiler in that we refine a specification in the Essence language Billy mentions down to a number of powerful solving formalisms. The work Billy plan is to improve the refinement process and therefore the performance of the solvers, leading to higher quality solutions more quickly.

Patrick Schrempf:
I am currently a third year Computer Science student from Vienna. After enjoying doing research with the St Andrews Computer Human Interaction (SACHI) group last year, I am looking forward to the Laidlaw Internship Programme. Apart from research and studying, I enjoy training and competing with the Triathlon Club and the Pool Society.
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Computer Science Student Reps 2016

We are delighted to congratulate the student representatives for 2016/7, elected by their peers. Reps play a very important part in the life of the school by providing a healthy communication channel between staff and the students they represent, and also by chairing and running the Staff-Student Consultative Committee, amongst many other roles.

The reps are shown outside the Jack Cole Building in November 2016, and are (from left to right)

Juris Bogusevs (1st year)
Seamus Bonner (1st year, library)
Keno Schwalb (3rd year, careers)
Christa-Awa Kollen (welfare)
Vika Anisimova (4th year)
Anastasiia Izmailova (2nd year, social)
Masha Nedjalkova (masters, careers, minutes)
Fearn Bishop (postgraduate research)
Robin Nabel (school president)

Many thanks to the reps for arranging this photo (taken by Alex Bain who can be seen in the reflection), which should help staff and students put faces to the names.

Thanks to everyone who volunteered to be a student rep.

Royal Television Society Bursary: Henry Hargreaves

Congratulations to Henry, one of our second year students, who secured a Royal Television Society bursary. The bursary scheme is supported by a cross industry panel with senior representatives from Arqiva, BBC, BT, Channel 4, Fujitsu, Ericsson, Institute of Engineering Technology, ITV, Sky and Youview.

The new venture for the Royal Television Society, is intended to start to address a skills gap and attract some talented young people on top computer science or engineering courses to consider the option of a career in the broadcast industry. Further details of the scheme can be found here: https://rts.org.uk/education-training/technology-bursaries

Bursary recipients attend a two-week summer tour of the industry, spending a day in each of the 10 companies backing the scheme. A financial award per year for the three years of the bursary, membership of the Royal Television Society and mentoring or placements in their final year of study.

As an R.T.S Bursary recipient, Henry explained that he has not only benefited financially; helping towards my course at St Andrews but it has introduced him to career opportunities within the TV industry.

“I have gained a useful insight by participating in a range of activities organised by the RTS. These have really opened my eyes to how Computer Science plays a vital role in broadcasting, which I was previously, unaware of.”

Computer Science hosts Hack the Bubble

Earlier this month the School hosted hack the Bubble, a 12-hour hackathon organized by STACS, the St Andrews Computing Society and sponsored by J.P. Morgan. Hackathons are great events for teams of students to build projects from scratch and compete for awesome prizes.

The main aim of this event was to show our first and second year students what a hackathon is in a more accessible 12-hour format instead of the traditional 24 or 48 hour ones. The event was a great success with 70 students participating and 15 teams presenting their projects at the end.

This event wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the School of Computer Science for providing the venue, and sponsors J.P. Morgan for the food and prizes.

Hack the Bubble October 2016

Images and text courtesy of STACS.

Google@Computer Science in St Andrews

The School hosted another successful Google event on Wednesday. Students heard first hand, from four of our talented alumni, and had an opportunity to chat with current students who have completed internships. The well-received and very well attended session also covered mock interviews and rewarded students with the customary pizza.

Could your car be used to spy on you?

In the not-so-distant future, cars won’t require a human driver anymore. They will drive autonomously, and you will be their passenger. However, these vehicles will also need to know your location, and, in some cases (e.g. for taxis and car rentals), your identity. Consequently, your movements might be tracked.

How do you feel about your car collecting such private data?

Tell us what you think! Please complete the online survey here.

The survey is completely anonymous. The record of your survey responses will not contain any identifying information about you, such as your name or e-mail address.

If there are any additional questions or comments, please email Tobias Meyer or Prof Saleem Bhatti.

Thank you very much for your help and support!

Computer Science: June Graduation Reception 2016

Congratulations to our Senior Honours Class of 2016, and our PhD students Dr Jan de Muijnck-Hughes, Dr Christopher Davies, Dr Jakub Dostal, Dr Marc Werfs, Dr Ditchaphong Phoomikiattisak, Dr Bruce Simpson and Dr Ward Jaradat who graduated yesterday. Students were invited to a reception in the school to celebrate their achievement with staff, friends and family.

Saad Attieh, one of our talented SH students was awarded this year’s Principal’s Medal, which recognises exceptional endeavour and achievement during a student’s time at St Andrews. Read more about the medal and his journey in the University News.

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.

Watch some video, win a Netflix or Amazon voucher

Tell us what you think of our videos and you could win a £20 Netflix or Amazon voucher!

You will be asked to watch and assess the video quality of four 1-minute online video clips, as well as complete a short questionnaire related to your regular video usage and your energy-saving awareness and preferences. Your participation should take around 20 to 30 minutes.

Optionally, you will be entered into a prize draw for a £20 Netflix or Amazon voucher.

You must be 18 years or over.

Please contact Oche Ejembi <ooe@st-andrews.ac.uk>

UTREC approval code: CS12016

Contact Details

Researcher: Oche Ejembi
email: ooe@st-andrews.ac.uk

Supervisor: Prof. Saleem Bhatti
email: saleem@st-andrews.ac.uk

Distinguished Lecture Series: Reminder of next event – ‘CS for All’ by President Maria Klawe

Reminder that President Maria Klawe will be speaking at our Distinguished Lecture Series on March 31st 2016 in St Andrews.

During this event Maria will discuss the challenges in CS for all, including CS education in K-12, computing for all in undergraduate education, and CS research aimed at people with accessibility challenges and creating educational and research opportunities around the applications of computational technologies in almost every discipline and economic sector.

Programme of events:

09:00 – 09:30
- Introduction: By Professor Aaron Quigley
09:30 – 10:30
- Lecture 1: Computing for all in K-12 education
10:30 – 11:00
- Coffee Break: Refreshments served in foyer
11:00 – 12:00
- Lecture 2: Computing for all in undergraduate education
12:00 – 14:00
- Lunch Break: Free time
14:00 – 15:00
- Lecture 3: Computing for all in research
15:00 – 15:30
- Q & A: Open forum in the auditorium
15:30 – 16:00
- Informal time with Speaker: In the foyer

Event details

When: 31st March 2016 09:00 - 16:00
Where: Byre Theatre
Series: Distinguished Lectures Series
Format: Distinguished lecture

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