Talk by Dr Jost Berthold Thursday 14th March

Thursday 14th March, the regular meeting of the Functional Programming group will give the floor to our guest Dr. Jost Berthold for a public talk called “High-Level Parallel Computing in Finance — Haskell Case Studies within HIPERFIT –” .

The presentation will take place from 12.00 to 13.00, in the Jack Cole building, room 1.04 (upstairs), and everyone is welcome.

If you intend to come to the talk, it would be helpful (but is not essential) to drop me (fs39) a one-line email beforehand, to be sure that the reserved room has a suitable size.

Abstract: Continue reading

Event details

  • When: 14th March 2013 12:00 - 13:00
  • Where: Cole Bldg
  • Format: Seminar, Talk

PhD Interviews at St Andrews in CS

We have had an outstanding pool of applicants for our 600th Anniversary Scholarships to do a PhD in Computer Science.  This means that in the coming weeks we will be conducting many interviews with potential PhD students.  If you are one of those, or if you are just interested in what our interviews are like, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you what our PhD interviews are like.   I’m going to assume that “you” is somebody being interviewed for a PhD place, just to make writing the rest of this post easier.

What Our PhD Intervews Are

I’ve been doing the job of academic responsible for PhD admissions for about 3 years, and in that time I think we’ve admitted one student without an interview. Continue reading

System Seminar: Stochastic Methodologies for Autonomously Evaluating Systems State, on 12th March, by Chris Schneider, University of St Andrews

Abstract:

Rising complexity in systems management remains an open problem. As complexity increases, so do the costs associated with operating large-scale computing environments.

One approach for addressing these issues is to build self-healing systems that can autonomously detect and recover from faults. Such approaches combine machine learning with closed control loops to reduce the number of situations requiring human involvement. By reducing the need for human interaction, operational costs are reduced and systems complexity is reduced.

This talk will provide an overview of current self-healing systems methodologies (i.e., frameworks) and briefly discuss an unsupervised methodology for detecting systems faults.

Bio:

Chris Schneider is a second year Ph.D. student under Prof. Simon Dobson and Dr. Adam Barker. Before attending the University of St Andrews he completed an M.Sc. in Security Informatics at The Johns Hopkins University, and worked in industry as a Security Technologist.

Event details

  • When: 12th March 2013 13:00 - 14:00
  • Where: Cole 1.33a
  • Format: Seminar

SACHI Conference: Changing Perspectives at CHI 2013

CHI is the premier international conference on human computer interaction, and this year’s event is looking to be the most exciting yet for the St Andrews Computer Human Interaction (SACHI) research group in the School of Computer Science.

Seven members of SACHI will attend CHI in Paris this April to present three full papers, one note, one work in progress paper and five workshop papers. In addition members of SACHI are involved in organising two workshops and one special interest group meeting. Two academics in SACHI are Associate Chairs for respective sub-committees and two PhD students will be serving as student volunteers at the 2013 conference. A very busy time for all!

For more complete details on these papers, notes etc. please see http://sachi.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/2013/02/sachi-changing-perspectives-at-chi-2013/

Please note that the school of Computer Sciience is going to be introducing a new Masters in HCI from September this year.

Event details

  • When: 27th April 2013 - 2nd May 2013
  • Format: Conference

DLS: Formal Modelling and Analysis of Deployed Systems by Prof Muffy Calder

Title
Formal Modelling and Analysis of Deployed Systems

Professor Steve Linton and Dr Adam Barker with Professor Muffy Calder.

Professor Steve Linton and Dr Adam Barker with Professor Muffy Calder.

Abstract
Formal methods are traditionally used for specification and implementation in a waterfall model. In contrast, I am interested in formal models of concurrent, interactive systems that may/may not be in software, and   may already be deployed, i.e. they are systems to be observed.  Can formal models and reasoning expose how a system actually works?  Can formal models and reasoning suggest improvements based on how a system is actually used?

In these talks I will investigate these questions through case studies, from biochemical signalling pathways, to wireless home networks and (shock horror) mobile app games.

Biography
I have been at the Department of Computing Science, University of Glasgow since January 1988. Until 2012 I was Dean of Research in the College of Science and Engineering and Senate Assessor on Court and before that I was Head of Department of Computing Science for four years, from 2003 to 2007. I currently work for the Scottish Government 60% of the time, as the Chief Scientific Adviser. Continue reading

Event details

  • When: 8th April 2013 10:30 - 16:30
  • Where: St Andrews
  • Series: Distinguished Lectures Series

System Seminar: A Framework for Maintaining Artefact Consistency During Software Development, by Ildiko Pete, University of St Andrews

Abstract:

Software systems are subject to evolution: they may be in a state of change at any given time during their existence until they are phased out. A system is typically associated with a variety of artefacts, which are products of the various activities involved in its development.

In practice, software artefacts evolve at different paces. Modifications applied to one artefact may not necessarily get reflected in another related artefact. This differential evolution of software artefacts may result in inconsistency among artefacts, eventually leading to problems with maintenance and software aging. Therefore, the management of software evolution must also cater for artefact consistency. Although incremental practices provide a more flexible solution for handling changes during software development, they do not explicitly address artefact consistency.

This talk will provide an overview and evaluation of the state of the art in managing consistency of software artefacts during software evolution. It will also propose new research directions to solve outstanding problems in the area.

Bio:

Ildiko started her PhD with Dr Dharini Balasubramaniam at the end of October last year. Before coming to St Andrews, Ildiko obtained an MSc degree in Applied Computing at the University of Dundee and had briefly worked in industry in both Scotland and Hungary.

Event details

  • When: 26th February 2013 13:00 - 14:00
  • Where: Cole 1.33a
  • Format: Seminar

Teaching Fellow in Computer Science

The School of Computer Science are seeking applications for a Teaching Fellow in Computer Science

Applications are invited for a Teaching Fellowship in the School of Computer Science. In the first instance, at least, this is a fixed-term position of three years with a start date May 2013. We require a Teaching Fellow to assist with the development and delivery of high quality, innovative teaching at undergraduate level. Applicants should have at least a BSc in Computer science, preferably a PhD, and previous lecturing and tutorial experience at undergraduate level. Preferably they should also be able to demonstrate ability to deliver a range of core Computer Science courses in classroom, laboratory and small-group tutorial environments; experience in the development of innovative material for learning and teaching; and/or experience of contributing to pedagogical studies in the sciences. The post may be particularly appropriate for someone with recent experience in the secondary education sector.

Information on how to apply.