CSE Undergrad News

We are receiving a lot of questions about what the new prerequisites will be for 400 level CSE courses once the new 300 level courses are introduced.  We have posted a link on the degree requirements page to help you understand the old and new prerequisites.

Eventually we’ll phase out the old 300 level courses, but you can use either the old or the new prerequisites to register for the next couple of years.

Let us know if you have questions/concerns (although if it can wait a week or two until registration for spring calms down, that would be helpful.)  🙂

CSE advising

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: “Marya Dominik” <maryad@u.washington.edu>
Date: Jan 21, 2010 8:04 AM
Subject: [Escience_bbl] New course on High-Performance Scientific Computing coming, Spring Quarter
To: “bb Brown Bag” <escience_bbl@u.washington.edu>

From: Randy LeVeque <rjl@uw.edu>
Date: Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Subject: New course on High-Performance Scientific Computing coming
Spring Quarter
To: amath-current@amath.washington.edu


I will be teaching a new course *Spring Quarter* 2010 on High-Performance
Scientific Computing, appropriate for advanced undergraduates and graduate
students.  It is intended to be a broad-brush survey course as described
further below, for students who have had some programming experience.

Please help spread the word about this course.  Feel free to contact me
with suggestions for the course as well, since it is still in the planning
stage.

A pdf version of this announcement suitable for posting can be found
on the webpage
  http://www.amath.washington.edu/~rjl/hpsc10.html
where there is also a pointer to the seminar on this topic we ran last spring
as a warmup to this class, which may give more idea of the intended level.

Thanks,
 Randy LeVeque

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW COURSE --- SPRING QUARTER 2010

Applied Mathematics 483/583
High-Performance Scientific Computing

Instructor: Prof. Randy LeVeque
Time: Spring Quarter 2010, MWF 8:30am (tentative), EDGE Classroom TBA
Webpage: http://www.amath.washington.edu/~rjl/hpsc10.html

This class will cover a selection of topics in high-performance computing
(HPC), briefly introducing many of the issues that arise when solving
large scale computational problems in science and engineering. In
particular, the following topics will be touched on:

 - Computer languages and issues affecting the choice of language, e.g.
  compiled vs. interpreted, procedural vs. object oriented.

 - Programming in Fortran 95 and Python/Sage as representative languages
  (prior programming experience in some language is a prerequisite!)

 - Computer architecture issues relevant to HPC, e.g., cache and memory
  hierarchies, shared vs. distributed memory, vector pipelines, GPUs, parallel
  computers from multicore laptops to supercomputers with 100,000+ cores.

 - Languages for parallel computing, in particular MPI and OpenMP.

 - Tools for managing large computer programs, e.g., makefiles, debuggers,
  version control systems such as Mercurial or Subversion.  Best practices for
  reproducible research.

 - Dealing with large datasets arising from computation or scientific
  observations.

 - Graphics and visualization of scientific data.

This is a lot of material to cover in one quarter.  The emphasis will
be on seeing key concepts, getting started using a variety of tools, and
becoming familiar with the documentation and online resources available
for further learning.  Homework assignments will involve using many of
these tools.  Other courses, such as CSE 524 (Parallel Algorithms), go
into more details of some aspects of this class and would be a natural
next step.

Prior programming experience is required, at the level of CSE 142,
AMath 301, or AMath 481/581.  Students should be comfortable installing
software on their own computers and/or using ssh for remote access
to linux machines.  Assistance and documentation will be available
(including an introduction to linux/unix), but students averse to
exploring new software and overcoming the frustrations that typically
accompany this will probably not enjoy the class.

Some background in linear algebra at the level of Math 308 or AMath
352 is recommended.  Linear algebra is the basis for much of scientific
computing and we will study examples related to matrix multiplication
and solving linear systems in particular.

-- 
Marya Dominik
Administrative Specialist
eScience Institute
Box 359562
UW Tower O2-153
206.221.0778

_______________________________________________
Escience_bbl mailing list
Escience_bbl@u.washington.edu
http://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/escience_bbl

From: rjleveque@gmail.com [mailto:rjleveque@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Randy LeVeque
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 12:39 PM
To: rjl@uw.edu
Subject: New course on High-Performance Scientific Computing coming Spring Quarter

Dear Colleagues,

I will be teaching a new course *Spring Quarter* 2010 on High-Performance Scientific Computing, appropriate for advanced undergraduates and graduate students.  It is intended to be a broad-brush survey course as described further below, for students who have had some programming experience.

Please help spread the word about this course.  Feel free to contact me with suggestions for the course as well, since it is still in the planning stage. (more…)

To clarify there are two synthetic biology courses this winter that are new.  Although there will be prerequisites enforced in the future, as a first time offering, the prereqs have been relaxed. For information on CSE 488 please see the class flyer for more information: (note the course is colisted as EE 425) http://soslab.ee.washington.edu/mw/index.php/EE425_Winter_2010

There is also a CSE 487 advanced synthetic biology course taught by the BioEngineering dept. It’s taught by Prof. Sauro: http://depts.washington.edu/bioe/people/core/sauro.html

If you would like to register for either of these two courses, please send your name, student number and the sln to ugrad-advisor@cs and we’ll add you.

Since they are both graded CSE courses at the 400 level, they can count towards your additional CSE Senior Electives (but not one of the four required breadth courses for CS majors)

CSE advising

“Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments”

This Winter we are offering a 2-credit design studio on technology in
resource-constrained environments. We’ll focus on both projects in
developing countries as well as research that looks at
resource-constrained communities in developed countries (i.e.,
low-income communities, low bandwidth environments, etc.).

In the Spring quarter, the designs and prototypes developed in Winter
quarter will be developed into robust prototype implementations that
can be tested in the field.  In the Spring, the course will be offered
as a 5 credit course that may count as software capstone design credit
for Comp E. or CS, or as an approved senior elective for CS majors.

For Winter 2010, the class will meet Tuesdays from 2:30-4:20 in Sieg
227.

This meeting will coincide with the Tuesday meeting of HCDE 419, (5
credits), Concepts in HCI (which meets T & Th 2:30-4:20 in Sieg 227).
Students who are interested in the topics of HCI and technology for
resource-constrained environments may wish to sign up for HCDE 419
instead.  Students from both courses will work together to design and
prototype projects.

The course will be coordinated by Ruth Anderson from CSE and Beth
Kolko from HCDE, and is part of a year-long design and implementation
course.  However students who did not participate in the autumn
quarter reading seminar are still *heartily* encouraged to sign up for
winter and spring.  It is open to ALL CSE and CS majors as well as
students from other departments.

————————————————–

We will be looking at problems in areas such as health care,
transportation, and education that arise in the developing world and
resource-constrained regions of the developed world. Projects will
involve a variety of software design, user interface design, and web
applications.  Possible examples include:

– User interfaces for ultrasound machines
– PDA/phone-based medical protocols for pediatric health tracking
– SMS-based transportation coordination/sharing
– educational software for low-resource communities
– information systems or resources for homeless populations
– technology for immigrant communities

If you are interested in the opportunity to design and implement
technology in a resource-constrained environment, consider taking the
course this Winter and Spring.  RCEs provide unique infrastructure,
technical, and social constraints that demand innovative design
approaches.  By the end of the year, interdisciplinary teams of
students will have conducted fieldwork with potential user
populations, designed a technology to solve a community-based problem,
and implemented the solution. Most teams will have the opportunity
also to conduct an evaluation study of their implementation.  The
course is open to all students and projects will accommodate a wide
range of backgrounds.

————————————————–

If you are at all interested in tackling some of the most difficult
and potentially impactful design problems, please attend our first
meeting Tues Jan 5th at 2:30-4:20 in Sieg 227 to find out more.

To sign up for CSE 490D for Winter 2010, send email to
rea@cs.washington.edu and I’ll send you an add code.

Ruth Anderson, CSE (rea@cs.washington.edu)
Beth Kolko, HCDE (bkolko@u.washington.edu)

————————————————–
Summary

Autumn 2009 (If you are interested to see what we did this fall.)
http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse490d/09au/

Winter 2010 – CSE 490D/HCDE 419
Students may sign up for one of two options:
1) HCDE 419 – 5 credits, this HCI course will focus on design,
especially user research techniques, in resource constrained
environments.
2) CSE 490D – 2 credits, design studio to refine project ideas for
spring quarter.

Spring 2010 – CSE 490D
CSE 490d – 5 credits, may count as software capstone design credit for
Comp E. or CS, or as an approved senior elective for CS majors.  Other
registration options may also be possibile for Spring, including
credits as HCDE 496.

————————————————–

Chemistry 590B: Science and Law, SLN 11836

Lecture: Thursday, 530-720pm, Bagley 154

Instructor: Adjunct Prof. Karl Hermanns
206.622.4900, karlh@seedlaw.com

This course provides an overview of intellectual property (IP); namely, patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. As traditional industries are being supplanted with knowledge-based companies, ones in which ideas and innovation have assumed an ever increasing role in a competitive business environment, intellectual property has emerged as a powerful tool in this new economy. Particularly in the field of patent law, companies are increasingly using intellectual property protection as competitive weapons to both capture and defend markets, as well as to increase reviews. This course will address the various forms of intellectual property protection available to technology-based companies, with real world and current examples from a practicing patent attorney. The course instructor, Karl Hermanns, is a chemist-turned-lawyer with the Seattle law firm of Seed IP Law Group, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington School of Law.

Textbook: none.

Grading: Credit/no credit. You will need to complete a written assignment to receive credit.

CSE 490D – Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments

This fall we are offering a 1-credit reading seminar on technology in resource-constrained environments. We’ll focus on both projects in developing countries as well as research that looks at resource-constrained

communities in developed countries (i.e., low-income communities, low bandwidth environments, etc.). The seminar will meet Tuesdays from 1.30-2.30 in CSE 203 and it can be taken as either CSE 490 or HCDE 496.

The course will be coordinated by Ruth Anderson from CSE and Beth Kolko from HCDE. The seminar will provide an introduction to the area of technology and resource constrained environments by reading the basic papers in the area. The format will be discussion, with discussion leaders responsible for guiding a discussion (but not giving a full recap of the paper). There will be no papers or tests.

This reading course is part of a year-long design and implementation course that we encourage all students interested in the seminar to consider, although the readings course can be taken on its own.

(more…)

Did you know that Intel has recently developed an optical interconnect (http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1813.htm),  which they’re going to be rolling out onto PC’s over the next couple of years?  The computers of the very near future are going to include chip-scale optical and optoelectronic devices.

Understanding how photonic devices work and where they fit into realistic systems is going to be important for anyone who wants to understand the future of computer architecture and advanced VLSI implementation.

I’d like to invite you to sign up for a new course that I’m teaching this year, entitled Waveguide Integrated Optics.   In this course, we’re going to cover the basic technologies that go into building optoelectronic circuits within traditional CMOS VLSI.  We’ll cover process integration, modulators, detectors, waveguides, and the other issues associated with making these systems real.   The course will also include a project component, where you will learn to analyze silicon waveguide based devices using both theoretical and computational tools, including industry-standard optical design automation software.

My background includes starting a couple of companies in this space, including luxtera (www.luxtera.com), so we’ll also discuss commercial opportunities: Where might there be chances to do exciting research, both here on campus in the wider world?  What kinds of startup companies are likely to emerge?  How might you go about getting a company funded in this space?

The course is being taught at a special topics course this year, and is listed as EE400 section B; it’s three credits and mees on Fridays from 1:30 to 4:20 (probably with a short break in the middle).  It meets in EEB 025.   Please send me email at hochberg@washington.edu if you have any questions.

This course is open to both undergraduates and graduate students; you’ll be expected to be familiar with Maxwell’s equations and basic electromagnetics, though this will be reviewed briefly at the beginning of the course.  Very basic familiarity with some mathematical programming environment – matlab, C, or something else – will also be expected.

I look forward to seeing you in class!

Michael

Looking for a good VLPA for autumn quarter? Check out Art 126, Topics in Studio Art. (SLN 20625, TTH 230-520 in Art 110)  It’s a VLPA  and provides a good introduction to the basic discipline of art and design and how the discipline is applicable in many fields including visual communication, architecture, engineering, all the fine arts, etc.

If you filled out an overload request for a CSE course and have NOT heard from me directly via email,  please email me. At this point I think I have contacted everyone about their course preferences. We’re still moving a few folks around, but you should have at heard from me.

We look forward to seeing everyone back in a few weeks (school starts on Sept. 30th)

Crystal