CSE Undergrad News

Overview:
11/19: Google Office Hours
11/22 – 23: Thanksgiving Break

Google Office Hours
11/19; 12:00 – 1:30pm; Atrium

Thanksgiving Break
11/22 – 23
Have a great break! Stay safe and have fun!

Research Night is tomorrow, November 15th, from 4pm – 7:30pm! Come check out the research our department has been working on and possibly find a project that interests you. This is a great way to get involved with undergraduate research. Come grab a bite and check out what opportunities await you!

Agenda:
4:00pm – Student Panel in EEB 125
5:00pm – Poster Session in the Atrium

See you there!

http://www.microsoft.com/university/scholarships

Program Overview

Microsoft College scholarships are designed to encourage students to pursue studies in computer science and related technical disciplines. Students will be awarded scholarships in recognition of their passion for software, academic excellence, and ability to make a difference in the software industry.

Microsoft is excited to be offering scholarships for the 2013–2014 academic year.  Applications must be postmarked by February 1, 2013.

At Microsoft, we want to encourage students from groups currently under-represented in the field of computer science to pursue technical degrees.  While all candidates who meet the criteria for eligibility described below may apply, a large majority of our scholarships will be awarded to female students, under-represented minority students or students with disabilities. Minority applicants must be a member of one of the following groups under-represented in the software field: African American, Hispanic or Native American. Microsoft will review all applications and select final candidates on the basis of eligibility, quality of application, displayed interest in the software industry, commitment to leadership and financial need. We will target announcing scholarship recipients by March 1^st, 2013.

What are the provisions of the award?

Scholarships are awarded, full or partial amounts, to recipients for the 2013-2014 academic year.  Full tuition scholarships will cover tuition for the 2013-2014 academic year as posted by the financial aid office at your college or university. Microsoft will make payments to the designated school, and they’re not transferable to other academic institutions.  Funds are to be used for tuition only and may not be used for other costs on the recipient’s bursar bill.All recipients of the scholarship will be required to apply for, and complete if offered, a salaried summer internship of 12 weeks or more at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington.  Microsoft reserves the right not to offer a position to the scholarship winner if an appropriate match cannot be found.

What are the criteria for scholarship eligibility?

Students must be enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program at a 4-year college or university in the United States, Canada, or Mexico at the time the application is submitted.  Students must be enrolled full-time and making satisfactory progress toward an undergraduate degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a related technical discipline, such as math or physics, with a demonstrated interest in computer science.  The student must have a 3.0 cumulative grade point average out of a possible 4.0, or a 4.0 cumulative grade point average out of a possible 5.0.

What is required to apply?

A completed application includes six items:  your résumé, transcript, application details, essay questions, letter of referral, and online application to the Microsoft Summer Internship program.  Items must be postmarked or emailed by February 1, 2013 to receive full consideration.  An application is considered ineligible if all parts are not received.  It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all pieces are received by Microsoft by the deadline.

Résumé – Send a copy of your résumé that includes your contact information, major, and graduation date.

Transcript – Send a copy of your current academic transcript.

Application Details – Use one page (total) to answer the following questions:

• What is your estimated tuition cost for the 2013-2014 academic year (base cost; not including room & board or books)?
• Is your tuition in state, out of state, private, or international?
• Would receiving a Microsoft scholarship adversely impact any other financial aid you will receive for the 2013-2014 academic year?

Essay Questions – Use one page (total) to answer all four of the following essay questions:

• Describe how you demonstrate your passion for technology outside the classroom.
• Describe the toughest technical problem you’ve worked on, how you addressed the problem, your role in reaching the outcome, if it was team-based, and the final outcome.
• Describe a situation which demonstrates initiative and your willingness to go above and beyond.
• Describe how you are currently funding your college education (i.e. loans, grants, scholarships, etc.)

Gender/Ethnicity/Disability (optional) – Please note your gender, ethnicity or disability on the page with your essay questions if you would like that information to be considered with your application.

Letter of referral – Enclose a letter of referral from a faculty member or an academic advisor who knows your work.

Online Application to the Microsoft Internship Program – Apply online at http://www.microsoft.com/university for a summer internship. Only students who have applied online for an internship will be considered for a Microsoft Scholarship.

Please send your completed application items by February 1, 2013.

Email: scholars @microsoft.com

Mail: Microsoft Scholarship Program, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-8303

Hi all,

Just a reminder…If you are interested in attending the 2013 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Washington, D.C. from February 7th-10th, please let me know and plan to apply for a scholarship by the November 25th deadline..  We hope to organize a small number of ugrads and grads to attend the conference with departmental support.

Thanks!

– Megan

The 2013 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in

Computing Conference has issued a call for participation, inviting
submissions for panel discussions, student research posters,
birds-of-a-feather sessions and workshops. Additionally, applications
are now being accepted for the Doctoral Consortium and student
scholarships to attend the conference. Tapia 2013 will be held Feb.
7-10, 2013 in Washington, D.C.

The 2013 conference is the seventh in the series and brings together
diverse leading researchers to present state-of-the art topics in the
field of computing. The Tapia conference has a tradition of providing
a supportive networking environment for under-represented groups
across the broad range of computing and information technology, from
science to business to the arts to infrastructure. Tapia 2013 is
organized by the Coalition to Diversify Computing and co-sponsored by
the Association for Computing Machinery and in cooperation with the
IEEE Computer Society and the Computing Research Association.

Confirmed speakers include Vint Cerf (Google VP and ACM President),
Armando Fox (UC Berkeley), Anita Jones (University of Virginia),
Jeanine Cook (New Mexico State University), Annie Anton (Georgia
Tech), and Hakim Weatherspoon, (Cornell University), among others. For
more information, visit the Tapia 2013
website<http://tapiaconference.org/2013/>.

The Tapia conference is organized by the Coalition to Diversify
Computing, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery, and
in cooperation with the IEEE-Computer Society and the Computing
Research Association.

Date to be determined.

Overview:
11/13: Zynga Tech Talk
11/14: Twitter Tech Talk
11/15: Amazon Office Hours

Zynga Tech Talk
11/13; 6:00 – 7:30pm; EEB 125

Please join us to hear from UW alum Iva Dermendjieva and Sr University Relations Manager Larry Benesh. Iva will talk about her work as a game developer and will discuss the challenges of building engaging games for millions of users. Food will be served!

We’re hiring! Visit zynga.com/students or send your resume to Julie Barton (jbarton@zynga.com) to apply.

Twitter Tech Talk
11/14; 6:00 – 7:00pm; EEB 125

Amazon Office Hours
11/15; 12:00pm – 1:30pm; Atrium

Hi everyone,

The quarterly Lunch with the Chair has to be rescheduled. It will no longer be taking place on next Tuesday. New details below.

What: Lunch with the Chair, Hank Levy
When: Wednesday, Nov 28 12-1
Where: CSE 691 (Gates Commons)

As usual, this is an opportunity to eat pizza, ask questions about the program, eat more pizza, and find out what’s going on.

Hey Folks,

First, we know there are some issues with full classes, and we want you to know we’re working on it. We are in the process of raising some limits right now and hope to continue to make room over the next week.  At this point, you should continue to watch the schedule for open space.  We will not be overloading any courses until the quarter starts.   Also, PLEASE do not ‘game’ the system by registering for everything and holding spaces… this just makes our job harder trying to figure out how to get everyone what they need.

Please do go ahead and try to register for the courses you want, even if they are full.  When you attempt to register for a full lecture and section, it triggers our system to count the number of denied students.  If we see a course with a bunch of denies, we know where to try to put resources to expand classes.

Also, please note that we generally find a way to make this work out. So please be patient for the next week or two and let us see where demand is and where we can add room.

Once the quarter starts, attend the courses you want to enroll in and add your name to the overload list. In almost every case we are able to find room for everyone who needs a course, or we are able to provide a good back-up plan if we can’t.

Keep in mind there are a lot of factors that go into raising limits: you need a room, you need a room big enough at the right time and you need TA’s…. I promise you we are trying.

Sincerely,

CSE Advising

RoMeLa, the Robotics and Mechanisms Lab at Virginia Tech, would like to advertise several funded MS, PhD, and Post Doc positions for team THOR of the DARPA Robotics Challenge.  Team THOR is one of seven funded Track-A teams worldwide tasked with designing, building, and testing our own disaster response robot.  Our team is looking for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in the areas of:

Software Design

Dynamics and Controls

Robotics Simulation

Electronics Design / Embedded Systems

Mechanical Design and Fabrication

Interested applicants can find more information at www.romela.org/main/Research_Positions and can email a CV to romela@vt.edu.

Thank you,

Dr. Dennis Hong

Virginia Tech Robotics and Mechanisms Lab

It will be rescheduled during the winter quarter.