CSE Undergrad News

The student-driven Critical Development Forum at UW offers a seminar this autumn, open to students from all disciplines, through the Department of Geography. When the seminar was first offered, last winter, we were fortunate to have several engineering students in the class, and we would love to have a similarly diverse group of students
this fall. I will be facilitating the seminar, with Prof. Matt Sparke serving as the faculty advisor. More information on the course is below.

Autumn 2012 course offering — back by popular demand!

GEOG 497 B:
Making the Most of Good Intentions:
Evaluating Global Development Work Critically

2-4* credits, student-directed seminar, autumn 2012

Facilitator: Orion Donovan-Smith (International Studies; Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies)

Faculty Advisor: Professor Matt Sparke (Geography, Global Health, International Studies)

Wednesdays, 2:30-4:20 pm, Raitt 109

Email orionds@uw.edu to request a spot. Include your name, major, year
in school, and a few sentences about why you are interested in taking
the course. Please note: The seminar will be limited to 15 students,
not 20, as indicated on the time schedule.

Course website and e-syllabus (from Winter 2012 session): cdfseminar.tumblr.com

When are good intentions not enough? When are they harmful? How can we
best use our good intentions to make a difference in issues of
poverty, injustice, and inequality?  This is a forum for students with
good intentions – those of us who serve and advocate for the poor and
marginalized locally and globally – to take a pause from the ongoing
momentum of our work for self-reflection. The seminar provides an
academic space to complement the student-driven Critical Development
Forum (students.washington.edu/cdfuw).

The City of Seattle wants CSE majors to know about an app contest and some special events: a business casual event on Aug. 9 and our Geeks on a Ferry event on Aug. 14. The event on a ferry has a special student rate and includes dinner. The link to the apps challenge is here http://www.evergreenapps.org/

Evergreen Apps Challenge seeks application developers
Build an app. Make a difference

SEATTLE – Seattle, King County and Washington State are teaming up to offer more than $75,000 in prize money for development of apps that use government data and stimulate economic development throughout the state. State support comes from the Washington State Broadband Office which is a program of the state Department of Commerce. The challenge officially opens today and is open to anyone who lives, works or studies in Washington State.

“We expect to see some great apps that combine the best work of our dynamic private and public sectors,” said Rogers Weed, director of the Department of Commerce. “Washington’s digital economy, from broadband to software to e-commerce, is key to the state’s recovery, growth and resilience.” (more…)

The BioEngineering department has several great senior-level and grad-level courses with space available for CSE students interested in bioengineering/medicine.  CSE majors can register themselves into these courses during Period II.

BIOEN 488 (SLN 11176)/588 (SLN 11187)  (4 cr) – Computational Protein Design (Dr. Daggett) http://depts.washington.edu/daglab/bioe488-588/syllabus.html: Explores methods in protein engineering, emphasizing biomedical and biotechnological applications. Includes molecular visualization, homology modeling, molecular dynamics, computational protein design, and evaluation of designs. Introduces current research in subject area. Students learn to use and apply computational tools to investigate design problems.

BIOEN 599 L (SLN 11197) (4cr) – Grad Imaging Modality 1: X-Ray/Nuclear Imaging (Dr. Ruikang Wang & Dr. Paul Kinahan) http://www.washington.edu/students/icd/S/bioeng/599kinahan.html : Dr. Kinahan is currently revising his course with Dr. Wang, so the course description and syllabus is currently unavailable.  Undergraduates (seniors) are also welcome to contact Dr. Wang wangrk@uw.edu or Dr. Kinahan kinahan@u.washington.edu for any questions regarding recommended backgrounds/permission.

BIOEN 505 (SLN 11183) (4cr)  Biomedical Entrepreneurship (Dr. Buddy Ratner & Dr. Pierre Mourad)
Explores essential business, legal, engineering, and other skills necessary to take new technology from research to market. Covers intellectual property, market analysis, licensing, funding mechanisms such as venture capital, and product marketing; introduces strategic planning, management of commercialization effort. BIOEN 504 recommended, but anyone who is interested in entrepreneurship is welcome to take, including undergraduate students.

Questions, contact:

Rika Kurose
Academic Services Office
Department of Bioengineering
University of Washington
206-616-2423
bioeng@u.washington.edu
http://depts.washington.edu/bioe
http://facebook.com/uwbioe

HCDE 417 Usability Research Techniques: open to CS and CE students

The listed prerequisite will be waived for your students.  
This course is a beneficial, broad, survey of user research and testing, 
so prior knowledge in programming, specific interface design concepts, etc. is not required.

Please encourage interested students to complete an add code request  as soon as possible at
 HTTP://TINYURL.COM/6PPNAKP.   I’ll be distributing add codes over the next couple of weeks.

Please let me know if you have questions.

Thanks,

Stephanie

HCDE 417 Usability Research Techniques (5) 
Introduces usability research methods used in the product-development process; contextual inquiry, surveys and interviews, focus groups, user profiling, usability testing, cognitive walkthroughs, heuristics, and others.

 
Class description

This course is focuses on usability research techniques, particularly usability testing as it fits into an overall user-centered design strategy. The course takes a process approach; you will learn how to define your audiences and issues, create investigative procedures that answer your questions, administer the procedures, analyze the results, and report your findings effectively.

Student learning goals

Understand user requirements studies and usability testing and what they can contribute to a design effort

Design and conduct a user requirements study to inform the design of a subsequent usability test

Design a usability test that addresses relevant design concerns

Administer the test, analyze the results, and report the findings effectively

General method of instruction

presentations and discussions; workshops

Recommended preparation

Class assignments and grading

Design and conduct of user studies; preparation of a user study kit; data analysis; reporting; reading

All major assignments are graded on the quality of the work submitted. Some assignment grades are based on the work of the group within which an individual works.

Stephanie White

Academic Advisor
428 Sieg Hall – Human Centered Design & Engineering

whitesj@uw.edu  –  206.221.6230
Summer Hours for appointments: M-TH; 9am-3pm

You are invited to evaluate a tool for verifying the absence of bugs in software.

Participants will spend 2 – 4 1/2 hours working through a tutorial, taking a short comprehension quiz, using the verification tool, and answering a questionnaire. Each participant that completes the study will be given a $60 Amazon gift certificate. The study will take place at the Paul Allen Center at the University of Washington.

If you are over 18 and have completed CSE 331 (or its equivalent), you may be eligible to participate. The risks associated with study are consistent with the risks of regular computer use, including but not limited to: ergonomic risk, and possible frustration when learning and performing the computer task.

This study is being conducted in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle campus. Your participation in this research is voluntary, and you are free to refuse to participate or quit the experiment at any time.

If you have questions about the research or are interested in participating, please contact Todd Schiller by email attws@cs.washington.edu.

Undergraduate research assistant

Description: Professor Tyler McCormick (http://www.stat.washington.edu/~tylermc) and colleagues are seeking an undergraduate research assistant to perform tasks which facilitate research in statistical/machine learning, social network analysis, and Bayesian statistics.  The position is flexible, with an expected commitment of on average 10-15  hours per week, and will include activities such as coding, generating statistical graphics, proofreading manuscripts, and compiling literature reviews. This position is an excellent opportunity to get first-hand experience with the research process.  The position would start immediately and continue through the summer with the possibility of extension through the academic year.

Requirements: Coursework through intermediate-level statistics courses.  Must also have experience programming in R  *and* at least one of Python, Java, or C.

Application: Please email Professor McCormick (mcclass@u.washington.edu) with a CV/resume (listing your coursework and programming experience) and a writing sample (2-3 pages in English).  Please also state whether or not you are eligible for work study.

Anyone want to spend half an hour with two prospective UW freshmen?

Sunday, July 29
Anytime between 11am and 1pm.
Two high school seniors + parent
Show them the CSE building, and talk with them CSE and UW.

Email Raven if interested.

An Earth and Space Science group is experimenting with 3D display and computer hardware to develop an immersive visualization system optimized for solving geologic problems. The IO components of the system would include:

(1 )Large 3D monitory(s) (> 65”),
(2) Kinect(s),
(3) Interactive pen monitor(s) (.e.g. http://thepandacity.com/ProductMSP19.aspx) and
(4 )Data glove(s) (e.g. http://www.vrealities.com/dg5glove.html ).

Although the project would start with a simple GIS problem set, the ultimate goal of the system would be to move beyond the passive display of spatial-temporal data and emphasize the interactive refinement of complex geologic models. This could also be an opportunity for an advanced student to act as a ‘consultant’ on the project. She or he would experience a real world project with: clients who would view computer programing has a means to an end, exposure to different programing environment (e.g. C#, Python), a venue to use CSE expertise on problems where the answer is not in the back of the book, and have to deal with decisions common to research (e.g. buy a bigger monitor and upgrade an old PC or buy a small monitor and a new PC?).

Past collaborations between geologists with interesting problems and computer scientists have produced interesting results (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j9JXtTj0mzE ) in the past and this project has the potential to do likewise.

Now is the optimum time to get involved because the ESS group is just starting to shop for hardware.

If interested, contact Gregg Petrie, gregg@hiker.org. Credit is available.