Programming challenge for students – Fix 1 bug in 1 min. Win $100

There is aan online programming challenge coming up next week – the Quixey Challenge.

The Quixey Challenge is an opportunity for CS students from across the country to fix 1 bug in 1 min and win $100. We host the challenge once a month and thousands of students from across the country already play.

You can check out the challenge here:www.quixeychallenge.com.

And see some press about it here:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_two_startups_used_games_to_beat_the_developer.php

April 18, 2012

Quizbowl Team at UW seeks CSE majors!

The Quizbowl Team at UW is looking for new members to compete in buzzer-based trivia competitions against other colleges from around the country. Quizbowl is similar to Knowledge Bowl, Science Bowl and Jeopardy, and it tests your knowledge across a wide range of subjects, both academic and pop culture. It’s a fun way to show others what you’ve learned, and to learn lots of new things in the process.

We practice on Mondays and Thursdays from 6-8 PM in Room 162 of Savery Hall. New members are always welcome at any practice. Anyone is welcome to join the team — no prior experience required and there are no try-outs.

For more information about the club, please e-mail uwquizbowl@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/120989831335312/

April 17, 2012

Another research study looking for volunteers

Attention Mac users!

Want to share your opinions about the iCal app on Mac OS X? We’re conducting a user research study on iCal, giving you the chance to share your gripes or praises about iCal.

The study will either be held this Saturday or this Sunday on the UW campus, depending on the availability of the participants.

To participate in the study, you should meet the following requirements:

Currently use a Mac
Currently use iCal or have used iCal at least once before
Be over 18 years of age

Participants will receive a $5 Amazon gift card and will be given snacks and beverages during the study.
Want to participate? Fill out this short questionnaire and we’ll contact you by Friday if you’re an appropriate match.

Additional Information

This is a group study. You will be seated with a group of other people and asked to share your thoughts out loud. This study may be recorded. Videos may be made publicly viewable for presentations and student portfolios unless participants request that their information remains confidential.

The information gathered from this study will be used for a class project for a course within the Human Centered Design & Engineering department.

Thank you!

April 17, 2012

Research study needs volunteers

Dear STEM student,

My name is Alma Emadi and I’m a Presidential scholar and a senior in the Industrial and Systems Engineering department. My team and I are conducting a research study in use and allocation of colors in designing displays. We are looking for graduate and undergraduate students in the science, technology, mathematics and engineering majors to take part in our experiment. Our experiment will be set up as a 15-minute information session followed by a 5-minute simulation game. . The whole procedure should not take more than 30 minutes and will be conducted in a convenient location on campus. We will schedule the experiment with our subject at a time of your convenience and will provide free delicious food to those who participate. We will not be collecting any personal data apart from gender and age and will not keep a separate link between our subjects and the acquired data. There are no physical risks associated with this experiment, and it should be relatively easy for you to do. Please help us by spreading the word in your department and between your friends. We would greatly appreciate your help!. If you want to read more about our research, you can read a short summary of it below this letter. Furthermore, if you’d like to get more information about it, you can reach us at aemadi@uw.edu or by phone at (206)-501-6946. You can also schedule your participation appointment at: http://www.doodle.com/i445dmq4mek377x8. If none of those times work for you, just email us and we will find another time that works for you.

Best regards,

Alma Emadi

Do you wonder how displays are classified and defined?

Displays in general are designed objects meant for communication and notification. The display design has become even more important as the necessity of such information communication increases, such as displays used in control rooms and in manufacturing systems. The ineffectiveness of such displays can lead the operator to be in one of the following situations: The operator will make a type-one error, where he/she falsely detects a signal, or the operator will make a type-two error, where he/she fails to detect the signal when the signal is actually present. Lastly, the operator will be under heavy stress and even though he/she might not make a mistake yet, the chances of such occurrence increase dramatically. While there have been many advancements in the physical configuration of displays, the use of color in designing such objects has not been studied excessively and there have been contradicting results in regard to the benefits of using colors in display design. Moreover, with regards to the selection of colors and allocating them on the display, no general solution exists.

What is this research about exactly?

This research will place an emphasis on finding a methodology for the use and allocation of colors in display design and will be an innovative contribution to the field of display design and, more generally, human factors engineering. Our research question is divided into two parts. The first part is that we will determine if incorporating colors into displays is effective in reducing recognition time and increasing accuracy of signals. Secondly, we will investigate how colors should be allocated and successful methods of color-coding. Our research hypothesis is that use of colors will yield higher accuracy rate and lower detection time; however, we will weight accuracy more strongly than speed. In that matter, we believe that using colors as an additional tag of data will improve both priorities. The form our experiment would be similar to a short simulation game. We have designed a display using a simulation program called NetLogo. The display has multiple elements. It is programed in a way that would automatically simulate a thermodynamic reaction when activated. Users will be asked to detect the signals in a timely manner and respond to prompts appearing on the screen. The simulation game will record the time and accuracy of the responses. These data will be analyzed and conclusions will be drawn.

What am I asked to do exactly?

You will be asked to seat in front of a projected computer screen and a keyboard. You will be asked to monitor the screen and look for any signals, alarms, and commands appearing on the screen. A typical alarm would be a flashing red signal indicating that a value has gone over the accepted value. A typical signal would be a flashing light indicating a change in an indicated value, and a typical command would be a text based command appearing on the screen asking the subject to key in the value of a given element (e.g temperature valve) using the numerical keys on the keyboard. All the alarms and signals will be connected to an alphabetical key on the keyboard and will indicate that on the screen. You will only use the keyboard to enter the requested information. The simulation game will automatically record two data points for each signal, alarm, or signal. The first data point will be recording the time from signal initiation to signal detection by the user, and the second data point will record the accuracy of the input. This data point can have two different kinds of values: the first kind is for indicating whether or not the detected signal by the user was an actual signal or not (if it’s false alarm or not). The second type of data point will record the actual numerical value of the input the subject has given in response to a command from the simulation game. These data will not have identifying tags and will be only recording experiment number. These data will be kept on a flash drive that is password protected and will only be accessible by the investigators and the advising faculty. After the simulation game is done, we will ask you to take a very short survey about your experience and will ask you to provide us with your age, gender, and opinion about using colors in designing displays. This survey should not take more than 5 minutes to complete. After the survey you will be treated to some delicious food! We thank you in advance for helping us out and we hope you enjoy the experience.

Please note that if you have been diagnosed with color-blindness we will unfortunately be unable to accept you as a subject for this experiment.

April 16, 2012

BS/MS Information Session: May 9th 430pm room 691

Hey folks,

We’ll be hosting an information session on the BS/MS (5th year masters) program on May 9th at 430pm in room 691 of the Allen Center. This is for current CSE majors to attend.

Professor Dieter Fox (the faculty advisor for the BS/MS program) and I will be there to help answer questions about the program.

You should take a look at the prospective student webpages before attending to famliarize yourself with the program.

http://www.cs.washington.edu/prospective_students/bsms

Sincerely,

Crystal Eney

CSE Advisor

April 16, 2012

future growth

From: Hank Levy
Date: Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 4:07 PM
Subject: [cs-ugrads] future growth

I just wanted to tell you that over the next few years we expect to be
growing the program, as the result of the legislation that was recently
signed, which instructs UW to provide funds to increase enrollments in
engineering and computer science.   This means we’ll be hiring more
faculty over the next few years, which will allow us to teach more CSE
courses – both existing courses and new courses.   I can’t give you exact
numbers — we haven’t worked that out yet, but we’ll definitely be growing
the bachelors program and the 5th year master’s program.   Of course, the
demand for our program is enormous, and unfortunately, we still won’t be
able to meet that demand, but we will be able to take more deserving
students per year than we do today. This won’t happen all at once, since
we need a little time to get new people on board and ramped up.

hank

CSE Department Chair

April 14, 2012

Engineers Without Borders General Meeting – April 16 at 5pm

Greetings,

You are invited to attend the Engineers Without Borders University of Washington Chapter general meeting on April 16th at 5:00pm in EEB 403. We are pleased to welcome Dr. Joseph Cook from the Evans School of Public Affairs to speak on Water Supply and Sanitation in Developing Countries. Dr. Cook offers unique and interesting perspectives on supplying water to less privileged communities; a seemingly simple, but always complex problem. EWB-UWS has a history of water projects and is currently evaluating new programs, this talk will offer ideas on what will make our next project appropriate and sustainable. This meeting is a great way to network and get involved with the chapter, even if it is for the first time.

At the meeting attendees will learn about EWB-UWS current events and exciting future plans, especially our upcoming fundraiser, the third annual Building Across Borders. Jointly hosted between the UW, Seattle University, and Puget Sound Professional chapters of EWB, the dinner event includes demonstrations, games, and auctions. The event will be held Monday April 23rd 5:30pm-10:00pm in the Campion Ballroom at Seattle University. To purchase tickets online, please visit http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/222118 and enter ‘college2012’ for the discounted student price of $30.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me or another executive member.

You may have already seen this announcement, and if so we apologize for the repeat.

Best regards,

Titus

Titus Butcher
EWB-UWS Publicity Director Elect
Email: titusb@uw.edu
Cell: 253-334-8314

April 12, 2012

Qualcomm Wireless Showcase – today (4/12), 12-4 p.m. in the Atrium

Enabling Wireless and Redefining Connectivity

Qualcomm Wireless Showcase
Date: Thursday April 12th
Time: 12:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: Atrium of the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering

Check out and demo the latest in wireless technologies and products that Qualcomm chipsets power. Meet engineers and talk with recruiters! Products and technology areas will include:

Snapdragon: Powering the new generation of smart mobile devices
Augmented Reality
Mirasol display technology
And more!

www.Qualcomm.com/careers

Free Food & Giveaways!

April 12, 2012

Vote for Oren!!

Oren Etzioni etzioni@cs.washington.edu to Ed, Faculty, Cs-Grads, Staff, Cs-Ugrads
show details 8:57 PM (13 hours ago)

Ed is very kind to “get out the vote”. I would like to point out that:

1. The party is free if you vote for me and you’re a student… (it’s also free if you’re a student J).

2. Nathan Myhrvold has been linked to an outside super-PAC that’s pouring corporate money into this race…ok, maybe not…

To vote click here: http://bit.ly/gwvoting

Thanks,

Oren

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Ed Lazowska <lazowska@cs.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 8:16 PM
Subject: [Cs-staff] Vote for Oren!!
To: Faculty Faculty <faculty@cs.washington.edu>, Cs-Grads <cs-grads@cs.washington.edu>, Staff <cs-staff@cs.washington.edu>, Cs-Ugrads <cs-ugrads@cs.washington.edu>

Since kicking off the official voting yesterday, we’ve already collected hundreds of votes for the upcoming Seattle 2.0 Startup Awards. And we’re expecting even more ballots to flow in as we highlight the top minds and businesses in the Seattle startup community in the coming days, leading up to the big awards bash May 3rd at the Experience Music Project.

Today, we’re showcasing a fun category: “Geek of the Year.” Here’s how we described this one during the nomination process: “If engineering is the ‘kitchen’ of startups and tech giants, geeks are the top chefs. Nominate the best developers, designers, makers and doers in local tech.”

We’ve got a diverse group of finalists in this category, which is sponsored by Filter. And the competition is pretty tight based on the initial ballots. Vote here if you haven’t already, and if you need help deciding, see more background on each finalist below the poll.

Take Our Poll

Buster Benson: The entrepreneur, author and mobile app developer previously worked at Amazon.com before creating Robot Co-op, Locavore, and most recently, Habit Labs, a new service designed to improve one’s health and fitness. A constant chronicler of his daily routine and whereabouts, Benson’s online exhibitionism has led him to post more than 25,500 items to the Internet since October 1999.

Jim Demonakos: The longtime Emerald City Comicon director (and past GeekWire Geek of the Week) is one-half of the Kirby Krackle nerd rock band, owner of the ComicStop comic-book store chain, and author of a best-selling graphic novel.

Oren Etzioni: This serial entrepreneur and University of Washington computer scientist — another former Geek of the Week — has made a habit of building businesses based on complex algorithms that help people make decisions, the latest being Decide.com, a startup that forecasts the price of consumer electronics and appliances.

Yoky Matsuoka: She’s leaving the University of Washington, but this longtime Seattleite and specialist in robotics and human-machine interfaces is expanding into the consumer world as the vice president of technology for Nest, the Silicon Valley-based startup that develops and markets an intelligent learning thermostat.

Nathan Myhrvold: The former Microsoft technology chief, a lighting rod in the world of technology patents, also made his mark in the culinary world this past year with a six-volume scientific cookbook called Modernist Cuisine, cementing his geek cred. As if the dinosaur-hunting wasn’t enough.

You can vote in all of the Seattle 2.0 Startup Awards categories here. Also, don’t forget that early-bird pricing concludes this Friday, so make sure to pick up your tickets today for this exciting night in local tech.

Thanks to our event sponsors Filter, Protingent, Salad Labs, Silicon Valley Bank, Splunk, Washington Partners, Heinz Marketing, Bader Martin, SEOmoz, Christensen O’Connor Johnson Kindness, Knoll, and Creativello for their support.

April 11, 2012

MapReduce Bootcamp v1.0 – pilot

Hi UW CSE students!

We’re piloting a “Boot Camp Style Class” at UW this quarter because lots of students have asked if Google could teach a class on campus to cover the topic of distributed computing on large data sets on clusters of computers via MapReduce.

So, without further ado, we present: The Google UW MapReduce Bootcamp Class! Interested? Read further:

Class Title: MapReduce Bootcamp v1.0

Synopsis: 3 week Bootcamp style class to learn how to use MapReduce to process large data sets. Covers basics of MapReduce and how to apply them through a series of exercises to build a simple search engine over Wikipedia. Read full syllabus here.

Instructor: Shen Lee is a UW CSE alum of 2007 and has been a Googler since departing from the CSE department. Shen has been a technical lead on our Knowledge team and is pretty stoked to be coming back to his old stomping grounds to teach this class!

Pre-Req: CSE 143

Dates & Classroom: CSE Room 403

4/25, Wednesday, 4:30-7:00 p.m.

5/02, Wednesday, 4:30-7:00 p.m.

5/09, Wednesday, 4:30-7:00 p.m.

Office Hours: Wednesdays (4/16, 4/25, 5/02, 5/09 at 2-4pm) CSE Room 204

Food: YES. In Google fashion, we’ll have dinner during each class provided (probably pizza and the like!).

Want to sign up? Limit for class is 25 students, please fill out SIGN UP FORM by Monday 4/17 to be considered!

Thanks all! Questions? Please feel free to email Shen (shenl@google.com) or Yin (yinner@google.com).

See you in class!

Shen and Yin

April 11, 2012