CSE Undergrad News

We have added more information on another special topics course, this one is 490J an animation virtual reality production course. You can go to the special topics page for information on all the courses.

490J: Virtual Reality Production for Storytelling

Winter quarter is right around the corner, and if you have classes where you’d like a study buddy or two, RSVP for a night of study-buddy searching with ACM-W: Mingle with people from your classes and walk away knowing some familiar faces to look out for in your classes!

SNACKS WILL BE PROVIDED, and we’ll have icebreakers and games so you’ll have the opportunity to meet a variety of new people! Whether you walk away with a large study group, one or two study buddies, or none at all, we hope to give you the opportunity to meet people so that you can see some familiar faces around the halls of the CSE buildings!

ACM-W is committed to ensuring that our events are accessible for all students and is happy to arrange disability accommodations for students (with advanced notice). Please reach out to Chloe Dolese-Mandeville (our staff adviser) at cdolese@cs.washington.edu if you have any questions or requests. Please note that we occasionally may not be able to fulfill a specific request, but will do the very best we can to ensure you have a positive experience at our event!

RSVP Here: https://tinyurl.com/studybuddy-wi20

(Please use your CSE email to access!)

WHEN: Friday, Jan. 10th, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

WHERE: CSE2 G01

Best,

ACM-W

Hello CSE!

This is just a reminder that a big change is coming to our ACM-W event system! Starting Winter Quarter 2020, the majority of our events will be restricted to members only. That means networking events like Din Tai Fung with Bloomberg as well as the Winter Affiliates Dinner will be open only to those who sign up to be an ACM-W member. So how do you become a member? Two easy steps: 1. fill out this form, and 2. we will review the form and get back to you soon!

Please fill out the membership form HERE: https://tinyurl.com/acmwmembership

**Remember to use your CSE email to log into this form!**

Seen a lot of our event advertisements but still not sure exactly what ACM-W is? The Association for Computing Machinery’s Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W) supports, celebrates, and advocates for the full engagement of women in all aspects of the computing field. ACM-W at UW helps to promote that mission here at the Allen School by providing resources (such as networking with companies and career prep workshops) and building spaces to foster community amongst CSE students. As a member, you not only get exclusive access to these events but also become a part of a more tight-knit community of individuals like you who are passionate about learning more about diversity in tech. Anyone who supports our mission, regardless of gender identity, is welcome to become a member!

Come join us!

Best,

ACM-W

Hi CSE!

It has come to our attention that the way we phrased our membership recruitment post left room for multiple interpretations on who’s eligible to become an ACM-W member. In order to better portray our message to you, here is a more accurate representation of what ACM-W membership looks like!

The Association for Computing Machinery’s Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W) supports, celebrates, and advocates for the full engagement of women in all aspects of the computing field. ACM-W at UW helps to promote that mission here at the Allen School by providing resources (such as networking with companies and career prep workshops) and building spaces to foster community amongst CSE students. As a member, you not only get exclusive access to these events but also become a part of a more tight-knit community of individuals like you who are passionate about learning more about diversity in tech. Any student in the Allen School who supports our mission, regardless of gender identity, is welcome to become a member!

We apologize for any confusion!

Best,
ACM-W

Hello CSE!

A big change is coming to our ACM-W event system! Starting Winter Quarter 2020, the majority of our events will be restricted to members only. That means networking events like Din Tai Fung with Bloomberg as well as the Winter Affiliates Dinner will be open only to those who sign up to be an ACM-W member. So how do you become a member? Two easy steps: 1. fill out this form, and 2. we will review the form and get back to you soon!

Please fill out the membership form HERE: https://tinyurl.com/acmwmembership

**Remember to use your CSE email to log into this form!**

Seen a lot of our event advertisements but still not sure exactly what ACM-W is? ACM-W is an Allen School student organization dedicated to cultivating a strong supportive community of women and sparking dialogue around the importance and necessity of diversity/inclusion in the computing world. We do this by providing resources (such as networking with companies and career prep workshops) and building spaces to foster community amongst CSE students. As a member, you not only get exclusive access to these events but also become a part of a more tight-knit community of individuals like you who are passionate about learning more about diversity in tech.

Come join us!

Best, ACM-W

MATH 380: A Second Course in Linear Algebra will be offered for the first time next quarter (and again in the spring). It is a follow-on to MATH 308 and will pick up where MATH 308 left off.

Linear algebra has a tremendous number of applications in computer science. These applications range from being a foundational topic for fields like machine learning or computer vision to subtler applications like helping us understand the structure of social networks or knowledge graphs. MATH 308 is a good starting point for understanding linear algebra, but there is so much more to explore! MATH 380 is a new follow-on course to MATH 308 to deepen your understanding of the applications of linear algebra to various fields. In this class, you will see a wide variety of these applications while also developing theory beyond MATH 308.

If you are a Math minor, this class could be a good course to consider since the topics covered are so applicable to CS!

You can find out more information about the course here: https://math.washington.edu/special-offerings#math380a.

We have put together a new webpage with all the 490/492 special topics and seminars courses for winter quarter.

Special Topics and Seminars for Winter 2020

One things to note, while all the graded 490’s on this page for winter will count as CSE Senior Elective credit, they will NOT count as Core Courses.  There is also a new change by the curriculum committee that you may apply one of the following towards CSE senior electives: 2 credits of CSE 301 (internship credit) OR 2 credits of ENGR 321 (Engineering internship credit) OR one credit of 492 seminar even though these are all credit/no credit.

CSE 490: Special Topics in Computer Science and Engineering

All of the following CSE 490s will apply as CSE Senior Electives if they are graded credits but not as Core Courses.  

490A: Entrepreneurship: Company-Building

From formation to successful exit. Admission by application only:

**This application is currently closed for the quarter due to a high number of applications.

490D: Accessibility Capstone Prep

New accessible technologies are rapidly transforming the way users interact with digital interfaces. How can inclusive design practices support independent living in an interconnected world for people with heterogeneous abilities? CSE 490D is designed to give students the tools, foundational understanding, and inclusive design thinking to practice and build accessibility into their design and engineering projects.

Bringing together end-users, professionals and thought leaders, CSE 490D is a survey course and showcase featuring innovative technology, mobile applications, connected devices, and services for more than one-billion users worldwide.

Key Topics include:

• Smart Cities for All “Last Mile” Solutions
• Artificial Intelligence for User Interfaces
• IoT and Robots for Smart Homes
• Real World End User Experience
• Accessible Media Platforms Entertainment
• Autonomous Mobility
• Augmented Reality
• International Trends in Digital Accessibility
• W3C: Standards for Web Accessibility

490V: Virtual Reality Systems

Prerequisites:  Linear Algebra (MATH 308) and Systems Programming (CSE 333). Students are also recommended to have completed either Vision (CSE 455) or Graphics (CSE 457) coursework. Familiarity with JavaScript will be helpful, but is not required.

Modern virtual reality systems draw on the latest advances in optical fabrication, embedded computing, motion tracking, and real-time rendering. In this hands-on course, students will foster similar cross-disciplinary knowledge to build a fully functional head-mounted display. This overarching project spans hardware (optics, displays, electronics, and microcontrollers) and software (JavaScript, WebGL, and GLSL). Each assignment will build toward this larger goal. For example, in one assignment, students will learn to use an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to track the position of the headset. In another assignment, students will apply real-time computer graphics methods to correct lens distortions. Lectures will complement these engineering projects, diving into the history of AR/VR and relevant topics in computer graphics, signal processing, and human perception. Guest speakers will participate from leading AR/VR companies and academic institutions.

This course is designed to be accessible to senior undergraduates and early MS/PhD students without requiring a hardware background. Attendance is limited to 40 students.

CSE 492: Undergraduate Seminars

492E: Computer Ethics

Be it social media platforms, robots, or big data systems, the code Allen School students write—the decisions they make—influences the world in which it operates. This is a survey course about those influences and how to think about them. We recognize “the devil is in the implementation details.”

The course is divided into two parts: In the first part, we survey historical and local issues in tech, particularly those concerning data. We then engage with critical perspectives from disciplines such as feminism, machine ethics, and science and technology studies as a framework for students to articulate their own beliefs concerning these systems. In the second part, we apply these perspectives to urgent issues in emerging technologies, such as facial recognition and misinformation.

Throughout students hone their critical reading and discussion skills, preparing them for a life-long practice of grappling with the—often unanticipated—consequences of innovation.

We cover topics such as: AI ethics, social good, utopianism, governance, inclusion, facial recognition, classification, privacy, automation, platforms, speculative design, identity, fairness, power and control, activism, and subversive technologies.

492J: Landing a Job in the Software Industry

Prerequisite: Completion of 332 or co-enrollment

Taught By: Kim Nguyen, Allen School Career Counselor and Katherine Wang, Interviewing Extraordinaire

Meets: Tuesday and Thursday 12:30 – 1:20

This seminar is targeted at students who have already completed 332 (or are taking it during Winter 2020) and need help building their confidence for pursuing software engineering jobs (internship and full-time). Kim and Kat will take you through the recruiting process end-to-end: resumes, applying, career fairs, interacting with recruiters, INTERVIEWING, negotiating, etc. The bulk of the course will be focused on software engineering interview techniques. This pass/fail seminar will include an optional weekly workshop on Thursdays @ 12:30 PM.  Note that this seminar is not a good fit for anyone who has already had multiple internships or has had multiple successful experiences interviewing for software opportunities. There will be no exceptions for students that do not meet the CSE 332 pre/co-req. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kim Nguyen: kim@cs.washington.edu

492S: A Workshop in Software Performance Engineering

Prerequisite: CSE 331

Software Performance Engineering is devoted to building responsive systems and achieving scalability requirements. The seminar will use readings, case studies, and guest lectures to introduce students to the practical tools and techniques that skilled software developers use to solve difficult performance problems. The class discussion will focus each week on a single, performance-related topic: Moore’s Law, RISC machines vs. CISC, benchmarking, parallel processing and Amdahl’s Law, integrating performance into the application development life cycle, load and stress testing, the human psychology of time perception, RTT in TCP, among others.

The instructor is an industry veteran and well-known developer of performance tools. The workshop is based on a fuller version of the class that was first given to graduate students in 2018.

1-credit CR/NC, expected workload from students outside of regular attendance is 1-2 hours/week