A view of the world from the fourth floor of Parmly Hall
The Computer Science Department is having a t-shirt design competition!
Rules (subject to change):
Submission (subject to change): Send the images (in some commonly used format, like jpg, png, tiff) to Sara Sprenkle (sprenkles@wlu.edu). Â Include explanation, if necessary, such as which image is on the front and which is on the back.
Please let us know if you have any other ideas/suggestions.
This year’s W&L Spring-Term Festival took place in Leyburn Library, and the Computer Science Department was there in force: the twelve students enrolled in CSCI 250: Introduction to Robotics demonstrated robots that flew over obstacles, followed their creators around like a pet, played a game of Tron, and obeyed commands issued from an XBox Kinect sensor. There was even some cross-project interference, as the Kinect-driven bot tried to steal the Rovipet’s beloved green ball.
CSCI 250 also featured a field trip to the Areva Nuclear Power facility in Lynchburg, where we got to see some bigger robots in action.
W&L Computer Science students watched the first episode of the IBM Jeopardy! Challenge in the cozy Hillel House conference room, with large TV. The CS department provided snacks, while the students provided the conversation and analysis of the game. At the end of the episode, only the first round of Jeopardy! was played. Brad Rutter and Watson were tied at $5k, while Ken Jennings had $2K.
Congratulations CS class of 2009! Way to go and good luck.
See clip of Anne on W&L Facebook with her recollections of becoming a CS major!
As previously posted, seniors Nicole Carter and Anne Van Devender were awarded scholarships to attend conferences earlier this month. Here is a brief summary of their conference experiences.
I thought the conference was an amazing experience to see the types of projects that are taking place all over the country. There was definitely a great sense of pride of being a part of this growing conference which helps motivate and inspire students and faculty from different organizations and schools to work in computing or related fields.
The most interesting thing I learned was the current implementation of tele-immersive technology, which allows two people to dance in two different geographic locations and puts them in a virtual 3D space, which looks as if the people are really interacting. This topic was presented by Ruzena Bajcsy who is collaborating with UC-Berkley and Illinois-UC. This research was so fascinating because it gives new meaning to what it means to be in a space, especially when you are not really there.
The most interesting person I met was Prof. Andrew Williams who teaches at Spelman College. His family was so poor that his bed used to be a cardboard box, yet he still was motivated to go to grad school and get his Phd and was able to coach a winning all women robotics team at Spelman.
The conference was great. It really is amazing to see all of the great minds in HCI come together in one place. The whole thing was really inspiring. Just walking down the halls of the convention center, I saw people who I had read about in my HCI course or in Interactions magazine.
I think the most interesting event or talk has to fall into two separate categories: entertainment and interest. The most entertaining talk was on “The Status of Ethnography in Systems Design.” It was basically a debate on whether or not ethnography should be used for design. It was just these two groups presenting absurd powerpoints to argue their points. The most interesting talks to me were the ones on “Online Relationships” and “Computer-mediated Communication.” There is a lot of potential in each of those areas.
As for the most interesting person I met, I think just the graduate students in general. I would say 85% of the talks I went to were led by graduate students and that really surprised me. It was very exciting to see such impressive research being done by students!
Overall, the conference was a great experience and I think more W&L students should attend them so that they can see what research looks like!
Professor Lamber is hosting the CS Department’s Spring Picnic on Sunday, April 26. There will be plenty of food and games and good times!
The sign up sheet to attend is on the department office door.
Designed by Senior Anne Van Devender:
We’re getting the t-shirts from The Graphic Cow Company.
