Past events

The John V. Carlis Memorial Lecture is dedicated to the advancement of education and inclusion in the field of computing.

This year's speaker is Charles Isbell from Georgia Tech, giving a talk titled "A Conversation about Invisibility and Equity in Computing: From Here to There".

Abstract

It is easy enough to have a conversation about increasing diversity in the abstract, and even easier to leave it in the abstract. I will spend some time talking about concrete programs that try to address not just diversity but equity at multiple spots of the pipeline, ranging from k-12 (which might seem a little too far away) to the professoriate (which might see a little too close), and extract some lessons that we have learned. Although I will frame the discussion, the goal will be to have a conversation, and to think together about what drives the outcomes we see.

Biography

Dr. Charles Isbell received his bachelor's in Information and Computer Science from Georgia Tech, and his MS and PhD at MIT's AI Lab. Upon graduation, he worked at AT&T Labs/Research until 2002, when he returned to Georgia Tech to join the faculty as an Assistant Professor. He has served many roles since returning and is now The John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of the College of Computing.

Charles’s research interests are varied but the unifying theme of his work has been using machine learning to build autonomous agents who engage directly with humans. His work has been featured in the popular press, congressional testimony, and in several technical collections.

In parallel, Charles has also pursued reform in computing education. He was a chief architect of Threads, Georgia Tech’s structuring principle for computing curricula. Charles was also an architect for Georgia Tech’s First-of-its’s-kind MOOC-supported MS in Computer Science. Both efforts have received international attention, and been presented in the academic and popular press.

In all his roles, he has continued to focus on issues of broadening participation in computing, and is the founding Executive Director for the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing. He is an AAAI Fellow and a Fellow of the ACM. Appropriately, his citation for ACM Fellow reads “for contributions to interactive machine learning; and for contributions to increasing access and diversity in computing”.

A one-and-a-half day event for IT historians, academics and the interested public. 

This Charles Babbage Institute hosted symposium will address how code—construed broadly, from software routines to bodies of law and policy—structures and reinforces power relations. It will explore the ways that individuals and institutions use software, algorithms, and computerized systems to establish, legitimize, and reinforce widespread social, material, commercial, and cultural inequalities and power imbalances.

The event will also examine how individuals, unions, political organizations, and other institutions use code to fight for equality and justice. The papers will draw from across the humanities and qualitative social sciences, including disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, science and technology studies, and communications. 

Find more information at justcode.cbi.umn.edu/home

A one-and-a-half day event for IT historians, academics and the interested public. 

This Charles Babbage Institute hosted symposium will address how code—construed broadly, from software routines to bodies of law and policy—structures and reinforces power relations. It will explore the ways that individuals and institutions use software, algorithms, and computerized systems to establish, legitimize, and reinforce widespread social, material, commercial, and cultural inequalities and power imbalances.

The event will also examine how individuals, unions, political organizations, and other institutions use code to fight for equality and justice. The papers will draw from across the humanities and qualitative social sciences, including disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, science and technology studies, and communications. 

Find more information at justcode.cbi.umn.edu/home

The Center for Transportation Studies presents a webinar, Exploring a Smart Cloud Commuting Service.

About the Event

This presentation will feature a brief overview of project funded by the National Science Foundation on a "Smart Cloud Commuting Service" (SCCS) via shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs). It will also highlight two preliminary studies exploring the feasibility of the envisaged SCCS. The first includes the development of a queuing theoretical model to determine how many SAVs are needed to serve peak commute demands. The second involves a proposed hybrid spoke-n-hub with point-to-point transit service model that leverages the flexibility and autonomy of SAVs.

This webinar will be held in conjunction with a meeting of the CTS Transportation Safety and Traffic Flow Research Council.

Speakers

Zhi-Li Zhang is the associate director for research at the Digital Technology Center and a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Qwest Chair Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include computer communication and networks, Internet technology, multimedia, and emerging applications.

Yanhua Li is an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department and Data Science Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. His research interests include artificial intelligence and big data analytics in many contexts, including urban intelligence, smart cities, and urban planning and optimization.

Registration and more

This webinar is free to attend, but registration is required. Once you have registered, you will receive an email confirmation with a Zoom link. The link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.

If you're unable to join us for the live broadcast, a recording of the webinar will be available on the event web page following the event.

For more information, please contact Kaydee Kirk at kkirk@umn.edu.

The computer science colloquium takes place on Mondays from 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

This week's speaker, Feng Qian (University of Minnesota), will be giving a talk.

The application deadline for the computer science integrated program (Bachelor's/Master's) is October 15.

This is exclusively available to students officially admitted to the College of Science & Engineering Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science, Bachelor’s of Computer Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts Bachelor’s of Arts in Computer Science, and the College of Liberal Arts Second Major in Computer Science. The program allows students with strong academic performance records to take additional credits (up to 16 credits) at undergraduate tuition rates during their last few semesters which can be applied towards the Computer Science M.S. program.

Applicants must have at least 75 credits completed at the time of their application. Read more about the program eligibility requirements.

Applications must be submitted online. Before applying, students should review the application procedures.

Students will be notified of the outcome of their application via email by December 1 for a spring start. In some cases, an admission decision will be put on hold until semester grades are finalized. Students will be notified if their application is on hold.
 

The computer science colloquium takes place on Mondays from 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

This week's speaker, Daniel F. Keefe (University of Minnesota), will be giving a talk titled "Humanizing Data with Interactive Visualization".

Abstract

Data-intensive computing is central to so many aspects of society today.  Scientists and engineers continue to collect and simulate data that challenge our most sophisticated computational tools.  However, today's users of data-intensive computing extend well beyond these "traditional users" to include, for example, designers, visual artists, the general public, and Indigenous communities.  Our research explores how processes of analyzing and communicating about data will change in the future and can better serve this wide range of users and computing applications.  Our methods, employed with interdisciplinary collaborators across a range of projects, include a combination of novel visual designs, interactive techniques, and computer graphics and data processing algorithms.  In this talk, I will present specific examples that include: 1) advanced art-inspired algorithms for rendering multi-variate global climate data in immersive environments, 2) interactive simulation-based engineering design tools for understanding supercomputer ensemble datasets, and 3) interdisciplinary cultural revitalization and data storytelling within the UMN Indigenous Futures Grand Challenges project.

Biography

Dan Keefe is a Distinguished University Teaching Professor and Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research centers on interactive data visualization, immersive computer graphics, art+science collaborations, and computing for social good. Keefe’s awards include the National Science Foundation CAREER award; the University of Minnesota Guillermo E. Borja Award for research and scholarly accomplishments at the time of tenure; the University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professorship; and the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award. He also shares multiple IEEE and ACM conference best paper awards with his students and collaborators.  Outside of computer science venues, Keefe has published and exhibited work in top international venues for digital art, such as South by Southwest, Northern Spark, ISEA, and Leonardo.  His research and art practice have been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation; the National Institutes of Health; the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative; the US Forest Service; the City of Minneapolis office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy; and industry. Before joining the University of Minnesota, Keefe did post-doctoral work at Brown University jointly with the departments of Computer Science and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and with the Rhode Island School of Design. He received the Ph.D. in 2007 from Brown University’s Department of Computer Science and the B.S. in Computer Engineering summa cum laude from Tufts University in 1999.

The last day to receive a 25% tuition refund for canceling full semester classes is Monday, October 5.

View the full academic schedule on One Stop.
 

The computer science colloquium takes place on Mondays from 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

This week's speaker, Catherine Qi Zhao (University of Minnesota), will be giving a talk titled "Attention in Vision-based AI Systems".

Abstract

Imagine that you are at a bus stop in a new city. You take a few glimpses around, parse and summarize the information you gather, and decide the next steps. Although intuitive, it implies a highly sophisticated and superior ability to select and parse information. Our research is along this line to develop and utilize machine attention for AI systems. In this talk, I will discuss the challenges and share the recent innovations in data, models, and applications from our research.

I will first talk about attention prediction - the ability of machines to find the most relevant information. I will elaborate on our computational models and experimental methods for attention prediction and explain how they have advanced the state-of-the-art. I will then discuss new approaches that leverage attention in computer vision and language tasks, leading to better interpretability and task performance. I will also present preliminary data suggesting that this approach can help reveal and improve the black-box decision-making process of learning-based AI systems. Finally, I will discuss the applications of our models and data in healthcare. I will give two examples where our work leads to the discovery of neurobehavioral signature in autism patients, as well as cutting-edge brain-machine interface technology that restores the lost motor functions in upper-limb amputee patients.

Biography

Catherine Qi Zhao is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Zhao’s research interests are in computer vision and machine learning, and their applications in healthcare. Her current research on machine attention is supported by NSF and NIH. Dr. Zhao has published more than 80 papers in computer vision and machine learning venues, and other major multidisciplinary journals. Her research has been featured as a cover article at Neuron and Neural Computation, and as oral presentations at CVPR, ICCV, and ECCV. Dr. Zhao is an Area Chair at several premier computer vision conferences and an Associate Editor at TNNLS.

What is the CLA Internship & Career Fair?

The 2020 CLA Internship & Career Fair will be held as a virtual career fair. A virtual career fair is an event where employers host virtual booths with representatives from the organization available to talk with you either through 1:1 conversations or group sessions. The goal of the event is to build relationships (i.e. network) with employers so you can explore different career fields, discover position openings, and engage with employers about their organizations and what kind of skills they are seeking for their roles. Often you won’t leave a career fair with a job offer in hand, but you will leave with a better understanding of where you want to apply for positions, how to best represent yourself for those roles, and who to get in touch with to learn more or ask questions. Making a positive impression with employers in person can really help you to stand out in the job or internship application process!

At the CLA Internship & Career Fair, you can explore internship, volunteer, and full-time opportunities with employers from a variety of industries who are interested in hiring CLA students and recent alumni (1-3 years after graduating) for volunteer, internship, and full-time opportunities.  

This event is for CLA students and recent alumni* and is FREE to attend. Advance registration by September 14 is recommended to receive updates and tips for a successful virtual fair experience. You are welcome to attend without advance registration as well.

The CLA Internship & Career Fair is for all CLA students. To request accommodations, please contact Emily Gasperlin (egasperl@umn.edu, 612-626-4481).

*Non-CLA UMN students are also welcome to attend the CLA Internship & Career Fair.

How to register

To register for the CLA Internship & Career Fair, visit the CLA Internship & Career Fair website and click on the "Join Event" button at the top of the page. Advance registration by September 14 is recommended to receive updates and tips for a successful virtual fair experience. You are welcome to attend without advance registration as well.

Why should I attend?

At the CLA Internship & Career Fair, you can:

• Explore career fields and opportunities you may be interested in pursuing
• Engage with employers about their organizations and what kind of skills they are seeking for their roles, as well as who to get in touch with to ask questions or learn more
• Make an impression that can help you to stand out in the job or internship application process

Questions about the CLA Internship & Career Fair?

Contact CLA Career Services.