MANCHESTER

           1824

School of Computer Science

Weekly Newsletter

30 April 2012

Contents

News from HoS

This Week

School Events

External Events

Funding Opps

Prize & Award Opps

Research Awards

Staff News

Vacancies

 

Links

News Submissions

Newsletter Archive

School Strategy

School Intranet

School Seminars

ESNW Seminars

NaCTeM Seminars

 

News from Head of School Administration

 

Just a final thank you to you all for the last 26 years which have been an absolute blast!  Also, thanks to my colleagues and friends for only passing on minimal details to Jim of our various antics over that time :-) Mind you, come to think of it, it could be that some of them really don't have much of a memory of what we got up to!

 

I have decided to buy a fabulous watch (picture right) with the contributions you all made - it means that every time I check the time I will be reminded of all of you and my time in CS. Thank you!

 

Ursula.

Emporio Armani Ladies Donna Bracelet Watch AR3171

News from Head of School

Ursula Hayes leaving the School

Ursula Hayes will be leaving the School on Monday 30th April after over 26 years in the School. Ursula worked on the Alvey ‘Flagship’ project, in PEVE, in the Research Office and most recently as Head of School Administration. Ursula leaves to become the Head of School Administration in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and on behalf of the School I wish her well in her new job. For those who were unable to attend the leaving party, the photos can be found here:

http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~jtl/PHOTOS/12-04-26-URSULA-LEAVING-small/index.html

Rupert Ford leaving the School

Rupert is moving to STFC Daresbury in May but will continue to spend ~1 day a week in the School for the next 18 months. He hopes to continue collaborations with colleagues in the School in future and we look forward to continuing to see him when he visits.

John Latham: University Distinguished Achievement Award

I am delighted to report the President’s decision that John Latham should be awarded a Distinguished Achievement Medal for Teacher of the Year 2012, after a nomination by the Faculty of EPS. The award will be presented at a special ceremony on Friday 29 June.

Student successes

Sam van Lieshout, Jenny Ward, Ben Marshall and Pez Cuckow came 3rd in UK in the Microsoft Imagine Cup. The team designed a novel medical sensor system running entirely from a mobile phone.  The system, called "Project Sky High", monitored ultrasound and blood pressure details, using low-cost components and a smartphone.   The team was praised by the judges for their economical

design, and implementation of a novel communications protocol.

 

Luke Torjussen, a final year student supervised by Robert Stevens, has been shortlisted by the judges in the "Little Chip Student Awards".

http://www.bigchipawards.com/page.asp?id=3648

School enters Greater Manchester Cycle Challenge

Last year the school came 2nd in the Greater Manchester Cycle Challenge - what about winning it this year? All you need to do is (1) register and (2) log your trips between Monday 14th May and Tuesday 5th June. You don't need to log each of them individually, and it only takes a couple of minutes. Go to

www.tfgmcyclechallenge.org.uk and register as:

Organisation: The University of Manchester

Department: School of Computer Science

May Ball May 7th

The annual Computer Science Society May Ball, organised by the students, is being held on Saturday May 7th in the Palace Hotel. Please support the students by joining in, staff will be very welcome. Details here:

http://cssoc.cs.manchester.ac.uk/  

Bin the bin

The bin the bin scheme is being introduced to the Kilburn and IT buildings in phases. It has already happened on the ground floor of Kilburn. The IT labs and lower first floor of Kilburn should now have recycling bins in place, the first and second floors will receive recycling bins shortly. I have proposed that bins remain in offices for around six weeks after the recycling bins are introduced, and it is proposed that the bins in the IT building and the lower first be removed on Friday 1st June.  Please use the time between the recycling bins being introduced and the removal of office bins to inform Eamon of any problems with the location of the recycling bins and to find ways to use them.

The University waste co-ordinator (Simon Atkinson) will attend our next School board meeting to discuss the scheme - Wednesday May 2nd, 3:30pm (IT407).

Do you care about the School’s history?

There is a duty waiting to be allocated for somebody to care for the School’s exhibits, posters, artefacts and web pages relating to its history. This year is the 50th anniversary of the Atlas computer and there will be an event on 5th December to celebrate.  The event is being organised by members of the original team, but we should upgrade our exhibits before we welcome them. If you are proud of the School’s contribution to Computer Science, please let me know.

Open day – all hands on deck...

It is University Open Day on 22nd and 23rd June. These events are very important in encouraging the students of the future to apply here. The School needs to recruit the best students in the country in order to have the educational environment that we all want. The 22nd June is a particularly busy day for the School and we will need academic staff who don’t normally do open days to help out. If you haven’t already volunteered to help out, please respond to Saba’s email of 25th April, or just let her know when you can help:

Saba Mirshafiei <saba.mirshafiei@cs.man.ac.uk>

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Computer_Science,_University_of_Manchester

It comes up on the first page of a Google search for Computer Science Manchester. If you would like to add something to it, please do.

Andre Geim on the BBC

Beautiful Minds programme, BBC

Physicist Professor Andre Geim's constant search for new ideas has led to some extraordinary discoveries, from levitating frogs to a tape that sticks to surfaces like a gecko's foot. He reveals how his playful approach to his research helped him uncover the properties of graphene, the world's thinnest material, and won him the Nobel Prize for Physics with Kostya Novoselov.

 

Events

CANCELLED: Machine Learning, Compilers and Mobile Systems   1 May 12

The above seminar from Hugh Leather has been cancelled.

School Board meeting                                                                                   2 May 12

15:30, IT building room 407.

Research Report and PGR report

More information

Elsevier Author Seminar                                                                                3 May 12

10:00-12:30, G22, Mansfield Cooper.

The session will involve looking at the publishing process in scientific journals from writing to review and authors’ rights.

 

Those interested can book a place at My Manchester under the library tab, and then training courses or via the Training calendar under Seminar for Researchers.  You must book at least two days in advance.

EPSRC Regional Meetings                                                                             Various

EPSRC are holding 3 Regional Meetings during May to highlight progress made against our Delivery Plan and to discuss how we can continue to work together to ensure that we maintain, if not improve, the UK’s relative international research standing in the face of increased competition.

 

Regional Meetings will be held in Newcastle (3rd May), Birmingham (11th May) and London (23rd May) further information regarding timings and registration can be found on our website following the links included above.

Hyperspectral Imaging Cameras                                                                 4 May 12

09:00-16:00, Lecture Workshop in Room 4.205, University Place building

A previous speaker at the local ACM SIGGRAPH seminars, is running a show-and-tell workshop for hyperspectral imaging cameras.

More information

STM in the Small: Trading Generality for Performance in Software  9 May 12

Dr Tim Harris. Microsoft Research, Cambridge

14:15, Kilburn Lecture Theatre 1.4

Seminar homepage

 

Funding Opportunities

School Research Office

There is information about support for grant writing and submission at http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/reso/

Student Futures: Sustainability at the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering interface                                                                                                           25 May 12

Expression of interest: An opportunity for EPSRC-sponsored doctoral students to undertake a residential training workshop focused on tool and techniques to enhance creative problem solving and idea generation.

 

Closing Date: 25 May 2012

More information

EPSRC Healthcare Technology Challenges for Engineering           28 May 12

Expression of interest: EPSRC invites proposals for research projects of up to three years in length, for novel and creative engineering research to tackle challenges within healthcare.

 

Closing Date: 28 May 2012

More information

EPSRC Fellowships                                                                                         Various

Fellowships are available in a number of priority areas here.

Applications can be submitted at any time and will be processed on a rolling basis - further information on the application and peer review process here.

If you experience any problems, please contact the EPSRC webteam.