School of CS newsletter

David Rydeheard writes: A big thank-you to everyone involved in school outreach activities over the last academic year, enabling us to work with schools locally and nationally, running the annual UK Schools Computer Animation Competition  => http://animation15.cs.manchester.ac.uk ), presenting “Discover Computing” days, and a new co-operative venture with the BBC. The School has also been appointed a regional centre  for the Computing At School group (=> http://www.computingatschool.org.uk ), which is a major achievement! The pictures below show programming daleks to navigate a maze at BBC Stargazing Live, developed in the School by a team of students led by Charlie Reynolds (Y2, AI4wIE); creating immersive virtual landscapes using recursive functions and randomness,a workshop for schools developed by Dan Underwood (Y3, CS); and a robotic Rubik’s Cube solver developed in a local girls’ school by Sakina Valiyeva (Y3, CSBM), for her 3rd Year Project (each year we have several 3rd Year Projects on this area).

The Kilburn Building was scheduled for major refurbishment in phase 2 of the University's capital spending plans which are scheduled between 2018 and 2022. I am pleased to say that as a result of the work that will be done on the IT Services space for their restructure the University has brought forward major aspects of the refurbishment. Below I've listed some of the main things that will happen. Plans are not yet finalised and remain at risk of change or cancellation, but I feel that the balance of probabilities is such that it is worth letting you know what is likely to happen. Much of this is likely to happen during the next academic year, though plans aren't finalised. Estates are aware that they have to work around the academic timetable, but given the scale of works some disruption is inevitable. I believe that the long-term benefits of the work should outweigh the disruption.

Subject to final tests that the replacement windows on the 2nd floor have improved the thermal efficiency of the building I now expect that all external windows in the building will be replaced with double glazed windows with openers.

The IT services space on the ground floor will be moved onto a new heating system. As a result there will be more capacity on the system and Estates will work to improve the air flow in the LF, 1st and second floors using the extra capacity. This should improve the heating and ventilation of the building.

IT Services expect to open up a rooflight into the courtyard. As a result other significant changes will be required in the courtyard. There isn't a clear plan for that yet but I believe it will give us a better, more usable space. In replacing the external windows and refurbishing the courtyard I hope that the closed off section of the walkway along the side of the courtyard will be turned into usable space with the windows moved out to the edge of the building line, which should allow more seating to be put in there.

The detail of what work can be done on the courtyard and the walkway is still unclear. As this becomes clearer we will inform staff of what is possible and consult where there are options. These two aspects of the refurbishment connect to the common room and this has somewhat delayed improving the common room following the departure of Food on Campus, but the former serving space will be improved as soon as the overall plan is clear.

We will also be upgrading the PGT lab space this summer to turn it into a better working environment for our MSc students.

I realise that this will cause significant disruption through the next year. We will work with Estates to minimise the impact of that, I hope that you will all be able to tolerate that in the expectation that the Kilburn Building can be significantly improved.

Do you want to learn a new skill and improve your research?  Would you like to learn about research tools others are applying in their PhD?


Then come along to the PhD tutorials.  Organised by the CS Mentors team, this day of exciting events will give you the chance to learn research skills from experienced PhD students.  The talks will contain a mixture of up front presentation and practical sessions. Sign up is essential as places are limited.


The schedule is below and abstracts are at the end of this mail.


10.00 - 11.30 Introduction to LaTeX and TikZ - Andrew Mundy
11.30 - 13.00 An introduction to statistical testing and estimation - Kostas Sechidis
13.00 - 14.00 Free Lunch.
14.00 - 16.00 Experimental Setup for Empirical PhD Research - Concepts and Tools - Nico Matentzoglu


Please sign up by sending an email to CS-MENTORS@listserv.manchester.ac.uk with the following details:
 - Your name
 - Which talks you would like to attend
 - Whether you will attend the free lunch
 - Any dietary requirements you would like us to consider.


Further details:

~
10.00 - 11.30 Introduction to LaTeX and TikZ
Speaker: Andrew Mundy


~
11.30 - 13.00 An introduction to statistical testing and estimation
Speaker: Kostas Sechidis


~
13.00 - 14.00 Free Lunch for all who would like to attend.  A great chance to ask speakers and mentors any burning questions and to network with other PhD students.


~

14.00 - 16.00 Experimental Setup for Empirical PhD Research - Concepts and Tools

Speaker: Nico Matentzoglu

We hope you will be able to join us at this event.


The Mentors

Have your say on your experience as an employed researcher here in Manchester
Read more

Deadline: 15 April 2015

The programme provides small financial awards (max £500) to help support a visit for collaborative research at the interface of Mathematics and Computer Science. This is a great opportunity to cover the costs of a brief visit with a (named) Computer Scientist or Mathematician - either travelling to see them at another institution within the UK or abroad, or having them come to you. The scheme is overseen by the Computer Science Committee of the LMS, which exists to promote the development of links between Mathematics and Computer Science.


The application and reporting processes are deliberately very lightweight. See: http://www.lms.ac.uk/grants/computer-science-small-grants-scheme-7