Computer Science at Boston College -

Hao Jiang Presents at International Conference on Computer Vision 2009

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:22:29 -0500

Prof. Hao Jiang presented his work on finding human poses using a novel consistent max-covering method at the recent International Conference on Computer Vision 2009 at Kyoto. The new method takes advantage of the global constraint among all the body parts, and significantly improves the detection accuracy and efficiency comparing to previous schemes. The paper "Human Pose Estimation Using Consistent Max-Covering" can be found at IEEE Explore or Hao Jiang's web site, http://www.cs.bc.edu/~hjiang.

Straubing Awarded NSF Grant

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 09:39:49 -0500

Computer Science Department Chairperson Howard Straubing was awarded a three-year, $244,500 grant from the Computer and Communication Foundations Division of the National Science Foundation for the project 'Algebraic Methods for the Study of Logics on Trees'. A description of the award and the project is posted at http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0915065.

CS Open House - Nov. 11

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 16:40:17 -0500

Attention students--want to find out more about Computer Science? You're cordially invited to an Open House on November 11, 2009 from 4 to 6PM in 21 Campanella Way, Room 557. Meet faculty members and other CS students. Pizza, subs and soda will be served.

For more information, see the attached flyer at: http://cs.bc.edu/files/CSOpenHouse.pdf.

Distinguished Speaker Series: "What Art Can Tell Us About the Brain"

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:16:36 -0400

Join colleagues for the Computer Science Distinguished Speaker Series presentation, "What Art Can Tell Us About the Brain" by Margaret Livingstone, Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, at 4 PM on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 in Fulton 130.

Artists have been doing experiments on vision longer than neurobiologists. Some major works of art have provided insights as to how we see; some of these insights are so fundamental that they can be understood in terms of the underlying neurobiology. For example, artists have long realized that color and luminance can play independent roles in visual perception. Picasso said, "Colors are only symbols. Reality is to be found in luminance alone."

Distinguished Speaker Series: "More Than Pretty Pictures"

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:32:30 -0400

Making visual representations clarifies thinking, advances science, and communicates to the public.

Join colleagues for the Boston College Computer Science's Distinguished Speaker Series presentation, "More Than Pretty Pictures" by Felice Frankel, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University at 4 PM on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 in Fulton 150.

Science photographer Felice Frankel holds concurrent positions at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Working in collaboration with scientists and engineers, Frankel’s images have been published in over 300 journal articles and/or covers and various other publications for general audiences.

ACM BC Student Chapter At '09 Student Activities Fair

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:11:20 -0400

A chilly, rainy day failed to deter members of the BC Student Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) from turning out to staff an ACM exhibit at the annual Student Activities Fair in the Dust Bowl Friday, September 11, 2009.

A virtual reality application was displayed along with other computer programs of interest to the public. Many students with an interest in computing signed an on-line registration form to receive future mailings.

CS074 Robotics Course: The Power of Algorithms

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:53:34 -0400

A Boston College Computer Science professor has found a winning algorithm for turning students on to the joys of programming and logical thinking.

Prof. Robert Signorile is teaching CS074, “The Digital World: An Introduction to Information and Computing" using robots. According to Signorile, it’s the first time robots have been used in this course.

“It’s an introductory course that we offer for any student who is not a Computer Science major. The vehicles we use are personal robots called ‘Scribblers.’

CS "NetGene" Team Place Second In VC Competition

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:03:07 -0400

Over a quarter-century ago, Microsoft set a lofty goal of “putting a PC in every home and on every desktop.” The idea seemed like science fiction at the time. Now, a group of ambitious computer science majors at Boston College have an equally lofty goal: to put the equivalent of a supercomputer in every home and every pocket.

Shahbano Imran ’09, Jason Croft ’09, Dan Blank ’08, and Brad Hayes ’08 participated in the Boston College Venture Competition, organized by the Carroll School of Management on April 7, 2009. Their NetGene team presented its business plan and a working prototype for a “cloud computing” product. Each team was allotted 20 minutes, followed by seven minutes for questions and answers. NetGene competed against 60 other teams, advancing to the semi-finals, and then going on to qualify as one of six finalists. They finished in second place, and were awarded a $3,000 prize.

Daniel Szafir '10 Named A Dean's Scholar

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:09:24 -0400

Computer Science major Daniel Szafir (A&S '10) has been named a Dean's Scholar in the Arts & Sciences.

Daniel hails from Essex Junction, Vermont. He is also a history major, a libertarian, and he participates in the "unofficial" parkour club on campus. Daniel plays the piano and the guitar. For sports, Daniel enjoys snowboarding and playing intramural hockey, volleyball, and tennis. He's also earned a blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do.

Daniel's plans after college are uncertain; he's not ruling out attending graduate school, working in industry, or even "traveling the world."

The Department congratulates Mr. Szafir on this outstanding scholastic accomplishment.

Andrew Stephan '11 Named Sophomore Scholar

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:55:50 -0400

Computer Science major Andrew Stephan ('11) has been named a Sophomore Scholar in the Arts & Sciences.

Andrew hails from Leesport, PA. His main interests are music, volleyball, technology and computers. He's "extremely interested in linux" and open source software.

Andrew's career plans involve working in software programming; his ultimate dream is to work in the music industry while working on open source projects.

The Department congratulates Mr. Stephan on this outstanding scholastic accomplishment.

Jiang and Yu Paper: "Linear Solution to Scale and Rotation Invariant Object Matching"

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:02:06 -0400

Computer Science Department Profs. Hao Jiang and Stella X. Yu recently authored a paper entitled "Linear Solution to Scale and Rotation Invariant Object Matching." The paper has been accepted for oral presentation and publication by the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2009 (CVPR'09) June 20-26, 2009 in Miami, Florida.

(left-right: Profs. Jiang and Yu)

Computer Science Info Session

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:43:27 -0400

The Computer Science Department will host an Information Session on March 31, 2009 from 5:00-6:30PM in Campanella 559. [More info]

Signorile Presents At System Science and Simulation in Engineering Conference

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 15:03:22 -0500

Prof. Robert Signorile attended the 7th International Conference on System Science and Simulation in Engineering in Venice, Italy November 21-23, 2008, where he presented a paper on peer-to-peer computing for simulation. Signorile also spoke in one of the opening talks in the Distributing Computing Session.

Croft Receives Honorable Mention In CRA Undergraduate 2009 Award

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:00:30 -0500

The Computing Research Association has announced the winners of its 2009 Undergraduate Awards.

Boston College Computer Science student Jason Croft '09 received honorable mention by the CRA.

"It is quite an honor to be selected for Honorable Mention from this group," the organization wrote in an email to Croft. "This year's nominees were a very impressive group. A number of them were commended for making significant contributions to more than one research project, several were authors or coauthors on multiple papers, others had made presentations at major conferences, and some had produced software artifacts that were in widespread use."

Among his achievements, Croft presented "Security Analysis of the Native Code in Sun’s JDK", a paper written in collaboration with Prof. Gang Tan in December, 2007.

CS074 Section 2: "Digital Worlds With Robots"

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:36:02 -0500

The Computer Science Department is offering in the spring, 2009 semester, "Digital Worlds With Robots."

In CS074 Section 2, participants will program the easy-to-use Scribbler robot to act intelligently enough to draw pictures, solves mazes, and dance with each other.

See the online flyer for additional information.