Computer Science Senior Symposium: Wednesday, May 8, 2:00-4:00pm in Tome 115
2:00pm. Chris Pianko: Program For Cutting Stock Problem
2:20pm. Lally Boright: Changing Room
2:40pm. Chris Melusky: ICONIAC: A Web-Based Image-Sharing Application
3:00pm. Nick Davis: Detection of Emotional Secondary Trauma
3:20pm. Blake Atwell: eFit – iOS Fitness Application
3:40pm. Qi Wang: Translating Event-B Specifications to Database Applications
Please join us for drinks, snacks, and computer science! The times above are approximate, as presentations will run continuously.
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Abstract: In this interactive talk, we will introduce the game of Poker Squares (a.k.a. Poker Solitaire, Poker Square), where a player sequentially places random playing cards into a 5-by-5 grid in order to maximize the score of Poker hands in each of the grid's 5 rows and 5 columns. We will then play a game together using a common card deck draw. From this experience of the game, we will discuss possible strategies for human and computer play. A semester-long potential Poker Squares programming contest will be outlined, and we will overview a few approaches one might take in creating strong Poker Squares computer players. Please join us to plant seeds for creative solutions to this interesting, fun, and open problem.
]]>Abstract: Operations Research (OR) is a scientific approach to analyzing problems and making decisions, usually under conditions requiring the allocation of scarce resources. In this talk, we focus on optimization modeling, which involves minimizing or maximizing a function (such as costs or profits) given that the solution must satisfy certain restrictions and requirements. We will learn about the modeling process, and about some of the most common types of models, such as resource allocation, scheduling, blending, and fixed-charge models.
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1. name of student presenting
2. full title of presentation
3. name of faculty mentor (if any)
4. short abstract of the research (250 words or less)
5. special request accommodations (if any)
Dr. Wilder will discuss factors that make musical data mining unique and describe an autonomous system that overcomes present challenges through the application of research in music cognition as a ground plan for intelligently adaptive algorithms. His presentation will also relate his experiences bringing those innovations to the music industry and layout a vision for future exploration in the field of computational creativity.
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Abstract: The U.S. Census Bureau’s national surveys include the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, the Consumer Expenditure Survey, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the National Health Interview Survey, and the National Crime and Victimization Survey. It is evident from their names that these surveys are diverse in content and level of privacy, and this leads to variation in response rates. Given increasing cost and other resource constraints, there is a clear need to have a good understanding of expected response rate variation that may affect decisions on data collection efforts. Understanding this variation can be useful in determining when additional field effort on a case may not be cost-effective and in setting realistic interviewer performance expectations. This talk presents the statistical techniques used by the U.S. Census Bureau in predicting survey case response propensities and in classifying small areas into strata to establish performance expectations for interviewers.
]]>Abstract: For several hundred years, mathematical models have been used to see understanding of the physical world. Physical laws are postulated, translated into equations, and the equations solved or at least used to predict outcomes, which were then tested against observations. This method of inquiry made its way into biological modeling, most notably in ecology and infectious diseases where mechanisms are at a macro-level and are fairly well-established. Here we discuss biological processes as a cellular and molecular level, focusing on the modeling and simulation of some of those processes.
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Abstract: In this chat they will discuss a wide variety of careers and opportunities for students majoring in mathematics and computer science. In addition, they will talk about graduate school options, internships, and REUs (Research Experience for Undergraduates). Specific information about our recent graduates will be provided.
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Katherine Veil will present "Improving the jmle Tool's Constraint Solving on Sets" on Thursday, May 3rd at Noon in Tome 117.
Free pizza and everyone is welcome to attend.
]]>Abstract: Suppose you move to a country that has 5-cent, 12-cent, and 26-cent coins. Which denominations can you make change for? Which denominations can you *not* make change for? For those denominations that you can make change for, how many ways are there to do it? This number is called the denumerant, and has been studied extensively. In this talk we will investigate the maximal denumerant, which counts the number of ways to make change for an amount using the largest possible number of coins.
Here's a challenge to get you started thinking about this problem. Using 5, 12, and 26, find a number whose maximal denumerant is greater than 1. In other words, find an amount that you can make change for using the same number of coins in at least two different ways, and for which there is no other way to make change for it using more coins.
]]>Abstract: We are all familiar with Fibonacci's famous sequence that begins 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ... as well as other popular sequences such as the perfect squares 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 ... or the triangular numbers 1, 3, 6, 10, 15 .... But what about the sequence 1, 1, 2, 5, 14, ... ? These are the Catalan numbers, named after the Belgian mathematician Eugene Catalan (1814-1894), despite having been described by Leonhard Euler 100 years earlier. It turns out these numbers take a variety of different guises as they provide the solution to numerous combinatorial problems! After introducing this sequence, we will explore some of the many ways in which the Catalan numbers are hidden throughout mathematics.
]]>Abstract: Take a string or a rope and tie it, you get a knot. There are different types of knots. If you are into sailing or rock climbing you may know of the SQUARE KNOT or the GRANNY KNOT. A more basic knot is the one you start with as you tie your shoes, it is the TREFOIL knot. A natural question is how to distinguish knots. After all, when you tie a knot around your waist and climb a wall, you want to make sure that the knot is not going to untie itself! We will first use colors (3 to be exact) to differentiate knots. Quickly, we will realize that TRICOLORABILITY is not a very efficient way to distinguish knots. We will then associate POLYNOMIALS to knots.
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Pizza will be provided.
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Abstract: Testing is a critical and expensive part of the software development life cycle. Often, test suites grow in size to the extent that they may take days, weeks, or months to excute. Because the time to test is limited, test cases are selected and prioritized. More effective prioritizations can be created when the constrained resources, such as time or power, are considered. By prioritizing with constraints in mind, the final test case prioritization will yield a higher average percent of faults detected than more naive prioritization approaches.
One challenge of prioritizing and selecting test cases is in estimating the fault finding ability of the tests. This is traditionally performed through test coverage analysis.
The overhead of test coverage analysis is dominated by monitoring the application, which is traditionally performed using instrumentation. However, instrumentation can prohibitively increase the time overhead and code growth of an application. As an alternative to instrumentation, we explore how recent hardware advances can be leveraged to improve the overheads of test coverage analysis. These hardware advances include hardware performance monitors and multicore technology.
In this talk, she will be presenting our system, THeME (Testing by Hardware Monitoring Events), a testing framework that replaces instrumentation with hardware monitoring. THeME consists of a runtime system that takes advantage of hardware mechanisms and multiple cores and a static component to further extend the coverage derived from hardware event sampling. The results show that up to 90% of the actual coverage can be determined with less time overhead and negligible code growth compared to instrumentation, making it particularly applicable for use in resource constrained environments.
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Abstract: A dynamical system is one that evolves over time according to fixed rules - for example, the motion of the planets, the populations of competing species of animals, or the formation of traffic jams. Simple rules can often lead to chaotic behavior. It's natural to try to use computers to understand these systems, but unfortunately even the tinest numerical error renders the results useless for pure mathematics, which demands exact answers, not approximations. The problems are especially bad when we try to study the long-term behavior of chaotic dynamical systems, since small errors can quickly accumulate into big ones. We'll look at these problems, and at ways in which we can overcome them to use numerical approximation to prove mathematically rigorous results.
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1. name of student presenting
2. full title of presentation
3. name of faculty mentor (if any)
4. short abstract of the research (250 words or less)
5. special request accommodations (if any)
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Ron Deibert will present "A Perfect Storm in Cyberspace" on Wednesday, February 1st at 7:00 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room. This event is co-sponsored by the Math & Computer Science Department. See link above for more information.
]]>http://users.dickinson.edu/~jmac/9algorithms/
Or you can check out the facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/9algorithms
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Abstract: Bob Garrett '90 will share experiences from his 22 year technology career. He began his career as a programmer at AT&T and slowly progressed into senior management roles on and off Wall Street. He is currently the CTO of Merlin Securities in New York City. Just prior to Merlin, Bob was the Global head of Equity Electronic Trading Technology at Deutsche Bank. He will be talking about the relevance of CS/Math major, technology and Wall Street, and the different job opportunities available to CS/Math majors. The agenda will be fluid with the goal of providing as much value to the attendees as possible. There will be plenty of time for Q&A.
]]>Professor Braught Paper Accepted
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If you are interested in talking about how grades inhibit, coexist with, or improve learning, come to hear a panel of students and professors share their insights, followed by open discussions in the Rector Atrium from Noon-1pm on Thursday, December 1st. Free pizza!!!
]]>Abstract: With the intrusion of the West in the 19th century, China was forced to reconsider its age-old xenophobic beliefs. The Middle Kingdom was under attack by "the barbarians" it so long held in contempt. Imperial harmony was shattered. Memorials were brought before the Throne offering solutions to stop the Western rampage. One of the more intriguing of these supplied a basis for understanding the weapons and techniques of the Westerners. To further encourage Imperial acceptance of such a reform, it was noted by Court scholars that "after all, mathematics originated in China and was copied by Westerners." Is such a radical claim valid? What was the state of mathematics in Traditional China and did it, in any way, influence Western accomplishments? This talk will examine these issues and, in general, consider the place of mathematics in a society.
]]>Abstract: This talk will offer several contributions to the area of discrete reliability growth projection. We present a new, logically derived model for estimating the reliability growth of complex, one-shot systems (i.e., the reliability following implementation of corrective actions to known failure modes). Multiple statistical estimations procedures are utilized to approximate this exact expression. A new estimation method is derived to approximate the vector of failure probabilities associated with a complex, one-shot system. A mathematically-convenient functional form for the s-expected initial reliability of a one-shot system is derived. Monte-Carlo simulation results are presented to highlight model accuracy with respect to resulting estimates of reliability growth. This model is useful to program managers, and reliability practitioners who wish to assess one-shot system reliability growth.
]]>Abstract: Significant advances have been made in autonomous learning, from game playing to training a robot to walk to autonomous helicopter flight. However, we have little understanding about how to best teach such agents. This talk will first present background on reinforcement learning, a paradigm where virtual and robotic agents can autonomously learn to act in complex environments. We will then discuss a selection of recent work towards integrating autonomous learning with advice from other agents or even humans.
]]>Abstract: An outsider looks at the conversion to sustainable energy sources from a relatively objective viewpoint.
]]>Abstract: Strong Al is a term used to mean an artificial intelligence that is on par with or exceeds human intelligence. In this talk, she will define and discuss some of the challenges that face us in the search for strong Al. She will also propose an approach to the problem called Collective Learning Systems and demonstrate some of the success achieved using this approach.
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Abstract: Coloring graphs has intrigued mathematicians since the 4-Color Conjecture was first posed. One major attempt to confirm this conjecture in the 20th century involved a new mathematical structure called a chromatic polynomial. Althought this structure did not yield a solution, it has taken on a life of its own as an important way to study graph coloring.
The use of mathematics and computer science blend together in the study of chromatic polynomials. The mathematics give us insight into the nature of these polynomials. The mathematics gives us insight into the nature of these polynomials.and computer science gives us a way to explore nontrivial examples not amenable to hand calculation.
Some of the open questions about these polynomials will be explored including when a polynomial is a chromatic polynomial and when is a chromatic polynomial the chromatic polynomial of exactly one graph.
The currently fastest algorithm for computer chromatic polynomials will be explained. A theorem suggested by the results of a computation will be shown.
]]>Abstract: While Facebook has served as a catalyst for discussions about privacy issues, it's only one aspect of a major shift permeating the world. Platforms come and go but privacy issues continue to influence and shape modern life. Perceptions of what privacy is and what it's worth are changing. In addition to internet privacy issues, urban environments are increasingly filled with surveillance cameras. Nearly everybody on the street is carrying a mobile device, maybe capturing some fragment of your story arc in the form of an image or overheard snippet of conversation. Digital algorithms can piece together the puzzle of your life by recognizing your patterns, habits and even your face. How will the construct of identity and society be affected? How will "you" be affected?
]]>The Math & CS professors will provide side dishes & desserts. They will also be grilling hot dogs, hamburgers & veggie burgers to perfection. Come out & enjoy the fun!
]]>Abstract: The National Security Agency (NSA) plays a critical role in the United States Intelligence Community. From code making to code breaking, the NSA's primary objectives include both offensive and defensive aspects of communications analysis and development, none of which would be possible without an elite force of mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers, and many more.
This talk aims to give an overview of career opportunities in math and computer science at the NSA, and present several key examples of public-key cryptography, including the Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange and RSA.
Free pizza.
]]>Abstract: "Nothing is impossible!" It is comforting to believe this greeting card sentiment; it is the American Dream. Human flight and the four-minute mile were proclaimed to be impossible, but both came to pass. Yet there are impossible things, and it is possible to prove that they are so. In this talk we will look at some of the most famous impossibility theorems - the so-called "problems of antiquity." The ancient Greek geometers tried and failed to square circles, trisect angles, double cubes, and construct regular polygons using only a compass and straightedge. So did future generations of great mathematicians. It took two thousand years to prove conclusively that all four of these are mathematically impossible. No, not even Chuck Norris can square the circle.
Pizza provided.
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Abstract: The Kinect sensor, released by Microsoft in November 2010, is a $150-device that tracks human body movements in real time. The Kinect has initiated a new era in human-computer interaction: it enables gaming scenarios with no controller (in which a player controls the action using all four limbs, and head and body movements, for example) and some intriguing new ways of interacting with everyday applications (such as web browsing by gesture alone). It will probaby also spawn completely new types of software. The Kinect is a huge commerical success, selling 10 million units in its first four months. But how does it work? This talk will explain some of the fascinating math and computer science behind the Kinect, and will also point out some connections to the speaker's own research in computer vision.
Lunch provided!
]]>2:30 pm - John Jones will present "New Jersey Gangs iPhone/iPad App"
2:55 pm - George Minnick will present "CAFSchedule: A Dynamic Scheduling Application for Dickinson Dining Services"
3:20 pm - Stephen Wittman will present "Knob & Switch Computer Simulator Port"
Refreshments provided.
]]>Russell Toris won the best paper award in the student track for his paper "Evolving Robotic Desires: A New Approach to Bridging the Reality Gap".
Congratulations!!!
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Fabio's paper is titled "Adding Support for Specification Inheritance and Generic Use to the Krakatoa/Why Platform".
Russell's paper is titled "Evolving Robotic Desires: A New Approach to Bridging the Reality Gap".
Professor Wahl's is titled "Enhancing the jmle Tool" and is co-authored with Michael Keating ('10) and Adrian Kostrubiak ('09).
Also, Professors Tim Wahls & Grant Braught (along with Marlin Eby from Messiah College) published a paper in the February 2011 issue of ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE). The title is "The Case for Pair Programming in the Computer Science Classroom".
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http://cumberlink.com/news/local/article_7583ee4c-47a7-11e0-9f44-001cc4c002e0.html
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She recently had a paper titled "Sustainability in a differential equations course: a case study of Easter Island" published in the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science & Technology. Click below to review:
]]>http://www.ams.org/journals/proc/2010-138-12/S0002-9939-2010-10434-3/home.html
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She just had a paper "Sustainability in a Differential Equations Course: A Case Study of Easter Island" accepted for publication by the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology. The paper describes curricular materials that she developed through a Dickinson EEF grant and used in Math 271 (Differential Equations) last fall.
]]>New faces in the department are Professor Sarah Bryant, Professor Marge Coahran, Professor Angelo Polo & Professor Catherine Zrncic.
On sabbatical for the 2010-2011 academic year are Professor Dave Richeson and Professor Grant Braught.
Professor Jennifer Froelich is now Professor Jennifer Schaefer.
Professor Becky Wells will be out on leave until October 11th. Her office has moved upstairs now to Tome 245 (her old office is the new Math/CS Majors room.)
NEW FOR MATH/CS MAJORS - we added a majors room for you in Tome 119 - check it out! Your majors key should unlock/lock room. If you don't have a majors key, stop by the Math/CS department office and see Tonya Miller.
SAVE THE DATE: The Math/CS Dinner will be held NEXT semester on Tuesday, April 26, 2011...mark your calendars now.
]]>The Jane Hill Prize in Computer Science - Spencer Davies '13
The Richard Howland Prize in Mathematics & Computer Science - James Doyle '10
The Richard Howland Memorial Scholarship - Russell Toris '11
The William W. Landis Memorial Prize in Mathematics - Mary Dickinson '13
The Henry P. Cannon Memorial Prize in Mathematics - Michael Ryan '12
The Forrest E. Craver Memorial Prize in Mathematics - Thanh To '11
The Lance E. Kohlhaas Memorial Prize in Mathematics - Adrian Majlis '10
The Caroline Hatton Clark Mathematics Scholarship - Fabio Drucker '11
The Computer Science Honor Society Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) inducts three new members:
Fabio Drucker '11
Russell Toris '11
Danni Yu '11
The Mathematics Honor Society Pi Mu Epsilon (PME) inducts six new members:
Sudeep Bajracharya '11
Aniket Das '10
Fabio Drucker '11
Adrian Majlis '10
Jeffrey Rodgers '10
Ruby Sung '10
Written by Justin Reynolds
Tuesday, 06 April 2010
Not everybody goes to college and studies robotics.
Russell Toris, left, a Wiltonian who is a junior at Dickinson College, happens to be someone who does.
Mr. Toris, who graduated from Wilton High School in 2007, is a computer-science major at the Pennsylvania school. He said his interest in robotics sort of began back in elementary school.
“I started working with computers from a pretty young age. Even as early as elementary school, I was always working on my own ‘trial-by-error’ system (which I have to say always made my parents a bit nervous),” Mr. Toris told The Bulletin. “The more I fooled around with computers, the more comfortable I began to feel and the less I would have the occasional ‘oops!’ moment.”
As to working with robotics, Mr. Toris has had limited experience.
“I never really had any experience in the field prior to my time at Dickinson,” Mr. Toris said. “To be honest, I never really put a lot of effort into the idea until my sophomore year of college where I took an Artificial Life course with my adviser and professor, Grant Braught.”
But in that short period of time, Mr. Toris has both learned and accomplished a great deal.
He said he first began teaching himself basic coding — HTML, PHP and Javascript — but as he progressed in college, he drifted away from the Web realm into standalone software written in C, C++ and Java.
“Dickinson definitely does a great job teaching the basic concepts and ideas of coding within the early classes of the department, and dives deeper into software design with every class,” he said. “I feel I have a confident attitude towards programming and find the real challenge to be the problem solving behind the software, rather than the coding itself.”
After taking the Artificial Life class, Mr. Toris decided to spend his summer volunteering with Prof. Braught in Dickinson’s computer-science department. Mr. Toris spent his time writing software for dLife, a “software package written in Java,” in development by Prof. Braught over the course of a few years now, whose basic concept “is a package which offers tools for research and development in the field of artificial intelligence, artificial life and robotics,” he said.
Prof. Braught plans to release dLife after his sabbatical work next year, Mr. Toris said.
Mr. Toris said over the summer he created server software for a new robot the department had obtained that allowed it to be controlled via a wireless network.
“I then developed the software packages into dLife, which allowed dLife to control the robot using its software controllers,” he said.
“At the end of my time this summer, Prof. Braught and I applied for a Dana Research Grant to help fund my current work right now, which is developing a bridge between dLife system and the open-source Player/Stage robotics simulation system,” he said. “I have come extremely close to finishing this project after nearly two semesters of work.”
Mr. Toris said he was recently invited to give a poster presentation at the New England Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges in Hartford later this month. He will talk about his current project.
But the work isn’t done just yet.
“Prof. Braught and I were recently awarded a research grant for this summer in which we will be able to fully test the new dLife/Player integration,” Mr. Toris said. “I am planning on completing an honors thesis next year by continuing the research done this summer.”
Mr. Toris said often times, people mistake work he does with how robotics are portrayed in popular culture — something he wished to clarify.
“Many people hear ‘robotics’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ and immediately think of the Mars Rover and Will Smith running around in I, Robot,” he said. “While these ideas are awesome in their own sense, I don’t actually do what many people think. I am more interested in the ideas of machine learning, evolution and adaptation within computers. I see the robots as simply a tool into learning just what computers are capable of. Many of the same ideas can be applied to weather prediction, diagnostic medicine, or learning about the human genome.”
Mr. Toris said he hopes to continue working within the field of artificial life post-graduation, but said he will keep his mind open.
“Graduate school is definitely in my scope at the moment if the right opportunities present themselves,” he said.
http://www.dickinson.edu/news-and-events/news/2009-10/Elegant-Book-Wins-Mathematical-Prize/
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Some of the work was completed as part of Paul Winkler’s honors thesis, written during his senior year.
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