Your weekly round-up of undergraduate life in The University
of Manchester
Department of Computer Science
from Paul Nutter, Director of Undergraduate Studies.
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#13.32 • Monday 2 June 2014 • Exams Week 4 
Good morning! It's Monday 2nd June, and it’s the final week of exams – I hope they’ve been going well.
This is the last Monday Mail for this academic year, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you a happy and rewarding summer. If you’re graduating, we hope to see you and your families on Graduation Day (Monday 14 July). If you’re about to start a year's Industrial Experience, good luck for what I’m sure will be a fantastic time for you. If you’re returning for your next year of study with us in September, have a great summer and we look forward to seeing you soon. On with today’s news...
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
CSSOC NEWS.
CSSoc Chair Neha Agrawal (Y3, CSE) writes, “Hi guys, on behalf of CSSoc, I would like to thank everyone for their continued support and for turning up to our events. It's been an awesome year! I'd like to introduce Josh Langley (Y1, CSwIE) and Bryn Hanby-Roberts (Y1, CSwIE) who will be taking over as Co-Chairs from next year. Have a wonderful summer!”
HARDCORE HACKATHON.
1UP is organising another Hard-Core FPGA projects Hackathon this Thursday 5 June at 16:00 in Collab, starting with a talk on "Parallel Programming using VHDL", followed by hands-on programming. Everyone welcome! Pizza and refreshments provided → https://sites.google.com/site/1uphardcore
MEET THE STEMETTES.
On Sat 21 June the Stemettes (women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) will be at Thoughtworks on the 26th floor of City Tower in Manchester, with the usual mix of food, fun and prizes. Sign up (or volunteer for the Women In Computing panel) → http://goo.gl/EnF1ZU
FILM DATA HACKATHON.
Calling all cinephiles and dataphiles! Abandon Normal Devices in partnership with the BFI are running a weekend hackathon on 28/29 June at Manchester’s Cornerhouse, about everything cinema. The winning teams will have the opportunity (and cash up to £1500) to have their concept funded for further development → http://goo.gl/faIieP
HACK WEEKEND.
Centro are running a Hack Weekend Challenge on 21/22 June at Centro House, Birmingham, with food and refreshments included. Prizes include Apple stuff and High Street vouchers. Full details → http://www.centro.org.uk/hackchallenge
ROBOTICS.
MCS Projects ( → http://mcsprojectsltd.co.uk) in conjunction with local experts in educational robots are running robotics competitions for schools across the north of England and are looking for CS students to help (paid at £50 per day + expenses). Contact Paul Waterworth → mcsprojectsltd@gmail.com
SUPPORT A SCHOOL.
Manchester Grammar School is running a ‘Computing for Beginners’ week. They’re looking for students with Linux / RPi skills to help for 1 or 2 days, between 24-27 June. A great opportunity to enthuse kids about Computer Science, get some experience, and enhance your CV. Contact Simon Duffy → s.j.duffy@mgs.org
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
#13.31 • Monday 26 May 2014 • Exams Week 3
Good morning! It's Monday 26 May and it’s yet another public holiday today! I hope your exams are going well. Remember, if you have any emergencies, contact SSO immediately → compsci-sso@listserv.manchester.ac.uk or 0161 306 6625. On with today’s news...
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
VENTURE SUCCESS.
Huge congratulations to Radu Nedelcu (Y3, CSBMwIE) and Life Sciences PhD student Daniel Jamieson who jointly won the top prize of £10,000 in the Technology category of the Venture Further Awards, the annual start-up competition run by Manchester Enterprise Centre. Radu and Daniel won with their drug discovery and validation knowledge database system Biorelate, which uses novel, state-of-the-art text mining software with expert curation to extract complex data from published literature, with a GUI developed by Radu as his 3rd Year Project, supervised by Goran Nenadic. Below Radu (right) and Daniel (left) receive their award from Lynn Sheppard, Director of the Manchester Enterprise Centre → http://biorelate.com
CALLING ALL GEEKS.
Ciprian Tomoiaga (Y2, CSwIE) writes: Don't be just a geek! Be a cool geek! And help others discover the awesomeness behind Computer Science. Join the Manchester Ultimate Programming committee for next year and make sure the legend continues (→ http://tiny.cc/LegendOf1UP). All years welcome, all skills including leadership, teamwork, organisational, design, you name it, are valuable. All you need to do is to sign up on this nice coffee-themed form (because hey, it's exam time) → http://tiny.cc/Join1UP
HACK WEEKEND.
Centro are running a Hack Weekend Challenge on 21/22 June at Centro House, Birmingham, with food and refreshments included. Prizes include Apple stuff and High Street vouchers. Full details → http://www.centro.org.uk/hackchallenge.
ROBOTICS.
MCS Projects ( → http://mcsprojectsltd.co.uk) in conjunction with local experts in educational robots are running robotics competitions for schools across the north of England and are looking for CS students to help (paid at £50 per day + expenses). Contact Paul Waterworth → mcsprojectsltd@gmail.com
SUPPORT A SCHOOL.
Manchester Grammar School is running a Computing for Beginners week. They’re looking for students with Linux / RPi skills to help for 1 or 2 days, between 24-27 June. A great opportunity to enthuse kids about Computer Science, get some experience, and enhance your CV. Contact Simon Duffy → s.j.duffy@mgs.org
IMPROVING STUDENT LIFE.
Have you got an idea that could improve student life using digital technology? You could get £5,000 to develop it this summer → http://jisc.ac.uk/student-innovation
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
#13.30 • Monday 19 May 2014 • Exams Week 2
Good morning! It's Monday 19 May. I hope the exams are going well for you. If you have any exam emergencies contact SSO immediately → compsci-sso@listserv.manchester.ac.uk or 0161 306 6625. On with today’s news...
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
TEACHER OF THE YEAR.
Dr Richard Neville has been named The University of Manchester Teacher of the Year. Congratulations to Richard on this fantastic, and extremely well-deserved honour which reflects his commitment. This is the second time in 3 years that one of our staff has been awarded Teacher of the Year – John Latham won in 2011. Well done Richard!
BEST SUPPORT STAFF.
And congratulations to Holly Dewsnip, our Recruitment & Admissions Intern, who has won Best Individual Support Staff in the Manchester Teaching Awards, run by the Students Union. Well done Holly!
ROBOTICS OPPORTUNITY.
MCS Projects ( → http://mcsprojectsltd.co.uk) in conjunction with local experts in educational robots are running robotics competitions for schools across the north of England and are looking for Computer Science students to help (paying £50 per day + expenses). Great for your CV. For details contact Paul Waterworth → mcsprojectsltd@gmail.com
EPS POETRY COMP.
We didn't win, but we had 10 great entries! Read them here → http://www.epspoetry.com/poems.php?sid=2
SUPPORT A SCHOOL.
Manchester Grammar School is running a ‘Computing for Beginners’ week. They’re looking for students with Linux and RPi skills to help for 1 or 2 days, between 24-27 June. A great opportunity to enthuse kids about Computer Science, get some experience, and enhance your CV. For full details contact Simon Duffy → s.j.duffy@mgs.org
IMPROVING STUDENT LIFE.
Have you got an idea that could improve student life using digital technology? You could get £5,000 to develop it this summer → http://jisc.ac.uk/student-innovation
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
#13.29 • Monday 12 May 2014 • Exams Week 1
Good morning! It's Monday 12 May and it’s the first of the 3 exam weeks. I hope all goes well. I know it sounds obvious, but make sure you know your exam schedule and locations precisely – it's your responsibility to be in the right place at the right time! In case of emergencies contact SSO immediately → compsci-sso@listserv.manchester.ac.uk or 0161 306 6625. On with today’s news...
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
MAY BALL.
Last Friday 9 May was the annual May Ball at the Midland Hotel run with the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. A great evening by all accounts!
REVISION HELP.
The Library is running study sessions to help students work out their best strategies for revision. Find out more and book a place → http://goo.gl/pqbyI3
LF31 CLOSED THIS WEEK.
LF31 will be closed for essential system maintenance from tomorrow Tues 13 May to Friday 16 May inclusive. Please use Tootill, Collab or the 3rd Year lab (Room 1.8) instead.
IE MEETING TOMORROW.
There’s an important meeting, with pizza, in IT407 at 13:00 tomorrow Tues 13 May for all students going out on Industrial Experience this summer. The meeting will cover what you need to do before, during and after your placement. If you can't make it, please let Duncan know asap → Duncan.Hull@manchester.ac.uk
SUPPORT A SCHOOL.
Manchester Grammar School is running a ‘Computing for Beginners’ week. They’re looking for students with Linux and RPi skills to help for 1 or 2 days, between 24-27 June. A great opportunity to enthuse kids about Computer Science, get some experience, and enhance your CV. For full details contact Simon Duffy → s.j.duffy@mgs.org
IMPROVING STUDENT LIFE.
Have you got an idea that could improve student life using digital tech? You could get £5,000 to develop it this summer → http://jisc.ac.uk/student-innovation
SMART CITIZEN.
Future Everything is running a free workshop on Weds 28 May and giving away 25 Arduino and Intel powered Ambient Sensors to be deployed around Manchester. Get tickets (deadline this Weds 14 May) → http://futureeverything.org/events/smart-citizen-workshop/
BEST ELEARNING AWARDS.
Have you done a course this year which makes innovative and effective use of eLearning? Vote for the best and win an iPod or iPad (deadline 16 May) → http://is.gd/epsbest
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
#13.28 • Monday 5 May 2014 • Week 12 (B)
Good morning! It's Monday 5 May and it’s Week 12, a B week, and the final teaching week of the year. It's the Early May Bank Holiday today too – so no timetabled activities in the School today, back to normal tomorrow. Have a nice day whatever you’re doing. On with today’s news...
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
FIRST YEAR PROJECT SHOWCASE.
The showcase last week was a great success and the work on show was as fantastic, original and imaginative as ever. Well done to all First Year students!
DUCK NEWS.
We may well be the only School of Computer Science in the country (the world?) with our own family of ducks. For the last 4 years Mrs Duck has visited us every Spring to lay her eggs in the courtyard. She must like it here! Thanks to local charity Animals In Distress, the family were collected last week and taken to more comfortable accommodation in Cheshire.
PIZZA AND CHAT.
We’re reviewing the way we teach, and we need your input. What do you like/dislike about our teaching methods? If you have views, make them heard – come to our informal chat session 12:30–14:00 next Monday 12 May. Pizza will be served. Pre-registration required, sign-up deadline 17:00 this Friday 9 May → http://goo.gl/mF6cPP
COURSE UNIT FEEDBACK.
Another way to make your views known is the online Unit Survey, so please give us your feedback on each of your Semester 2 course units – deadline this Friday 9 May. We take your feedback seriously, and we act on it → http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/enhancing-my-experience/tellus
SUMMER VACATION WORK.
Deadline 17:00 today Monday 5 May for applying for work in the School during the summer vac → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/employment/vacationjobs
PASS NEXT YEAR.
We’re still recruiting PASS leaders for next year, and holding another PASS Expectations session for potential leaders tomorrow Tues 6 May at 13:00-14:00 in Collab1. Sign up → http://goo.gl/7D6MwS
ATHENA SWAN SUCCESS.
We’re delighted to announce that the School has received an Athena SWAN Bronze Award, which recognises good practice in recruiting, retaining and promoting women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine in academia → www.manchester.ac.uk/athenaswan
EXAM RESULTS.
Exams begin on Thursday 15 May. For details of when results will be published → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/assessment/results/index.php?view=ug
REVISION SUPPORT.
Speaking of exams, the Library is running study sessions to help students work out their best strategies for revision. Find out more and book a place → http://goo.gl/pqbyI3
MENTORING YOUNG CODERS.
The Festival of Code are looking for mentors as part of Young Rewired State (YRS) over the summer of 2014. If you have expertise and enthusiasm for software development, robotics or data crunching you'd like to pass onto young people, why not get involved? → http://festivalofco.de/mentors
SMART CITIZEN.
Future Everything is running a free workshop on Weds 28 May and giving away 25 Arduino and Intel powered Ambient Sensors to be deployed around Manchester. Get tickets (deadline 14 May) → http://futureeverything.org/events/smart-citizen-workshop/
IMPROVING STUDENT LIFE.
Have you got an idea that could improve student life using digital technology? You could get £5,000 to develop it this summer → http://jisc.ac.uk/student-innovation
BEST ELEARNING AWARDS.
Have you done a course this year which makes innovative and effective use of eLearning? Vote for the best and win an iPod or iPad (deadline 16 May) → http://is.gd/epsbest
JOIN A LONDON STARTUP.
Silicon Milk Roundabout is a huge London jobs fair for startups. If you’re a final year student looking for a job, their next event is this coming weekend 10-11 May → http://www.siliconmilkroundabout.com/
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
#13.27 • Monday 28 April 2014 • Week 11 (A)
Good morning! It's Monday 28 April and it’s Week 11, an A week. I hope you had a good Easter break, and you're back refreshed for the last two weeks of scheduled teaching, then the exams! On with today’s news...
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
PASS AWARDS SUCCESS.
The Students as Partners Celebration Evening was held at the Palace Hotel on Thurs 3 April, and the School won second place in the PASS Scheme of the Year awards. There are 23 PASS schemes across the University, so this is a fantastic achievement! Congratulations to our Student Coordinators Matt Akerman (Y3, CSE4) and Dalwinder Bagdi (Y3, CSwIE), Year2 PASS Coordinators Danielle Grayston (Y3, AIwIE) and Jack Evans (Y3, CS), all of our 33 PASS Leaders, and Staff Coordinators Andrea Schalk and Gavin Donald. Well done all!
PASS NEXT YEAR.
We’re still recruiting PASS leaders for next year, so please sign up and help the scheme to get even better in 2014! We’re holding another PASS Expectations session for potential leaders next Tues 6 May at 13:00-14:00 in Collab1. Sign up → http://goo.gl/7D6MwS
FIRST YEAR PROJECT SHOWCASE.
The 1st Year Project Showcase takes place today Monday 28 April at 11:00 on LF. Everyone is welcome to come and see the great project work from 1st year students → https://moodle.cs.man.ac.uk/mod/wiki/view.php?id=1140&page=Phase4+Step11
COURSE UNIT FEEDBACK.
Please give us your feedback on each of your Semester 2 course units – deadline 9 May. We take your feedback seriously. Use a handy app or on-line → http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/enhancing-my-experience/tellus
SUMMER VACATION WORK.
We’re offering paid work opportunities in the School during the summer vac. Enhance your CV with new skills and tech, and do important work for the School. Application deadline 17:00 next Mon 5 May → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/employment/vacationjobs
TEACHING FORUM.
We’re reviewing the way we teach, and we want your input. What do you like/dislike about our teaching methods? Do you like/dislike lectures Do you prefer workshops? Or something else? Why? We're running an informal Forum session at 12:30 – 14:00 on Mon 12 May (note the change of date) to hear your views on teaching methods. Pizza will be served! Pre-registration required, sign-up deadline this Friday 2 May → http://goo.gl/mF6cPP
ARM TALK.
Dr Anton Lokhmotov of ARM will be giving a guest lecture for COMP35112 Chip Multiprocessors today Monday 28 April at 15:00 in LT1.3. The main topic is ARM's high performance SIMD attached processor ‘Mali’ system, and Anton is promising to tell some interesting stories accompanied by demos, so it should be entertaining. All welcome.
CALIFORNIAN PYTHON.
Fernando Perez from the University of California, Berkeley will be giving a seminar today Monday 28 Apr at 14:00 (Lecture Theatre G20, Mansfield Cooper building) on Python and IPython as alternatives to MATLAB, Mathematica and SPSS → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-events/full-article/?articleid=883
REVISION SUPPORT.
The Library is running study sessions to help students work out their best strategies for revision. To find out more and book a place → http://goo.gl/pqbyI3
GREAT PRENEURS.
Great Preneurs is hosting its first Conference about Manchester Startups this coming Saturday 3 May at Techhub Manchester. People from the Manchester Startup Scene will talk about raising capital, growing In Manchester, getting into an accelerator and investing in Manchester tech startups. Register → http://greatpreneurs.com/conference/
WAR OF NATURE.
Andrea Schalk and Colin Caine (PhD) have contributed to Manchester Museum’s From the War of Nature exhibition. Colin features in the exhibition discussing his computer simulations of conflict and co-operation and how life evolves. Why not have a look? (it’s the building opposite University Place) → http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/fromthewar
MUSIC TALK.
This Weds 30 April, at 14:00 in LT1.4, David De Roure from the University of Oxford e-Research Centre will talk about Digital Music Research: from Music Objects to Social Machines. “The music business from studio to sofa (and studio on sofa) is well on the way to being digital end-to-end” → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/our-research/seminars
BEST ELEARNING AWARDS.
Have you done a course this year which makes innovative and effective use of eLearning? Vote for the best and win an iPod or iPad (deadline 16 May) → http://is.gd/epsbest
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
#13.26 • Sunday 6 April 2014 • Easter vacation
Good morning! It's Monday 7 April and it’s the first week of the 3-week Easter vac. I hope you’re having a rest and maybe the opportunity for a catch-up. Year 3 students, good luck with writing your project reports. The Monday Mail is having an Easter break, but will be back again on Monday 28 April (Week 11, an A week). Meanwhile, on with today’s news...
Best wishes, Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
EASTER OPENING HOURS.
Kilburn is open as usual 08:00-23.30 throughout the Easter vacation, but you’ll need your out-of-hours pass for access from 18:00 to 23:30, and for weekends and Good Friday/Easter Monday.
HACKATHON WIN.
Congratulations to Team Goat, aka Izz Abudaka (Y1, CS), Grzegorz Jacenków (Y1, CSBMwIE), Victor Lampreia (Y1, CSwIE) and Bartłomiej Siemieniuk (Y1, SE4), who won 4 prizes out of 7 at the Greater Manchester Open Data Coding Challenge last week ( → http://opendatamanchester.org.uk ) – an extraordinary achievement! The Goats developed “Invest Locator”, which maps how a user's surroundings will change in the future ( → http://lab.jacenkow.com/~TeamGoat/goatchange ) and “Lightchester”, a map of Manchester using street light data, with an option to show crime scene data, to see if the most illuminated places are the safest → http://lab.jacenkow.com/~TeamGoat/goatlight
STAFF VS STUDENTS.
Also congratulations to everyone at the Staff vs Students programming competition last Weds 2 April. It was fantastic to see so many people involved: 6 staff teams and 17 student teams. The vibe was amazing and Head of School Prof Jim MIles awarded the prizes. In 1st place were Will Brown (Y1, CSwIE) and Adrian Mircea Nenu (Y1, CSwIE); in 2nd place Stefan Katov (Y3, CSBMwIE) and Tomo Simeonov (Y3, CSwIE); and in 3rd place Dr David Lester and James Knight (PhD). Check the Staff vs Students official page for more pix, the problem set, solutions, and a detailed leaderboard → http://www.uomdojo.com/svs
VOTE POETRY.
Voting is now open in the EPS Faculty Poetry comp – and we have 10 entries in from the School! Check out our entries and vote (deadline 18 April). Note: entries from other Schools are also available :-) → http://www.epspoetry.com/poems.php?sid=2
SUMMER VACATION WORK.
A reminder that we have some paid work opportunities in the School during the summer vacation. It’s a great opportunity to enhance your CV by learning new skills and tech, and do important development and support work for the School too. Apply (deadline 17:00 Mon 5 May) → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/employment/vacationjobs
COURSE UNIT FEEDBACK.
Please give us your feedback on each of your Semester 2 course units – deadline 9 May. We take your feedback seriously, and act on it → http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/enhancing-my-experience/tellus
TIMETABLES.
You should have received your Semester 2 exams timetable direct from the University. If not, please see SSO. A reminder that you can access your timetables online → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/timetables and you can use Pez Cuckow’s (Y3, CSBMwIE) app to get an iCal feed → http://labs.pezcuckow.com/cstimetable – and don't forget the UG Events cal that we're trialling. There’s an ics feed → http://goo.gl/FDIXGA and an HTML view → http://goo.gl/2P7UFs
BBC INTERNSHIPS.
The deadline for applying for internships at the BBC in MediaCityUK Manchester has changed – it’s now 17:00 on 23 April → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/industry/news/full-article/?articleid=878
TEACHING FORUM.
The School is reviewing the way it teaches, and we need your input. What do you like/dislike about our teaching methods? Do you like/dislike lectures or some lecturing styles? Do you prefer workshops? Or something else? Why? We're running an informal Forum session at 12:30 – 14:00 on Mon 12 May (note the change of date) to hear student views on teaching methods. Students from all years welcome. Pizza will be served. Register by Friday 2 May → http://goo.gl/mF6cPP
GOOGLE TRAVEL GRANTS.
Google is offering travel grants for students to attend the following conferences: HITB Haxpo ( → http://haxpo.nl ) May 27-30, Amsterdam; Craft ( → http://craft-conf.com/2014) April 23-25, Budapest; Berlin Buzzwords (→ http://berlinbuzzwords.de ) May 25-28, Berlin; and Europython 2014 ( → https://ep2014.europython.eu/en ) July 21-27, Berlin. Apply → https://services.google.com/fb/forms/studentgrants2014
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Have a great Easter vacation and see you again on Monday 28 April.
#13.25 • Monday 31 March 2014 • Week 10 (B)
Good morning! It's Monday 31 March, and it’s Week 10, a B week. And it’s the last week before the Easter vac – but you probably knew that! It’s been a long semester, and I hope it's been a good one for you so far.
Best wishes, Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
STAFF-STUDENT COMMITTEE.
Last week the SSC met for the second time this semester, and included a very interesting (and frank!) discussion about lectures. Read SSC secretary Dan Tzabar’s (Y2, CS4) report of the meeting → http://sscc.cs.manchester.ac.uk
MEET THE PRESIDENT.
The President of the University, Nancy Rothwell, is visiting the School today Monday 31 March, and she's holding an informal open meeting for all students at 10:30 – 11:00 in Kilburn 2.15 (second floor). If you have a gap in your timetable, do go along and meet her.
SUMMER VACATION WORK.
Interested in some paid work here in the School during the summer vacation? It’s a great opportunity to learn new skills and tech, and do important development and support work for the School. Details of the positions available, and how to apply (deadline 17:00 Mon 5 May) → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/employment/vacationjobs
CODE FIRST GIRLS.
Last weekend the School hosted Code First Girls, organised by Entrepreneur First ( → http://www.entrepreneurfirst.org.uk ) and Ciprian Tomoiaga (Y2, CSwIE). 22 attendees spent two days learning HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Bootstrap. This fabulous event was possible thanks to the hard work and commitment of students Neha Agrawal (Y3, CSE), David Buckley (PhD), Marios Katsakioris (Y1, CSwIE), Alexandru Mihailescu (Y1, CS), Francesca Popescu (Y1, SEwIE), Teo Taylor (Y1, CS) and PGT students Moss Abdelkhalik, Soldier Dey, Hamizah Badrul Hisham, Mamatha, and Vivek Vijayan. Well done all, and thanks to Duncan Hull, Mabel Yau, Tony McDonald and David Rydeheard for their support.
RASPBERRY JAM.
Also last weekend the School hosted the monthly North-West Raspberry Jam meeting. Lots of people – young and not-so-young! – had great fun with their Pis in LF31.
ALT CAREERS.
Network Rail are here today Monday 31 March to guest lecture in COMP101 about alternative careers in IT, including business analysis and project management. All welcome, LT1.1 at 11:00.
NSS PRIZEWINNER.
The latest NSS prize draw winner is Nikki Schofield (Y3, CSwIE), whose name was picked by previous winner Ludwig Knoepfel (Y3, IC). Nikki receives a £100 Amazon voucher. Final year students: to enter the final draw on Fri 2 May, just complete the NSS and take your ack email to SSO.
COURSE UNIT FEEDBACK.
For the next 3 weeks, you’ll have an opportunity to give us your feedback on each of your Semester 2 course units – please do this! We need and value your feedback – we read it all, and we publish your lecturers' responses to you (see, for example, the Semester 1 responses → https://wiki.cs.manchester.ac.uk/index.php/US_Response_AY1314_Semester_1 ). To give us your feedback, log into My Manchester and click My Blackboard, or use an app → http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/enhancing-my-experience/tellus
APPSENSE LECTURE.
Today’s COMP26120 guest lecturer at 15:00 in LT1.1 is Travis Walton from virtualisation tools company Appsense ( → http://www.appsense.com ). Travis will talk about the role of efficient algorithms and data structures in computer games, and will relate this to the course material. You can talk to Travis afterwards about job opportunities at Appsense. All welcome, not just COMP26120 students.
STAFF VS STUDENTS.
The second annual Staff vs Students competition takes place this Weds 2 April at 15:00 in the Collab. Places are almost full, so register ASAP if you want to take part. We have Amazon vouchers worth £200, free pizza during the comp, and free beer/non-beer in Kro Bar afterwards → http://www.uomdojo.com/svs/register
CSSOC.
Interested in being part of the CSSoc committee next year and running the society? All positions are open! For more information come to AGM this Weds 2 April at 13:00 ( → url.cssoc.co.uk/agm ) .... and this Friday 4 April, it's the Easter pub crawl → url.cssoc.co.uk/easter
SSO EARLY CLOSING.
To allow staff to attend School meetings, SSO will be closing early today Monday 31 March at 15:30.
PASS2.
Today Monday 31 March in Collab 1 at 17:00. All Y2 students welcome.
AGILE 3RD YEAR PROJECT CLUB.
Tomorrow Tuesday 1 April at 13:00 in G33, we’ll be trying out some retrospective techniques to help bring out ideas for your project reports → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
GREAT PRENEURS.
Great Preneurs is organising the first ever conference about Manchester Startups. Speakers include the editor in chief of The Next Web, Martin Bryant, and Ben Taylor, co-founder of Fatsoma. It’s at Techhub on 3 May 10:30 –18:00 → http://greatpreneurs.com/conference/
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Have a super week!
#13.24 • Monday 24 March 2014 • Week 9 (A)
Good morning! It's Monday 24 March, and it’s Week 9, an A week. A huge amount to tell you about this week… so on with the news!
Best wishes, Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
DESIGN YOUR FUTURE.
Last week the School played a big part in the “iTech: design your future” event for schoolchildren at the Museum of Science and Industry ( → http://www.mosi.org.uk ) as part of National Science and Engineering Week. Steve Pettifer and Gavin Brown gave keynote talks; David Rydeheard, Vartul Agrawal (Y1, CS4), Lizzy Hamer (Y3, CS), Sarah Thomas (Y3, CBA), Alex Webb (Y3, CSwIE) and Jonny Heathcote (PhD) all did fantastic jobs enthusing schoolkids about Computer Science. Below, clockwise from the top left: Alex, Jonny, Gavin and Sarah.
STAFF-STUDENT COMMITTEE.
This Weds 26 March is the second SSC meeting of the Semester. If you have anything you’d like your Reps to raise → http://sscc.cs.manchester.ac.uk
MEET THE PRESIDENT.
The President of the University, Nancy Rothwell (→ http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/profiles/nancyrothwell ), is visiting the School next Monday 31 March. She's holding an informal open meeting for all students at 10:30 – 11:00 in Kilburn 2.15 (second floor). If you have a gap in your timetable, please go along and meet her.
UG EVENTS CALENDAR.
We’re trialling a new thing – a handy calendar of the events you read about here in the Monday Mail. Please tell me if you think it’s useful or not. There’s an ics feed → http://goo.gl/FDIXGA and an HTML view → http://goo.gl/2P7UFs
50 BILLION CHIPS.
Today Monday 24 March at 11:00 in LT 1.1 the COMP101 guest lecture is by Crispin Semmen of ARM ( → ARM.com ). Crispin will overview the technology portfolio of ARM, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, based in the UK. How did 50 billion ARM processors get out into the world over the last 20 years? Everyone welcome → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-events/full-article/?articleid=790
STAFF VS STUDENTS.
Just a week left until the annual Staff vs Students competition (Weds 2 April at 15:00 in the Collab). Team up with one of your friends, register and get ready to spend three hours coding on some fun programming challenges. We have Amazon vouchers worth £200, snacks during the competition and free beer/non-beer-alternative-beverage waiting for you afterwards. Register now → http://www.uomdojo.com/svs/
GO-KARTING.
CSSoc are going Go-Karting this Thurs evening, 27 March. Get your crash helmet on and book now → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/karting
SWINTON INSURANCE.
Drop-in session on LF, tomorrow Tues 25 March. Find out about their Manchester-based System Development Department → http://www.swinton.co.uk
COOL KIDS CODE FOR THE WEB.
This Weds 26 March at 14:00 in Collab, MAN-UP founders and 2012 CS graduates Lloyd Henning and Pete Sutton will talk about real-time web apps: cross-platform 3D graphics, sound, webcams, touch events, realtime comms, and push → http://goo.gl/yjopRh
MANCHESTER ENTREPRENEURS.
Also this Weds 26 March, Manchester Entrepreneurs president Tom McCann and What Next host Waleed Lakhani will tell you what they do and explain why coders are vital in today's startup environment. All welcome! Collab 1, 15:00 → http://www.manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk
RUBY WORKSHOP.
Mark van Harmelen and David Workman tackle Test Driven Design with RSpec and Ruby using their usual hands-on pair programming approach. Anyone who missed earlier workshops and would like to drop in is very welcome. This Friday 28 March at 16:00 – 18:00 in the MSc Lab.
RASPBERRY JAM.
The monthly event for anybody interested in the Raspberry Pi is being held here in Kilburn this month, this Sat 29 March from 10:30 – 17:00. Come along and bring your Pi to life! Share ideas and see talks and demos. Everyone welcome → uomraspberryjam.eventbrite.co.uk
REFS APP.
Jake Thornton (Y3, CS) has been working with a London startup to develop a free app for creating references by scanning book barcodes. Jake writes: looking to save some time and marks in your essays and project reports? Check out ReferenceME → http://goo.gl/Qub4T5
TEACHING OPPORTUNITY.
Do you love programming and want to share your knowledge? Code First: Girls ( → http://www.codefirstgirls.org.uk ) is addressing the gender imbalance in tech by teaching young women to code. They’ll be in Manchester this weekend 29/30 March and are looking for great sharers, female and male, to help skill up a bunch of beginners → madeleine@codefirstgirls.org.uk
INDUSTRIAL MENTORING.
The Careers Service’s mentoring programme, Manchester Gold, has mentors available on the Spring 2014 programme who work in a variety of IT-related roles. For a list of some of the mentors available, and how to contact them → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/people/news/full-article/?articleid=834
SSO EARLY CLOSING.
To allow staff to attend School meetings, SSO will be closing slightly early this Friday 28 March at 16:00, and also next Monday 31 March at 15:30.
PASS2.
Today Monday 24 March in Collab 1 at 17:00. All Y2 students welcome.
AGILE 3RD YEAR PROJECT CLUB.
No meeting this week. Next meeting Tuesday 1 April at 13:00 in G33, when we’ll be trying out some retrospective techniques to help bring out ideas for your project reports → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
FUTURE EVERYTHING.
Following on from the success of Routes to the Future Innovation Challenge where 80 creative coders came together for 48 hours to build applications from Transport from Greater Manchester’s data, FutureEverything brings you another weekend of code, with a prize fund of £3,500. The 24-hour event kicks off at 16:00 on Sat 29 March at TechHub Manchester → http://goo.gl/285KLi
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Have a great week!
#13.23 • Monday 17 March 2014 • Week 8 (B)
Good morning! It's Monday 17 March, and it’s Week 8, a B week. I hope you’re doing well. Lots of news today!
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
* FACEBOOK SUCCESS. This past weekend Team Goat, one of the 4 teams from the School entering, won the Facebook London Hackathon! Mark Larah (Y2, CS4), Bartlomiej Siemieniuk (Y1, SE4), Antonio Marino (Y2, SEwIE), and Jessie Abramson (Y3, AI), battled against 21 other UK teams to emerge triumphant with their powerful yet simple to understand programming language ZuckerScript ( → http://fbfiddle.com ). They'll be flying to California representing the UK later this year in the world finals. Well done Team Goat, and the other 3 teams, a fantastic achievement by you all!
KNEEBONE BURSARY.
Congratulations to Mantas Mikaitis (Y2, CSwIE) this year’s recipient of the Kneebone Bursary, founded by the Kneebone family in memory of their daughter Kate, who was an undergraduate here in the School. The bursary comprises a cash award and an opportunity for an internship with ARM in Cambridge.
ATRIUM ON TOUR.
The University’s Atrium student advice and guidance team will be visiting the Byte Cafe today Monday 17 March from 11:00-15:00.
ON THE TELLY.
Our very own Professor Steve Furber and Dr Gavin Brown were on BBC Newsround last Friday, talking about modelling the human brain and AI.
NSS PRIZEWINNER.
The latest NSS prize draw winner is James Rowland (Y3, CSwIE), whose name was picked out of Tim Morris’s special hat by previous winner Sarah Thomas (Y3, CBA). James receives a £100 Amazon voucher. Final year students: to enter the next draw on Fri 28 March, just take your NSS acknowledgment email to SSO. At the moment, the odds of winning are very good!
PASS2.
Today Monday 17 Mar in Collab 1 at 17:00. All Y2 students welcome.
EXAM FEEDBACK SESSION.
A reminder for those who’ve registered, the session is this Weds 19 March, 14:00-16:00 (Years 1, 2 and 3 in IT407, Year 4 in G102).
3RD YEAR PROJECT SHOWCASE.
Last week’s Project Showcase was an impressive event and we saw some fantastic and inspiring work from 3rd Year Project students.Thanks to everyone who took part and congratulations on your excellent project work.
SUPERBOWL.
Neha Agrawal (Y3, CSE) writes: our next CSSoc event is 10-pin bowling tomorrow Tues 18 March, 20:00 at the Great Northern. You’re welcome to bring people outside of CS to join in the fun → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/bowling
STAFF VS STUDENTS.
The second annual Staff vs Student Coding Contest is on Weds 2 April at 14:00. Join us in teams of two for some challenging problems, exciting prizes (over £200 in Amazon vouchers), free food, and a free drink with the lecturers after the contest. Make sure you attend the practice session this Weds 19 March to get familiar with the contest system → http://uomdojo.com/svs
TECH FOR CHANGE.
Philip Ndikum (Y1, CM) writes: The African Computing Engineering and Mathematics Society are hosting an event this Friday 21 March from 16:20-18:00 in Atlas. The guest speaker will be Paul Skidmore, former Deputy CEO of the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative. Additionally Sam Butterfield of Teach First will be there to provide information on Graduate Opportunities → philip.ndikum@student.manchester.ac.uk
AGILE 3RD YEAR PROJECT CLUB.
Tomorrow Tues 18 Mar at 13:00 in G33 → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
MAY BALL.
Tickets are on sale 13:00-14:00 this Weds in LF15, or grab the closest committee member → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/mayball
RENTAL CARS AND PIZZA.
Drop-in and meet rentalcars.com, tomorrow Tues 18 March at 12:00-14:00 on LF, with pizza. Learn about their tech stack: Hibernate, Spring, Struts, Linux, Apache, Java, PHP, Tomcat, MySQL, Zend, RabbitMQ, Vmware, Windows7, Windows server 2012 and SQL Server 2012.
NEURO MASTERS.
The School of Psychological Sciences offers the Neuroimaging for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience MSc, an exciting opportunity for graduates with a Computer Science background to do a Master’s in a cutting edge area of science and tech. There’s a £1000 loyalty discount for UoM 2014 graduates with a 2.1 or above. Visit the SPS Open Day, this Weds 19 March at 13:30 in Lecture theatre D, Zochonis Building → robert.white@manchester.ac.uk
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Have a great week!
#13.22 • Monday 10 March 2014 • Week 7 (A)
Good morning. It's Monday 10 March, and it’s Week 7, an A week. I hope things are all going well. On with today’s news!
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
GREAT UNI HACKATHON SUCCESS.
Pez Cuckow (Y3, CSBMwIE) writes: The GreatUniHack sponsored by Intel, held last Saturday here in the School was a huge success with over 80 attendees and lots of winners – Best Overall: Joe Forshaw with Convinced of the Hex territory game; Best Game: Audrey Leow, Sarah Kelso, Daniel Underwood and Ryszard Rowinski with Kinect Flappy Nerds; Most Useful: Paul Pistea, Nenu Adrian, Eduard Bunduc and Horia-Danut Stanciu with a text-based wiki and timetable API; Most Quirky: Ignas Bolsakovas, Struan McDonough, Arjun Mistry, Hugh Williams with a cat fact SMS service; Best use of ClockWork API: Fran Popescu, Adrian Culea, Vlad Berianu; and Radu Ghitescu with a dating service for CS students. Full details → http://greatunihack.co.uk
GOOD LUCK FACEBOOK HACKERS.
Good luck to all our students entering the Facebook hackathon in London this coming weekend! We look forward to hearing how you get on.
3RD YEAR PROJECT SHOWCASE.
This Weds 12 March in Collab 13:00-15:00, come and see some of the projects Y3 students have been working on since last September → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2013/COMP30040/show.php?id=285
NEW STUDY ROOMS.
Rooms LF5 and LF6, just opposite the Byte Cafe, have been refurbished and fitted with wall-mounted TVs, and we’re going to trial them as study rooms for undergraduates (except during exam periods, when the rooms are used for exams), so feel free to start using them right away. We hope you’ll find them useful, and as always I’d appreciate any feedback you have.
PHP IS AWESOME!
This week’s COMP101 guest lecture is by Magma Digital and School of Computer Science alumni Steph Cook and Damien Walsh, today Mon 10 March at 11:00 in LT1.1. They’ll argue that PHP's less-than-perfect reputation is a thing of the past and look at how PHP is used in the wild → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/industry/news/full-article/?articleid=734
CODING DOJO.
Coding Dojo is excited to announce the second edition of the Annual Staff vs Student Competition that will take place on Weds 2 April at 14:00. Join us in teams of two for some challenging problems, free food and a free drink with the lecturers after the contest. Register → http://uomdojo.com/svs
MAY BALL.
Tickets are on sale 13:00-14:00 this Weds in LF15, or grab the closest CSSoc committee member → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/mayball
PASS2.
Today Mon 3 Mar in Collab 1 at 17:00. All Y2 students welcome.
RUBY WORKSHOP.
This Weds 12 March from 16:00-18:00 in the MSc Lab, Mark van Harmelen and David Workman help you create a fully working web app that does something interesting, probably by utilising an API elsewhere on the Web. Everyone welcome, especially Y1 students.
GOOGLE SUMMER OF CODE.
Student applications for the annual Google Summer of Code, now in its 10th year, open today Mon 10 March – get paid to work on open source software. Over 190 organisations are involved this year, including Apache, CERN, Debian, Twitter, WordPress and Wikimedia → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/our-research/news/full-article/?articleid=708
MEET AUTODESK.
Autodesk is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Its customers – including the last 19 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects – use Autodesk software like Maya and Max to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Meet Autodesk at their drop-in session, tomorrow Tues 11 Mar at lunchtime on LF.
MEET ACCENTURE.
Interested in working with Accenture? Or simply want a few tips for your CV? Accenture is holding a skills session this Weds 12 March in LF15 at 14:00.
GIGAPIXEL IMAGING.
Ian Shipsey from Oxford University talks about the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, this Weds 12 March at 14.30 in the Rutherford Lecture Theatre, Schuster Building → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~hulld/schuster.pdf
FUTURE EVERYTHING.
Following on from the success of Routes to the Future Innovation Challenge where 80 creative coders came together for 48 hours to build applications from Transport from Greater Manchester’s data, FutureEverything brings you another weekend of code, with a prize fund of £3,500. The 24-hour event kicks off at 16:00 on Sat 29 March at TechHub Manchester → http://goo.gl/285KLi
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!
#13.21 • Monday 3 March 2014 • Week 6 (B)
Good morning. It's Monday 3 March, and it’s Week 6, a B week. There's daffodils around the campus so Spring is finally here! I hope things are going well. Here’s today’s news.
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
PERSONALISED RECOMMENDATIONS.
Today Mon 3 March at 11:00, the COMP101 guest lecturer will be Wing Chan of the Hut Group ( → http://www.thehutgroup.com ) on developing personalised recommendations in e-commerce, explaining why this is both crucial and extremely challenging → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-events/full-article/?articleid=674
NSS PRIZE DRAW.
Congratulations to Ludwig Knoepfel (Y3, IC) on winning the £100 Amazon voucher in our National Student Survey prize draw held every two weeks. Final year students: to enter, all you need to do is complete the NSS Survey, then visit SSO.
CODING DOJO.
This Weds 5 March at 15:00 in Collab, Coding Dojo is organizing a meeting where you will solve two graph programming problems on the TopCoder platform. This will be good training for the Staff vs Students competition, which is coming soon. Don't forget to bring your laptop → https://www.facebook.com/events/742392652445455/
FACEBOOK HACKATHON.
@csmcr have been invited to participate in the official Facebook Hackathon regional heats at Shoreditch Works in London on Sat 15 March. If you’re interested in joining please let Miso Zmiric know ( → miso.zmiric@student.manchester.ac.uk ) as he’s co-ordinating transport to London. If enough people from Manchester sign up, Facebook will organise a special bus. Sign up → http://fb.com/events/584327678330453
MAY BALL.
CSSoc are selling tickets 13:00-14:00 this Weds 5 March in LF15 for the Midnight Masquerade May Ball at the Midland Hotel on Friday 9 May, run with the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/mayball
PASS2.
Today Mon 3 Mar in Collab 1 at 17:00. All Y2 students welcome.
AGILE 3RD YEAR PROJECT CLUB.
There won’t be a meeting this week – back next week → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
RUBY WORKSHOP.
This Weds 5 March at 15:00 in the MSc lab, Manchester Ultimate Programming (aka 1-UP) continues its workshop series with Test-Driven Development using RSpec & Ruby → https://www.facebook.com/events/715112955186301/
HARDWARE HACKATHON.
Manchester Ultimate Programming is running a hardware programming hackathon this FRIDAY (note change of date) 7 March at 16:00 on the topic of FPGAs – computing without processors! It’s intended for all students interested in computer architecture and hardware design. Refreshments will be provided → https://sites.google.com/site/1uphardcore
GREAT UNI HACKATHON.
The Great Uni Hackathon is this coming Sat 8 March in the Collab. Sign up → http://greatunihack.co.uk
EXAM FEEDBACK SESSION.
Final call for the Semester 1 feedback session on Weds 19 March in IT.407, from 14:00-16:00. To view your marked COMP scripts, register in advance by emailing SSO with your name, student ID number and the list of COMP course unit scripts you wish to view. Deadline for registering: 12:00 this Weds 5 March → compsci-sso@listserv.manchester.ac.uk
MEET ACCENTURE.
Interested in working with Accenture? Or simply want a few tips for your CV? Accenture is holding a skills session next Weds 12 March in LF15 at 14:00.
WHAT TO READ?
Applicants to our UG programmes have been asking us if there’s anything we can recommend them to read before coming here. Please tell me about any reading/resources you've found helpful → toby.howard@manchester.ac.uk
POETRY COMP.
Why not have a go in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Poetry Competition – in 2012, one of our UGs was a runner-up! First Prize £500 and 2 runners-up get £200 each. Deadline 28 March → http://epspoetry.com
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!
#13.20 • Monday 24 February 2014 • Week 5 (A)
Good morning. It's Monday 24 February, and it’s Week 5, an A week. Almost halfway to the Easter vac! I hope things are going well. Here’s today’s news.
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
STAFF-STUDENT COMMITTEE.
We had a very lively and productive 2-hour meeting last week, so thanks to all the Reps and staff who attended. Read the report from Secretary Dan Tzabar (Y2, CS4) → http://sscc.cs.manchester.ac.uk The next meeting is Weds 26 March.
WHAT TO READ?
Applicants to our UG programmes have been asking us if there’s anything we can recommend them to read before coming here, to prepare them for their studies (and beyond!). So we’re putting some ideas together of books and online materials. We’d welcome your input – please tell me about any reading/resources you've found helpful → toby.howard@manchester.ac.uk
MAY BALL.
CSSoc are now selling tickets for this year’s Midnight Masquerade May Ball at the Midland Hotel on Friday 9 May, run with the School of School of Arts, Languages and Cultures → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/mayball
PASS2.
Jack Evans (Y3, CS) and Dani Grayston (Y3, AIwIE) write: PASS2 is back. Struggling with the Knapsack problem? Come along and we can help. Today Mon 24 Feb in Collab 1 at 17:00.
• POETRY CORNER. Now in its 3rd year, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Poetry Competition aims to show that creativity in science and engineering can produce poetry too – why not have a go? (in 2012, one of our UGs was a runner-up!) First Prize £500 and 2 runners-up get £200 → https://www.facebook.com/UoMEPSPoetryCompetition
HACKING EDUCATION IN MANCHESTER.
Today Mon 24 Feb at 11:00 in Kilburn LT 1.1, a special series of seven “lightning talks” from local groups who are Computing in the Community. Part of student volunteering week and COMP101, but everyone welcome → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/industry/news/full-article/?articleid=668
PERSONALISED RECOMMENDATIONS.
And next Mon 3 March at 11:00, the COMP101 guest lecturer will be Wing Chan of the Hut Group on developing personalised recommendations in e-commerce explaining why personalisation of recommedations is both crucial and extremely challenging → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-events/full-article/?articleid=674
REMOTE WORKING WIKI.
A reminder that we've put together a wiki to to help students with remote working from outside Kilburn. We’d welcome your contributions → https://wiki.cs.manchester.ac.uk/index.php/RemoteWorking
GOOGLE.
Manchester Ultimate Programming and Google Students Events Manchester ( → https://www.facebook.com/googlestudents.manchester ) have partnered to give you the chance to get in touch with Google. This Weds 26 Feb, you can find out about Google’s AdMob Challenge ( → http://www.google.com/ads/admob/challenge.html ) and life at Google. Join our event to find out how you can also pitch your ideas to a googler and how to get Google SWAG! → https://www.facebook.com/events/1427102320862066/
RUBY WORKSHOP.
Following the Scala workshops, Manchester Ultimate Programming brings you even more opportunities to get the most out of CS. This Weds 26 Feb we kick off the Ruby series with Mark Van Harmelen. First topic is Learning Ruby: How to do it using web resources, an intensely practical session to get you up and running with Ruby. Next week we have TDD using RSpec & Ruby and the one after it you'll get to build your very own Ruby app! Note that these sessions come just in time for The Great Uni Hackathon ( → https://www.facebook.com/events/626226837419063/ ). Join in the Ruby workshops → https://www.facebook.com/events/715112955186301/
AGILE 3RD YEAR PROJECT CLUB.
Tomorrow Tues 25 Feb at 13:00 in Kilburn room G33 (ground floor) → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
OPEN DATA MANCHESTER.
Tomorrow Tues 25 Feb, 18:30-21:00 at Manchester Science Park, this month’s Open Data Manchester event focuses on transport data → http://opendatamanchester.org.uk/2014/02/12/open-data-manchester-transport-special/
KNEEBONE BURSARY.
Final call. The application deadline is today Mon 24 Feb at 17:00 → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/kneebone/
EXAM FEEDBACK SESSION.
The Semester 1 feedback session is on Weds 19 March in IT.407, from 14:00-16:00. To view your marked COMP scripts, you need to register in advance – email SSO with your name, student ID number and the list of COMP course unit scripts you wish to view. Deadline for registering: 12:00 Weds 5 March → compsci-sso@listserv.manchester.ac.uk
MORGAN STANLEY.
Following on from their guest lecture last week Morgan Stanley have launched their student programming contest. Win an iMac and other prizes → http://www.morganstanley.com/programmingcontest/
SEMANTIC WEB AT THE BBC.
This Weds 26 Feb at 14:00 in LT1.4 Dr. Yves Raimond from BBC Research & Development will talk about their use of Semantic Web tech. The BBC generates a vast quantity of information, broadcasting over 1,000 programmes per day, and has huge historic data archives. Yves will describe recent work by BBC R&D using Semantic Web technologies, machine-generated annotations and crowd-sourcing to manage and rapidly publish large archives of content → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/our-research/seminars/
ANNUAL TURING LECTURE.
Also this Weds 26 Feb, Dr Bernard Meyerson from IBM will be talking about “Beyond Silicon: Cognition and more” in University Place at 18:00. Book your place → http://conferences.theiet.org/turing/
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!
#13.19 • Monday 17 February 2014 • Week 4 (B)
Good morning. It's Monday 17 February, and it’s Week 4, a B week. I hope things are going well, despite the weather! Here’s today’s news...
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
EXAM RESULTS.
The Y1 and Y2 COMP results will be published today from 10:00 via Arcade and the LF Exams Noticeboard. Y3 COMP results will be on the noticeboard only. Non-COMP results will be published as soon as we receive them from the other Schools.
STAFF-STUDENT COMMITTEE.
The first of the two SSC meetings this semester is this Weds 19 Feb. If you have any issues you’d like your Reps to raise on your behalf, please contact them ASAP → http://sscc.cs.manchester.ac.uk
WEB VULNERABILITIES EXPOSED.
Morgan Stanley will be guest lecturing about web security today Mon 17 Feb for COMP10120 at 11:00 in LT1.1 – all UGs (not just Y1) are welcome at this interactive session followed by free pizza! → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/industry/news/full-article/?articleid=628
CSSOC TOURNAMENT NIGHT.
This Weds 19 Feb 18:00-23:00 in the Collab, CSSoc is running a tournament in collaboration with the Gaming Society. The best overall gamer will win £50! See the event page for a listing of games and the other prizes → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/gamingtournament
1-UP WORKSHOP.
Ever spent more time debugging than programming? Never learnt how to use GDB, DDD...? Then come along to 1UP MINI Workshop this Weds 19 Feb at 14:00 in the MSc lab. 1400-15:00: "Hacking Tesco shopping API with Scala"; 1500-16:20: "Continuum: A look into some of the technologies we use at IBM (Python and bash); 16:20-17:30: "Fixing bugs in C by runtime patching the Mac OS X kernel". Register → https://www.facebook.com/events/536712489760301/
THOUGHTWORKS.
They’re touring the UK with their popular Technology Radar, summarising key developments in software engineering, and will be here in Manchester this Weds 19 Feb – join members of the Technology Advisory Board for a presentation and discussion including Big Data vs. Privacy and the JavaScript juggernaught rolls on → http://info.thoughtworks.com/techradarevent2014-london-glasgow-manchester-registrationpage.html
AGILE 3RD YEAR PROJECT CLUB.
Tomorrow Tues 18 Feb at 13:00 in Kilburn room G33 (ground floor) → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
KNEEBONE BURSARY.
The annual Kate Kneebone Acorn Bursary is open to all undergraduates. Application deadline next Mon 24 Feb at 17:00 → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/kneebone/
BIG DATA.
The Square Kilometre Array radio telescope (→ www.skatelescope.org) is a massive radio astronomy system which will be built over much of South Africa and Australia, costing $2 billion, with its headquarters at the University’s Jodrell Bank. Hear about the digital signal processing and “big data” challenges from Professor Tony Brown and Dr Keith Grainge in this talk aimed at UG students. This Fri 21 Feb at 13:00, Room C2, Renold Building (8 on the campus map → http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/travel/maps/interactive-map)
ANNUAL TURING LECTURE.
On Weds 26 Feb, Dr Bernard Meyerson from IBM will be talking about “Beyond Silicon: Cognition and more” in University Place. Book now → http://conferences.theiet.org/turing/
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!
#13.18 • Monday 10 February 2014 • Week 3 (A)
:: Your weekly round-up of undergraduate life in the School. From Toby Howard, Director of Undergraduate Studies.
:: http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail | http://www.facebook.com/computersciencemcr | https://twitter.com/csmcr
Good morning. It's Monday 10 February, and it’s Week 3, an A week. I hope things are going well. So, on with today’s news, and I have a lot for you today!
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
STUDENTHACK SUCCESS.
Congratulations to our School team for winning the AutoTrader prize at StudentHack, Europe's largest student-run hackathon, this past weekend 8 & 9 Feb: Jessie Abramson (Y3, AI), Izz Abudaka (Y1, CS), Grzegorz Jacenków (Y1, CSBMwIE), Mark Larah (Y2, CS4), Charlie Reynolds (Y1, AIwIE) and Bartek Siemieniuk (Y1, SE4). Well done! → http://www.studenthack.com
STAFF-STUDENT COMMITTEE.
The first SSC meeting of this semester is next week, on Weds 19 Feb. If you have any issues you’d like your Reps to raise, please contact them ASAP → http://sscc.cs.manchester.ac.uk
CODING DOJO.
This Weds 12 Feb at 15:00 in Collab, Coding Dojo is organizing a meeting where you will solve two dynamic programming problems on the TopCoder platform. This will be a good training for the Staff vs Students competition, which is coming soon. Don't forget to bring your laptop → https://www.facebook.com/events/451278964971637/
JPEG RACE.
CSSoc are holding a JPEG race this Weds 12 Feb. Win £30 in Amazon vouchers – registration starts at 11:00 Weds at the Byte Cafe → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/jpegrace
CHARITY FRIDAY.
The School raised over £300 last Friday for the British Heart Foundation. Many thanks to all who contributed, and especially Cassie Barlow and Holly Dewsnip for organising.
1-UP.
There’s a Scala ( → http://www.scala-lang.org ) workshop this Weds 12 Feb at 14:00 in the MSc Lab, followed by Hard-Core projects from 16:00. Also, 1UP has been invited by the School of Mechanical and Civil Engineering’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Society to help with their submission to 2014 International Micro Air Vehicle Conference and Competition (IMAV 2014). The first meeting will be hosted at Sackville Street H6 from 12:00 this Weds 12 Feb. For details → ai.robert.wangshuai@gmail.com
AGILE 3RD YEAR PROJECT CLUB.
Tomorrow Tues 11 Feb at 13:00 in Kilburn room G33 (ground floor) → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
SENSORS AND GADGETS.
Vasilis Pavlidis writes: to further enhance student Raspberry Pi and Arduino projects, we have recently acquired some cutting-edge temperature and humidity sensors as well as few smart gadgets from Sensirion Inc. Interested? Talk to Vasilis → pavlidis@cs.man.ac.uk
CYBER 10K.
Our friends at NCC Group have organised a Cyber security challenge and would like students to participate. Can you solve the security challenges that face businesses and consumers today? There’s £10k in prize money → http://www.cyber10k.com
DIGITAL TALENT DAY.
Final call for Manchester Digital Talent Day, happening this Weds 12 Feb in Manchester Town Hall. Meet over 60 local employers looking to recruit Computer Science students → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-events/full-article/?articleid=603
MARKS & CLERK.
Considering a career in Intellectual Property? Meet Marks & Clerk at their drop-in session tomorrow Tues 11 Feb on Kilburn LF, 12:00-14:00 → http://www.marks-clerk.com/uk/
PROCTOR & GAMBLE.
And another drop-in. Meet P&G on Kilburn LF at 12:00 this Thurs 13 Feb.
GERRY PENNELL TALK.
The IT behind the Greatest Show on Earth. This Weds 12 Feb, in LT1.4 at 14:00, Gerry Pennell, previously CIO for the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, explains the significant role that IT plays in a major sporting event and overviews some of the challenges in successfully delivering it.
GOOGLE SCHOLARSHIPS.
Deadlines are fast approaching for the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship → http://www.google.com/anitaborg/emea/ , the Google Summer Trainee Engineering Program (STEP) → http://goo.gl/UHG6JR and the Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities → www.google.com/studentswithdisabilities-europe
ANNUAL TURING LECTURE.
On Weds 26 Feb, Dr Bernard Meyerson from IBM will be talking about “Beyond Silicon: Cognition and more”. Book now → http://conferences.theiet.org/turing/
FUTURE OF OUR WORLD.
The University is running a series of lectures all this week, each at 17:00 in University Place, Lecture Theatre A. Today Mon 10 Feb: The Future of Food with Dr. Alice Larkin-Bows; tomorrow Tues 11 Feb: Global Inequalities with Professor David Hulme; Weds 12 Feb: Sustainable Living with Professor Alan Warde; Thurs 13 Feb: The Future of Energy with a panel of speakers chaired by Dr. John Broderick; and on Friday 14 Feb: The Unknowns of Climate Change with Dr Grant Allen. Tickets → www.manchesterstudentsunion.com/earthweek
LOVELACE COLLOQUIUM.
The BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium is a national one-day conference for women students in Computer Science and related subjects. It’s at the University of Reading on 16 April. There are cash prizes. Submission deadline: 28 Feb → http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/cs/lovelace-colloquium/colloquium2014/
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!
#13.17 • Monday 3 February 2014 • Week 2 (B)
:: Your weekly round-up of undergraduate life in the School. From Toby Howard, Director of Undergraduate Studies.
:: http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail | http://www.facebook.com/computersciencemcr | https://twitter.com/csmcr
Good morning. It's Monday 3 Feb, and it’s Week 2, a B week. I hope you’re getting back into the swing of term. Here’s today's news, and as always, there’s lots of it!
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
CHARITY FRIDAY.
This Fri 7 Feb the School is supporting the British Heart Foundation. From 13:00-1500 in the Atlas Rooms we’ll have a book & DVD sale, clothes swap, cakes… please come along and help us raise cash. We’d welcome contributions, especially any unwanted Xmas gifts! Full details → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/MM/bhf.jpg
STAFF-STUDENT COMMITTEE.
The first SSC meeting of this semester is Weds 19 Feb. If you have any issues you’d like your Reps to raise, please contact them ASAP → http://sscc.cs.manchester.ac.uk
AGILE 3RD YEAR PROJECT CLUB:
Tomorrow Tues 4 Feb at 13:00 in Kilburn room G33 (ground floor). Bring along your design dilemmas and your testing troubles, or just come for moral support. Anyone using agile project management techniques or coding practices in their 3rd year project is welcome → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
COURSE UNIT CHOICES.
If you haven’t yet, please finalise and enter your Semester 2 Course Unit choices. Deadline 5pm this Fri 7 Feb → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/options.php
GET YOUR HOODIE.
Neha Agrawal (Y3, CSE) writes: CSSoc is selling Computer Science Hoodies from at the Byte Cafe from 11:00-1400 all this week. Only £20 each (the lowest price ever!) Have a look and grab yours! → http://imgur.com/dmF2tZX
1-UP.
The Hard-Core Projects continue this Weds 5 Feb in the MSc Lab from 16:00. All welcome.
KNEEBONE BURSARY.
A reminder about the annual Kate Kneebone Acorn Bursary, open to all undergraduates. The application deadline is Mon 24 Feb → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/kneebone/
SHIP & DUCK.
Web Developer internships are available for 2014-2015 with Ship & Duck. Visit their drop-in session with free lunch tomorrow Tues 4 Feb at 12:00 on Kilburn LF. Get valuable internship experience in large application development, .NET web applications, MSSQL, C#, HTML and JaveScript. If you're bright, enthusiastic, ethical and creative, they’d love to meet you. → http://shipnduck.com/
MARKS & CLERK.
Considering a career in Intellectual Property? Meet Marks & Clerk at their drop-in session next Tues 11 Feb on Kilburn LF, 12:00-14:00 → http://www.marks-clerk.com/uk/
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!
#13.16 • Monday 27 January 2014 • Week 1 (A)
:: Your weekly round-up of undergraduate life in the School. From Toby Howard, Director of Undergraduate Studies.
:: http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail | http://www.facebook.com/computersciencemcr | https://twitter.com/csmcr
Good morning, and welcome to Semester 2 – it's Week 1, an A week. I hope your exams went well, and that you'll enjoy everything happening this semester. Only 10 weeks until Easter :-) ! OK, on with today's news...
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
SEMESTER 1 SURVEY RESPONSE.
We’ve now looked in detail at the Unit Evaluation Questionnaires from last semester. Thanks for your feedback. We take your views seriously, and all the Course Unit lecturers have contributed to a report responding to your comments → https://wiki.cs.manchester.ac.uk/index.php?title=US_Response_AY1314_Semester_1
THIRD YEAR MEETING.
There’s an important meeting for all 3rd Year students, this Weds 29 Jan at 14:00 in Kilburn LT1.1. I look forward to seeing all 3rd Years there.
WELCOME PAUL.
We have a new member of staff – Paul Waring – who'll be playing an important role in providing technical support for UG students. Paul was an undergraduate here in the School, graduating in 2006. He then stayed at the University to gain an MA in Classics and Ancient History, and an MPhil in Computer Science. After 5 years in the insurance industry, Paul has returned to the School as a member of staff.
CSSOC NOSH.
Pez Cuckow (Y3, CSBMwIE) writes: Welcome back from CSSoc, we'll be heading to Red Hot World Buffet in the city centre for a big nosh-up this Thurs 30 Jan at 19:30 → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/buffet
1-UP.
The CEO of Desk&Co, Hector Kolonas, will be talking about his experiences tomorrow Tues 28 Jan at 14:00 in LT1.4. Join in for the free workshop before StudentHack → http://tinyurl.com/hack1up. Also, BBC Coding Challenge and Hard-Core Projects will be in the MSc Lab this Weds from 14:00 → http://tinyurl.com/bbc1up
TIMETABLES.
A reminder that you can access your timetables online → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/timetables. You can also use Pez Cuckow’s timetable generator to build an iCal file your favourite calendar app → http://labs.pezcuckow.com/cstimetable
COURSE UNIT CHOICES.
Please review and enter your Semester 2 Course Unit choices right away. You have until the end of next week (Week 2B, Friday 7 Feb) to finalise your choices, but we'd appreciate you entering your choices ASAP, please → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/options.php
COURSE UNIT INFO.
Looking for Course Unit stuff? Here’s the hub page, and we’ve now added demonstrator details, to help you to get to know your demonstrators better → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2013
EXAM RESULTS.
See when exam results will be out → http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/assessment/results
TOOTILL PI.
Thanks to generous donations made by alumni and friends of the University, the new Pi Network in the Tootill labs has been installed and is now operational, and available to all students. To get connection authorisation, send your name, University username and Pi MAC address to Paul Waring → paul.waring@manchester.ac.uk
CHANNELGRABBER.
A Manchester company, ChannelGrabber.com, is doing a drop-in session this Thurs 30 Jan in Kilburn. Come and see what current @csmcr placement students have been up to and find out about opportunties in software engineering → http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/people/news/full-article/?articleid=557
WHAT NEXT?
Run by Manchester Entrepreneurs, the objective of the What Next? conference (Sat 22 Feb) is to showcase the opportunities available to talented students considering entrepreneurship. Sign up → http://www.whatnextconference.co.uk
STUDENT HACK.
Europe's largest student hackathon comes to Manchester on Feb 8/9 but hurry! You’ll need to submit your ideas before 31 Jan → http://www.studenthack.com
MANCHESTER DIGITAL SKILLS FESTIVAL.
Over 60 local leading digital businesses with various vacancies available, including software development. Meet them on Weds 12 Feb at Manchester Town Hall. Register → https://www.eventbrite.com/e/talentday-2014-student-registration-ages-18-tickets-9602510367
BE A RESEARCH VOLUNTEER.
Want to make a contribution to Ageing Research? PhD student Sam Couth is seeking volunteers to take part in computer-based experiments related to how we see, feel, touch and make sense of things. Participants will be reimbursed for their time. → samuel.couth@manchester.ac.uk
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!
#13.15 • Monday 20 January 2014 • Second Exams Week
:: Your weekly round-up of undergraduate life in the School. From Toby Howard, Director of Undergraduate Studies.
:: http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail | http://www.facebook.com/computersciencemcr | https://twitter.com/csmcr
Good morning! I hope your exams are going well. Just a week to go until Semester 2 teaching starts, so lots to look forward to!
Best wishes,
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
REMOTE WORKING.
Many students want to work on labs and coursework away from the Kilburn Building, so we've put together a wiki page to help with this. We hope you'll find it useful → https://wiki.cs.manchester.ac.uk/index.php/RemoteWorking
COURSE UNIT CHOICES.
Please review and enter your Semester 2 Course Unit choices. You have until the end of Week 2 (Friday 7 Feb) to finalise your choices, but the sooner the better.
STUDENT HACK.
Europe's largest student hackathon comes to Manchester on Feb 8/9 but hurry! You’ll need to submit your ideas before 31 Jan → http://www.studenthack.com
MANCHESTER DIGITAL SKILLS FESTIVAL.
Over 60 local leading digital businesses with various vacancies available, including software development. Meet them on Weds 12 Feb at Manchester Town Hall. Register now → https://www.eventbrite.com/e/talentday-2014-student-registration-ages-18-tickets-9602510367
* QUIET ROOM. A reminder that we have a quiet study space here in Kilburn, which you might find helpful for exam revision. It's Room 1.12, and you get to it through the 3rd Year Lab, Room 1.8. It's specifically for quiet, personal study.
STUDENT AMBASSADORS.
Want to share your passion for Computer Science with secondary school/college kids who want to be Computer Scientists? Learn new skills and develop your CV, meet new people, and earn some money too. Become a Computer Science Student Ambassador → http://bit.do/StudentAmbassadors
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!
#13.14 • Monday 13 January 2014 • First Exams Week
:: Your weekly round-up of undergraduate life in the School. From Toby Howard, Director of Undergraduate Studies.
:: http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail | http://www.facebook.com/computersciencemcr | https://twitter.com/csmcr
Hello and welcome back. Happy New Year! I hope you had a good break. The two-week exams period starts today, so I wish you good luck. Top tips: stay calm, write and illustrate your answers clearly – keep in mind that someone has to read your writing!
Best wishes
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
EXAMS TIMETABLE.
Don't forget to check your personal exams timetable via your Student Portal, and tell SSO immediately if you spot any issues.
QUIET ROOM.
A reminder that we have a quiet study space here in Kilburn, which you might find helpful for exam revision. It's Room 1.12, and you get to it through the 3rd Year Lab, Room 1.8. It's specifically for quiet, personal study, away from the hustle and bustle of the School. No chat, no phones, just quiet.
UNDER PRESSURE?
During January the University Library is running a series of clinics and workshops to support you through the exams period. Book onto a revision clinics to hone your academic skills, or take a break and sample one of the Library's wellbeing activities to help you relax → http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/librarywellbeing
STUDENT AMBASSADORS.
Want to share your passion for Computer Science with secondary school/college kids who want to be Computer Scientists? Learn new skills to develop your CV, meet new people, and earn some money too. Become a Computer Science Student Ambassador → http://bit.do/StudentAmbassadors
LIBRARY CHALLENGE.
Do you have an innovative idea to enhance the customer experience within the University Library? Enter their Eureka! Innovation Challenge and you could win up to £1,000 → http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/eureka
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Have a good week,
#13.13 • Monday 9 December 2013 • Week 12 (A)
:: Your weekly round-up of undergraduate life in the School. From Toby Howard, Director of Undergraduate Studies.
:: http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail | http://www.facebook.com/computersciencemcr | https://twitter.com/csmcr
Good morning. It's Week 12 (an A week) and the last week of term – as you probably know! I hope the Semester has gone well, and that you've had a stimulating and fun 3 months. On behalf of the School I wish you a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year (but don't forget your exam revision!) The Monday Mail will be back in January. On with today's news...
best wishes
Toby → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby
FUNDACIOUS RESULTS.
Congratulations to Jack Kelly (Y1, CS) who has won the Head of School’s Xmas Presents award which will fund his proposal to host a prestigious public Raspberry Jam event here in the School, next March. Well done Jack!
BE A CODE TUTOR.
Interested in helping kids in local schools learn how to code? In collaboration with local charity the Tutor Trust, the School is offering paid opportunities (min £10 per hour) to help local schools run computer-based activities. Full training will be given. Find out more near the Byte Cafe, this Weds 11 Dec 10:00-14:00. This is a great opportunity to extend your skills, do good work, and enhance your CV → http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~david/TutorTrust
KILBURN ACCESS MEETING.
A reminder that at 17:00-18:00 tomorrow Tues 10 Dec in LT1.1, there’ll be an open meeting for all undergraduates, at which Head of School Jim Miles will explain the School’s position and the issues surrounding out of hours access to the building, and hear your views.
Y1 LIKES/DISLIKES.
We asked Y1 students to tell us their likes, dislikes and suggestions as part of their Reading Week essay submission. This generated a huge amount of data, but we’ve now read it all. See a summary and responses/action points from the School → http://goo.gl/8N0YpF
JANUARY EXAMS.
The January exams timetable is out – you can find it through your Student Portal. Please check it right away and visit SSO immediately if you spot any mistakes or problems.
CSSOC XMAS.
This Weds 11 Dec is CSSoc's last event for this year: what else but Christmas Pub Golf. Golfing/Christmas attire is definitely encouraged, and there's a cash prize for the best outfit. Tee up → http://url.cssoc.co.uk/christmaspubgolf
TELL US ABOUT YOUR COURSES.
The Semester 1 Unit Evaluation Questionnaires are your chance to tell us what you think about each of your course units. This is how it works: you give us your views, we take those to your lecturers and publish their responses, and changes happen.
TEACH FIRST.
Interested in being a Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths (STEM) teacher? Find out about the Teach First programme, tomorrow Tues 10 Dec, University Place 3.204 at 13.30. Drinks and lunch provided. Sign up → http://graduates.teachfirst.org.uk/events
AGILE Y3 PROJECT CLUB.
No meeting this week, but we'll be back in Semester 2. → sembury@cs.manchester.ac.uk
GOOGLE SCHOLARSHIPS.
The Google Anita Borg Scholarship is for current and academically strong female Computer Science students. Successful applicants receive EU 7,000 for the 2014 academic year. → http://www.google.com/anitaborg/emea . Google also offers a EU 7,000 Scholarship for academically strong students with disabilities → http://www.google.com/studentswithdisabilities-europe
WOMENCOURAGE.
On 1 March 2014 we’ll be hosting the inaugural ACM-W Europe WomENcourage (→ http://womencourage.acm.org) conference here in Kilburn. This is a free event to support women studying Computer Science and those in the early stages of their carees, with attendes from all over Europe. The organisers are seeking up to 16 volunteers, male and female, to help run the event. As a volunteer, you’ll be able to attend the conference, and meet representatives from Intel, Google, Microsoft Research, Facebook and Bloomberg. Interested? → acm-w-europe@acm.org
CAREERS / COMPS / REPORT ENVIRONMENT ISSUES.
→ Links at http://tinyurl.com/themondaymail
Enjoy your week!