IfI News 2014
News list
-
Basil Huber wins Fritz Kutter Award for his MSc thesis
Basil Huber, an EPFL student who did his Master's thesis at IfI in the Robotics and Perception Group, won the Fritz Kutter Award 2014for the best Master thesis on industry-related computer science at a Swiss University. According to the Fritz Kutter website, the last time that this award was given for a thesis written at IfI was ten years ago. Congratulations!
-
Kevin Crowston elected to the IfI Advisory Board
Professor Kevin Crowston(Syracuse University, NY, USA) has been elected to the IfI Advisory Board for the term 2015-2017.
-
Man vs. Machine Discussion: Abraham Bernstein at the IBM Media Talks
Thurgauer Zeitung Online covered the IBM Media Talks which took place at Kartause Ittingen this year. The main question addressed there: Will computers ever be capable of thinking like humans? Article (in German)
-
IfI Bitcoin Project featured on Tages-Anzeiger online
Journalists of the online portal by the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger have tested the Bitcoin payment method at Mensa Binzmühle. Here's their report: Article (in German)
-
Latin America Meets IfI and RPG
In the context of advancing international relations and technology transfer, the Government Council of the Canton of Zurich received a delegation of Latin-American ambassadors. Part of their program consisted of a visit at the Department of Informatics, where the Robotics and Perception Grouppresented their latest research innovations. The amabassadors were accompanied by Regine Aeppli, President of the Government Council, and by Dr. Thomas Heiniger, Government Councillor.
-
Hello World! IfI an den UZH Studieninformationstagen
Die Studieninformationstage der Universität Zürich haben auch 2014 einen Rekord verzeichnet. 7’500 Schülerinnen und Schüler haben sich am 3. und 4. September über das Studienangebot informiert. Auch das IfI war mit einem Stand vertreten. Mit dem Motto “Hello World!”, einem Begriff aus der Programmiersprache, und einem originellen Fotospiel konnten wir aufzeigen, dass Informatikerinnen und Informatiker nicht nur einsam vor dem Computer sitzen, sondern dass die Informatik eine lebendige, vielseitige Wissenschaft ist, die unsere Gesellschaft und unsere Kommunikationsformen prägt und verändert. Eine wichtige Aufgabe nahmen die Standbetreuerinnen und Standbetreuer wahr. Als Bachelor- und Masterstudierende haben sie ihre Erfahrungen und Eindrücke 1:1 weitergegeben - und konnten so bestimmt einige Standbesucherinnen und -besucher motivieren, sich eingehender mit dem Informatikstudium zu befassen.
-
Bitcoin @ Mensa Binzmühlestrasse
Students and the Communication Systems Groupdeveloped "CoinBlesk", a new and mobile Bitcoin payment solution, which can run reliable Bitcoin transactions in less than a second via an NFC (Near Field Communication) two-way communication - the first world-wide. The CoinBlesk application for Android 4.4 devices with NFC is available in the AppStore and can be loaded with Bitcoins, to be used for payments in the University Mensa at Binzmühlestrasse as well as for payments between this App on different devices - all performed in Bitcoins!
-
Lorenz Hilty’s book “ICT Innovations for Sustainability” is out!
“ICT Innovations for Sustainability” edited by Lorenz Hilty and Bernhard Aebischer gives a comprehensive overview on both Sustainability in ICT and Sustainability by ICT. It is the result of the joint effort by 47 authors including leading experts in the field. Among others it summarizes the results of the ICT4S conference held in February at ETH Zurich and contains new research on the subject.
-
-
Extended Contracts for Three Assistant Professors
The University Council (Universitätsrat) has renewed the contracts of our three assistant professors Thomas Fritz, Daning Hu and Sven Seuken for a second three-year term. Congratulations and keep on with your good work!
-
Think fast, robot: Davide Scaramuzza in the MIT News
At this year’s International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Hong Kong, Davide Scaramuzza together with Andrea Censi from MIT presented the first state-estimation algorithm to process data from event-based sensors.
-
Abraham Bernstein Wins CIONET’s European Research Paper of the Year Award
Abraham Bernstein and his former PhD student Prof. Katharina Reinecke (now at the University of Michigan) were awarded CIONET’s European Research Paper of the Year Award.
-
A 2014 Google Faculty Research Award for Davide Scaramuzza
Davide Scaramuzzawon a Google Faculty Research Awardfor this year. Worldwide, only three awards were granted by Google in the area of Robotics - Davide Scaramuzza being the only award winner outside of the United States.
-
Davide Scaramuzza wins the IEEE RAS (Robotics and Automation Society) Early Career Award
Davide Scaramuzza is the recipient of the 2014 IEEE RAS Award for his major contributions to robot vision and visually-guided micro aerial vehicles.
-
Three IfI PhD students win KUKA Innovation Award in worldwide competition
Matthias Fässler, Flavio Fontana, and Elias Müggler of IfI’s Robotics and Perception Grouphave been awarded the KUKA Innovation Award- a great achievement for the three PhD students who just started their second year! 30 teams worldwide from top research institutions participated, but only four got selected for the finals, which took place yesterday during the AUTOMATICAfair in Munich.
-
IfI PhD Student first woman at UZH to win a Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship
Irina Todoran, PhD student of the Requirements Engineering Research Group, won a Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. Together with her fellow recipients from all over the world, Irina will participate in the Google Scholarship Retreat 2014, taking place in Zurich, July 6-9.
-
Standing Ovations an der Abschiedsvorlesung von Rolf Pfeifer
Rolf Pfeifer, prominenter Intelligenzforscher und geistiger Vater humanoider Roboter, hielt am Freitag, 23. Mai 2014 in seiner Abschiedsvorlesung Rückschau. Wissenschaftler aus aller Welt waren per Video-Konferenz zugeschaltet. Prominentester Gast war Roboter Roboy.
-
Dank MOOC in die Top 10: Informatik für Ökonomen I ist eine der besten Vorlesungen an der UZH
Die Vorlesung “Informatik für Ökonomen I” von Prof. Abraham Bernsteinhat es zum zweiten Mal in vier Jahren in die Top 10 der Nominierungen für den Lehrpreis UZH/ Credit Suisse Award for Best Teaching 2014geschafft. Sie wird als erste deutschsprachige Lehrveranstaltung auch online als MOOC(Massive Open Online Course) auf der Lehrplattform Courseraangeboten.
-
The Cloud as a Place to Store and Hide Data: IfI PhD Student's Project Featured in UZH News
Article in UZH news(in German)
-
UZH, ETH, and EPFL united at CeBIT
The informatics departments of UZH, ETH, and EPFL had their first joint public appearance at the renown global IT fair CeBITin Hannover, Germany.
-
Crowdsourcing Research at DDIS shown on Swiss TV
KIn the context of the Crowdsorucing effort to find the Malaysia Airlines Flight 239 airplane Swiss national television SRF interviewed Professor Abraham Bernstein. The interview was partially aired in the evening news show 10vor10and published in an article on their website.
-
-
-
IFI researcher Tao Li receives Chinese Government Award
Tao Li (AILab) has won the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad 2013
-
-
The right career choice: Information Systems
According to Forbes, an MSc in Information Systems is number one on the list of the best master's degrees
-
The End of Humility
But not of cuteness - if you look at Roboy, who is featured in this article on artificial intelligence, the computer system "Watson", the ambitions of Google and IBM, and on god.
-
Are we all slaves of Artificial Intelligence?
And if so, is it really as spooky as it sounds? Decide for yourself!
-
World Economic Forum 2014: possible threat by drones?
Davide Scaramuzza was interviewed in the Swiss TV program "Rundschau" on drones as a possible security risk to the World Economic Forum 2014
-
Startup Kunendo managed by IFI members wins Venture Kick's first stage
Kunendo, a startup managed by Dr. Amancio Bouza, Damian Schärli, Patrick Minder and Prof. Abraham Bernstein, wins Venture Kick's first stage
-
Prof. Pajarola's PhD student Susanne Suter wins UZH Jahrespreis
Dr. Susanne K. Suter's dissertation on "Interactive Multiresolution and Multiscale Visualization of Large Volume Data" will receive the 'Jahrespreis 2013' of the University of Zürich