CSCI MAJORS – Winter Term Informational Meeting

October 30th, 2013

Thursday, Nov. 7     12:15 p.m.  KING 327
Have a great idea for a Winter Term project, and want to recruit people?  Have no idea what to do for Winter Term, but think you might like it to involve Computer Science somehow?  We’ll be having an organizational meeting at 12:15 on Thursday Nov 7th, to allow people to come together and talk about what they would like to do for Winter Term, and see if any project groups coalesce.  
Deadline to register for Winter Term 2014 is Friday, Dec. 6

Opportunities for Machine Learning in Ecological Science and Ecosystem Management

October 30th, 2013

Wednesday, November 6 NOON King 237

Thomas G. Dietterich of Oregon State University will present:

Opportunities for Machine Learning in Ecological Science and Ecosystem Management
How can computer science address the many challenges of managing the
earth's ecosystems sustainably?  Viewed as a control problem, ecosystem
management is challenging for two reasons. First, we lack good models
of the function and structure of the earth's ecosystems.
Second, it is difficult to compute optimal management policies because ecosystems
exhibit complex spatio-temporal interactions at multiple scales.

This talk will discuss some of the many challenges and opportunities
for machine learning research in computational sustainability. These
include sensor placement, data interpretation, model fitting,
computing robust optimal policies, and finally executing those
policies successfully.  I'll provide examples from current work
and discuss open problems in each of these areas.

All of these sustainability problems involve spatial modeling and
optimization, and all of them can be usefully conceived in terms of
facilitating or preventing flows along edges in spatial networks. For
example, encouraging the recovery of endangered species involves
creating a network of suitable habitat and encouraging spread along
the edges of the network. Conversely, preventing the spread of
diseases, invasive species, and pollutants involves preventing flow
along edges of networks.  Addressing these problems will require
advances in several areas of machine learning and optimization.

Study Abroad In Budapest

October 28th, 2013

Information Session for CSCI Majors  Thursday, Oct. 31

12:15-1:15 King 327  Food and Drinks Provided

Have your questions answered by Staff and Faculty FROM AIT.

For more information about the program visit www.ait-budapest.com

 

 

 

2013 Muskingum University Programming Contest

October 1st, 2013

On Oct 5, 2013,  3 teams of Oberlin students competed at the 5th annual Muskingum University programming contest. Team “Albino Squirrels” (Jenny Ward ’14 and Nathan Klein ’16) took third place out of 15 teams from 6 institutions. Team “Uberlin” (Eli Stein ’14, Amanda Strominger ’15, Scott Hulver ’16) and “O(bees)” (Peter Fogg ’14, Oren Shoham ’14, Devon Wells ’14) also put in a strong showing.