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| Hellos and Goodbyes |
Dear member of our department,
The lecture halls are full again and the corridors are buzzing with activity: The Autumn Semester started, and the academic spirit is back in full swing.
But that doesn’t mean that we had to deal with empty halls in the previous weeks: At the beginning of September, the main building of ETH Zurich was packed with young people at the yearly “Information Days”, where high school students got the chance to learn about the whole spectrum of studies at ETH and UZH. Once more, our department took this opportunity to present itself in the best possible way. Shout out to Felix Friedrich, April Wang, Shweta Shinde, all the involved doctoral students and alumni, Ulrike from Team Communication & Marketing Group and our volunteer students for giving potential students an insight into our subject.
The fruits of those labors could be experienced at the start of this semester when we welcomed our new Bachelor’s and Master’s students. Computer Science continues to be one of the four most popular subjects at ETH Zurich and provisional numbers indicate that the number of new students has risen slightly again. The final numbers will be published in November.
But, as it goes, while some new students arrived, some are also leaving us again: On 18 October we will honor the great accomplishments of our Master’s Graduates at the Graduation Ceremony in the Audi Max. Over 164 students are graduating from our Master’s programmes this semester. We’re looking forward to celebrating this special occasion with many of these graduates and their loved ones.
But it’s not only students that are coming and going: New professors are being introduced, while others are retiring. April Wang and Menna El-Assady will hold their inaugural lectures on 1 October, while Thomas Gross will hold his farewell lecture on 7 October. Don’t miss the chance to get a glimpse into their respective research fields!
I wish you all a fantastic Autumn Semester, and as always: Have fun with the newsletter!
Best regards,
Kenny Paterson
Department Head
Title image: A full lecture hall on the first semester day on 16 September, 2024.
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| Faculty and staff |
We extend a warm welcome to all new staff members who have joined our department in the last month. We look forward to working with you.
Our new staff
To the staff who are leaving us, we wish you the best of luck in your future careers and hope to work with you again someday. |
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Welcome, Jinsheng Ba
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| Jinsheng joined the Advanced Software Technologies group of Professor Zhendong Su after his doctorate at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on software reliability and security. Glad to have you, Jinsheng! |
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Welcome, Zebang Shen
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| Zebang has been promoted to the position of Senior Assistant at the ODI lab, which is being supervised by Professor Niao He. His research focuses on the study of the dynamics of optimization procedures through the lens of differential equations. All the best with your new tasks, Zebang! |
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Welcome, Xiao Sun
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| Xiao joined the Code Expert team in September as a full-stack developer. With several years of experience in software engineering, she will help the team further improve the educational tools at D-INFK. Have a great start, Xiao! |
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Welcome, Xi Wang
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Xi Wang joined the Computer Vision and Geometry group of Professor Marc Pollefeys as a researcher. Beforehand, she worked as a postdoc in CVG following an ETH Postdoc Fellowship in the Advanced Interactive Technologies Lab in our department. Her research focuses on egocentric vision and multimodal learning. We look forward to working with you, Xi! |
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Welcome, Michael Klooss
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Michael joined the Foundations of Cryptography group of Professor Dennis Hofheinz after working as a postdoc at Aalto University with Chris Brzuska and Russell Lai. His current research focuses on plausible post-quantum secure proof systems and more broadly on privacy-enhancing technologies. Great to have you on board, Michael! |
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Welcome, Jacqueline Hohermuth
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| Jacqueline has been working part-time at ETH Zurich in the MTEC since 2005: first for Gudela Grote in the field of work and organisational psychology and since 2015 for Petra Schmid in the field of organisational behaviour. Since Petra left ETH Zurich, Jacqueline has been assisting Professor Adrian Perrig in collaboration with Shancong (Song) Yu. |
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| Farewell, Benjamin Weber |
| Benjamin will be moving from D-INFK to D-ITET to pursue a doctoral degree in high-level synthesis and software/ hardware co-design in Professor Lana Josipović's DYNAMO. In the past year, he has worked in Professor Torsten Hoefler's Lab, leading software engineering efforts for the DaCe HPC framework. All the best in your new role, Benjamin! |
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| Story of the month |
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“Programs are mathematics turned into physics”
ETH Zurich professor Ralf Jung is on a mission to create a world in which buggy software is a thing of the past. His tools for achieving that goal are also his biggest intellectual passions: mathematics and logic. Learn more about what fascinates him most about Computational Logics, why he’s such a fervent supporter of the programming language Rust, and why he thinks it's one of the best shots at improving software. |
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| Prizes and awards |
Congratulations to our faculty, researchers and students who have won prizes, awards and fellowships for their work. We are proud of you and thank you for asserting our reputation.
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Max Planck-Humboldt Medal for Torsten Hoefler
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Professor Torsten Hoefler is being awarded the prestigious Max Planck-Humboldt Medal for his research in the field of computer science. Torsten heads the Scalable Parallel Computing Lab at D-INFK and focuses on increasing the efficiency of algorithms, especially for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence applications. Well done, Torsten! |
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Mennatallah El-Assady honoured with GI-Dissertation Award
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| Assistant Professor Mennatallah El-Assady receives the dissertation prize from the German, Austrian and Swiss Informatics Associations for her dissertation titled "Levels of Explainability for Human-AI Interaction in Visual Text Analytics". The prize is awarded to particularly significant work by young scientists. Congratulations on receiving this award, Menna! |
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eBPF Grant Award for Zhendong Su and Hao Sun
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| The eBPF Foundation has announced Grant Awards for five eBPF academic research projects. Among them is the project "Lazy abstraction refinement with proof for an enhanced verifier", by Professor Zhendong Su and doctoral student Hao Sun. The project introduces a novel approach to improve the precision of the eBPF verifier. Congratulations, Zhendong and Hao! |
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IEEE TCHPC Early Career Researchers Award for Maciej Besta
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| Dr Maciej Besta from the Scalable Parallel Computing Lab has been recognised with the IEEE TCHPC Early Career Researchers Award for his remarkable contributions to high-performance computing. At SPCL, under the supervision of Professor Torsten Hoefler, Maciej focuses on areas like sparse graph computations and large language models. Congratulations, Maciej! |
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ETH Medals and Willi Studer Prizes for Master's Graduates
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| Six D-INFK Master's graduates have been awarded prizes for their first-rate accomplishment. Congratulations to Lovro Rabuzin, Sergio Sancho Portolés and Deepak Narayanan, for receiving an ETH Medal. Jasper Dekoninck, Hongyi Ling and Yuanming Song have been honoured with the Willi Studer Prize. Well done! |
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Swiss team wins medals at the International Olympiad in Informatics
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| At the International Olympiad in Informatics in Alexandria, which took place from 1 to 8 September, 362 participants from over 90 countries had to solve the "Riddle of the Sphinx" using algorithms. Swiss high school students secured several medals. Congratulations to all participants and a shout-out to the Centre for Computer Science Education (ABZ) for the support of those talents. |
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| Tips of the month |
New guidelines for the use of generative AI in teaching
ETH Zurich introduces new guidelines for the use of generative AI in teaching, encouraging both students and lecturers to explore its potential while promoting responsibility, transparency, and fairness. Workshops and resources will be available starting from the Autumn Semester 2024 to support the integration of AI tools into academic practices. |
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Swiss Game Hub: Monthly playtesting event
Join the “Game Hub Test Play”, taking place every last Wednesday of the month from 19:00–22:00. Whether you are a game developer or not, you can come by and give feedback on games or bring your own game and get feedback. The event is open to everybody and no registration is required. The series is organised by the Swiss Game Hub, a non-profit association based in Zurich that aims to improve the Swiss games industry. |
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| Upcoming events |
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CSNOW meetups for women
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| Looking to connect with fellow women in Computer Science? Throughout the semester, CSNOW organises various women's meetups. Whether you're in the Bachelor’s or Master’s programme, these gatherings are all about unwinding, socialising, and building community. There’s a Bachelor’s-specific meetup (30 September, 18.00) and a Master’s-specific meetup (7 October, 18.00). The events take place at BQM and drinks are offered by CSNOW. |
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CSNOW Semester Apéro
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| Get ready for the traditional Semester Apéro! Join the event on 3 October at 12.30 in front of the CAB library for a delicious selection of cakes and a sneak peek at all the exciting events the CSNOW team has lined up for the fall semester. Whether you're a returning student, a new face in the department, or simply curious to learn more, the Semester Apéro is the perfect opportunity to mingle with fellow students and staff. Everyone is welcome! |
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Distinguished Colloquium: The Science of Fit – Understanding how Clothes Interact with our Bodies, 30 September, 16.15–17.15, CAB G 61
Join Professor Dinesh Pai from the University of British Columbia for the first talk of our Distinguished Colloquium Series for the Autumn Semester, where he will provide insight into the intricate interactions between clothing and the human body. Moving beyond the visual aspects of clothing in computer graphics, Dinesh Pai’s research explores the physical and emotional effects of garments.
Learn more
Inaugural Lecture: Intelligence Augmentation – Bridging Human and Artificial Intelligence & Reimagining Programming Interfaces for Learners and Developers, 1 October, 17.15–18.30, HG F 30
In these two lectures, D-INFK Professors Menna El-Assady and April Wang will present cutting-edge research in their respective fields. Prof. Menna El-Assady will discuss "Intelligence Augmentation: Bridging Human and Artificial Intelligence," focusing on enhancing human decision-making with AI and visual analytics. Prof. April Wang will present "Reimagining Programming Interfaces for Learners and Developers," exploring innovative, accessible programming environments that go beyond traditional coding. Don’t miss these talks on the future of AI and programming!
More information
Hack4Good, 3 October (kick-off event), ETH Student Project House
Hack4Good is an 8-week long pro-bono programme that matches data science talents from ETH Zurich with non-profit organisations that promote social causes. In close collaboration with such a non-profit, small student teams develop and implement data-driven solutions to increase these organisations’ impact. It is the perfect opportunity to apply your skills to real-world problems and make a positive impact. Registration is open until 27 September.
Apply here
Farewell Lecture: Statische und Dynamische Abhängigkeiten, 7 October, 17.15–18.30, HG F 30
Professor Emeritus Thomas Gross is giving his farewell lecture on the topic of static and dynamic dependencies. Thomas Gross has been a faculty member at D-INFK from 1994 to 2019. After his retirement, he still supported our department in teaching: For the last eight years, Thomas was in charge of the lecture “Einführung in die Programmierung”.
More information
Global Lecture: Social Artificial Intelligence, 16 October, 15.00–16.00, HG F 30
How does AI influence human interaction? Join this event for an insightful discussion featuring the speakers Nicholas A. Christakis (Yale University) and Effy Vayena (D-HEST, ETH Zurich), and moderator Chris Luebkeman. Christakis will share his research on ‘hybrid systems’ and the potential of AI to improve human interactions, offering a positive outlook for the future.
More information
Master's Graduation Ceremony, 18 October, 17.30, HG F 30
Our Master's graduates and their loved ones are invited to join the official Master's degree graduation ceremony in Audi Max. Registration for this ceremony is closed. The subsequent one will take place in March 2024.
Learn more
Global Lecture: As If Human – Living in the Age of Intelligent Machines, 23 October, 13.00–14.00, HG F 30
How do intelligent machines shape our world? On 23 October, Sir Nigel Shadbolt (Oxford University) and moderator Margarita Boenig-Liptsin (D-GESS, ETH Zurich) dive into AI's past, present, and future. This lecture will examine the cycles of hype and concern surrounding AI, with a focus on how we can ensure that future AI systems align with human values and ethics.
More information |
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| Discover, learn, compete: VIScon 2024 |
12 October, 09.00–18.00, HG Main Hall
With 25 expert-led talks, 14 workshops, and 2 competitive programming challenges, there’s something for everyone at this year’s VIScon symposium. Participants can explore topics like tackling cyber crises, programming analog computers and building real-time applications using live sensor data. Whether you’re looking to optimise C++ performance, dive into Natural Language Processing, or master microcontroller programming with CircuitPython, VIScon offers a unique opportunity to expand your skills. |
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| Past events |
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A successful retreat in the Alps
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| In September, the annual VMI summer retreat brought together scientific staff for four memorable days in Zermatt. The retreat featured engaging activities, including scientific speed dating, a scavenger hunt through the village and a pub quiz. Insightful talks and workshops aimed at providing valuable knowledge and practical skills for academics. Participants also had two days of leisure to explore breathtaking mountain trails, climb the Breithorn and hike to Gornergrat. |
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Inspiring the next generation
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| Earlier this month, 20 young women from Swiss, German and Austrian high schools took part in the CSNOW Schnupperstudium, a try-out week for female students. The participants learned about the Basisjahr, had a chance to talk to young computer scientists, visited Google offices and went through a series of programming workshops concluded by a Hackathon. Shout out to everyone who helped make this week a success! |
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School visit Gymnasium Bellinzona
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| On 19 September, third-year students with a scientific focus visited our department as part of the Technology and Computer Science Week. Dr Florian Kennel-Maushart from the Computational Robotics Lab gave a talk on how robots operate in complex environments and interact with humans and Alexandra Maximova, a doctoral student in the Algorithms and Didactics Group, led a workshop on programming. |
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| ETH Zurich’s study information days spark interest in computer science |
| Several students, professors, lecturers, alumni and the communication staff worked together at this year's study information days to encourage new students to choose Computer Science as their Bachelor's degree programme. Felix Friedrich, senior scientist and study coordinator, gave an introductory lecture on studying computer science at ETH Zurich and the doctoral students Xenia Hofmeier and Simon Meierhans presented the six subject areas of Computer Science at D-INFK. Professors April Wang and Shweta Shinde provided talks on their respective research fields and various alumni offered insight into their academic and professional careers. Hundreds of people visited our booth, joined the talks and showed great interest in our study programme. Thanks to everyone involved for the inspiring contributions! |
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| Open positions and opportunities |
Administrative Assistance (m/w/d) at the Institute for Visual Computing
The Institute for Visual Computing is looking for an Administrative Assistant to support the research group in the IVIA Lab with immediate effect or by arrangement. In this role, the assistant will work closely with the members of the research groups and various departments of the central services.
More information here
Educational opportunities
The ENHANCE network regularly organises summer and winter schools. Students can therefore go to a European university for a short course – often with online parts in advance and a face-to-face part on-site – quite easily and with travel expenses. The new offers have now been publicised, some of which may also be of interest to computer science students.
Learn more
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VIS job mailing list
Are you a student interested in open positions, full-time or part-time, and internships? Then the job mailing list by the Association of Computer Science Students (VIS) is for you. |
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| This is a spontaneous, light-hearted and fun segment, where we can share bits and pieces that we see along the way. We are also open to suggestions and submissions from our community! |
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| The weekly quizmaster |
| In July, doctoral student Nicolas Klose started the "question of the week" format, which can be found on a whiteboard on the front door of his office (CAB H 88). Every week, Nicolas writes down a different question, which anyone passing by can answer. The topics cover a wide range of subjects, not necessarily related to computer science. There are usually two to four answers to choose from (but sometimes people add more options later). Nicolas and his colleagues often end up spending whole lunches discussing the nuances of what each question means. If you would like to submit a question, you can use the QR code on the door to get to this form. Happy quizzing! |
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