|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Reaching new heights |
Dear readers,
At the beginning of this month, some of our colleagues moved to the Andreasturm (OAT), our new site in Zurich-Oerlikon. The new state-of-the-art offices boast a breathtaking view of the greater Zurich area, as they are on the 17th to 21st floor. This has marked the beginning of the big relocations in our department – there will be some changes in the next weeks in the CAB building too. I would like to thank everyone involved for your cooperation and patience.
To celebrate the new site, we will combine the housewarming with the long-awaited D-INFK Staff Party on 24 May. Due to the pandemic, this will be our first staff party in four years. We look forward to celebrating this new chapter of our department with you.
But not just our offices are reaching new heights, our faculty is too: Our Professors Adrian Perrig and Olga Sorkine-Hornung have been elected members of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW), Professor Martin Vechev and his team have won first place in phase 3 of a global AI Privacy competition and Professor Torsten Hoefler earned the first-ever Jack Dongarra Early Career Award. Congratulations!
Explore further news and events at the department in this edition of READ.ME.
Best regards,
Kenny Paterson
Department Head
Title image: The view from the 20th floor of the Andreasturm in Zurich-Oerlikon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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.
Farewells |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Passed doctoral examination: |
Bogdan-Gabriel Ursu (Prof. Dennis Hofheinz), 29.03.
Julia Chatain (Prof. Bob Sumner), 30.03.
Marcel Geppert (Prof. Marc Pollefeys), 12.04.
Joshua Schneider (Prof. David Basin), 12.04.
Liliana Barrios (Prof. Christian Holz), 18.04.
Dario Pavllo (Prof. Thomas Hofmann), 19.04.
Alexander Viand (Prof. Kenny Paterson), 24.04.
Congratulations to our newly minted Doctors of Sciences ETH Zurich! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Relocation to OAT |
 |
|
This month, the relocations to the Andreasturm in Zurich-Oerlikon took place. The following groups and centres have their new home base in OAT:
Institute for High Performance Computing Systems, Prof. Torsten Hoefler
Institute for Machine Learning, Prof. Joachim Buhmann, Prof. Andreas Krause, Prof. Ryan Cotterell, Prof. Mrinmaya Sachan, Prof. Niao He
Institute for Theoretical Computer Science, Prof. Angelika Steger, Prof. David Steurer, Prof. Emo Welzl, Prof. Bernd Gärtner, Prof. Rasmus Kyng
ETH AI Center
Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC)
Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS)
D-ITET, Prof. Luca Benini, Prof. Onur Mutlu
To everyone involved: We hope you had a seamless move and have settled in well! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Stories of the month |
|
|
|
|
“A development freeze would jeopardise trasparency"
|
|
|
| Prof. Andreas Krause, Dr. Alexander Ilic
In an open letter, tech luminaries from the worlds of science and industry are calling for a freeze on training new AI models that are more powerful than GPT-4. Andreas and Alex from the ETH AI Center consider this to be difficult to enforce. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
A new form of human-computer interaction
|
|
|
|
Prof. Martin Vechev, doctoral students Luca Beurer-Kellner and Marc Fisher
Martin, Luca and Marc created a new open-source platform and programming language called LMQL, which makes interaction with large language models like ChatGPT easier, cheaper and safer. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
International Girls in ICT Day
|
|
|
|
To promote awareness of the underrepresentation of women in STEM and to encourage more young women to pursue an education in one of these areas, International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of April. |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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.
Browse our award section |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Torsten Hoefler earns first Jack Dongarra Early Career Award
|
|
|
| Congratulations to Torsten, the inaugural recipient of the Jack Dongarra Early Career Award! This award recognises outstanding early to mid-career researchers who have made contributions to scientific progress in fields such as computational sciences, machine learning, numerical algorithms and software libraries. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Adrian Perrig and Olga Sorkine-Hornung elected members of SATW
|
|
|
| Congratulations to Adrian and Olga, who have been elected members of Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW), a network of eminent personalities from science and industry. They were elected for their considerable track record in the field of technical sciences. |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Upcoming events |
VMI Summer Retreat, 9–12 and 14–17 September, Laax
This retreat is for all scientific staff of D-INFK. It will take place in Laax and will offer great scientific exchange opportunities, networking and socialising. More information will follow soon here. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tower of Power, 24 May, 16.15–21.00, OAT
After four long years, the D-INFK Staff Party is finally back. The celebration, which will also be a housewarming, will take place in the Andreasturm in Zurich-Oerlikon. The registration for the party is closed but you can still participate in the Tower Sessions. More information on the sessions and the registration form will soon be published here. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Distinguished Colloquium: Principles of Persistent Programming, 8 May, CAB G 61
Dr. Viktor Vafeiadis from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) will talk about persistent programming and its challenges.
Learn more
Cyber Pathways, 11 May, 18.00, ETH Zurich
This event, organised by ETH Cyber Group Alumni, unravels the many career options in cyber security. 30 practitioners from across the industry, research institutions and public agencies will share what it takes to do their job and why they love it.
More information here
Distinguished Colloquium: Can We Automate Integrated Circuit Design?, 15 May, 16.15–17.15, CAB G 61
Prof. Dr. Jason Cong from the UCLA Computer Science Department will present his latest research on integrated circuit designs and talk about their automation.
Learn more
Health Lunchtime Event: Recognising and overcoming internal stressors in everyday work, 16 May, 13.00–14.00, online
Titus Bürgisser, Head of Center for Health Promotion at Lucerne University of Teacher Education, will show how one's own inner stressors can be recognised wih the help of psychological models.
Learn more |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Past events |
|
|
|
|
Master's Degree Graduation Ceremony
|
|
|
| Congratulations to our 119 Master's graduates! Around 80 of them attended the graduation ceremony, which took place in the Audi Max on 24 March 2023. Photos from the event are available in the photo gallery. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Informatiktage 2023
|
|
|
|
On 1 April, over 600 people visited the CAB building on the open day of the Informatiktage 2023. A variety of workshops, lectures and an exhibition area gave insights into the computer science world at ETH Zurich. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
GYSS 2023
|
|
|
|
Computer Science Master's students Raphaël Baur and Jasmin Schult were among nine students who participated in the Global Young Scientists Summit (GYSS) in Singapore. The goal was to get inspired by the journey of Nobel Laureates and discuss the role of science for human society. |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Please meet... |
Julia Bogdan, VIS president
In one sentence, what do you do at VIS?
I’m responsible for coordinating the VIS, its board, its committee and members as well as representing them towards ETH, the Department of Computer Science and VSETH.
Can other students join the board too?
Yes, of course! We hold elections once per semester at our general assembly. The next general assembly will be on 2 October 2023. If anyone is interested in joining the board next semester, just get in touch with us at vorstand@vis.ethz.ch or contact the current board member directly for more information.
Why did you decide to study computer science?
Since a young age, I have always been fascinated by technology and once I was introduced to coding this fascination only grew. In my eyes, computer science shapes the 21st century and I want to be involved in shaping it further.
Do you have any tips for exam preparation?
I like to write my study plan before the end of the semester so that I know how much of a break I can have before I have to start preparing for the exams. Especially in summer, I find it extremely important to plan breaks since the study phase is long and you don’t want to run out of energy before you write your exams.
What is your favourite coffee place at and around ETH?
I don’t like coffee. However, my favourite place to drink tea at ETH is in front of CAB if the weather is nice and in oVIS or in the CAB common room. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| D-INFK in the news |
| • | | ETH Media Technology Center
SRF G&G: Täuschend echt – Deepfakes
Watch video |
| • | | D-INFK Alumni David Niederberger and Philipp Hadjimina, Co-Founder ETH spin-off Quazel
Tech Funding News: 10 promising spin-offs from ETH Zurich to watch in 2023 as AI and robotics boom
Watch video |
| • | | Prof. Martin Vechev, Dr. Petar Tsankov, Dr. Veselin Raychev, Velko Vechev
Bulgarian National Television BNT: Video about ETH and INSAIT (in Bulgarian)
Watch video |
| • | | Prof. Florian Tramèr
MIT Technology Review: We are hurtling toward a glitchy, spammy, scammy, AI-powered internet
Read article |
| • | | Severin Hacker, Alumnus
Luzerner Zeitung: Ersetzen Chatbots bald die Sprachlehrerin? Der Schweizer Duolingo-Gründer über künstliche Intelligenz – und Google (Paywall)
Read article |
| • | | Prof. Andreas Krause, Start-ups Quazel and Typewise
SRF 10vor10: Chat-Roboter mit künstlicher Intelligenz – Chancen und Risiken (starting from 05:30)
Watch video |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Open positions |
Software Engineer Secure Inter-domain Networking
The Network Security research group led by Prof. Adrian Perrig is looking for a Software Engineer. The group conducts research on SCION, the first clean-slate internet architecture.
Apply here
Open position in the administration
Our department is looking for a specialist in spatial planning who can also support the department board. Curious? Then apply here
Working for the Microsoft Mixed Reality and AI Zurich Lab
The MR&AI lab in Zurich is growing. If you are interested in helping to build the Industrial Metaverse, take a look at these three open job postings:
Software Engineering Manager, Research Scientist and Software Engineer.
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tip of the month – VMI Teaching Survey |
| VMI is conducting a survey directed at members of the scientific staff. Teaching is one of the core missions of our department and an important responsibility. Give your valuable feedback now and help shape the future of teaching at D-INFK! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Welcome to the student corner! Here you can find the latest news and updates regarding student life. Whether you're looking for information on upcoming events, tips for studying or just a glance at what's happening on campus, this is the place to be. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
VIS board FS23
|
|
|
| Meet the new VIS board! For the first time, there are more women than men on the board. The different departments, committees and the full list of board members can be found on their website. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Bachelor Graduation
|
|
|
| The first milestone of the studies should be celebrated: The first-ever, VIS-organised Bachelor Graduation will take place on 27 June 2023. The ceremony will feature speeches from special guests and will be followed by an apéro. Eligible students will receive an invitation. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| VIS events |
VISKAS, 12 May, 18.00–23.45, Katzensee
Grill, sun and fun at the Katzensee – join the party! If you want to help out at the event, you can get a free shirt. Find more information and register here.
Summer brunch, 2 June, CAB
It will soon be time again for the traditional end-of-semester brunch in typical VIS style, with enough food for everyone. Stay tuned for more information on the event at the VIS website. |
|
|
|
