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News, insights and stories of the Department of Computer Science.
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| Back to a new normal |
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Dear colleagues,
ladies and gentlemen,
Slowly, life returns to our campus and brings a touch of normality. The rules set by the Federal Office of Public Health and ETH Zurich regarding hygiene and social distancing still apply, but, step by step, a coordinated return to the office and personal encounters become possible again.
The arrival of new colleagues and the departure of department members who have been with us many years may still proceed more quietly than usual. To keep you up to date, we have collected the current changes in the section “Faculty & Staff”.
Fortunately, it seems the corona blues did not hit our department sustainably, at least this is the impression I get looking at our research news. Just to name some achievements: the ETH Max Planck Center for Learning Systems recently celebrated its 5th anniversary and confirmed the renewal of its research cooperation for another five years. Martin Vechev and his team are gathering quite some attention with Silq, the first high-level programming language for quantum computers. And thanks to the great commitment of several D-INFK researchers and our colleagues from EPFL, the SwissCovid tracing app has successfully completed its test phase.
Keep up to date with everything else that is going on at our department in the current edition of READ.ME.
Happy reading and best regards,
David Basin
Department Head
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| Faculty and staff |
We would like to extend an especially warm welcome to all new staff members who have joined our department. We look forward to working with you – and to welcoming you in person once the crisis is weathered. Our new staffTo 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 |
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Marianna Berger retires after 25 years
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"I am an ETH nomad," jokes Marianna. For 25 years she held various administrative positions at ETH Zurich, in particular at D-INFK, where many research groups know her as an administrative assistant. Before her retirement at the end of June, she looks back on her varied career at the university.
Read article |
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Dr. Hermann Lehner to head Academic Services
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From July 1, Hermann starts his new position as head of the Academic Services. Hermann studied at the department and got his doctorate in the group of Peter Müller. He returned to the department in 2016 as lecturer, study coordinator and later senior scientist with a focus on education.
Read article |
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Goodbye to our colleague Dave Avanthay
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Dave worked as a software engineer for Code Expert, which he accompanied all the way from a prototype to the redundant and scalable platform it is today. Dave leaves ETH to start his new career as a primary school teacher. He is succeeded by Peter Gassner.
Read more |
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Meet Vincent Fortuin, ESOP student
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Vincent Fortuin holds a Master's degree in Bioinformatics from ETH Zurich and is now doing his doctorate in the Biomedical Informatics Group. Gain insight into his current research project and what the ETH Excellence Grant meant for him.
Watch video |
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Meet Hanna Ragnarsdottir, ESOP student
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Excellence Scholarship holder Hanna Ragnarsdottir is pursuing her Master’s in computer science. Watch as she describes her research and explains why the Excellence Scholarship was such a decisive moment in her life.
Watch video |
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Passed doctoral examinations: June 2020
Seonwook Park (Prof. Otmar Hilliges)
Representation Learning for Webcam-based Gaze Estimation (04.06.)
Marco Ancona (Prof. Markus Gross)
Attribution Methods for Interpreting and Optimizing Deep Neural Networks (11.06.)
Laurent Chuat (Prof. Adrian Perrig)
Transparency, Resilience, and Recovery in Public-key Infrastructures (12.06.)
James Bern (Prof. Stelian Coros)
Model-based control and Design of Soft Robots (16.06.)
Patrick Schnider (Prof. Emo Welzl)
Variations on the Center Transversal Theorem (22.06.)
Congratulations to our newly minted Doctors of Sciences ETH Zurich!
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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. Browse our award section |
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The first intuitive programming language for quantum computers
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Prof. Martin Vechev
Benjamin Bichsel
In light of continuing technical advances in the field of quantum computing, a team of researchers around Martin has developed Silq, the first high-level programming language for quantum computers. Silq enables solving even complex computations elegantly, simply and safely.
Read article |
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One software for all documents
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BLP Digital, D-INFK Spin-off
Entering invoices, checking delivery slips, auditing expense receipts – all these tasks can be tedious and repetitive. D-INFK spin-off BLP Digital invented a software to provide some relief. The underlying algorithms on which the software is based came from two Master’s thesis projects at ETH.
Read article |
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September 18th–20th, HackZurich – Europe's biggest Hackathon
Since 2014, HackZurich unites hundreds of tech talents from elite universities to collaborate and develop highly innovative web, mobile and hardware applications during a 40-hour hackathon in teams of two to four. The event is a fun way to touch base with new technologies, innovative communities, and future career opportunities. Application opens July 22.
Apply here |
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June 26th, 12.15 – Swiss conference on data science 2020
With talks and contributions on applied data science and business, accepted papers will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore. Talks with business impact and data-driven innovation concepts will be presented at the SDS2020. Meet innovators, scientists as well as business insiders and get access to emerging trends, cutting-edge technologies and research results.
Register here |
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Call for collaborative data science projectsThe Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) opened the fourth call for collaborative data science projects on June 3rd. The project grants run for up to two years and range from 200’000 to 600’000 Swiss Francs. Eligible institutions of the ETH Domain (ETHZ, EPFL, PSI, EMPA, WSL and EAWAG) can submit 5-page preproposals by July 13th, 2020. Full proposals are expected by October and funded projects are expected to start in March-June 2021. More information
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| D-INFK in the news |
| • | David Dao, Doctoral student
Talent im Land: Podcast #1 Listen to podcast |
| • | Arbrea Labs, D-INFK Spin-off
Handelszeitung: Dieses Startup zeigt, wie man nach der Schönheits-OP aussieht Read article |
| • | Prof. Martin Vechev, Benjamin Bichsel
Techcrunch: Silq is a new high-level programming language for quantum computers Read article |
| • | Prof. Stelian Coros
Gizmodo: Watch this two-armed robot carve like a Renaissance master Read article |
| • | Cédric Neukom, Master's student
Aargauer Zeitung: Um Andrang zu vermeiden: Studenten lancieren Reservations-App Read article |
| • | Prof. Srdjan Capkun and Mathias Wellig, Alumnus
20 Minuten: Alles, was du zur SwissCovid-App wissen musst Read article |
| • | Scandit, D-INFK Spin-off
Inside-it: Scandit sammelt 80 Millionen Dollar Read article |
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| Please meet... |
Felix Friedrich, teacher and study coordinator at D-INFK (More)Describe what you do in one sentence.I teach computer science in service courses and support D-INFK as study coordinator. What do you like most about your role?In my role as a teacher, I like to make the students look behind the scenes to build up a sustainable understanding of computer science. In my role as study coordinator, I love to work with other people in order to help keeping the high quality of education at ETH. In my role as researcher, I want to find solutions, as simple as possible, to problems not that simple. And generally, I cannot live without learning new things. What is the best advice you ever got?My brother once shared with me the advice "everything you haven't started within 24 hours will work against you over time". It hits one of my weak spots and therefore I consider it a very good advice. What is your favourite place at and around ETH and why?I love to go to the ETH main mensa, having usually interesting, sporadically pensive but very often just funny conversations with my colleagues. Apart from teaching, this situation makes me feel like I am part of the wonderful life at ETH. How do you spend your leisure time?Having a nice time with my family, mountain biking and playing the pipe organ.
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| Important note on current working regulations |
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The coronavirus will continue to affect our lives and our work for some time to come. To keep you informed about news, regulations and projects connected to the pandemic, we will add a short COVID-19 section to the end of every READ.ME until further notice.
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Regulations on working arrangementsTo keep up to date with current ETH regulations on working arrangements, all staff can consult the ETH FAQ site, which is updated regularly with new information. If you have further questions, please contact our HR manager, Jacqueline Braunschweiler.
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Support and counsellingThe HR department offers support and counselling to all staff members, be they professors and team leaders or researchers and employees. Please do not hesitate to take advantage of these services if you are struggling with the current situation.
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Tracing app officially launched
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SwissCovid tracing app
The SwissCovid app is officially launched. The app, jointly developed by ETH Zürich and EPFL on behalf of the federal government, is used to identify people who have been in close contact with persons who have been infected with the coronavirus. We would like to thank everyone from D-INFK who was involved in this project for their contribution to fighting the coronavirus!
More information |
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"We are aiming for an optimal mix of classroom and online teaching"
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Prof. Sarah Springman, ETH Rector
The switch to online teaching last semester has worked incredibly well at ETH. But what form will teaching take in the autumn? Rector Sarah Springman discusses some of the arrangements that the university is currently considering. Furthermore, Springman is encouraging all students to use the SwissCovid tracing app.
Read interview |
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