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Investing in our future |
Dear readers,
With the start of the new semester we are also facing new opportunities. Thanks to the generous support of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, the department will be able to establish two new professorships, one in Educational Technology and one in Computer Visualisation. The donation will also fund 20 additional fellows at the ETH AI Center.
Our future also lies with our new students, who have just begun their studies at the department – and with students-to-be, who visited the try-out week for young women organised by CSNOW as well as our booth at the ETH-wide Study Information Days. We look forward to welcoming you to D-INFK soon.
I would like to thank all researchers, staff members and students who contribute to these outreach activities and help inspire the next generation of computer scientists.
We wish you a successful Autumn Semester.
Best regards,
![](https://files.ethz.ch/newsmailer/d-infk_readme/2021/2021-04/edito_signature.png) Timothy Roscoe Department Head
Title image: Felix Friedrich welcomes new computer science students.
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Faculty and staff |
We would like to extend a warm welcome to all new staff members who have joined our department by the end of 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 |
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Congratulations, Felix Friedrich
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| Felix, who has been a lecturer and senior scientist at the department for many years, has recently taken on an additional responsibility as Head of Study and Administration. Congratulations and all the best in your new role! |
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| Farewell, Franziska Hefti |
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| After 22 years in various roles at the administration for the department, Franziska is retiring this month. Astrit Thaqi and Mirjam Rösli will be taking over her tasks. Thank you, Franziska, and all the best for your future! |
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Welcome, Johanna Pirker
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| Johanna Pirker, professor at the University of Graz, joined us as a visiting professor this September. She will stay with the ETH Game Technology Center until end of October. Enjoy your time here, Johanna! |
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Welcome, Virgil Gligor
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| Prof. Virgil Gligor from Carnegie Mellon University is staying at the Institute of Information Security as a visiting professor since the beginning of September and until the beginning of December. Welcome, Virgil! |
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Welcome, Maria Korosteleva
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| Postdoc Maria joined the Interactive Geometry Lab coming from KAIST. Her research area is the reconstruction and modelling of virtual garments using AI-based methods. Great to have you here, Maria! |
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Welcome, Majed El Helou
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| Majed, who gained his doctoral degree at EPFL, has joined the Media Technology Center as a postdoc. He leads research projects in the domain of photorealistic generative face synthesis. Welcome, Majed! |
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Welcome, Ethan Wilcox
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| Postdoctoral researcher Ethan has joined the department to work with Ryan Cotterell and Mrinmaya Sachan. He received his PhD from Harvard Linguistics in May 2022. Happy to have you, Ethan! |
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Dieter Schwarz Foundation funds professorships and AI Center fellows |
Thanks to the generous support of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, D-INFK will establish two new professorships, one in Educational Technology and one in Computer Visualisation. Further, the fellowship programmes of the ETH AI Center will get funding for 20 additional fellows. Read more |
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Passed doctoral examinations: September 2022 |
Lukas Burkhalter (Prof. Kenny Paterson), 22.09. Melissa Licciardello (Prof. Timothy Roscoe), 23.09. Jérôme Dohrau (Prof. Peter Müller), 27.09.
Congratulations to our newly minted Doctors of Sciences ETH Zurich! |
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Stories of the month |
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Breathing life into video pixels
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| Prof. Siyu Tang Autonomous virtual humans that move and behave naturally are Siyu Tang's vision. In collaboration with architects and surgeons, she explores the potential of virtual humans. |
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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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DARPA Grant for Theo Rekatsinas
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| Together with colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Theo has been awarded a four-year programme from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Well done, Theo! |
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Chorafas Prize for Manuela Fischer
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| Manuela, postdoc and lecturer at D-INFK, was awarded the prestigious Chorafas Prize for the best doctoral thesis at ETH Zurich, which she wrote in the group of Mohsen Ghaffari. Congratulations, Manuela! |
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ETH Medals and Willi Studer Prize
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| Four of our Master's graduates have been honoured for their outstanding performance. Hongjie Chen, Patrick Iff and Miró Haller have received the ETH Medal, Clemens Hutter has won the Willi Studer Prize. Congratulations to all four! |
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Upcoming events |
INSAIT Conference, 30 September – 1 October, Sofia Bulgaria World-leading computer and AI scientists from top organisations and companies present at this conference on emerging trends in AI and computing research. Among the speakers are Peter Müller, Martin Vechev, Otmar Hilliges, Onur Mutlu, Ce Zhang and Srdjan Capkun. Learn more
Talk by game developer Patrice Désilets, 4 October, 18.15, CAB G 11 Patrice Désilets, creator of Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and CEO of Panache Digital, will give a talk at ETH Zurich organised by the Game Technology Center in cooperation with Visiting Professor Johanna Pirker. Learn more
Distinguished Colloquium, 10 October and 31 October 16.15 – 17.15, CAB G 61 Two inspiring guest speakers are visiting us for the first presentations in the autumn colloquium series next month. On 10 October, Professor Matus Telgarsky from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will give a talk titled "A Margin-Theoretic Perspective on Feature Selection in Deep Networks". Learn more On 31 October, Professor Virgil Gligor from Carnegie Mellon University will give an overview of the basic concepts of trust in his talk "Zero Trust in Zero Trust?" Learn more
VIScon Symposium, 15 October, HG One of Europe’s largest student-organised conferences was created by our students. The Association of Computer Science Students (VIS) invites you to join the VIScon Symposium on 15 October. From founding a start-up to the connection between computer science research and technology, the talks and workshops offer something for everyone. Learn more
Scale TransformX, 19 – 21 October, online Scale AI invites the public to this year's conference, which brings together AI leaders and practitioners and features three days of in-person and virtual keynote presentations, fireside chats, expert panel discussions and hands-on workshops. Virtual participation is free. Learn more
ETH-Klimarunde 2022: Wetterextreme im Klimawandel, 20 October, 15.00 – 19.00, HG The Center for Climate Systems Modeling offers a broad programme about weather extremes and climate change. Experts will give presentations and answer questions from the audience about climate change. The event will be held in German. Registration is free and open until 14 October. Learn more
Cyber Group student events in October, CAB and focusTerra The Cyber Group invites students to three events in October. The events take place in CAB H food&lab and focusTerra and require registration. 5 October: Open Port "The awakening of the mobile key for physical access" with dormakaba. Register 12 October: Open Port "A Tour of Adversarial Machine Learning" with Prof. Florian Tramèr. Register 27 October: Annual Meet & Greet with experts from academia, industry and public institutions. Learn more |
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Master's graduation ceremony, 21 October, 17.30 – 19.00, HG F 30 |
Over a hundred Master's graduates and their loved ones are invited to join the official Master's degree graduation ceremony in Audi Max. The event is not public but department members can request the live stream link via graduation@inf.ethz.ch. |
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Past events |
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Meeting future students in person again
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| After two years in a virtual format, the Study Information Days for high school students finally took place in person again at ETH Zurich on 7 and 8 September. Hundreds of students visited the D-INFK booth and talks. Thank you to all students, researchers, alumni and D-INFK staff for your inspiring contributions! |
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Great demand for try-out week for women
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| Earlier this month, 30 young women from high schools across Switzerland took part in the CSNOW computer science try-out week. The committed CSNOW team offered a varied curriculum with programming workshops, testimonials from students, researchers and D-INFK alumnae. A big thank you to all involved! |
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Please meet... |
Selina Kelsang Tschöny O’Kervin, Head of the Computer Science Library
In one sentence, what do you do? With my team of student assistants, I maintain and update our textbook collection, help students with questions about our collection, work on publicity and improve the library.
What do you like most about your role? Its diversity! From the typical librarian tasks to the administrative work, this role has it all.
Which skill are you learning or improving these days? This is my first position as a team lead, and I am still learning and improving – especially in some administrative tasks such as team coordination and managing ETHIS.
What did you want to be as a child? I’ve always wanted to be a librarian! I love the idea of working in a cosy library, surrounded by books.
What is your favourite coffee place at and around ETH? I get my favourite iced coffee from Buchmann across the street. |
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D-INFK in the news |
• | | Prof. Markus Gross Persoenlich: «Wir können Avatare in unnötige Sitzungen schicken» Read article |
• | | D-INFK alumnus Severin Hacker Velvetiere: Duolingo Math (A New App For Teaching Mathematics To Kids And Adults Alike) Read article |
• | | D-INFK spin-off Scandit, alumnus Samuel Mueller Swisspreneur: Samuel Mueller: Scandit Revisited Listen to podcast |
• | | D-INFK spin-off DeepJudge, alumna Paulina Grnarova Fintechnews: 2022 Swiss Fintech Awards Winners Share Updates, Ambitions Read article |
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Open positions |
Two positions at the Swiss Data Science Center The Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) is looking for a software developer for the data science academic team, as well as for an open research data engineer to work for various SDSC projects. Software Developer Open Research Data Engineer
Administrative Assistant for the Systems Group The Institute for Computing Platforms, aka the Systems Group, is looking for a new administrative assistant starting immediately. The duties include traditional administrative responsibilities such as human resources, accounting and finances, administration of research projects, maintenance of web pages, travel arrangements, as well as coordination of meetings, conferences and other scientific events. Learn more |
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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Tips of the month – Multi-factor authentication and food&lab |
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Multi-factor authentication
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| ETH IT Services will activate multi-factor authentication for various services for all D-INFK users on 17 October. This transition is mandatory for everyone at ETH. You can install the authenticator app already to prepare. You will then receive an individual e-mail informing you of the date when your personal multi-factor authentication will be activated. |
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food&lab is open again
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| After a far too long COVID break, the CAB restaurant food&lab is open again and offers three varied, healthy menus every day. Did you know that you can get an XXL version of the first menu for a small surcharge of only 1.50/2.00 francs? The premises can also be booked for meetings or parties and the team offers flexible catering options. |
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Last month, we recommended the Communication Academy courses for academic staff. The registration deadline has been extended until October 7 for two courses in German: |
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