CS @ uWaterloo announcements

English Never Stops (ENS) is an online, peer-peer English learning community, where adult learners from around the world can become immersed in an experiential English environment. A team of young and motivated individuals have created a social networking platform that positions users as active and creative media producers, and supports them with an infrastructure that facilitates self-reflection and peer-peer coaching for improvements. The ENS team is in the final stages of completing the beta version of englishneverstops.com , which will be ready to launch by January 1 st , 2015. They are looking for a talented and creative programmer, with great communication skills, who can take the reins as the architect of the additions they plan to make to the site, and someone who can manage any problems that occur during the Beta-test phase. As an early stage startup, they are not in position to offer financial compensation, but they have created an exciting and potentially industry a...

Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable (OBR) and SR One, the venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline, have teamed up again for the OneStart competition - the largest biotech startup accelerator program in the world - to offer young innovators from all disciplines the chance to win $150k in no-strings attached grant money (non-dilutive, no IP rights reserved) and free lab space to transform their ideas into a successful business. Applications are now open until December 1st 2014. To learn more about the program and start building your team, visit http://onestart.co/.

Consider joining the SE PhD program of Carnegie Mellon University. CMU has an entire institute and PhD program dedicated to software research with 8 core faculty and 10 affiliated faculty in software engineering (from requirements engineering to software architecture to teams and organizations and to various forms of quality assurance) and several others in closely related fields. The attached poster provides an overview of the program. For more information about the program and the application process, visit  http://isri.cmu.edu/education/se-phd/index.html . A UW alumna is currently studying at CMU in the SE PhD program and would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Send an email to  kaestner@cs.cmu.edu  for contact information.

Hi everyone, It’s almost the end of the Fall term, as you may have noticed from the snow outside your window.  This means there’s one last, big event you can be a part of before the year is over: CS4U Day on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 from 8am—3pm in the Davis Centre . High school students from grades 9-12 will be coming to learn more about what computer science is and how it impacts their everyday lives.  We’re looking for volunteers to help set up the event, assist with lecture and activity materials, and answer any questions students or teachers may have. Volunteers will receive a t-shirt, morning snack, and lunch at the event. Feel free to e-mail me if you're interested in participating or have any questions. Thanks, Jonathan Tang | E-mail: cs-ur-co@uwaterloo.ca ”

The Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping , at Western University, in London Ontario, has organized the first ever High & Ultra High Field MRI Winter School. The two day CFMM Winter School will include an overview of high field MRI hardware considerations and construction, device testing, MRI safety as well as challenges, solutions and applications on these unique imaging platforms. You will be taking part in a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity which can provide unique insights into future studies and potential careers in a demanding discipline. The 2015 Winter School will be held on Saturday, February 14th and Sunday, February 15th 2015 at Western University, London Ontario. The Scholarship covers your two day participation of the winter school, all lectures and hands on training on all three of the scanners, mid day breaks, lunches, dinner Saturday night and our farewell event.  A basic travel allowance will be provided and accommodations (two...

If you are applying for an NSERC CGSM or a CIHR CGSM, please check the timelines for this carefully on the GSO web site and take advantage of the support materials and information provided to help you create an excellent application: https://uwaterloo.ca/graduate-studies/awards-funding/external-awards/tri-agency-cihr-nserc-sshrc-canada-graduate-scholarships    For a strong application, follow the "application instructions"carefully (right hand menu link) and also review and follow  the "presentation standards" found through a link in the instructions. Transcripts order deadline:  3:00 pm November 28, 2014 https://uwaterloo.ca/graduate-studies/awards-funding/transcripts-scholarship-competitions/applicant-transcript-request-form-canada-graduate Do this early so you don't forget as this deadline is firm.  Application deadline:  8:00 pm December 1, 2014 thru NSERC Portal  you are advised not to wait to submit at the last min...

Dear Students, Please review the latest Computer Science projects from MindSumo. MindSumo partners with employers to create projects that you can complete to get work experience, win prizes, and be hired for jobs and internships. How would you revamp Cigna’s database architecture?  https://www.mindsumo.com/contests/how-wold-you-revamp-our-database-architecture?utm_source=computer_fwd&utm_campaign=academicdepts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email   - $600 in prizes  Propose the best way to tell a story through photos for General Mills. https://www.mindsumo.com/contests/propose-the-best-way-to-tell-a-story-through-photos-and-videos?utm_source=computer_fwd&utm_campaign=academicdepts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email  - $1000 in prizes  Questions can be directed to aaron@mindsumo.com ...

Microsoft Thursday, November 6, 2014 3:30 – 4:30 pm, DC 1302 Harry Shum Since the launch of Bing (www.bing.com) in June 2009, we have seen Bing web search market share in the  US more than doubled and Bing image search query share more than quadrupled. In this talk, I will share and  discuss the challenges and opportunities in image understanding based on our experience building Bing image  search.  Specifically, I will talk about how we have significantly improved image search quality, and built  differentiated image search user experience using NLP, entity, big data, machine learning and computer vision  technologies. By leveraging big data from billions of search queries, billions of images on the web and from the  social networks, and billions of user clicks, we have designed massive machine learning systems to  continuously improve image search quality. With the focus on natural language and entity understanding, for  instance, w...

We are a tech startup of young, passionate group of accomplished professionals (DDS, MD, Computer techies, MBA’s, entrepreneurs, graduate students etc) and we are looking to add another team member to our in-house team of developers. We present you with a straight-forward and fun competition as opposed to the classical, boring or even intimidating interview. The competition is to create a website where you would integrate the following key points: - users can create user accounts (and accounts only get activated after users confirm their email address) - users can send messages to each other and be notified of new messages - users can set and agree on a suggested time and date for meetings on a shared calendar. Confirmations of scheduled meetings will be notified to both users in the system who have scheduled the meeting times. - API integrate a java game into the website (any pre-existing game) - Two users within the system can launch the API-integrated javascript game ...