Check out some of the projects our junior faculty and Ph.D. students have been working on. The video Trusted Browsers for Uncertain Times highlights David Kohlbrenner’s research on the many ways hardware design impacts software security.
Assistant professor Nadia Polikarpova is investigating new programming languages. Her goal is to simplify programming and make it less error-prone. Programmers would simply enter in high-level system requirements, such as safety, security or performance criteria, and the language infrastructure takes over to enforce those requirements.
Giving Computers the gift of Vision is the goal behind assistant professor Manmohan Chandraker’s research on computer vision, machine learning and graphics-based vision, which offer applications for autonomous driving and human-computer interfaces.
There are around 20 videos up right now and more on the way. Learn about robotics, teaching computer science, healthcare computing and many other topics. This is a great way to keep up with CSE and perhaps eyeball some potential collaborators to complement your own work.
The CSE Alumni Magazine is issued twice a year by the UC San Diego Computer Science and Engineering Department Alumni Advisory Board. Editorial inquiries and feedback can be sent to our staff at cse-communications@eng.ucsd.edu.
A scholarship fund in memory of CSE ’12 alum Alice Y. Wu has been established to support underrepresented UCSD CSE students with financial need and humanitarian or community service engagement. At UCSD, Alice was a CSE tutor in 2010 and 2011, as well as a member of the Kappa Zeta Phi sorority and singer in two a cappella groups. After graduating, she was a software engineer at Intuit, where she organized hackathons and hosted Intuit recruitment/outreach events at UCSD. She was also involved in the nonprofit program, “Girls Who Code.” If you are open to donating even just $5 or $10, this would be a great way to honor Alice’s legacy and support students. Memorial gifts can be made to the Alice Y. Wu Memorial Scholarship at tritonmag.com/wu.
Taylor Berg-Kirkpatrick develops machine learning techniques to understand structured human data, including language, music, historical ciphers, document images and other complex information. His research group is designing unsupervised approaches to analyze data without labeled examples.
Before joining UC San Diego, Berg-Kirkpatrick was an assistant professor of language technologies at Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley.
Nadia Heninger’s research addresses cryptography and security, focusing on cryptography in practice, cryptanalysis, privacy, lattices, computational number theory and coding theory.
Heninger received her Ph.D. in computer science in 2011 from Princeton and conducted postdoctoral work at CSE and Microsoft Research New England.
To learn more about Heninger’s research, visit her UCSD page.
Justin Eldridge
Assistant Teaching Professor
Justin Eldridge
Justin Eldridge’s research investigates machine learning theory and artificial intelligence. His Ph.D. thesis focused on correctness guarantees for clustering methods. He received the best student paper award at the 2015 Conference on Learning Theory and was awarded a full oral presentation at Neural Information Process Systems (NIPS) 2016. He was also a Presidential Fellow. Eldridge earned his Ph.D. from Ohio State University before joining UC San Diego.
Aaron Fraenkel uses machine learning and experimental design to study large-scale abusive behaviors on the internet, particularly robot-driven events. Drawing from his industry experience with cybersecurity, anti-fraud, and anti-abuse systems, his teaching focuses on end-to-end data science practice.
Before joining UC San Diego in 2018, Fraenkel worked as a senior scientist at Amazon in San Diego. He earned his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.
Nik Devereaux, Software Engineer and Program Manager at Viasat (B.S. in computer science ‘01; M.A.S. in architecture-based enterprise systems engineering ‘11)
Nik Devereaux
What is your background?
My background is in software engineering, primarily C/C++ application development for embedded devices such as network encryptors, satellite modems and other network and communications equipment.
What is your favorite part of being on the CSE Alumni Advisory Board?
I learn from the other board members constantly; their examples have helped me grow personally and professionally. It’s very rewarding to meet with students, listen to their stories, and provide them some (hopefully) helpful feedback and mentoring. I also like helping grow the UC San Diego alumni community by finding opportunities for other UC San Diego alumni at Viasat to engage with students, staff and faculty.
What has been your proudest accomplishment in a leadership role?
For a while, I was one of the people leading Viasat’s university relations, recruiting and internship program for engineers. We were very successful, and I think we helped other departments hire many more interns and college graduates. For many years, I was also the hiring manager for software engineering interns and new graduates in our HQ office. I’ve personally hired hundreds of employees, and it’s amazing to see their careers develop and for them to grow into leadership roles.
What is a major goal that you would like to accomplish in the year ahead?
Professionally, I plan to help evolve the practice of software engineering at Viasat and grow Viasat’s reputation as a software powerhouse. We are doing amazing, innovative and cutting edge things in software, cloud engineering and data science to build the infrastructure that will enable us to become the world’s first truly global ISP.
What career advice would you be interested in sharing with a CSE alumnus who is new to the job market?
Believe in yourself. Be curious. Never stop asking questions, never stop learning. Be honest and have integrity. Support other people and lift them up. Recognize and destroy the barriers that others face in connecting with opportunity and success.
Kylie Taitano, Software Engineer at Intuit ProConnect Group (B.S. in computer science ‘14)
Kylie Taitano
What is your background?
Eight years ago, I never would have thought I’d have a career in technology. Computer science was actually my backup major when I applied to UC San Diego. I had zero experience with programming, so going through the major was admittedly tough. I’m glad I stuck it through, and it helped that I had the support of the UC San Diego CSE community and all the friends I’ve made along the way. Since then, I’ve been working at Intuit as a software engineer on the ProSeries team — it’s a tax product for accountants that is built on the same platform as TurboTax.
What is your favorite part of being on the CSE Alumni Advisory Board?
Something I really enjoy about being a member of the Alumni Advisory Board is that I’m able to stay connected to what’s going on in the department. The one thing I miss most about being a CSE student is our community — I interacted with so many people through tutoring and as a member of Women in Computing. Being on the alumni board with people who are equally as passionate as I am about UC San Diego CSE is an awesome way to stay involved.
What has been your proudest accomplishment in a leadership role?
I’ve partnered with Girl Scouts San Diego over the last three years, hosting several coding programs and workshops for their troops. One program that stands out to me was a competition called the Technovation Challenge. The competition is twelve weeks long, in which thousands of girls all over the world are challenged to design a mobile app that solves a problem in their community.
The girls I worked with had a few obstacles in the beginning: they came from all over San Diego, so they didn’t know each other; they were each in a different grade in high school; and they were completely terrified of programming, because they didn’t have any prior experience with it. The problem they landed on that hit close to home was the California drought, so they decided to create an Android app aimed at educating teenagers about water conservation. To our surprise, they ended up winning the regional competition and advanced to the semifinals! The most rewarding part of the whole thing was experiencing firsthand their mindset and attitude change about technology. They were completely different girls by the end of it. You would never have known that they didn’t code before because their confidence and skill level went through the roof.
What is a major goal that you would like to accomplish in the year ahead?
Along with two other amazing women, I’ve co-founded an organization called Code With Her to unite girls and their community through technology. We’ve had a lot of success this year hosting multiple coding workshops around San Diego. My goal for next year is to connect with the various women in tech networks around San Diego to partner together on these workshops. I think it’s important for these young women to interact with students studying computer science and women in industry, so they can have role models to look up to.
What career advice would you be interested in sharing with a CSE alumnus who is new to the job market?
My advice is: opportunities open up when you do. When you’re in school, there’s structure that tells you when you advance to the next level. After graduation, I quickly realized that it’s easy to box yourself into a role, to be comfortable with what you’re doing, and that no one is around to tell you what to do next. I’ve grown personally as a software engineer by taking on roles and job duties outside of my comfort zone by my own volition.
On January 18, the CSE department hosted its first annual Research Open House, during which faculty, students and industry representatives celebrated the innovative work at CSE. The event included group presentations, posters, open labs and numerous hands-on demos to highlight the many ways CSE faculty and students solve important real-world problems.
The day kicked off with keynote speaker Tom Ristenpart, who graduated from CSE in 2010. Now an associate professor at Cornell University, Ristenpart is working with NYC Family Justice Centers to help people being victimized by their partners. Sometimes abusers don’t need violence to traumatize their victims.
“Technology is being used quite often in these contexts,” says Ristenpart. “People send harassing text messages, use GPS devices to track people’s cars and many other things. We put together a group of interdisciplinary researchers to better understand the role of technology.”
Ristenpart’s team interviewed victims and took steps to alleviate the abuse: identifying offending tech companies and getting their software tossed from app stores; working with legislators and the Federal Trade Commission; and giving caseworkers new tools to help victims.
This acute focus on problem solving was on display throughout the event. Doctoral students presented their work on programming languages and software engineering; visual computing; artificial intelligence (AI); systems and networking; cybersecurity and cryptography; and databases.
Following the formal presentations, guests were invited to attend an extensive poster session and visit open labs throughout the building. Students showed posters and demos on healthcare robotics, using LIDAR-equipped drones to detect Maya ruins, making software more user-friendly and many other topics.
Along with the posters, the event’s six sponsors (AppFolio, Intuit, Lytx, Marvell Semiconductor, Teradata and Viasat) held industry information sessions, offering valuable career information for students and other attendees.
The day ended with a reception and award ceremony, during which the poster competition winners were announced. Leon Li won the Research Prize, for excellence in scientific innovation, and Shravan Narayan was the runner-up. Soroush Ghodrati received the Unicorn Prize, for research most likely to be prized by industry, and Po-Ya Hsu was the runner up.
CSE Represents at oSTEM Conference
CSE assistant professor Arun Kumar and director of student affairs Patrick Mallon recently joined 10 UC San Diego Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM) chapter members at the oSTEM National Conference 2018 in Houston, Texas.
A nonprofit professional society, oSTEM helps the LGBTQ+ STEM community succeed — personally, academically and professionally. It’s the first inclusive organization serving STEM students, as well as professionals identifying as LGBTQ+.
Kumar and Mallon hosted a booth highlighting CSE and other STEM-based graduate programs at UC San Diego. Visitors were particularly interested in pursuing graduate degrees in computer science and related fields. Data science is becoming a new draw for students, regardless of their major. Kumar also emphasized CSE’s and UC San Diego’s efforts to promote diversity.
The conference opened with a keynote talk from Annise Parker, the former mayor of Houston and the first LGBTQ+ mayor of a top 10 city in the United States. It also featured an array of topics, including the effects of AI on the LGBTQ+ community; how machine learning models transfer discriminatory data into their predictions; being queer and South Asian in the U.S.; and dealing with family ostracism during the holidays.
UC San Diego undergraduate Michelle Holland won the undergraduate poster competition for her research on antibiotic resistance.
“This research is important to me because antibiotic resistance is an ongoing issue in hospitals globally and will get worse without significant policy change,” Holland says. “The work I do is about finding new ways of using the antibiotics we have to combat the evolution of antibiotic resistance.”
For Holland, the conference was a safe space to communicate openly with people who share similar, intersectional identities.
“I often feel a sense of imposter syndrome in both STEM and the LGBTQ+ community,” she says. “Attending the oSTEM conference reaffirmed that I do belong.”
Next year, Kumar hopes for a larger, university-wide effort to give students more resources for graduate programs in STEM. He also wants to encourage other faculty and staff, including allies, to go to the oSTEM event.
The Next Stage in Healthcare Robotics
New health care innovations can translate into longer lifespans. But as the population ages, how will we care for our parents and grandparents as they celebrate 80, 100 or even 110 years?
“The number of people in the world aged 60 and older is expected to double by 2050 and triple by 2100,” says professor Henrik Christensen, director of the Contextual Robotics Institute and Qualcomm Chancellor’s Chair of Robot Systems. “What roles will robotics, autonomy and real-time contextual awareness play in empowering this rapidly aging population to maintain independence?”
To answer these questions, CSE sponsored its fifth annual Contextual Robotics Institute Forum on November 8. Scientists from MIT, Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, Emory University, UC San Diego and several companies presented their work, discussing robots that perform surgery, aid cognition, augment sensory or physical reductions, and provide rehabilitation and other therapies. In addition to highlighting these and other applications, panels dove into the policy issues that accompany any new technology.
“Twenty percent of the world’s population has a physical, cognitive or sensory impairment, and also want to live independently — robots can help address this need,” said professor Laurel Riek, who directs UC San Diego’s Healthcare Robotics Lab. “Robots can also support caregivers and the clinical workforce, who are both overloaded and experience high rates of injury, illness and burnout themselves.”
Presenters included a who’s who of clinical robotics. Cynthia Breazeal from MIT’s Media Lab spoke about her research on social robots and emotional engagement. Santiago Horgan, who directs UC San Diego School of Medicine’s Center for the Future of Surgery, shared his vision for robotics in the clinic. Cory Kidd, chief executive of Catalia Health, showed how his company uses robotic interfaces to engage patients.
The forum also featured a technology showcase, which featured hands-on demos for an affordable smart wheelchair, autonomous vehicles and other devices. The technology is moving fast and sharing information is a critical part of the process.
“As we continue to grow and diversify the robotics ecosystem in Southern California,” notes Christensen, “getting together to tackle the big issues is an important part of our work.”
Computer science pioneer and UC San Diego professor emeritus Kenneth (Ken) Bowles passed away on August 15, 2018. He was 89.
Bowles made an enormous impact on computing. In the late 1970s, he helped lead efforts to create UCSD Pascal, which could run on virtually any computer system. Pascal influences many programming languages, including the now ubiquitous Java.
“The development of UCSD Pascal was a transformative event not just for UC San Diego but for all of computer science.” said Dean Tullsen, professor and chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the Jacobs School of Engineering. “It was arguably the first high-level programming system that worked on both small systems that schools, most businesses and eventually individuals could afford, and was portable across many systems.”
Bowles joined the UC San Diego faculty in 1965. During his 19-year tenure, he mentored many students and researchers, who went on to make breakthroughs of their own.
“Ken Bowles is part of the DNA of computer science and engineering here at UC San Diego,” said Tullsen.
Early in his career, Bowles recognized the importance of computing power as a radar physics theorist and engineer. He helped build and later directed the Jicamarca Radio Observatory in the desert outside Lima, Peru. His work at the observatory, as well as the National Bureau of Standards, required robust computing to study the Earth’s ionosphere and magnetosphere, his first encounters with computer science.
He was recognized for developing incoherent scatter radar, which he used to measure electron-density and temperature profiles in the high ionosphere when little was known about the processes driving weather.
Bowles was recruited to UC San Diego by Henry Booker, his former Ph.D. advisor at Cornell University. The two helped create the Applied Electrophysics Department which became the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
Bowles directed the UC San Diego Computer Center from 1968 to 1974, then returned to his faculty position until his retirement. He continued to be active, helping create the standards for the Pascal-based Ada language. Bowles is survived by his wife and three daughters. The Kenneth Bowles Scholarship in Computer Science and Engineering was established in 2004 to honor his legacy at UC San Diego.
Check out some of the projects our junior faculty and Ph.D. students have been working on. The video Trusted Browsers for Uncertain Times highlights David Kohlbrenner’s research on the many ways hardware design impacts software security.
Assistant professor Nadia Polikarpova is investigating new programming languages. The goal is to simplify programming and make it less error-prone. Programmers would simply enter in high-level system requirements, such as safety, security or performance criteria, and the language infrastructure takes over to enforce those requirements.
Giving Computers the gift of Vision explains assistant professor Manmohan Chandraker’s research on computer vision, machine learning and graphics-based vision, which offers applications for autonomous driving and human-computer interfaces.
There are around 20 videos up right now and more on the way. Learn about robotics, teaching computer science, healthcare computing and many other topics. This is a great way to keep up with CSE and perhaps eyeball some potential collaborators to complement your own work.
