VU University Amsterdam

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VU University Amsterdam

• Inspiring
• Innovative
• Involved

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Amsterdam

• Bustling international city, capital of the
  Netherlands
• Renowned cultural, scientific and commercial
  centre
• Over 50 museums
• Good food, excellent shopping, friendly bars
• Extensive public transport network
• English widely spoken

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Campus

• Compact campus in south-west Amsterdam
• All amenities within walking distance
• In the fastest growing economic region of the
  Netherlands
• Excellent transport connections
• 20 minutes from the historic city centre
• Schiphol airport just an 8-minute train
  journey away
• Vibrant Polish community (5 Poles in the
  Computer Systems group)

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Short Track Master one master, two degrees

• Spend your final study year at VU University
  Amsterdam
• Get a double degree
• You can choose from a wide variety of
  courses and specialization tracks
• You will improve your position at the labor
  market
• You will gain international experience

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Trend in Computer Science

• Computers get smaller all the time
• And we get a lot more of them
• Information explosion
• They can all communicate together through some
  infrastructure (Wireless, radiowave, LAN, WAN,
  Internet)?
• How do we keep that safe, secure and reliable ?
• We focus on the development of large scale
  distributed system
• This infrastructure places new demand on
  software.
• For example on scalability

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Specializations (1/3)?

• Internet and Web Technology
• Technical aspects of CS, focused on large-scale
  computer networks. What is feasible here and what
  is not? For example the (mis-)use of RfiD tags
  and how to create scalable web-applications.
• Compulsory
• Distributed systems
• Network programming
• - Operating systems (practical assignment)?
• Choice of other courses like
• - Software Testing / Software Architecture.
• High-Performance Distributed Computing
• To solve problems as fast and as efficiently as
  possible. Multiple computers working together in
  parallel to work as efficient as possible using
  multiple networks and the internet.
• Compulsory
• Parallel programming (course practical work)
• Cluster and Grid Computing
• Optional Courses
• - Computer Graphics / Network Security

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Specializations (2/3)?

• Software Engineering
• How do we create good and reliable software in a
  world-wide team? How do we develop software
  correctly, make it maintainable and test its
  correctness?
• Courses like
• Software architecture
• Software configuration management
• Optional
• Protocol validation / Coding and complexity
• Multimedia
• How can we use multimedia in this modern time?
  Techniques like authoring, information retrieval,
  Human computer interaction, 3D graphics are
  applied and taught in this master program.
• Compulsory
• Computer graphics
• Software architecture
• Visual design
• Optional courses
• - can be taken from the other master programs
  (see above)?

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Specializations (3/3)

• Formal Methods and Software Verification
• Since software is becoming increasingly complex,
  it is very important to specify prove the
  correctness. Safety and security are typically
  very important subjects in software. We can prove
  this by using mathematical techniques like Model
  Checking, Logic, Proof Checking, Term rewriting
  and process Algebra.
• All these techniques are taught in the classes in
  the master program.
• Technical Artificial Intelligence
• Creating an intelligent computer program or
  system is the central subject.
• Courses from the field of AI are taught in this
  master
• Compulsory
• Neural networks
• Evolutionary computing
• Machine learning
• Optional
• Data mining techniques
• Information retrieval

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Research projects

• Master projects are directly coupled to our own
  research
• Extending the Linux kernel for SMP function
  offloading
• Enabling distributed applications for smart
  phones
• Border gateway protocol modeling and simulation
• Flash-crowd prediction
• Etc.

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Career prospects

• Many students do a PhD after their masters (at
  the VU or in other top-level universities)
• Lots of job opportunities
• On graduation date, 100 of our students have a
  job that matches their qualification

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Meet the team

• Andrew Tanenbaum (full professor)
• operating system security (MINIX)?
• RFID-based systems
• Henri Bal (full professor)
• Support for parallel programming
• Parallel applications

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Meet the team

• Maarten van Steen (full professor)
• large-scale decentralized systems
• peer-to-peer systems (epidemics)?
• very large wireless ad hoc networks (sensornets)?
• Frances Brazier (full professor)
• Agent-based distributed systems
• Combining systems and law

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Meet the team

• Herbert Bos (network security, intrusion
  detection)?
• Bruno Crispo (network security, secure sensor
  networks)?
• Thilo Kielmann (grid computing)?
• Guillaume Pierre (scalable web systems)?
• Spyros Voulgaris (P2P, sensor networks)

Herbert Bos
Bruno Crispo
Thilo Kielmann
Guillaume Pierre
Spyros Voulgaris
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Facilities

• Wide-area distributed cluster computer
• 5 sites across the Netherlands
• 272 dual AMD opteron nodes
• Each node 4G main memory
• Total storage capacity 130 TB
• switched, optical connections
• Fun part you get to use it

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Admission criteria

• A solid grounding in Computer Science,
  especially in computer architecture, computer
  networking, software engineering and the
  theoretical foundations of computer science.

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Application procedure

• You will need a formal approval from the
  coordinator stating that they have been selected
  for the Short Track Master
• A completed application form, a form with a
  list of completed courses, a proof of
  proficiency in English can be sent to our
  International Relations Officer
• In April, the Examination board will decide
  which applicants will be admitted. Applicants
  will be notified by May about the result of
  their application and scholarship

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Financial matters

• Tuition fee 1565
• Loan tuition fee available
• Fellowships available 5500
• Plenty of job opportunities no work permit
  required
• Cost of living 1000 /month (including
  accommodation)

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VU Starters Kit

• Arrangement of housing, visas, and residence
  permits
• Pick-up service from Schiphol airport
• Extensive introduction program
• International student association
  ESN-VUniverse
• A mentor to answer all your questions
• Free (wireless) internet access at the campus

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More information

• www.few.vu.nl/shorttrackmaster
• Ms. Greetje Gorens (official matters)
  international_at_few.vu.nl

• Asia Slowinska (Polish PhD student)
  asia_at_few.vu.nl