Devika Subramanian, Rice - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

About This Presentation
Title:

Devika Subramanian, Rice

Description:

Hands on/practical approach to using computer science solve real problems. ... Embeds the study of computer science in the context of problems of relevance to ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:130
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 30
Provided by: RiceUni
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Devika Subramanian, Rice


1
  • Devika Subramanian, Rice
  • Mike Buckley, Univ of Buffalo
  • John Nordlinger, Microsoft Research
  • SIGCSE 08

2
Agenda Social Relevance Computer Science (CS)
  • Problem Declining enrollment of CS
  • Opportunity Make better CS better with socially
    relevant themes.
  • What is being done and what is available?
  • Mike Buckley, Univ of Buffalo
  • Devika Subramanian, Rice.

3
(No Transcript)
4
U.S. Gov (finally) takes notice
  • Emergence of Asia as major locus of technical
    expertise concerns U.S. policymakers.
  • For instance, China produces 4x as many engineers
    as the U.S.
  • Merrilea Mayo, National Academy of Science

5
Socially relevant top down
  • What problems are affecting society from the
    students perspective?
  • Global warming, environment
  • How are students influenced?
  • http//www.digg.com/
  • Movies and TV- especially The Daily Show
  • Not Newspapers, not slashdot
  • Some radio talk, including NPR.

6
Socially relevant - bottom up
  • What is most relevant to students and how can we
    make computers and programming more compelling to
    them.  
  • MP3 music file management, MySpace, facebook,
    enhancements, shopping bots for best price,
    accessibility, tools for personal finance or
    health, and so on. 
  • Building community and relationships.

7
Why include social relevance as part of a
traditional CS curriculum?
  • Students get EXCITED! Reach more diverse set of
    students.
  • Hands on/practical approach to using computer
    science solve real problems.
  • An ability to scale degree of difficulty over
    time
  • A chance to make kids feel better about their
    role in society and CSs role in the world.

8
Where have all the freshmen gone?
  • To other branches of engineering and science
  • Why?
  • Believe CS curriculum to be narrow (CS
    programming)
  • Computing for its own sake is unappealing
  • Foresee Dilbertian futures as programmer cogs
  • Perceive other fields (especially BioE and EE) as
    having greater opportunities, and as empowering
    them with concepts and tools to solve important
    problems in the real world.
  • Can always hire/work with a CS grad to program
    their creative ideas.
  • CS perceived as a support function/overhead not
    a main line/value-generating function in most
    of the business world.

9
The price of success
  • Ubiquity of computers and computation in our
    daily lives has made it less interesting as an
    object of study.
  • The action has shifted to the next innovative USE
    of computation and our current curricular
    structure does not prepare students for
    recognizing and leveraging these opportunities.
  • Memorizing /-// tables vs solving
  • Larry and Moe weigh 170 pounds together. Moe and
    Curly weigh 150 pounds together. What is the
    weight difference between Larry and Curly?
  • We have, for the most part, let outsiders define
    who we are .
  • Fortunately, this is changing.

10
What Computer Science really is
  • The place where a small group of people can still
    make revolutionary advances in all areas of
    society.
  • Microsoft which made computers accessible to the
    masses started only 25 years ago (1981)
  • Google which made information accessible to the
    masses less than 10 years ago (1998)
  • More than half the top 10 discoveries in 2007 in
    Science enabled by computation.
  • The home of an amazing number of transformative
    ideas and technologies (Wikipedia, Facebook,
    eBay)
  • The primary technological enabler for solving
    real-world problems creating needs and meeting
    them!

11
So, what is socially relevant computing?
  • It is computing
  • for a cause, for a purpose.
  • Can we evacuate Houston in 72 hours?
  • Can we predict the efficacy of a cancer drug for
    patients by using their genomic and proteomic
    profiles?
  • that meets a need in some context.
  • How can computation help me organize my music, my
    thoughts?
  • Embeds the study of computer science in the
    context of problems of relevance to society and
    to students.

12
Courses that tie computer science to real world
needs
  • There is plenty of room for innovation in courses
    that tie CS to the real world.
  • New CS1/CS2 course at offered in Fall 2007/Spring
    2008 in conjunction with Civil Environmental
    Engineering and Political Science, with support
    from the City of Houston, to build computational
    tools for planning citys response to major
    hurricanes.
  • New freshman course in computation and problem
    solving funded by a seed grant from Microsoft.
  • Amazing examples from Mike Buckley at Buffalo and
    their incorporation in courses from
    freshman/sophomore to junior/senior.

13
BioE 301 at Rice
  • This course provides an overview of contemporary
    technological advances to improve human health.
    We will consider four questions throughout the
    semester
  • What are the problems in healthcare today?
  • Who pays to solve problems in healthcare?
  • How can we use science and technology to solve
    healthcare problems?
  • Once developed, how do new healthcare
    technologies move from the lab to the bedside?
  • http//www.owlnet.rice.edu/bioe301/kortum/class/c
    ourseinfo/syllabus.asp

14
Course objectives BioE301
  • compare and contrast answers to these questions
    throughout the developed and developing worlds.
  • consider legal and ethical issues associated with
    developing new medical technologies.
  • use case studies to examine a number of diseases
    and healthcare technologies.
  • explore a disease and a health technology in more
    detail as course project.

http//www.owlnet.rice.edu/bioe301/kortum/class/c
ourseinfo/syllabus.asp
15
Evacuation Zoning
Current disaster management strategies
ZIP code level evacuation policy Requires larg
e scale evacuation Relies on intercity shelterin
g
Aggregates data at the ZIP code level
16
Agent-Based Modeling
Multi-disciplinary Approach
What is the actual risk?
Estimation of flood and wind risk at individua
l
households
What is the perceived risk?
Behavioral characterization of households
Data-Rich Environment Demographic characterizatio
n Post-disaster utility availability Best intra-
city sheltering and escape routes
Evacuation policies
Agent-based modeling of evacuation and shelteri
ng
What are the resulting collective dynamics?
17
Computational Thinking
18
The new face of computer science
  • Computation offers fundamental conceptual and
    technological tools for solving real-world
    problems.
  • New curriculum will give students the
    intellectual foundations and tools to
  • Identify or create tasks/needs
  • Abstract and model computational aspects of
    tasks.
  • Design and implement computational solutions,
    with deep understanding of its embedding in the
    world.
  • This is the vision of socially relevant
    computing.

19
Socially relevant computing
  • Offers interesting problems to illustrate
    foundations of computer science.
  • Provides opportunities to students/teachers to
    solve problems that are meaningful to them and to
    their communities.
  • Emphasizes problem solving, recognizing or
    creating needs, and engineering solutions using
    computation.
  • Creates a more entrepreneurial, broadly educated
    computer scientist.

20
Our Clients Customers
21
Our First Client ElderWood Senior Care at
Oakwood, Williamsville, NY
  • Motivation
  • David, a 43-year old stroke patient who has been
    speech impaired for over 20 years.
  • Previously communicated using a letter board
  • Commercial technology solutions were not adequate
    for David
  • Result
  • The UB Talker was developed for David by
    students
  • VESID (Vocational and Educational Services for
    Individuals with Disabilities) has purchased a
    tablet PC for David.
  • David will be working with our research group as
    a consultant.

22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
UB Talker
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
Social Relevance Community Website
  • Academic course materials, project ideas,
    project registration, networking site
  • Community Outreach organizations can request
    help
  • Industry companies can sponsor projects
  • Organizational a community and a clearinghouse
    of ideas
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com