IT - the Master Key for Success

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IT - the Master Key for Success
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school will be over soon
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next where to go?
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Choice
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but what to study?
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(No Transcript)
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something interesting
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something that pays well
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something useful for society
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good news 1

• you will change at least 5 times what you do
  during your career

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no decision is ultimate!
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good news 2

• now it is much easier to mix and match courses
  and come out with combined degrees

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so you have a chance to find a career matching
all your interests
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quick rewind how it was once
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place Sofia, Bulgaria
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year 1981

• real socialism

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here I am at 18
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liked writing, paintingdreamed of traveling

• good at generally everything

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constraints

• communism ? writing, art, traveling

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arts and humanities
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engineering
TU Sofia Required a 30-min tram ride from home
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sciences

• Biology

• Chemistry

Never liked the smell of it!

• Physics okay, sounds interesting

• Math not so interesting, but powerful
• The laws of Nature are written in the language of
  mathematics ... (Galileo)

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so I chose Math!
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brief history of studenthood

• 1981- freshwoman in Math horrible!
• Learned 18 hours a day
• Surrounded by partying geniuses
• Exams _at_ -- but actually, not so bad.
• 1982- 2nd year in Math
• I have a favorite subject Analysis Geometry
  nice as well
• Computing just boring
• Many boys around feels good.
• Became excellent student
• 1983 3rd year in Math
• Excellent marks overall
• The geniuses disappeared
• Want to specialize in Functional Analysis
• 1984 4th year specialization in Cybernetics
  and System Control
• Computing is like knitting
• Gives a sense of power
• See your creation work in reality nice ?
• 1985-86- Diploma work (M.Sc.) on Intelligent
  Tutoring System for Math
• Got married!

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entering the workforce and quickly back to school

• 1986 Assistant professor at Chem. Technology
  Inst.
• Too much teaching
• All my life doing this??
• 1987 PhD program at the Institute of Math (CS)
• Got in!
• And got a baby (1988)! Joy and horror!
• Got a nanny (1989)! That was an achievement!
• 1989 Communism collapsed!
• And I got the PhD (1991)!
• The world was waiting for my arrival!

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the big journey

• 1992-1997 Munich, Germany
• Research associate at Inst. Technische Informatik
• Daughter in German kindergarten, then at school.
• Married again
• Do we want to live in Germany after all?
• 1997-present Saskatoon, Canada
• Research associate (2 years)
• University Faculty Award (1999) faculty at CS
• Conferences traveling around the world (at
  least one of my dreams comes true)

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So did I manage to do what I - liked writing,
painting ? - dreamed of traveling ?
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my travels
Amsterdam
Auckland, NZ
Porto
Christchurch,NZ
Hawaii
Madrid, Spain
Berlin
Santiago, Chile
Maceio, Brazil
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what is the situation Now and Here?
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Example Interdisciplinary Programs
Mathematics and Computer Science Actuarial
ScienceBioinformaticsBusiness Administration
(WLU) and Mathematics (Waterloo) Double
DegreeCombinatorics and OptimizationComputationa
l MathematicsComputer Science MathematicsMathem
atics Teaching OptionMathematics/Business
AdministrationMathematics/Chartered
AccountancyOperations ResearchPure
MathematicsStatisticsMathematical Physics
Biology related Biochemistry Bioinformatics Bioche
mistry and biotechnology Biotechnology Biology Bio
logy and biotechnology Biomolecular
structure Microbiology and biotechnology Sociology
of Biotechnology
Computing and Financial Management
Biotechnology/Chartered AccountancyBiotechnology/
EconomicsEnvironment and BusinessEnvironment
and Resource Studies
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Study programs / disciplines
Computer Science
Bioinformatics
Mathematics
Biology
Engineering
Biochemistry
Biotechnology
Mathematics MBA
Environment Studies
Chemistry
Nanotech
Sociology
Business/Commerce
Agriculture
Physics
International development
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Application of knowledge
Bioinformatics
Mathematics
Biology
Engineering
Biochemistry
Biotechnology
Mathematics MBA
Environment Studies
Chemistry
Nanotech
Sociology
Business/Commerce
Agriculture
Physics
International development
Computer Science
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Business Computing

• Dr. Maya Daneva
• Telus

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Business Process Modelling
E.g. SAP the largest German Software Company
allows integrated Budget monitoring Gives
managers seamless access to the financial data
they need to make better decisions. Time
management Enables employees to record work and
billable hours using their calendar, and
automatically synchronizes and updates
appointments with the application for enterprise
resource planning (ERP). Leave management
Enables employees to submit personal leave
requests and handle management approvals
processes. Organization management Allows
employees and managers to access organization
information and HR-related tasks.

• Main aims of process models
• descriptive
• traces what actually happens during a process
• takes the point of view of an external observer
  who looks at the way a process has been performed
  and determines the improvements that have to be
  made to make it perform more effectively or
  efficiently
• prescriptive
• defines desired processes and how they
  should/could/might be performed
• lays down rules, guidelines, and behavior
  patterns which, if followed, would lead to the
  desired process performance. They range from
  strict enforcement to flexible guidance.
• explanatory
• provides explanations about the rationale of
  processes
• explores and evaluates several possible courses
  of action based on rational arguments
• establishes an explicit link between processes
  and the requirements that they are to fulfill

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BioComputing

• Professor Lila Kari
• Computer Science,
• University of Western Ontario

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Computational Biology tries to solve
biological problems with computational modelling
methods and tools . Examples include simulation
programs applied to looking at protein-protein
interactions, protein folding, drug binding site
elucidation, etc. Bioinformatics the
application of data management, data mining, data
modeling and algorithmic techniques to biological
databases, such as genome databases and related
sequencing information. Examples include using
computer models to predict method gene function
and data mining for inferring and determining
sequence homology information. Biomolecular
Computation exploit biological macromolecules
to implement relatively standard methods of
computation. Examples are DNA computing, storage
media using bacteria rhodopsin and biologically
altered cells that do rudimentary operations
within the paradigm of traditional computation.
Biological Computation how biology computes
from the sub-cellular level to the systems and
population level.
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Social Computing
My name is danah boyd and i'm a PhD student in
SIMS at Berkeley and a social media researcher
at Yahoo! Research Berkeley. Buzzwords in my
world include identity, context, social
networks, youth culture, social software,
performance, Friendster, MySpace.
Martin Vattenberg
Fernanda Viegas
Barry Wellman is a Professor at the University of
Toronto. He studies networks community,
communication, computer, and social. His
research examines virtual community, the virtual
workplace, social support, community, kinship,
friendship, and social network theory and
methods.
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Affective Computing
Affective Computing is computing that relates to,
arises from, or deliberately influences emotions

• Rosalind Picard
• MIT Media Lab

Our approach, grounded in findings from
cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience,
medicine, psychophysiology, sociology, and
ethics, is to develop engineering tools for
measuring, modeling, reasoning about, and
responding to affect. Thus, we develop new
sensors, algorithms, systems, and theories that
enable new forms of machine intelligence as well
as new forms of human understanding.
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but I can also study Biology, Psychology or
Sociology

• and then do all the computational stuff

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yes, but it will be harder

• think of all the Math that you will have
  forgotten in the meantime
• learn the harder stuff when you are younger and
  smarter!

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studying CS is hard
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well, yes, but just the first 2 years!

• and every study at the University is hard in the
  1st year!

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This is Just a Temporary Appearance
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need a lot of patience to succeed
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yes, patience is needed to debug programs.
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a small attitude test

• Imagine you are at a math exam
• Youre simplifying an equation and you get stuck
  at the following
• 0x 2
• Your classmates are whispering around you The
  right answer is 12
• What do you do?

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options

• Check carefully to find your error spend the
  remainder of the exam on this, leaving the other
  problems
• Check briefly and go to the next problem, then
  check again if there is time left
• Think they must be wrong, even though you cant
  really get any answer from where you are now
• Write an explanation note to the examiner, that
  you have worked really hard and even though it
  seems to be wrong it isnt really your fault

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key

• X Check carefully to find your error spend the
  remainder of the exam on this, leaving the other
  problems
• C Check briefly and go to the next problem, then
  check again if there is time left
• C Think they must be wrong, even though you
  cant really get any answer from where you are
  now
• C Write an explanation note to the examiner,
  that you have worked really hard and even though
  it seems to be wrong it isnt really your fault

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It is this stupid compiler!!!
It is not my fault!
My program is perfect!
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of course, it IS your fault!

• but no need to admit -)

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yes, patience is needed to debug programs.

• and a dose of healthy self-confidence goes a long
  way!

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in Year 3, you will see light in the tunnel

• it all suddenly makes sense together.

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now you CAN use it to solve real problems.

• and the problems are everywhere, waiting for you!

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so are the jobs

• Which jobs are most offered?
• NACE (National Association of Colleges and
  Employers) asked employers which jobs they have
  offered the most so far this year (2005) and what
  their starting salaries were. The results
• Accounting (private) 44,564
• Management trainee 35,811
• Teaching 29,733
• Consulting 49,781
• Sales 37,130
• Accounting (public) 41,039
• Financial/Treasury analysis 45,596
• Software design/development 53,729
• Design/construction engineering 47,058
• Registered nurse 38,775
• All of the salaries quoted are national (US)
  averages. The NACE survey looked at starting pay
  in 70 disciplines at the bachelor's degree level.
  
• Source http//money.cnn.com/2005/04/15/pf/college
  /starting_salaries/index.htm

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and the s
Engineering Majors 49,636
Computer Sciences Majors 49,110
Business Majors 41,233
Health Sciences Majors 39,499
Sciences Majors 38,121
Home Economics Majors 33,565
Agriculture Natural Resources Majors 32,403
Communications Majors 31,900
Humanities Social Sciences Majors 31,212
Education Majors 30,646
Starting salaries for Graduating class 2005
Engineering breakdown Chemical engineering
53,813 Computer engineering 52,464 Electrical
engineering 51,888 Civil engineering
43,679 Mechanical engineering 50,236 Arts
and Humanities Psychology and sociology 29,861
History 31,727 English 32,237
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Epilogue 10 reasons NOT to
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choose an easy path
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if it seems easy

• many people will choose this path
• there will be too many people just like you
• what would be YOUR market value?
• getting a job would be like winning

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personal satisfaction?

• but how can you get satisfaction from something
  that is hard?
• - if you work hard, you will succeed.
• - the feeling of success after challenge brings a
  great satisfaction.

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choose something that you like!

• - no, you will grow to like what you choose,
  when you become good in it.
• - the reward is well worth the effort.

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why do athletes subject themselves to gruesome
training?

• to get the satisfaction of personal achievement
• to win
• to get recognition
• to get

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your attitude determines the altitude that you
will reach.