CS Department Undergraduate News Feed

CSE Undergraduate Peter Lofgren Named Goldwater Scholar

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

CSE undergraduate Peter Lofgren is one of four University of Minnesota undergraduates to have been named 2009 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars. The prestigious Goldwater Scholarship is awarded annually to outstanding sophomores and juniors in mathematics, science and engineering who intend to pursue research-oriented careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

The scholarships provide up to $7,500 per year for up to two years of undergraduate study. All four Goldwater Scholars are enrolled in the University Honors Program. Lofgren plans to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics and computer science. He would like to conduct research in mathematics or computer science and teach at the university level.

SCImagine! 2008: Robots take over the library, May 9

Sun, 04 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500

On Friday, May 9, robots will take over Walter Library at the University of Minnesota. The Science & Engineering Library will host CSE students and researchers in this year’s SCImagine! event, the library’s annual science showcase. A variety of robot demonstrations will follow exciting presentations by students.

The event will be held on May 9 from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Walter Library, Arthur Upson Room (102). Students, parents, and the community members are encouraged to attend the free event to see the latest creations of artificial intelligence and robotics from the CSE department. Light refreshments will be served. For directions, visit: SCImagine!

Funding opportunities for undergraduate women and minorities

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The Computer Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) is offering two programs (CREU and MRO-W) to fund undergraduate women and minorities to work on a research project for the next academic year. Funding is $3000 per student. The programs require a team of at least two students, either all women or all underrepresented minorities, and a faculty member.

The deadline for application is May 9. For information about the funding for women and minorities, visit CREU, and for information about funding for women working in a multi-disciplinary project, visit MRO-W. For more information or for assistance in applying, contact Professor Maria Gini.

Fall 2007-2008 CSE Undergraduate Scholarship Awards

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500

CSE is proud to award select CSE undergraduates with the Fall 2007-2008 Undergraduate Scholarship Awards.

Lando Scholarship

Nathaniel Born $2,000

Loren Fiore $2,000

John Olds $2,000

Derek Straka $2,000

Thomas Burt $1,500

Timothy Hillukka $1,500

Brandon Johnson $1,500

Blake Kellar $1,500

Matthew Soukup $1,500

Honeywell Scholarship

Grant Miller $2,000

Luke Parrott $1,500

Ken Kragh $1,000

Zachary Longren $1,000

Jayd Pather $1,000

Christopher Arnold $1,000

Thomson West Scholarship

Alexander Lau $2,500

CFFM Scholarship

Ken Kragh $1,000

(He also won a Honeywell scholarship)

CSE undergraduate honors

Tue, 01 May 2007 00:00:00 -0500

The CSE department is proud to recognize two students with undergraduate honors in Spring 2007.

Blayne Field

Honors Thesis: Survey of techniques for finding noise-tolerant frequent itemsets

Advisor: Vipin Kumar

David Schnizlein

Honors Thesis: Explorations of betting strategy in Texas hold’em

Advisor: Maria Gini

CSE student, team take second place in Travelers case competition

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

CSE student Matthew Beckman's team took second place in the Undergraduate IT Business Case Competition on November 17. The event was hosted by Travelers at their headquarters in St. Paul.

As part of the competition Beckman and his teammates competed with four other schools to solve technology and management related problems. Beckman’s University teammates included undergraduate students Michael Navarro majoring in Finance and Management Information Systems (MIS), Tony Morimoto majoring in Finance, and Parker Schultz majoring in MIS and Supply Chain Management.

The other participating schools included Central Connecticut State University, the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, University of Connecticut, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

As part of the competition, the teams were given a list of four case topics and had five hours to choose one, research it, and present a case to a panel of judges comprised of Travelers executives located in St Paul and in Hartford, Conn., via videoconference. Beckman’s team won the second place prize of $500.

University faculty sponsoring the event included, CSE Teaching Faculty member Chris Dovolis and Weidong Xia from MIS.

CSE awards undergrad scholarships

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

The CSE department is proud to announce the recipients of its 2007 undergraduate scholarships. These scholarships are made possible through the financial support of industry. The scholarship recipients are as follows:

Phillip Demro received the Honeywell and CFFM Scholarships – both are for $1,000,
Jeff Fisher was awarded the $2,000 Lando Scholarship,
Joshua Fleck was awarded the $2,000 Lando Scholarship,
Huy Hoang received the $2,000 Lando Scholarship,
Michael Levin was awarded the $2,000 Lando Scholarship,
Carl Magnuson was awarded the $2,000 Honeywell Scholarship,
Jon McLachlan received the $2,000 Honeywell Scholarship,
Grant Millar was awarded the $2,000 Lando Scholarship,
David Schnizlein was awarded the $2,000 Honeywell Scholarship,
and Zach Snow received the $2,000 Lando Scholarship.

New CS Department Scholarships

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0600

The CSE Department has two new department scholarships, the ESRI scholarship and the CFFM scholarship. The ESRI scholarship is for any upper division student (of any major) who has an emphasis in geographical information systems. The CFFM scholarship is for any CS upper division student who has a connection to farming (e.g., growing up on a farm, working in a farm-related business, having a close relative with a farm, ...).

The CSE Department is accepting applications for these scholarships until Feb. 28, 2006. If you are interested please apply using the online application form.

If you have any questions, more information is available on the online application form. Or ask any of the CS advisors during the CS walk-in advising hours.

CSE undergraduate honors

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0500

The CSE department is proud to recognize two students with undergraduate honors in Spring 2005.

Scott Yilek
Title: CinchWiki: a study of direct manipulation interfaces for Wikis
Advisor: John Riedl

Kurt Wilms
Title: PlaceMailOnLine: web application and automatic metadata generator
Advisor: Loren Terveen

University Students Compete in World Finals of ACM Programming Contest

Sat, 10 Apr 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Three students from the CSE department and one of their coaches traveled to Prague, the Czech Republic, to compete in the World Finals of the ACM International Programming Contest held March 28 through 31. Graduate student Stefan Atev, senior Vishal Shah, and Elliot Olds, who had graduated in December, earned the opportunity to compete by placing fourth in the North Central Regional in November. They were accompanied by Bobbie Othmer, one of the coaches.

Prague was an exciting place to visit, and we did get some time to do some sight-seeing. Contest activities took most of the time. One activity was the Java Challenge provided by IBM, the corporate sponsor of the contest. Teams developed a program to play a game dealing with medieval castles and knights. Our team placed 12 in the Java challenge, among the 73 teams. The big programming contest took place on Wednesday, March 31. Our team received an honorable mention, not as good as they had hoped. They did finish higher than the other three teams that went from our region. St. Petersburg Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics placed first, and KTH - Royal Institute of Technology from Sweden placed second. It was an exciting trip for all the students involved.

-Bobbie Othmer