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expand/collapse Dr. Miri is an invited speaker at the Privacy and Security Panel of CASCON x EVOKE 2019 conference.
Thu, 11 Nov 2019


Dr. Miri is an invited speaker at the Privacy and Security Panel of CASCON x EVOKE 2019 conference.
For more details links are below
https://www-01.ibm.com/ibm/cas/cascon/

expand/collapse Dipak Pudasaini's paper titled "Scalable Pattern Recognition and Real Time Tracking of Moving Objects" got awarded as the best student paper in Spring Simulation 2019
Thu, 16 May 2019


Dipak Pudasaini's paper titled “Scalable Pattern Recognition and Real Time Tracking of Moving Objects” got awarded as the best student paper in Spring Simulation 2019 -CNS conference sponsored by ACM and IEEE that was held in the University of Arizona, USA on April 30. Dipak is a 2nd year Ph.D. student under the supervision of Dr. Abdolreza Abhari in the computer science department.


expand/collapse Virtual Reality Project Showcase April 12, Friday, 1pm-3pm ENG206
Thu, 11 Apr 2019


On *Friday (Apr 12) in room ENG206 between 1pm and 3pm* (the Robotics/VR undergraduate lab) students will be showcasing their course projects for CPS643 Virtual Reality
Everyone is invited to attend and try them out! Fun for the whole family! Come out and immerse yourself in an alternate reality! Play games, solve puzzles, operate a robotic arm in space! and much more!

expand/collapse Team RU-ML, from Computational Intelligence Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science at Ryerson University, has ranked second among 52 teams from Canadian universities in Thales Student AI innovation championship.
Fri, 09 Nov 2018


The Thales Student Innovation Championship is an annual competition that challenges university students to tackle current industry problem. 52 teams from Canadian universities participated in this year competition that was dedicated to Artificial Intelligence. Team RU-ML (Kayvan Tirdad, Alex Dela Cruz Ph.D. students and Cory Austin 3rd year undergraduate student under the supervision of Dr. Alireza Sadeghian) from Computational Intelligence Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science at Ryerson University, presented their design to a panel of judges comprised of industry experts at Thales’ Centre of Research and Technology for AI eXpertise (cortAIx) in Montreal and successfully ranked second in this competition and received a $10,000 award.

For more details links are below
https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/canada/press-release/canadian-post-secondary-students-use-ai-help-tackle-challenge-misinformation

expand/collapse Kayvan Tirdad, Alex Dela Cruz Ph.D students and Cory Austin 3rd year undergraduate student under supervision of Dr. Alireza Sadeghian advance to final round of Thales Student Innovation Championship 2018
Wed, 24 Oct 2018


The Thales Student Innovation Championship is an annual competition that challenges university students to tackle current industry problem. The team is 1 of 9 teams that has been invited to Montreal to present their A.I. solution on automatic identification and validation of opinions with evidences.

For more details links are below
https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/thales-student-innovation-championship

expand/collapse Vector Institute of AI Faculty Affiliates - Dr. Kosta Derpanis and Dr. Neil Bruce
Wed, 26 Sept 2018


A total of 63 Faculty Affiliates were selected from 9 different institutions across Ontario. Dr. Kosta Derpanis and Dr. Neil Bruce are the only Ryerson faculty members included on the list.
For more details links are below
https://vectorinstitute.ai/2018/09/24/vector-institute-introduces-faculty-affiliates/

expand/collapse 'Minor' change to comp sci program - Ryersonian
Mon, 30 Jul 2018


Starting in September, students can enrol in classes for or declare a computer science minor. The new minor will allow more students to learn programming skills, according to Marcus Santos, associate dean of undergraduate science at Ryerson.
For more details links are below
https://ryersonian.ca/minor-change-to-comp-sci-program/

expand/collapse Dr. Maryam Davoudpour selected as an Honorable Mention for the 2018 WIE Inspiring Member of the Year Award
Tue, 06 Jun 2018


The IEEE is the world’s largest association of technical professionals, in over 160 countries around the world.

The IEEE Women in Engineering Committee (WIEC), has selected Dr. Maryam Davoudpour as an Honorable Mention for the 2018 WIE Inspiring Member of the Year Award.

The purpose of this award is to recognize a professional member of IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) who has made an outstanding contribution to WIE, their community and the engineering community, through dedication and involvement in projects or activities directed toward fulfilling one or more of the WIE goals and objectives.

Also, IEEE Women in Engineering Committee (WIEC), has selected the IEEE Toronto WIE Affinity Group as the recipient of an Honorable Mention for the 2017 WIE Affinity Group of the Year Award.

Dr. Maryam Davoudpour is the chair of WIE IEEE Toronto section, and the vice chair of WIE IEEE Canada.

Congratulations and best wishes for continued success!

expand/collapse Prof. Miri is chairing the 29th Biennial Symposium on Communications (BSC 2018)
Wed, 16 May 2018


The 29th Biennial Symposium on Communications (BSC 2018)

Biennial Symposium on Communications is a prestigious international research conference in communications, information theory, and signal processing. Organized since 1962 by Queen’s University, the Symposium is now presented by the Canadian Society of Information Theory, and its 29th biennial symposium will be held at Ryerson from June 6 to 7, 2018.

For more details links are below
http://infotheory.ca/bsc2018/index.php/cfp/

Ali Miri, PhD, PEng
BSC 2018 General Chair
expand/collapse Rodney Yip, Computer Science '82 - Driven to lend a hand
Mon, 23 Apr 2018

Rodney Yip, Computer Science '82 was instrumental in initiation and execution of a robotics display at the Ontario Science Centre over March Break. https://www.ryerson.ca/alumni/enewsletter/2018/04/main/driven-to-lend-a-hand/
expand/collapse Congratulations to Dr. Jelena Misic for being elevated to IEEE Fellow
Fri, 26 Jan 2018

Congratulations to Dr. Jelena Misic for being elevated to IEEE Fellow, "for contributions to modeling and performance evaluation in wireless communications." As this is one of the highest honors in IEEE, the department is very proud of you and elighted that your excellent and hard work througout your career has been recognized at this level.
expand/collapse Robots are helping archaelogists explore dangerous tombs in Egypt
Wed, 23 Aug 2017

Robot designed and built by Computer Science Doctoral Candidate Jimmy Tran successfully deployed by interdisciplinary Research team lead by Ryerson History Prof. Jean Li to El Hibeh, Egypt to explore tunnels dug by looters. Other Ryerson members of the ground team include Prof. Michael Carter (FCAD, Creative Industries) and Namir Ahmed (Library, Digital Media Experience). This is part of an ongoing collaboration with Archaeologists from the University of California, Berkley. This project will now be the founding member of Ryerson Library Collaboratory. For more details links are below
https://twitter.com/vicecanada/status/900017223607111680
expand/collapse Ryerson Computer Science Professor Alexander Ferworn interview with Vice on the future of robotics
Fri, 14 Jul 2017

For more details links are below
https://www.facebook.com/vicecanada/videos/1607576419262915/
expand/collapse SEMINAR: Designing a Gamification Course for an Higher Education Audience
Wed, 24 May 2017

Friday May 26, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. Dr. Sergio A. A. Freitas, Associate Professor in the Gama Engineering College (FGA) and Director of the Distance Education Center at the University of Brasilia (UnB), Brazil, will be presenting "Designing a Gamification Course for an Higher Education Audience".

Location: Ryerson University
George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering
Room: ENG 288
245 Church Street
Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3

For more details:
http://toronto.ieee.ca/2017/05/12/designing-a-gamification-course-for-a-higher-education-audience/
expand/collapse Ryerson Computer Science students will disarm fake bombs with robots for final exam expand/collapse SEMINAR: Engineering Skills Gaps: "Jobs without people" and "people without jobs"
Thu, 30 Mar 2017


Friday March 31, 2017 at 2:30 p.m. Dr. Farzad Rayegani, Associate Dean, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Technology, will be presenting "Engineering Skills Gaps: "Jobs without people" and "people without jobs'".

Day and Time: Friday, March 31st, 2017
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Speaker: Farzad Rayegani, Ph.D., P.Eng., FEC.
Associate Dean, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Technology

Location: Room ENG 288
George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering, Ryerson University 245 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3

Contact: Dr. Maryam Davoudpour (maryam.davoudpour at ieee.org)
expand/collapse Dr. Alex Ferworn says privacy, surveillance are issues but average Canadian has little to worry about
Tue, 21 Mar 2017

The CBC has an article
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/wikileaks-cia-hacking-devices-security-1.4017894
expand/collapse Academic Alliances, Junos Operating System (IJOS)
Fri, 10 Mar 2017


Sponsored by Juniper Networks Academic Alliance program and Dublin City University, this free training event will bring together university students for three days of stimulating technicaltraining.
Additionalvaluewillbeaddedtotheeventwithvisitsfrom leadinghigh visibility industry brands which will provide students with the rare opportunity to directly ask industry leaders a variety of questions from technology
to careers. Take the first step towards growing your career options by participating in this unprecedented opportunity!

When: April 24-27, Ryerson University, KHS335

Why Attend? Learn Junos, a high performance network operating system Attend absolutely FREE of charge - valued at $1,400! (kindly note that a nominal catering fee of $50 will be charged for the provision of lunch each day)

Register

expand/collapse Computational Science to the Rescue: NCART
Tue, 07 Feb 2017


Network-Centric Applied Research Team (N-CART) at Ryerson has developed techniques for search-and-rescue scenarios and disaster-scene reconstruction that are getting international attention, with assistance from the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (TCS).

For more information, see Informationhttp://tradecommissioner.gc.ca/canadexport/0001159.aspx?lang=eng
expand/collapse Obituary and funeral arrangements for Prof. David Grimshaw
Mon, 09 Jan 2017

It is with great sadness that we announce the unexpected passing of David Grimshaw on Tuesday, January 3. 2017. He was predeceased by his parents James and Josephine (nee Siggins) Grimshaw, and leaves behind his loving wife of 40 years, Roberta Imboden.

David was born in Guelph on September 12, 1940, and attended North Toronto C.l. His lifelong passion was chess, and he was a Canadian Junior Chess Champion in 1959. He studied Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry at the University of Toronto, where he also earned a Master's degree in nuclear physics.

David and Roberta were world travelers visiting Europe, China, Australia. South America and Cuba. Their trips were informed by their passion for social justice and David's masterful knowledge of history. David was a committed leftist, attending countless demonstrations with Roberta. He retained an avid interest in politics and world events, often recounting facts from the past with his own sly sense of humour.

David was a well-liked professor at Ryerson University where he taught mathematics, physics and computer science. He will be sadly missed by his many friends and especially his colleagues at Ryerson.

In lieu of flowers, David can be best remembered through donations to Parkinson 's research, or a charity of your choice.

The family will receive friends at the HUMPHREY FUNERAL HOME A.W. MILES NEWBIGGING CHAPEL, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Davisville Avenue) from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.on Tuesday, January 10111. A funeral service will take place on Wednesday, January 11th at 1:00PM in the chapel.

Condolences, photographs and memories may be forwarded through www.humphreymilesnewbigging.com.


Humphrey Funeral Home
A. W Miles - Newbigging Chapel 416-487-4523
expand/collapse Retired professor of mathematics leaves a legacy
Mon, 12 Dec 2016

In the fall of 2017, a masters student in the Applied Mathematics program will be the first to receive the Geoff Boyes Graduate Award, named for the retired Ryerson math professor who passed away in 2014. A donor to Ryerson for many years, Boyes remembered the Faculty of Science in his will, bequeathing the university over $200,000. For more information, see Information http://www.ryerson.ca/alumni/enewsletter/2016/12/featured/retired-professor-of-mathematics-leaves-a-legacy/
expand/collapse The 2016 Canadian CIO Innovation Summit
Mon, 5 Dec 2016

As emerging technologies change the face of business, successful CIO’s must protect their business' viability while fully exploring the potential of technology as a change agent. The 2016 Canadian CIO Innovation Summit offers an opportunity for IT leaders to share their early experiences on the road to digital transformation. Dr. Miri presented an invited keynote presentation to the Summit entitled "Privacy and Data Analytics and the Digital Transformation Minefield". For more information, see Information http://digital.itwc.ca/cio-summit-agenda
expand/collapse SEMINAR: Who Are We Studying in Social Media: Bots or Humans?
THU 17, Nov 2016



Thursday November 24, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd, Associate Professor of Ted Rogers School of Management and Canada Research Chair in Social Media Data Stewardship, will be presenting "Who Are We Studying in Social Media: Bots or Humans?".

Speaker: Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd Associate Professor Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University Canada Research Chair in Social Media Data Stewardship

Day and Time: Thursday, November 24, 2016 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Location: Room ENG 288, George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering, 245 Church Street Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 2K3 Map: http://www.ryerson.ca/maps - Look for ENG

Organizers: IEEE Toronto Systems Chapter, Alexei Botchkarev IEEE Toronto WIE, Magnetics, Measurement/Instrumentation-Robotics, Computer Science Department of Ryerson University Maryam Davoudpour

Registration: Registration is free, but space is limited. Please register via
http://tinyurl.com/systemsChapterEvent24


Details

expand/collapse SEMINAR: AI-Based Software Defect Predictors: Applications and Benefits and Lessons Learned
THU 17, Nov 2016



Monday November 21, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. Dr. Ayse Basar Bener, professor and director of Data Science Laboratory at Ryerson University, will be presenting "AI-Based Software Defect Predictors: Applications and Benefits and Lessons Learned".

Speaker: Dr. Ayse Basar Bener

Professor, Director of Data Science Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Director of Big Data, Office of Provost and Vice President Academic Ryerson University

Day and Time: Monday, November 21, 2016 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Location: KHE 225, Ryerson University, 340 Church Street, Toronto

Contact: Maryam Davoudpour

Organizer: WIE, Magnetics, Measurement/Instrumentation-Robotics, Computer Science Department of Ryerson University

Details

expand/collapse SEMINAR: Quality-aware Live and On-Demand Streaming in P2P Networks
THU 17, Nov 2016



Friday November 18, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. Dr. Andriy Miranskyy, Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Ryerson University, will be presenting "Operational-Log Analysis for Big Data Systems: Challenges and Solutions".

Speaker: Dr. Andriy Miranskyy

Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Ryerson University

Day and Time: Friday, November 18, 2016 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Location: George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering Ryerson University Room: ENG 288 245 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 Map - http://www.ryerson.ca/maps - Look for ENG
Registration: Registration is free, but space is limited. Please register via this link:
http://tinyurl.com/systemsEvent

Organizers: IEEE Toronto Systems Chapter, Alexei Botchkarev albot@ieee.org IEEE Toronto WIE, Magnetics, Measurement/Instrumentation-Robotics and Computer Science Department of Ryerson University IEEE Toronto WIE Chair: Maryam Davoudpour maryam.davoudpour@ieee.org

Details

expand/collapse Computer Science MSc student Adam Harley receives Ryerson Gold Medal award in the Faculty of Science
Tue, 25 Oct 2016



Congratulations to MSc student Adam Harley (supervisor Prof. Derpanis) for winning the Ryerson Gold Medal award in the Faculty of Science


expand/collapse SEMINAR: Quality-aware Live and On-Demand Streaming in P2P Networks
Tue, 20 Sept 2016


Date and Time: Thursday, September 22nd @ 11 AM

Place: ENG288

Title: Quality-aware Live and On-Demand Streaming in P2P Networks

Speaker: Dr. Ubaid Abbasi

Abstract: There is an increasing demand for efficient deployment of real-time multimedia streaming applications over Internet. In this context, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks are playing an important role for supporting robust and scalable transmission of multimedia content to large-scale and massive receivers. The deployment of streaming applications such as live and on-demand over P2P networks is challenging. Indeed, video streaming applications require real-time performance guarantee in terms of low end-to-end delay, low packet loss and guaranteed available bandwidth. Moreover, P2P video streaming also experiences the problems of long start-time and churn-induced instability. The situation leads to affect the viewing experience of the users in P2P networks.

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss issues related to quality-aware mechanisms for both live and on-demand streaming in P2P networks. First, we will discuss the overlay organization mechanism allowing efficient organization of peers to reduce the end-to-end delay for live streaming applications. Finally, we present a smoothing mechanism for layered streaming in P2P networks. The mechanism aims to reduce the number of layer changes under varying network conditions while at the same time achieving a high delivery ratio.
This talk is organized by Information and Computer Security Laboratory (iCaSL).
Toggle is a digital marketplace where people who want to learn or practice an activity can connect with people who want to teach or share their skills. We are a start-u with a vision of becoming a global community where you can share your skills and become a better you. Web Developer: Newmarket, Ontario
expand/collapse JOB POSTINGS: Web Developer
Fri, 16 Sept 2016


Web Developer: Newmarket, Ontario
Details

Web Developer: London, Ontario Details


expand/collapse Faculty Positions available
Tue, 06 Sept 2016



The Department of Computer Science has two tenure-track faculty positions available, one in machine learning https://hr.cf.ryerson.ca/ams/faculty/preview.cfm?posting_id=506711 and the second in software engineering https://hr.cf.ryerson.ca/ams/faculty/preview.cfm?posting_id=506597 . The deadline to apply is December 1st, 2016.


expand/collapse Optimization and Research: Applications, Opportunities, and Challenges
Fri, 17 Jun 2016



June 20, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. Dr. Shahryar Rahnamayan, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Software Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at UOIT, will be presenting “Optimization and Research: Applications, Opportunities, and Challenges”.

Speaker: Dr. Shahryar Rahnamayan
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical, Computer and Software Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, UOIT

Day and Time: Monday, June 20, 2016
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Location: Room ENG 288
245 Church St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3

Organizer: IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE), IEEE Magnetics Chapter, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement/Robotics and Automation Joint Chapter and Computer Science Department Ryerson University

Contact: Dr. Maryam Davoudpour

Link: http://toronto.ieee.ca/2016/06/12/optimization-and-research-applications-opportunities-and-challenges/
expand/collapse JOB POSTINGS: CUPE Local 3901 Posting
Fri, May 27 2016


Available Appointments: The Department of Computer Science invites applications to teach the following courses in the Fall 2016 academic term.


Position A - Part time Hourly Appointment

Section Size Total when Combined: 93
Total Semester Hours: 3
Number Combined Sections: 3

CPS109 - Computer Science I
An introductory programming course designed to introduce fundamental Computer Science concepts such as abstraction, modelling and algorithm design. Emphasis is placed on producing correct software. This course uses Java as its programming language.


Position B - Part time Hourly Appointment 2 Positions

Section Size Total when Combined: 60 Section Size Total when Combined: 90
Total Semester Hours: 3 Total Semester Hours: 3
Number Combined Sections: 2 Number Combined Sections: 3

CPS118 - Intro. Programming for Scientists
This course is an introduction to computer science, computers and programming for science students. Topics covered include: algorithmic thinking, computational approaches to solving problems, programming fundamentals such as elementary data structures, arrays, and basic constructs provided by high-level programming languages: sequencing, selection, iteration, and functions. Additional topics may include: numerical computation, GUI interface, and case studies of scientific computing. This course uses MATLAB as its programming language.


Position C - Part time Hourly Appointment

Section Size Total when Combined: 36
Total Semester Hours: 3
Number Combined Sections: 1

CPS513 - Introduction to Multimedia Computation
Introduction to computing and programming for non-computer science majors. This course introduces the student to computers and the mind set of computing how to solve problems by developing algorithms and writing programs. The programming language is Python, and the problems are taken from the domain of multimedia (manipulation of images and sounds).


Position D - Part time Hourly Appointment

Section Size Total when Combined: 40
Total Semester Hours: 3
Number Combined Sections: 1

CPS607 - Autonomous Mobile Robotics
An introductory course in the design and implementation of autonomous vehicles. Topics will include the nature of autonomy and autonomous behaviour. Issues involving sensing and actuation will be discussed. Students will be introduced to the constraints and issues involved in building systems designed to interact with an environment independently. Students will be expected to construct working robots.


Position E - Part time Hourly Appointment

Section Size Total when Combined: 160
Total Semester Hours: 3
Number Combined Sections: 4

CPS721 - Artificial Intelligence I
This course provides introduction to several important AI problems and techniques, including knowledge representation and reasoning, constraints satisfaction, search, natural language understanding, planning, uncertainty, belief networks, learning.


I sition F - Part time Hourly Appointment

Section Size Total when Combined: 40
Total Semester Hours: 1
Number Combined Sections: 1

CP9102 - Doctoral Seminar
The purpose of the Doctoral Seminar is to provide students exposure to the latest research, issues and findings related to the discipline of Computer Science. The seminar will consist of invited and talks by experts from industry, academia and graduate students themselves. Students will have an opportunity to improve their writing and critical thinking skills through assigned work associated with the seminar topics. All students are required to attend and actively participate in seminars every semester for a total of six semesters. A doctoral candidate must give two publicly announced research seminars on his/her thesis research. The student's supervisor(s) and at least one other member of the student's Dissertation Supervisory Committee must attend this seminar. The quality of the student's presentation will be graded on a Pass/Fail basis. Each student will be required to pass each research seminar presentation.


Package A - Part time Hourly Appointment
2 Different Sections, must be able to teach two different sections
Section Size Total when Combined: 93
Total Semester Hours: 3
Number Combined Sections: 3

CPS506 - Comparative Programming
A survey of major programming paradigms, with emphasis on the functional paradigm. Discussion of data typing, program decomposition, scoping rules, control structures parameter passing. Programming languages will likely include commercially important functional languages such as Haskell, Clojure and Erlang, with examples of others as time permits.


Rating Criteria - Weight (%)
1. Education 20% 2. Experience 30% 3. Currency 20% 4. Teaching skills 20% 5. Interactive skills 10%


2. Combinations
The teaching needs listed above on current expectations of enrollment for the Fall 2016 semester. Should these estimates change significantly, the particular combination of courses will be subject to change.

3. Types of Appointments
A full workload sessional (two semesters) is for 30-32 hours; a half sessional appointment (one semester) is for 15 to 16 semester hours; a reduced-workload half sessional appointment is for 9-14 semester hours; and a part-time hourly appointment (one semester) is for 1-9 hours in any one semester.


4. Qualifications for Positions
A minimum of a PhD in Computer Science is preferred or related discipline with five years of University teaching experience.


Application Process
Candidates who wish to apply for these appointments must provide, in writing or email, to lfortune@ryerson.ca, the following:
" Cover letter of application which highlights information relevant to the appointment, including any specific experience teaching the course(s) posted and a currency report.
" Indicate clearly your preference regarding type of appointment, the course or number of sections of the same course or position number.
" An update curriculum vitae, including your current email address, the address to which the letter of appointment should be sent, any period during the applicant cannot be contacted;
" Provide any other relevant information concerning your candidacy.


Application Deadline
Written or emailed applications must be received by the Department of Computer Science of no later than 4pm on Thursday, June 9, 2016.


expand/collapse SEMINAR: Internet of Things, building blocks, challenges and research directions
Thu, 26 May 2016



Tuesday May 31st, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. Dr. Fatima Hussain will be presenting "Internet of Things, building blocks, challenges and research directions".

Speaker: Dr. Fatima Hussain

Day and Time: Tuesday, May 31st, 2016 11:30am -12:30pm
Location: Room ENG 288 Computer Science Department, George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering, Ryerson University 245 Church St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3

Organizer: IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE), IEEE Magnetics Chapter, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement/Robotics and Automation Joint Chapter and Computer Science Department Ryerson University

Contact: Dr. Maryam Davoudpour

Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) is a novel paradigm that is rapidly growing in modern wireless telecommunications. IoT means a world-wide network of interconnected objects uniquely addressable, sustainable and enhance able. It is defined as integration of several technologies, and communications solutions based on standard communication protocols. The main strength of the IoT idea is the high impact it will have on several aspects of everyday-life and behavior of potential users. This promising technology comes with great challenges and leads to numerous research directions for industry as well academia.

Biography: Fatima Hussain received her PhD and MASc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with specialization in "Wireless Communication" from Ryerson University, Canada. She holds MEng. and BSc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering with specialization in "Controls System" and "Telecommunication Systems", respectively from University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Pakistan. She is acting as a reviewer for IEEE Access journal and IET Journal from couple of years. She is working as a post-doctoral fellow in NCART lab, Ryerson University, on a design and implementation of "Smart Parking System".

expand/collapse Cross-disciplinary project could advance archaeology research
Wed, 18 Jun 2016



2016 - Research and Innovation - Ryerson University:
One of the robots designed in the cross-disciplinary project between Ryerson's computer sciences and history departments was displayed at the Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery conference.

Reasearch and Innovation @RyersonResearch on twitter

expand/collapse Congratulations to the CS Winners of the Dennis Mock Student Leadership Award
Mon, 16 May 2016



David Tenty and Adrian Popescu have been honoured this year with the 2016 Dennis Mock Student Leadership Award. The Department of Computer Science wants to recognize and congratulate the achievements of David and Adrian as strong student leaders in our program. The department has been truly lucky to have such engaged and dedicated leaders who have been instrumental in advocating for their fellow students and the needs of their program.

Congratulations David and Adrian!

expand/collapse Dr. Alex Ferworn student's build robot prototype to explore Egypt
Thu, 28 Apr 2016




Dr. Alex Ferworn hold a robotic event with two robots bore any resemblance to another--being made of all manner of "stuff" including coffee cups, custom machined gear rains, Popsicle sticks, Lego, string, Arduino boards, raspberry pie, laser range finders, sonar, random computation and many many feet of duct tape. Average construction cost were $150/robot and the Busa Dig test environment expending $200 covered by MDM and Computer Science.

CTV Video
Bell Media Video

expand/collapse CPS630 Web Apps: Building Web Apps with modern technologies
Thu, 14 Apr 2016

CPS630, allows student to gain understanding of technologies used to built modern/relevant web apps with minimal reliant on frameworks. "To look under the hood.", students are instilled with the knowledge of how popular web frameworks such as Jquery, Bootstrap, and other are designed. Graduating from this course, student will have gained the knowledge to design new frameworks, web services using html5 API's and ECMA Script. Angular.js and Node.js are used to aided students to explore web apps via modular design principles. This course is uniquely revamped to provide students with the necessary knowhow to have a competitive advantage in the job market.

Course projects presentation and demos will be Friday April 15 at 4-8PM in ENG101
expand/collapse SEMINAR: Segmentation-Aware Convolutional Nets
Mon, 04 Apr 2016



*Day and Time*: Thursday, April 14, 2016
2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

*Location*: Room ENG 288
Computer Science Department
George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering
Ryerson University
245 Church St.

*Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3*

*Organizer*: IEEE Magnetics Chapter, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement
Joint Chapter and Computer Science Department Ryerson University

*Contact*: Dr. Maryam Davoudpour, E-mail: maryam.davoudpour@ieee.org

Title:
Segmentation-Aware Convolutional Nets

Abstract:
In this talk, I will propose a new deep convolutional neural network (DCNN)
architecture that learns pixel embeddings, such that pairwise distances
between the embeddings can be used to infer whether or not the pixels lie
on the same region. Experimental results show that when this embedding
network is used in conjunction with a DCNN trained on semantic
segmentation, there is a systematic improvement in per-pixel classification
accuracy. The contributions of this work consist in straightforward
modifications to convolution routines. As such, they can be exploited for
any task involving convolution layers, including object recognition, image
retrieval, and video understanding.

Bio:
Adam Harley received a BA (Honours) degree in psychology from Ryerson
University in 2012, and was awarded the Canadian Psychological
Association's Certificate of Academic Excellence for his undergraduate
thesis. Subsequently he began a computer science undergraduate degree at
Ryerson, where he was awarded the NSERC USRA. In 2014 he joined Ryerson's
MSc program in computer science. During the MSc he did research at INRIA in
France, as part of a Mitacs-Globalink research award. He is a recipient of
the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship for 2015. His main areas of
research interest are computer vision and artificial intelligence.



expand/collapse Job Opportunities in Data Analytics
Fri, 11 Mar 2016



The City of Toronto
Position: Research Analyst 1
Posting Date: 04-Mar-2016
Closing Date: 18-Mar-2016
Information

The City of Toronto
Position: Research Analyst 2
Posting Date: 04-Mar-2016
Closing Date: 18-Mar-2016
Information

Please have any interested candidates send their resumes to:
Andrew.Sally at ontario.ca


expand/collapse Dante Camarena: Science Outreach and Enrichment, Volunteer of the Month (March, 2016)
Fri, 11 Mar 2016



Dante is a fourth year undergraduate student studying Computer Science. He has been a computer science ambassador since September 2015. He is a great public speaker and engages the high school students in Robotics and 'Create an App' workshop for OSOE. In January 2016, he created a new workshop called 'Computer Game Physics!' for intermediate level computer science students in high school.

Congratulations!

Link
expand/collapse Dante Camarena: Science Outreach and Enrichment, Volunteer of the Month (March, 2016)
Fri, 11 Mar 2016



Dante is a fourth year undergraduate student studying Computer Science. He has been a computer science ambassador since September 2015. He is a great public speaker and engages the high school students in Robotics and 'Create an App' workshop for OSOE. In January 2016, he created a new workshop called 'Computer Game Physics!' for intermediate level computer science students in high school.

Congratulations!

Link
expand/collapse JOB: Ryerson University: Junior Programmer in NAO/A SD Lab
Thu, 10 Mar 2016



Job Family: Multimedia and Design, Research and Analystics, Laboratory
Position Title: Junior Programmer in NAO/A SD Lab
Hours per week: 35.00
Number of Positions: 1
Hourly Rate of Pay: $12.00
Start Date: May-16,2016
End Date: Aug-19,2016


Position Description:

The successful candidate will be an active team member of the ASD/NAO Lab team. The teams objective is to develop, test, and analyse robotic behaviours in hopes of observing interactions between the NAO (small humanoid robot) and children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in hopes of uncovering speech and language patterns of children with ASD. The Junior Programmer (JP) will have programming and team work experience and be creative. The JP will aslo develop and present her/his work in a team setting as well as to the study's participants.

Job Responsibilities and Duties:

The Junior Programmer will: (1) participate in team designing activities; (2) review and troubleshoot existing robotic behaviours; (3) implement-program new behaviours based on the team's analysis results; (4) contribute to the Methods section of three articl/case studies; (5) attend and participate in fairs and cortiums on HRI and ASD; (6) work closely with other young researchers in a collaborative environment; (7) work closely with supervisor preparing lab reports; (8) lead programming activities and observational testing.

Contact: Stephanie Walsh Matthews - stephanie.walsh at ryerson.ca
expand/collapse SEMINAR: Software Development for Aerospace Activities
Mon, 07 Mar 2016



Software Development for Aerospace Activities

Thursday March 10th, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. Dr. Elliott Coleshill, Professor at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, will be presenting “Software Development for Aerospace Activities”.

Speaker: Dr. Elliott Coleshill, Professor Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology School of Information and Communications Technology

Day and Time: Thursday, March 10th, 2016 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Location: Room LG04, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre 245 Church Street, Ryerson University, M5B 2K3 Contact: Dr. Maryam Davoudpour - mdavoud at scs.ryerson.ca

expand/collapse Dr. Kosta Derpanis wins Faculty of Science Deans Teaching Award 2016
Thu, 25 Feb 2016



Dr. Kosta Derpanis wins Faculty of Science Deans Teaching Award 2016

Video

expand/collapse SEMINAR: Breached! A Cautionary Tale of Cybersecurity and Intrigue
Wed, 17 Feb 2016



Abstract: This talks focuses on security challenges facing businesses today, and provides some insights into what’s causing a lot of our cybersecurity issues today, and provides some guidance and recommendations on how to avoid being the next company in the news, talking about how they got “Breached!”

Speaker: Dave Miller

Bio: Dave Millier is a Serial Entrepreneur, Off-road Motorcycle Rider and Food Lover. Dave has been involved in cybersecurity for almost 20 years. He founded and built an InfoSec company, Sentry Metrics, building one of Canada’s most successful MSSPs, selling the company in 2014. After the sale, Dave’s lifelong passion for reading led him to finally sit down and write his first book, Breached!

In late 2014, Dave launched Uzado (www.uzado.com), a Cloud-based InfoSec company focused on helping companies simplify Cybersecurity by answering the questions “what now?” or “what next?”. Dave is also the CSO of Quick Intelligence (www.quickintel.com) , a boutique VAR and cybersecurity consulting company, and is the CEO of MIDAC Solutions (www.midac.ca), a Managed IT services provider focused on small to mid-size clients. Dave recently launched Canada Rides (www.canadarides.com) , an off-road motorcycle training company headquartered in beautiful Simcoe County, providing off-road motorcycle and ATV safety training. Dave lives in Ontario with his wife Maria and their two cats.

In his spare time, Dave volunteers with the Ontario Federation of Trail Riders (www.oftr.ca) and is the Chairperson for the Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada (www.motorcycling.ca)

Day and Time: 10a.m. - Thursday, February 25, 2016

Location: VIC 736 (VIC 7th floor boardroom)
Ryerson University, Toronto, M5B 1Z4
Please check before the seminar

Contact: samiri@scs.ryerson.ca

Abstract: First, we will discuss Segway, an integrative method to identify patterns from multiple functional genomics experiments, discovering joint patterns across different assay types. We apply Segway to ENCODE ChIP-seq andDNase-seq data and identify patterns associated with transcription start sites, gene ends, enhancers, CTCF elements, and repressed regions. Segway yields a model which elucidates the relationship between assay observations and functional elements in the genome. Second, we will discuss a new method to discover transcription factor motifs and identify transcription factor binding sites in DNA with covalent modifications such as methylation. Just as transcription factors distinguish one standard nucleobase from another, they also distinguish unmodified and modified bases. To represent the modified bases in a sequence, we replace cytosine (C) with symbols for 5-methylcytosine (5mC), 5-hydroxylmethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC). Similarly, we adapted the well-established position weight matrix model of transcription factor binding affinity to an expanded alphabet. We created an expanded-alphabet genome sequence using genome-wide maps of 5mC, 5hmC, and 5fC in mouse embryonic stem cells. Using this sequence and expanded-alphabet position weight matrixes, we reproduced various known methylation binding preferences, including the preference of ZFP57 and C/EBPßfor methylated motifs and the preference of c-Myc for unmethylated motifs. Using these known binding preferences to tune model parameters enables discovery of novel modified motifs.

Biography: Michael Hoffman is a principal investigator at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Computer Science, University of Toronto. He researches the application of machine learning techniques to epigenomic data. He previously led the National Institutes of Health ENCODE Project’s large-scale integration task group while at the University of Washington. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he conducted computational genomics studies at the European Bioinformatics Institute. He also has a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in the Plan II Honors Program at The University of Texas at Austin. He was named a Genome Technology Young Investigator and has received several awards for his academic work, including a NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award.


expand/collapse SEMINAR: Michael Hoffman : Principal Investigator at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Mon, 08 Feb 2016


Speaker: Michael Hoffman
Principal Investigator at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto

Day and Time: Thursday, February 11, 2016
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Location: Room LG04, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre
Ryerson University, Toronto, M5B 1Z4
Please check before the seminar

Contact: llivi@scs.ryerson.ca

Abstract: First, we will discuss Segway, an integrative method to identify patterns from multiple functional genomics experiments, discovering joint patterns across different assay types. We apply Segway to ENCODE ChIP-seq andDNase-seq data and identify patterns associated with transcription start sites, gene ends, enhancers, CTCF elements, and repressed regions. Segway yields a model which elucidates the relationship between assay observations and functional elements in the genome. Second, we will discuss a new method to discover transcription factor motifs and identify transcription factor binding sites in DNA with covalent modifications such as methylation. Just as transcription factors distinguish one standard nucleobase from another, they also distinguish unmodified and modified bases. To represent the modified bases in a sequence, we replace cytosine (C) with symbols for 5-methylcytosine (5mC), 5-hydroxylmethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC). Similarly, we adapted the well-established position weight matrix model of transcription factor binding affinity to an expanded alphabet. We created an expanded-alphabet genome sequence using genome-wide maps of 5mC, 5hmC, and 5fC in mouse embryonic stem cells. Using this sequence and expanded-alphabet position weight matrixes, we reproduced various known methylation binding preferences, including the preference of ZFP57 and C/EBPßfor methylated motifs and the preference of c-Myc for unmethylated motifs. Using these known binding preferences to tune model parameters enables discovery of novel modified motifs.

Biography: Michael Hoffman is a principal investigator at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Computer Science, University of Toronto. He researches the application of machine learning techniques to epigenomic data. He previously led the National Institutes of Health ENCODE Project’s large-scale integration task group while at the University of Washington. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he conducted computational genomics studies at the European Bioinformatics Institute. He also has a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in the Plan II Honors Program at The University of Texas at Austin. He was named a Genome Technology Young Investigator and has received several awards for his academic work, including a NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award.


expand/collapse Privacy and Big Data Institute event - Feb 11 2016
Fri, 05 Feb 2016



The Privacy and Big Data Institute, in partnership with Computer Science and the Faculty of Science, is hosting a guest speaker, Dr. Inmar Givoni, VP of Big Data at Kobo Inc.

Dr. Givoni will share her experience leading a team in applying machine learning and big data techniques to inform and direct the vision for the next generation of digital publishing.

The event is on February 11, in SLC-514 from 12-1pm. Refreshments will be provided.

Seating is limited so please RSVP at privacy@ryerson.ca

Information

expand/collapse Gaze Inside The Mind Of Artificial Intelligence With This Neural Network Visualizer
Thu, 28 Jan 2016


Masters candidate at Ryerson University Adam Harley has built an interactive visualization that helps explain how a convulutional neural net, a type of artificial intelligence program used for analyzing images, works internally.

Article

expand/collapse Hour of Code teaches new form of literacy
Fri, 18 Dec 2015


Articles

Ryerson Today

Huffington Post

expand/collapse Ada Byron Lovelace: Celebrate the 200th Birthday of a Computer Pioneer
Sun, 06 Dec 2015


She was poet Lord Byron's daughter. She became fascinated by mathematics and technology. Called the Enchantress of Numbers by one of her collaborators, she combined her poetic imagination with her mathematical skills to write the first computer algorithm in 1843 notes. We're marking her 200th birthday (Dec. 10, 1815) at the Revue Cinema, with a screening of a documentary about her, "To Dream Tomorrow", and a panel discussion with Imogen Coe, Ryerson Dean of Sciences; Alex Ferworn, Ryerson Computer Sciences professor, and Allan Olley, historian of computing. They will delve into Ada's short, intense and unconventional life and explain her remarkable accomplishments. This screening is one in a series about Extraordinary Women. Proceeds go to CityShorts, a student program for making short neighbourhood documentaries for screening at The Revue.

WHEN
Sunday, December 6, 2015 from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM (EST)

WHERE
Revue Cinema - 400 Roncesvalles Ave. Toronto, ON M6R 2M9 CA

Link

expand/collapse Intercollegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) team placed 26th out of 130 Team
Thu, 05 Nov 2015


Our Intercollegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) team placed 26th out of 130 teams in Windsor on Saturday, October 31, 2015!
Dr. Woungang drove our ICPC team (RyersO(n): Dante Camarena, Zachary Harris and Matthew Stewart) to Windsor for the East Central North American Regional competition. Matthew, Zach and Dante together solved 3 of 9 problems, placing 26th overall. You can see the scores for all the teams at the following link: https://ecna15.kattis.com/standings

Notably, among Canadian schools, RyersO(n) placed ahead of teams from McMaster U. (all 4 teams), York U. (both teams), and Brock U. (both teams), while behind teams from U. of Waterloo (all 4 teams), U. of Toronto (2 of the 3 teams), and Western U. (1 of its 2 teams).

This is an excellent result, considering the many universities competing from East Central Canada and United States. Congratulations to Zach, Dante and Matthew! Thanks to Isaac for his time and support of the team!

expand/collapse Talk: Compact Discrete Representations for Scalable Similarity Search
Thu, 05 Nov 2015


Speaker: Mohammad Norouzi (University of Toronto)
Location: ENG106
Date: November 19th, 2015.
Time: 1-2pm,

Abstract: Scalable similarity search on images, documents, and user activities benefits generic search, data visualization, and recommendation systems. This talk concerns the design of algorithms and machine learning tools for faster and more accurate similarity search. The proposed techniques advocate the use of discrete codes for representing the similarity structure of data in a compact way. In particular, I will discuss how one can learn to map high-dimensional data onto binary codes with a metric learning approach. Then, I will describe a simple algorithm for fast exact nearest neighbor search in Hamming distance, which exhibits sub-linear query time performance. Going beyond binary codes, I will highlight a compositional generalization of k-means clustering which maps data points onto integer codes with storage and search costs that grow sub-linearly in the number of cluster centers. This representation improves upon binary codes, and provides an even more precise approximation of Euclidean distance. Experimental results are reported on multiple datasets including a dataset of SIFT descriptors with 1B entries.

Biography: Mohammad Norouzi is a PhD candidate in computer science at the University of Toronto. His research lies at the intersection of machine learning and computer vision. He is a recipient of a Google US/Canada PhD fellowship in machine learning. He is going to join Google as a research scientist in January 2016.



expand/collapse Talk: Efficient 3D Molecular Structure Estimation with Electron Cryomicroscopy
Thu, 05 Nov 2015



Speaker: Marcus Brubaker, Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Location: ENG106
Date: November 12th, 2015.
Time: 1-2pm,

Abstract: Discovering the 3D structure of molecules such as proteins and viruses is a fundamental research problem in biology and medicine. Electron Cryomicroscopy (Cryo-EM) is a promising vision-based technique for structure estimation which attempts to reconstruct 3D structures from 2D images. This talk reviews the computational problems in Cryo-EM which are closely related to classical vision problems such as object detection, multiview reconstruction and computed tomography. Finally, a framework is introduced for reconstruction of 3D molecular structure which exploits modern methods for stochastic optimization and importance sampling. The result is a method which is efficient, robust to initialization and flexible.

Biography: Marcus Brubaker received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto in 2011. After that he worked with Raquel Urtasun as a postdoctoral researcher at Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago and is currently a postdoc at University of Toronto, Scarborough. He also consults with Cadre Research Labs on machine learning and computer vision related projects and teaches at the University of Toronto. He was won a number of fellowships and awards, including OGS and NSERC graduate fellowships as well as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship.

His most recent work on autonomous vehicle localization ("Lost! Leveraging the Crowd for Probabilistic Visual Self-Localization," CVPR 2013) and the estimation of the 3D structure of proteins and viruses ("Building Proteins in a Day," CVPR 2015) have won awards and attention in the lay press. His interests span computer vision, machine learning and statistics and he works on a range of problems including video-based human motion estimation, physical models of human motion, Bayesian inference, Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, ballistic forensics, electron cryo-microscopy and autonomous vehicle localization.


expand/collapse Ready, willing and able to work thanks to co-op experience
Thu, 24 Sep 2015


Ryerson University student Matthew Tesfaldet says a co-op placement as a software designer will put him ahead of the curve when it comes time to find a job. Story

expand/collapse First International PhD candiate in Computer Science Department: Mubarak Alrashoud
Thu, 10 Sept 2015



On September 10, 2015, Mubarak Alrashoud became First International PhD candidate in Computer Science Department, Faculty of Science, Ryerson University who completed his doctoral program in Computer Science. His thesis entitled "Release Planning for multi-tenant SaaS applications" is in the area of software engineering focusing on software release planning for cloud computing. Mubarak's thesis provides a model to solve the problem of next release planning in SaaS applications (e.g. CRM in salesforce). In such applications, SaaS providers compete to attract more tenants (i.e. users of their software) and should be able to maintain their current tenants. Therefore, they frequently deliver very short releases of the software in order to fulfil the evolving needs of thousands of tenants when they want new features or to change their service level agreements. The three approaches proposed in his thesis will help SaaS providers to increase the effectiveness of the proposed releases in terms of tenants' satisfaction and quality of the software.

Mubarak joined the PhD program in the department of computer science in the academic year of 2011- 2012. Mubarak started his studies at Ryerson with broad range of experience in the fields of software engineering and software project management. Mubarak has been supervised by Dr. Abdolreza Abhari during his studies. They have achieved notable successes from the perspective of research activities. Mubarak was able to publish high quality papers in highly ranked conferences and journals. Mubarak always says "I learned from my supervisor being patient, optimistic, and hard worker are important to complete a successful research. My supervisor has provided me with endless encouragement and supports during my studies. Dr. Abhari has taught me how to conduct high quality research, and how to apply theoretical knowledge in the real word projects." Dr. Abhari believes not only personal qualifications and real world experiences helped Mubarak to produce a high quality PhD thesis but also Mubarak was fortunate to have recommendations form the best professors in the area of his research from both Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments of Ryerson University. Mubarak's Supervisory committee since the beginning consisted of Dr. Voja Misic , Dr. Ebrahim Bagheri, Dr. Andriy Miranskyy and later completed by Dr. Cherie Ding and Dr. Soosan Beheshti. The supervisory committee provided useful directions to improve Mubarak's thesis. Mubarak is also thankful to Dr. Alex Ferworn, the graduate director, and Mr. Norman Pinder, the graduate officer of computer science department for all their help and support throughout his PhD studies.

Computer Science department of Ryerson University is an attractive place to many international students who are currently doing their graduate studies.

expand/collapse Computer Science: Code Camp 2015
Fri, 28 Aug 2015


This summer, the Department of Computer Science introduced a new workshop, "Code Camp 2015", designed for their incoming students. Too often students with no programming experience have difficulty grasping fundamental concepts because they are simultaneously tasked with learning the syntax of a programming language, such as Java.

The intent of the free workshop is to introduce key concepts in a visual manner using a visual programming language (i.e., MIT's App Inventor) and to reinforce these concepts by developing apps.

The workshop runs from August 24 to 28th and has been enthusiastically received with enrolment at full capacity. The workshop is coordinated by Dr. Kosta Derpanis.

Photo Three upper year computer science students (from left to right in the photo: Zachary Harris, Alden Ozburn, and Dante Camarena) lead the workshop, with support from a computer science IT administrator (Yousif Nakkas, far right).

expand/collapse 13th IAPR International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR 2015) - Best Student Paper Award - Adam Harley
Thu, 27 Aug 2015


Best Student Paper Award to Adam Harley for a very significant contribution in the field of document analysis and recognitions entitled:

Evaluation of Deep Convulutional Nets for Document Image Classification and Retrieval - Authors: Adam Harley, Alex Ufkes and Konstantinos Derpanis

Presented at the 13th IAPR International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR 2015) held in Nancy, France on August 23-26, 2015

Congratulations Adam!
expand/collapse 13th International Conference on Privacy, Security, and Trust (PST 2015) - Dr. Miri Technical Program Chair and Keynote Speaker
Thu, 24 Jul 2015


Dr Miri is a Technical Program Chair and a keynote speaker at the 13th International Conference on Privacy, Security, and Trust (PST 2015).
For more information see http://pst2015.yasar.edu.tr/


expand/collapse Fatema Rashid - Computer Science Holds Its First Doctoral Thesis Defence
Thu, 16 Jul 2015


Fatema Rashid - Secure Data Deduplication in Cloud Environments

For more information: Faculty of Science News

expand/collapse Mind & Action: Yomna's Story
Thu, 11 Jun 2015


Mind & Action: Yomna's Story

expand/collapse The Next Wave of Additive Manufacturing for the Upcoming Industrial Revolution
Mon, 8 Jun 2015


Speaker
Jun Yang, Ph.D.
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering,
Biomedical Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering,
Western University
Day and Time
Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Location
Room: ENG 288
Computer Science Department
George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering
Ryerson University
245 Church St.
Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3

Organizer
IEEE Magnetics Chapter
IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Joint Chapter

Contact Dr. Maryam Davoudpour, E-mail: mdavoud@scs.ryerson.ca

Abstract

Additive manufacturing processes make products by adding materials layer
by layer, in contrast to removing materials in the conventional
subtractive manufacturing processes. Additive manufacturing technologies
are developing rapidly, which will be an important component of the
upcoming industrial revolution, industry 4.0. This presentation will
review and discuss and review the current status and recent advances of
additive manufacturing with special focuses on 3D printing technology and
printed electronics.

Biography

Jun Yang is an associate professor in Department of Mechanical and
Materials Engineering, and has a joint appointment with Biomedical
Engineering Program, Western University (The University of Western
Ontario). He is also an honorary research scientist of Surface Science
Western, Western University. Currently he is leading a ~20 researchers
group conducting interdisciplinary research in areas of
Micro/Nanofabrication, Surface Engineering, Additive Manufacturing/3D
printing, Printed Electronics, Flexible/Wearable Electronics,
MEMS/NEMS/BioMEMS, Lab-on-a-chip, Sensors and Actuators, Green
Technologies and Nanomaterials. He has published more than 90 papers in
high quality journals. He has filed nine US patents. He has given many
invited talks on conferences/symposiums/seminars.

Dr. Yang was a recipient of 2006 PetroCanada Young Innovators Award, 2008
Canada Foundation for Innovation-Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF) Award,
2009 Early Researcher Award, 2012 University’s Faculty Scholar Award, 2012
and 2014 Western Innovation Funds Award, and 2015 Xerox UAC Award.




expand/collapse Dr. Isaac Woungang receives NSERC Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) award
Mon, 8 Jun 2015


Congratulations to Dr. Woungang for receiving 1 of the 4 grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Short Term award.


expand/collapse Image-Guided Injection System for Preclinical Research Applications
Mon, 01 Jun 2015


Speaker: James Lacefield, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Associate Undergraduate Chair
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Western University
Day and Time: Wednesday, June 03, 2015, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location: Room: ENG 288
Computer Science Department
George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering
Ryerson University
245 Church St.
Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3
map - Look for ENG
Organizer IEEE Magnetics Chapter
IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Joint Chapter
Contact Maryam Davoudpour, E-mail: mdavoud@scs.ryerson.ca

Abstract

The growing use of high-resolution imaging systems for preclinical research in small animal models has led to the development image-guided intervention systems analogous to clinical surgical robotic systems. The preclinical systems are usually designed for targeted injections of drugs, cells, imaging contrast media, or other agents into mouse or rat models of human diseases. Preclinical applications present challenging design constraints related to positioning accuracy, the size of the physical workspace, and impact on research workflow that differ from the design requirements for a clinical system. Our research group has developed a mechatronic needle positioning system for use under either micro-CT or high-frequency ultrasound guidance. The device consists of two spherical linkages that establish a remote centre of motion and control the angulation (pitch and roll) of the needle, a linear translation axis for needle insertion, and a compact architecture that enables it to be used within the 25 cm diameter bore of a commercial micro-CT scanner. The needle positioning accuracy of the device measured in tissue-mimicking phantoms is 0.150 mm under micro-CT guidance and 0.285 mm under high-frequency (40 MHz) ultrasound guidance. This presentation will trace the evolution of the system through two design generations and describe our current work to incorporate force feedback into the system and demonstrate its effectiveness for a specific application, injection of cell-based cancer vaccines into murine cancer models.

Biography

James Lacefield received a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Duke University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Rochester. He joined the faculty of Western University in 2001, where he is currently Associate Professor and Associate Chair (Undergraduate) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics, and an Associate Scientist of Robarts Research Institute. He research addresses physical acoustics and signal processing aspects of biomedical ultrasound imaging, with an emphasis on developing improved methods for microvascular imaging using ultrasound and applications of ultrasound to cancer research. Dr. Lacefield is a member of IEEE, the Acoustical Society of America, the American Society for Engineering Education, and Professional Engineers Ontario and an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

expand/collapse Dr. Isaac Woungang receives NSERC Engage Grant
Thu, 28 May 2015


Congratulations to Dr. Woungang for receiving a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Engage grant.
The Engage Grant is an initiative that facilitates university-industry partnerships.

expand/collapse UPCOMING IEEE SEMINAR - Embedded Fiber Optic Sensors for Performance Monitoring of Lithium Ion Battery Cells
Fri, 08 May 2015


Abstract:

echargeable Lithium Ion Batteries (LIB) are key components of energy storage systems in electric and hybrid electric vehicles. These vehicles are powered by a large number of cells connected in series and arranged in a battery pack managed by a battery management system (BMS). The BMS manipulates the charging and discharging processes based on estimates of the state of charge (SOC), state of health (SOH), failure status and life expectancy of individual cells. Existing estimation methods are based on state estimation algorithms given that the current and voltage of the cell are known through real-time measurements. Complexity exists in implementing real-time in-line voltage measurements of cells connected in series with varying voltage reference levels. In addition, these measurements are affected by uncertain drive cycles. Measurement errors and uncertainties in the estimation algorithms have resulted in applying large safety factors in the design of battery cells and battery packs. In this talk, an embedded fiber optic sensor for the direct sensing of the electrochemistry of battery cells will be presented. This sensor operates on the basis of the changes in the optical properties of the LIB cell electrodes at different charge levels using a simple and economical optical signal interrogation system. Experiments have demonstrated that the sensor not only follows the SOC but also provides information about battery cell aging and stabilization periods following charge and discharge cycles, which are not observable by typical measurements of voltage and current. This information will enable the development of breakthrough charge estimation and balancing algorithms with higher accuracy and reduced uncertainties. The multiple functionality and ease of installation of this new type of sensors will also help improve the measurement capabilities of the BMS and has the potential to dramatically reduce cost and size, improve operational performance, and help detect battery cell and pack failures in real-time, enabling cheaper, better, and safer large-scale batteries.

Bio: Patricia M. Nieva, Ph.D, P.Eng
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering
University of Waterloo
Professor Patricia Nieva joined the University of Waterloo, Canada in 2005 where she is an Associate Professor in the department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering. Dr. Nieva received her M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering and her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University, MA, in 1999 and 2004 respectively.

Prof. Nieva is an expert in micro and nanotechnologies and in particular, the development of microsensors, nanosensors and integrated sensor system solutions. She has established a multidisciplinary research program that aims to build novel sensing methodologies to enhance vehicle’s safety and performance as well as point-of-care health monitoring and medical diagnosis. The focus of her work is on chemical and biological photonic sensing technologies involving fiber optics and nanostructured plasmonic devices as well as high-temperature MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) capacitive, infrared and interferometric sensing technologies. Her work also spans reliability studies of microsystems, in-situ characterization of material properties of thin films and manufacturing of metallic nanoparticles for sensing applications. Recently, Prof. Nieva is also involved in a project to build a handheld cardiac monitor that will measure proteins in the blood commonly linked to a heart attack alerting the patient’s doctor before symptoms appear.

Prof. Nievas ongoing research work constitutes an important commitment to the identification of simple, cost-effective and reliable micro and nano technologies for advanced sensing. Her research has led to 2 patents (one awarded and one provisional). She has authored and co-authored more than 80 journal and conference publications. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and electronic Engineers (IEEE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Computer Science Department Monday May 11th. from 3-5 .
George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering
Ryerson University
245 Church St.
Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3
Room: ENG 288

For more information please contact Dr. Maryam Davoudpour, mdavoud at scs.ryerson.ca
expand/collapse MSc Student - Zainab Al-Zanbouri - Runner-Up Ryerson 3-Minute Thesis 3MT Competition
Mon, 06 Apr 2015


Congratulations to MSc Student Zainab Al-Zanbouri, for placing as a runner-up, with her presentation on "green computing", in the 3-Minute Thesis 3MT Competition.

Ryerson 3-Minute Thesis 3MT Competition is a university-wide competition for graduate students in which participants present their research and its impact in three minutes or les sto a panel of non-specialis tjudges, using only one static slide.

expand/collapse Interactive Ontario - Networking Event - A networking mixer for the digital economy
Wed, 1 Apr 2015


Interactive Ontario's popular networking events take place the second Wednesday of each month.

In collaboration with a variety of organizations and companies, IO brings you brief presentations on forward-thinking topics in IDM, followed by food, drinks and the chance to converse with fellow IDM producers and professionals from other industries. Your ticket includes a drink ticket, hors d'oeuvres, presentations and plenty of networking.

Interact: Social Media Sensations

April 8, 2015
6-8pm
Bar Italia - 582 College Street, Toronto
Hosted by Interactive Ontario http://www.interactiveontario.com/
Ryerson students can register for free IO member passes at
http://interactapril2015.eventbrite.ca/


expand/collapse MSc Student - Ssowjanya HariShankar wins *Best Paper Award* - 29th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications
Tue, 31 Mar 2015


Ssowjanya HariShankar, supervised by Dr. Isaac Woungang, has just won the *Best paper award* of the 29th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA-2015) held in Gwangju, Korea, March 24-27, 2015.

expand/collapse Dr. Alexander Ferworn and 4 graduate students will be participating in "Operation Border Citites"
Tue, 17 Feb 2015


February 25: Dr. Alexander Ferworn and 4 guraduate students have been asked to attend a Provicial public safety exercise to be held in Windsor. They will be supporting search operations for the OPP using technology developed in the NCART lab of the Department of Computer Science.
They will be participating in "Operation Border Cities" at an undisclosed location in the greater Windsor area employing their UAVs, bin ident modelling and canine search technology.
Photos coming.

expand/collapse December 4 - Roundtable on Emergency Preparedness and Its Economic Consequences in Ontario
Mon, 24 Nov 2014


December 4: Dr. Alexander Ferworn, will be a speaker at a roundtable discussion on 'Emergency Preparedness and its Economic Consequences in Ontario
See the link below for more information:
Nato Council

expand/collapse Meet Experts Across Canada During @10KCoffees Week - November 3 - 9
Tue, 14 Oct 2014


From November 3 - 9 students are invited into the offices, spaces, and common areas of hundreds of companies from over 30 industries to exchange ideas, trade insights, and discuss what is next. There are no fees to attend or register for these events.
See the link below for more information:
10kcoffeesweek

expand/collapse Dr. Ali Miri - General Co-Chair of the 10th IEEE International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Network and Communication
Tue, 07 Oct 2014


Prof. Miri is the General Co-Chair of the 10th IEEE International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communication, which will be held at Larnaca, Cyprus from October 8th to 10th. For more information on the conference please see the link below:

Info

expand/collapse 13th Annual Free Software And Open Source Symposium
Tue, 02 Sept 2014

October 23-24, 2014
Seneca@York Campus, Toronto
FSOSS is a key North American event for the open source developer and user
communitities. It brings together top leaders to discuss open source, open
web and academic/indistry partnerships. This year's FSOSS features two
days of presentations with the theme of 'I am Open Source'.

We are excited to announce two keynote speakers: Bob Young (Red Hat, Inc.
co-founder) and Chris Aniszczyk (Twitter's Open Source Engineering
Manager).

Visit fsoss.ca for more details.
[Register Now]http://fsoss.senecac.on.ca/2014/reginfo
expand/collapse TEDx Talks - Computational Public Safety - Dogs, Robots, Disasters - Computer Science Professor Dr. Alex Ferworn
Mon, 09 Jun 2014


Dr. Alexander Ferworn started with the idea to put cameras on rescue dogs who search rubble, which led to attaching robots to the dogs for even better rubble exploration. Nobody took the dog's perspective seriously until Ferworn. He looked at the current process, reflected on his experiences searching for people in rubble and turned the idea on its head by adding to what was acknowledged to be the best system available - the dog's nose.

TEDx Talk

expand/collapse Partners In Research National Awards, 2014 Recipients Announced
Fri, 11 Apr 2014


Partners In Research is pleased and honoured to announce the recipients of the 2014 Partners In Research National Awards!
Biomedical Science Ambassador Award
Dr. Frank Plummer

Engineering Ambassador Award
Dr. Hoda El Maraghy

Mathematics Ambassador Award

Science Ambassador Award
Dr. Jeremy McNeil

Technology Ambassador Award
Dr. Alexander Ferworn

The Ronald G. Calhoun Science Ambassador Award
Mrs. Janice Filmon

VROC Participation Award (Co-Awardees)
Dr. Brian Dixon and Dr. Craig Merrett

To learn more about the event, the awards and how to purchase tickets please visit:
http://www.pirweb.org/pir/en/pir-event/
Or email:
awards@pirweb.org
expand/collapse The Globe and Mail: Heartbleed and cybersecurity - Computer Science Professor Dave Mason
Thu, 10 Apr 2014


The Globe and Mail talks with Dave Mason, Computer Science professor from Ryerson University, about cybersecurity in light of the Heartbleed bug.

Video

expand/collapse LevelUp Showcase
Fri, 4 Apr 2014


We wish to extend an invitation to all the Ryerson Computer Science, both students and staff, to Level Up Showcase. It's a FREE huge event in the gaming community in Toronto for showcasing the video games students have made. They are from Ryerson, UofT, OCADU, GBC, Centennial, Senaca, Humber and nine other post-secondary institutions. An estimated 50 students had their games on display each on display last year, and we expect more this year. For the first time ever Ryerson will be attending the annual event, we will be showcasing the game engine Orbit by second year students Zack Harris with assistance from Dante Camarena. A lot of work has gone into it, and they are very excited to show it off. We would love to have as many as you possible there for moral support. It's an excellent opportunity to network with the large gaming opportunity, there are many large sponsors including Microsoft, Autodesk, Unity and local game studios XMG and Uken Games, and many more. There were prizes raffled last year and the same is expected this year. This is Friday April 4, 5 -10 PM, located at the Design Exchange building at 234 Bay Street. map link here.

levelupshowcase.com
https://www.facebook.com/events/201581336718428/

Ian Nastajus GMU President CSCU 4th Year Representative
expand/collapse Computer Science Undergrad student, Adam Harley, received an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award
Fri, 28 Mar 2014


The NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award is for students who have demonstrated interest in pursuing research in natural sciences and engineering.
Adam Harley's project, will be exploring computer vision strategies for object tracking in dynamic scenes.
expand/collapse Ten Thousand Coffees: Connecting Students, Recent Grads and Young Professionals
Thu, 03 Mar 2014


Ten Thousand Coffees is on a mission to unlock opportunities for the leaders of today and the leaders of tomorrow through meaningful connections and thought-provoking conversations.

Ten Thousand Coffees is the first youth movement of its kind founded on the insight that great conversations begin with a cup of coffee. Ten Thousand Coffees is connecting students, recent grads, and young professionals with industry professionals and influencers, providing youth across Canada the opportunity to meet someone with experience and have a meaningful conversation about a field they're interested in. It's also an opportunity for leaders to give back and learn something from the next generation of up-and-comers.

Students will have a chance to request for coffee with experts such as Chris Hadfield (former commander of the International Space Station), Gary Killacky (Chief Engineer, City of Vancouver), Mathew Bambsey (Research Associate, German Aerospace Center).

For more information, please visit the following links below: Website Video
expand/collapse Being Prepared for Disaster
Thu, 16 Jan 2014


Computer Science Professor - Dr. Alexander Ferworn interview.
With the recent ice storm and the polar vortex that took over much of Canada and the U.S., extreme weather has been affecting a lot of city services, travel and road conditions. Alex Ferworn, coordinator for certificate in disaster management at Ryerson University is here with some tips on how to be prepared for these incidents.
Video
expand/collapse TEDx Ryerson U
Wed, 20 Nov 2013


Computer Science Professor - Dr. Alexander Ferworn is part of a list of speakers for TEDx Video
expand/collapse SEMINAR - Vulnerability Management and Hacking for Dollars
Tue, 12 Nov 2013

Vulnerability Management and Hacking for Dollars

Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m

Where: AMC Theatre Number 4 (you will need your Ryerson ID to get into the theatre)

Abstract:

bstract: In the wake of large profile intrusions into corporations by hackers, and now the revelations of mass state sponsored information gathering, the need to ensure the electronic security posture of the organization is strong has created a new role. The Vulnerability Management Specialist requires an array of skills, from knowledge of hacker techniques to risk management. This is just one of the many positions that are evolving out of new regulatory requirements and the evolving threat landscape. This presentation will focus on areas of vulnerability management and intrusion testing. Other assessment types such as social engineering and war dialing will also be discussed as time permits. Highlights of the presentation will include: - Approaches to vulnerability management - Developing and deploying a VM program - Measures of success - Caveats - Stories of success and failure - Possible career paths Ultimately, this presentation is to help you identify skills and interests that you may already have and get paid for using them as part of career.

Bio:

Mr. Stonehouse is a certified Information Systems Security Professional and an Electronics Engineering Technician (CET), recognized within the industry as an expert in Information Technology Security and Control Services. He has held positions in several large organizations including; Associate Computer Scientist at Secure Computing Corporation, Senior Manager of the CIBC - Security Operations Centre and Managing Director of Information Security for the TMX. As the managing director of Information Security at TMX Limited , Robert Stonehouse was responsible for the security and integrity of CDS's logical and information environment. He also provided strategic leadership and guidance to staff, clients and other areas for information security and controls, including enterprise information security architecture and administration, project control office, internal controls for information technology, change management and configuration management. As past chair of Canadian Bankers Association's cyber incident response team, Robert reported to the executive committee composed of chief security officers of all major Canadian financial institutions. He has extensive experience leading think tanks and committees to pool collective intelligence in non-competitive areas across multiple organizations, driving the articulation and adoption of best practices across the industry and extracting the value of multiple security systems to increase the effectiveness of security disciplines in the Canadian financial services landscape. Under Robert's direction the investigations team was able to prevent over 1.5 million virus infections worldwide through dissemination of insights on previously undetected virus code to anti-virus vendors.

expand/collapse SEMINAR - Being an effective information security professional
Mon, 21 Oct 2013

Being an effective information security professional

Date: Tuesday, October 22nd

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m

Where: AMC Theatre Number 4 (you will need your Ryerson ID to get into the theatre)

Abstract:

This talk will take you through some of the challenges encountered in the day-to-day operations of an information security program. By examining these challenges, you will gain insight into what works and what doesn't when it comes to applying information security concepts in practice. Using this knowledge you can better prepare yourself to become more effective (and employable) as an information security professional.

Bio:

Lyndon Dubeau is the Manager of Information Security for Cancer Care Ontario. His background includes over 10 years of experience securing applications and infrastructure within privacy sensitive environments. He has a MSc. Information Security from Royal Holloway and holds a number of professional security and privacy certifications.

expand/collapse SEMINAR - Agent-Based Collaborative Technologies and Systems
Mon, 21 Oct 2013

Agent-Based Collaborative Technologies and Systems

WHAT: Agent-Based Collaborative Technologies and Systems

DATE: October 25, 2013

TIME: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m

WHERE: George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering. Room: ENG LG04. Ryerson University. 245 Churge Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3

CONTACT: Alexei Botchkarev - albot@ieee.org

WEBSITE: http://toronto.ieee.ca/chapters/systems.htm

For more information, please visit: http://www.ryerson.ca/news/events/General_Public/20131025_ieee.html
expand/collapse SEMINAR: Serious Games for Surgical Education and Training
Mon, 30 Sep 2013


Speaker: Dr. Bill Kapralos
Date/Time: October 24, 2013
Time: 5 p.m - 6 p.m
Location: Eric Palin Hall, 87 Gerrard Street East, Ryerson University., Room: EPH-216
Map: http://www.ryerson.ca/map

Abstract

The acquisition of surgical skills has historically been based on Halsted’s in-theatre apprenticeship model whereby the resident (trainee) acquires the required skills and knowledge in the operating room. However, the present era brings with it stresses on the apprenticeship model for surgical training. These include limited resident work hours, reduced case volumes, the need for more complex operations in patients with more comorbidities, requirements for greater surgical expertise and accountability, less time for teaching because of academic responsibilities, and demands for efficient use of operating room resources. This has led to decreased training time in the operating room and hence less operative exposure, teaching, and feedback. Therefore, efforts must be made to optimize operative room exposure by devising training opportunities using artificial settings before exposure to patients. Simulations, both physical and virtual, offer a viable alternative to practice in an actual operating room, offering residents the opportunity to train until they reach a specific competency level. One of the prevailing arguments for using simulation in the learning process of trainees is their ability to engage the trainee in the active accumulation of knowledge by doing. The rising popularity of video games has seen a recent push towards the application of serious games, that is, video game-based technologies to teaching and learning, to medical education and training. Serious games provide a high level of interactivity not easily captured in traditional teaching/learning environments. In contrast to traditional teaching environments where the teacher controls the learning (e.g., teacher-centered), serious games and virtual simulations present a learner-centered approach to education, so that the player controls the learning through interactivity. Game-based technologies have also been used for many years as training simulators for vehicle control (e.g., flight simulators) and are growing in popularity in the medical education. Serious games provide an opportunity to acquire non-technical cognitive skills outside the operating room in an interactive, and engaging manner, thereby optimizing operating room exposure with live patients. In this presentation, serious games will be introduced followed by a discussion of the application of serious games for medical and surgical education and training. An overview of several existing serious games for cognitive surgical training will also be provided and the presentation will end with a discussion regarding a number of issues and open problems and future work.

Biography:

Bill Kapralos is an Associate Professor in the Game Development and Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. His current research interests include: serious games, multi-modal virtual environments/reality, the perception of auditory events, and 3D (spatial) sound generation for interactive virtual environments and serious games. With support from various funding agencies, he is currently involved in a number of serious games initiatives including those for the training of community health nurses, critical care providers, orthopaedic and cardiac surgeons, and first responders, and he is exploring perceptual-based rendering and the effect of multi-modal interactions and other simulation parameters on learning. He is co-editing a book on interactive audio (Oxford University Press), he has chaired the ACM FuturePlay International Conference on the Future of Game Design and Technology from 2007-2010, co-chaired the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST), and he is co-chairing the 2014 Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) Conference. Bill is the recipient of an IBM Centers for Advanced Studies Faculty Award, and a co-recipient of a Google Faculty Award.

All are welcome. No registration needed.

Contact:
Dr. Isaac Woungang
DABNEL Lab
Department of Computer Science
Ryerson University
Chair, Computer Chapter, IEEE Toronto
expand/collapse SEMINAR: Computational Cognitive Modeling: Learning the Meaning of Words
Mon, 30 Sep 2013


Speaker: Dr. Afsaneh Fazly
Date/Time: November 7, 2013
Time: 5 p.m - 6 p.m
Location: Eric Palin Hall, 87 Gerrard Street East, Ryerson University., Room: EPH-216
Map: http://www.ryerson.ca/map

Abstract

We all want to be able to talk to our computers and other hand-held devices. This dream started in the 1940s, where a few philosophers and mathematicians began to seriously think about building machines that were `truly intelligent.' Seventy years past that dream, we have only come as far as building systems such as the iPhone Siri that appears to `understand what we say', but is still not as intelligent as even a four year old. The human capacity to learn their native language in no time has led renowned scientists, such as Noam Chomsky, to believe that children are born with an innate ability to acquire language. Today, many cognitive scientists disagree with this view, providing solid evidence that the environment of a human infant is extremely rich in information, and that infants learn much of their native language by attending to the regularities in the information they are exposed to. The news that much of language is learnable is good news for those pursuing the dream of building intelligent machines. Yet, there are many unanswered questions about what cognitive processes and mechanisms underly this amazingly difficult feat. In this lecture, I will talk about how we can use computational models to provide answers to such questions. I focus on one aspect of language acquisition: that of learning the meaning of words, and describe a computational cognitive model of word learning that provides insights into early vocabulary development. The overall goal of our research is two-fold: By understanding the cognitive prerequisites of language acquisition we can help computer scientists to build more intelligent machines that can learn as humans do. In addition, computational models provide psycholinguists with alternative and precise explanations for various observed phenomena, e.g., how is it that forgetting boosts learning in certain situations, and what goes wrong when the brain has difficulty learning language.

Biography:

Afsaneh Fazly received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto (UofT) in 2007. Since then she has worked as a research scientist with the Computational Linguistics and the Computational Vision groups at UofT, also collaborating with researchers from Saarland University (Germany), University of Colorado (USA), University of Melbourne (Australia), Leiden University (The Netherlands), and Bielefeld University (Germany). In addition to conducting research, she has taught Computer Science courses at the University of Toronto, and at Shiraz University in Iran. She currently works as a research scientist, dividing her time between the Computational Linguistics group at UofT, and the Whirlscape Inc. Afsaneh's research is interdisciplinary, crossing over areas including cognitive science, computational psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, machine learning, and computational vision. She has published over 35 articles in scientific journals and conference proceedings. Her work in the field of cognitive science has twice won the best paper award: the Cognitive Science Prize for the Best Paper on Language Modeling (2008); and the Google Best Paper Award at the 17th Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning (2013).

Contact:
Dr. Isaac Woungang
DABNEL Lab
Department of Computer Science
Ryerson University
Chair, Computer Chapter, IEEE Toronto
expand/collapse SEMINAR: Lost! Leveraging the Crowd for Probabilistic Visual Self-Localization
Thu, 26 Sep 2013


Speaker: Dr. Marcus Brubaker
Date/Time: September 26, 2013
Time: 5 p.m - 6 p.m
Location: Eric Palin Hall, 87 Gerrard Street East, Ryerson University., Room: EPH-216
Map: http://www.ryerson.ca/map

Abstract

In this talk, I will present an affordable solution to self-localization, which utilizes visual odometry and road maps as the only inputs. To this end, I introduce a probabilistic model as well as an efficient approximate inference algorithm, which is able to utilize distributed computation to meet the real-time requirements of autonomous systems. Because of the probabilistic nature of the model it is able to cope with uncertainty due to noisy visual odometry and inherent ambiguities in the map (e.g., in a Manhattan world). By exploiting freely available, community developed maps and visual odometry measurements the method is able to localize a vehicle up to 3m after only a few seconds of driving on maps which contain more than 2,150km of drivable roads. Finally, I will also describe a few other projects that I'm currently working on including: exploiting large amounts of data in protein structure estimation using Cryo-EM and accurate, large-scale search and analysis in ballistic forensics.

Biography:

Marcus Brubaker received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto in 2011 under supervision of David Fleet. Since then he has worked with Raquel Urtasun as a postdoctoral researcher at Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago and collaborates with researchers at University of Toronto, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Sick Kids Hospital and the Max Planck Institute. He also consults with Cadre Research Labs on machine learning and computer vision related projects and teaches at the University of Toronto.

He was won a number of fellowships including OGS and NSERC graduate fellowships as well as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Recently his work on autonomous vehicle localization, "Lost! Leveraging the Crowd for Probabilistic Visual Self-Localization," won the Best Paper Runner Up award at the 2013 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR).

He has worked on video-based human motion estimation, physical models of human motion, Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, ballistic forensics, electron cryo-microscopy and autonomous vehicle localization. His interests span computer vision, computer graphics, machine learning and statistics.

All are welcome. No registration needed.

Contact:
Dr. Isaac Woungang
DABNEL Lab
Department of Computer Science
Ryerson University
Chair, Computer Chapter, IEEE Toronto
expand/collapse Science Slam: Alex Ferworn one of six North American finalists
Thu, 19 Sep 2013


Computer science professor Alex Ferworn has been chosen as one of six finalists in a Science Slam to compete in Washington D.C. If he gains the title EURAXESS Science Slammer North America, he will be on his way to Brussels in November to compete with scientists from around the world.
Link
expand/collapse Computer Science Professor Dr. Alex Ferworn - Video - The National
Fri, 10 May 2013


A ray of hope - a seamstress survived 17 days in the rubble of the ruined garment factory in Bangladesh. Video
expand/collapse Computer Science PhD student, Jimmy Tran is awarded $54,000 for the Ontario Scientist and Engineers in Business (SEB) Commercialization Fellowship
Fri, 10 May 2013


Jimmy Tran, a second year Computer Science PhD student is the recipient of the Ontario Scientist and Engineers in Business (SEB) Commercialization Fellowship. The fellowship provides the entrepreneur with $54,000 in funding to develop prototype products, source first customers, and pay salaries. Jimmy has created a start-up company, Disaster And Related Emergencies (DARE) Technologies to develop the patented Canine Remote Deployment System (CRDS) into a commercial product. The CRDS is intended to be used in Urban Search and Rescue operations. The system allows search dogs to deliver emergency supplies and surveillance equipment to help trapped victims in collapsed structures. The CRDS was originally developed by Dr. Alexander Ferworn and the Network-Centric Applied Research Team in partner with the Ontario Provincial Police.
expand/collapse Science Rendezvous Press Conference 2013
Fri, 10 May 2013

Science Rendezvous @ Ryerson press conference: see the kinds of projects and activities that will be happening on May 11,2013 at Science Rendezvous @ Ryerson in Toronto.
Please visit: Video
expand/collapse Signal Processing Guest Lecture: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Tue, 07 May 2013

Signal Processing Guest Lecture Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Friday May 10, 2013 2pm-3pm ENG 101

"3D ILLS: Can Signal Processing Help?"

Janusz Konrad
ECE Department
Boston University
http://iss.bu.edu/jkonrad

The unprecedented proliferation of 3D hardware in consumer market and the involvement of Hollywood in 3D content production are two bright spots in the recent 3D wave. However, such waves in the past have come and gone. Is the current wave any different? 3D quality has improved, 3D hardware has entered homes and 3D content is better than ever, and yet obstacles remain.
In this talk, I will focus on two obstacles that, if not overcome, can threaten to derail 3D in the near future. First, I will focus on the "holy grail" of 3D visualization - automultiscopic displays that require no glasses. Such displays support motion parallax by means of spatial view multiplexing that involves sub-sampling and therefore requires anti-alias pre-filtering. However, since the sub-sampling is irregular the design of suitable pre-filters is non-trivial. I will present our approach based on lattice theory and will show some experimental results. The second obstacle I will tackle is 3D content that, despite current efforts by Hollywood, lags behind hardware. An alternative to waiting for Hollywood is to convert 2D movies to 3D. While human-supervised conversion is time-consuming and costly, the current fully-automatic methods are inferior in terms of conversion quality. I will describe a radically different approach to 2D-to-3D conversion that leverages on-line 3D content for learning depth of 2D images and will show examples. While signal processing can push some of the boundaries of flat-screen 3D, will this be enough to sustain the 3D wave? The concluding remarks may surprise you.
For more information please visit the Visual Information Processing Lab page at http://vip.bu.edu

BIO:

Janusz Konrad earned the M.Eng. degree from the Technical University of Szczecin, Poland, and the Ph.D. degree from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. From 1989 to 2000 he was with INRS-Telecommunications, Montreal, and since 2000 with Boston University. He has been on Editorial Boards of various IEEE and EURASIP journals related to signal, image and video processing. He was a Technical Program Co-Chair of ICIP-2000 and AVSS-2010, and Tutorials Co-Chair of ICASSP-2004. He is currently the General Chair of AVSS-2013 to be held in Krakow, Poland. He is a co-recipient of the 2001 Signal Processing Magazine Award, the 2004-05 EURASIP Image Communications Best Paper Award, the AVSS-2010 Best Paper Award and a co-winner of the Semantic Description of Human Activities Contest at ICPR-2010. His research interests include image and video processing, stereoscopic and 3D displays, human-computer interfaces and visual sensor networks.
expand/collapse CS Visits the OPP UCRT
Wed, 10 Apr 2013

On the April 2, various Computer Science undergraduate and graduate students along with several Electrical Engineering (EE) graduate students accompanied Professor Alex Ferworn to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear explosive (CBRNe) Response Team (UCRT) headquarters where they were provided with familiarization training in the use of different techniques for safely dealing with and disposing of CBRNe devices.
"We have a great partnership with the UCRT", said Professor Ferworn, who has been conducting research with the team since 2005. "A lot of our research revolves around creating practical solutions to real-world problems. The safe handling of explosive devices that could cause a serious threat to public safety is one of those problems", said Chris Kong, a Computer Science Masters student". "I am working on better ways of sensing what is going on around CBRNe robots, this is an excellent way of learning how they are actually used so that the system I design might be useful to bomb techs", said Mark Coatsworth, a CS undergraduate student who is conducting background research for his project in the CPS040 course.
After security checks and a safety briefing, the students proceeded to learn how to operate some of the OPP bomb robots. "The OPP has lent us one of their decommissioned robots. These students have all had significant practice before operating real bomb robots", said Ferworn. Later in the day, the students were presented with various scenarios revolving around a "suspicious" backpack. They were shown how precision techniques can be used to examine and neutralize devices. "At the end of the day, we blew up the backpack", reported Ron Wong, an EE Doctoral Student.
Videos: Video - 20mm robot-mounted "Disruptor" firing a bolt of water to knock a cell phone trigger off a backpack full of explosives. Video - 1 litre bottle of mineral spirits, armed with a high-explosive detonator, used to "shatter" the contents of a suspicious backpack Photo
expand/collapse Computer Science Master Student, Scott Herman, wins this year's 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) 'People's Choice' award
Wed, 27 Mar 2013

Scott Herman, a second year Computer Science Masters student, has won this year's 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) 'People's Choice' award for his presentation of his topic: 'Disaster Scene Reconstruction' competing against 13 other Masters and Doctoral students from across the University. The 3MT event is hosted by the Yeates School of Graduate Studies. The people's choice award is awarded through the results of an audience vote. Congratulations to Scott.
Photos: Photo1 - Photo2 - Photo3
expand/collapse Professor Eric Harley is the 2013 recipient of the Ryerson Faculty Service Award
Fri, 01 Mar 2013

Congratulations to Professor Eric Harely the 2013 recipient of the Ryerson Faculty Service Award.
Professor Harley is being recognized for his distinguished service to the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and the university.
For more details please see: http://www.ryerson.ca/ryersontoday/data/news/2013/03/errol_aspevig.html
expand/collapse Privacy and Cyber Crime Institute: Invitation to the International Privacy Day Event
Wed, 23 Jan 2013

The Privacy and Cyber Crime Institute is proud to invite you to the presentation talks and discussion "Social Media and Privacy: at home, at work and on the road". Dedicated to the International Privacy Day, this is a big event to raise awareness about privacy concerns and discuss current privacy issues. Don't miss your chance to hear great speakers on the topic that became so essential in our modern everyday life. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Event: International Privacy Day
Date: Monday, January 28, 2013
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: TRS 3-099 (Ted Rogers School of Management, 55 Dundas St. W.)
FREE lunch will be served

RSVP for this event: privacy@ryerson.ca (Subject: Privacy Day)

Program of the event:
1:00 - 1:50 pm: Session 1 - Privacy Landscape: Introduction to privacy; value of privacy in business - understanding privacy practices.
Short Q and A session after the presentation talk.
Speaker: Howard Simkevitz - a lawyer and professor of information and technology law at Ryerson University.

1:50 - 2:35pm: Session 2 - Protecting your privacy: Best practices to build mobile applications and protect user privacy.
Q and A after the presentation talk.
Speaker: Shayan Mashatian - a serial entrepreneur and an expert in the use of technology for social change.

2:35 - 2:50pm: break. Free lunch.

2:50 - 3:35pm: Session 3 - Social media applications and privacy: Online social networks (OSNs): history and applications; OSN privacy problems; privacy requirements; legal and technical solutions.
Q and A after the presentation talk.
Speaker: Ali Miri - Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Computer Science, The Center for Computer and Engineering, Ryerson University.

3:35 - 4:00pm: Roundtable discussion/Q and A.
expand/collapse Computer Science Students Win Best Student App - Windows 8 Pure Imagination Event
Thu, 29 Nov 2012

The "Ryerson B" team of Peter Altosaar, Andre Reis, Tyler Sutherland and Steven Park participated, and won the best student app at Windows 8 Pure Imagination Event. The event was held last Nov. 24th and 25th at the Ted Rogers School of Management building. Congratulations!
The app presentation starts around the 12 min 30 sec mark, and the award ceremony at 1 hour, 30 min: Best Student App
expand/collapse 5th International Symposium on Foundations and Practice of Security (FPS 2012) - Chair Prof. Miri
Wed, 17 Oct 2012

Prof. Miri will be chairing the 5th International Symposium on Foundations and Practice of Security (FPS 2012) which will be held in Montreal on October 25th and 26th.
For more information, please see the symposium website at: FPS 2012
expand/collapse Ohio Urban Search and Rescue Task Force Participates with N-CART in Canine Assisted Robotic Research
Tue, 27 Mar 2012

On Friday, March 30th Ohio Task Force 1 will host a research group from the Network-Centric Applied Research Team Lab in the Department of Computer Science at Ryerson University (Toronto, Canada).
For more information, please visit: Document
expand/collapse Featured paper in the May 2012 issue of IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems
Mon, 26 Mar 2012

The paper "Performance Analysis of Cloud Computing Centers Using M/G/m/m+r Queuing Systems" by Mr. Hamzeh Khazaei, a PhD student, and his co-supervisors and Computer Science professors Dr. Vojislav Misic and Dr. Jelena Misic has been featured as the spotlight paper in the May 2012 issue of IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems.
For more information, please visit: Article
expand/collapse N-CART lab particpates in an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)
Tue, 06 Mar 2012

On the 4th of March 2012, members of the N-CART lab of the Department of Computer Science at Ryerson University were asked to participate in an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) exercise conducted by the USAR and CBRNe Response Team (UCRT) of the Ontario Provincial Police. N-CART was assigned a command post (CP) vehicle that was co-located with the CP of Ontario Power Generation (OPG) as we were both supporting the exercise with related technology.

The exercise was conducted on the ground of the OPP UCRT in Bolton, ON and ran from 0800 Mar 4, 2012 to 1200 Mar 5, 2012. N-CART was tasked to provide support from 1400 to 0000.

The exercise scenario consisted of a dirty bomb exploding on a bus at the transport building of the Square One shopping mall in Mississauga. A secondary explosive device was detected and neutralized by the UCRT in a nearby car. The bus bomb caused a partial collapse of several structures with consequent people trapped inside. There were many dead and injured people in the vicinity of the blast.

Ryerson participants were: (from comp. sci.) Prof. Alex Ferworn, Jimmy Tran, Alex Ufkes, Ryan McDonald and Scott Herman. They were accompanied by EyeOpener reporter, Jeff Lagerquist.

two videos are presented.

The first is a night flight of our UAV supporting the search effort. LINK A night flight was requested to determine the extent of the damage around the breach area.

The second video shows two models of scenes that were collected to support the forensic investigation occurring at the scene. LINK
expand/collapse Computer science prof receives 400th grant, marking $10 million research milestone
Mon, 30 Jan 2012

Computer Science professor Vojislav Misic received the 400th Engage Grant in Ontario as part of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's $10-million milestone celebration.
For more information, please visit: NSERC Article
expand/collapse Ryerson University's Network-Centric Applied Research Team (NCART) - Innovation News Daily
Thu, 19 Jan 2012

Snake Robot Rides a Dog to the Rescue
For more information, please visit: NCART Article
expand/collapse Ryerson #1 in province for highest increase in applications
Wed, 18 Jan 2012

Statistics show the number of high school students applying to Ryerson is steadily climbing.
For more information, please visit: Article
expand/collapse Ryerson University's Network-Centric Applied Research Team (NCART) - IEEE Article
Tue, 17 Jan 2012

An article in IEEE.org - Search and Rescue Dog Deploys Robot Snake via Bark Control
For more information, please visit: NCART Article
expand/collapse Human Robot Interaction Course CPS813 this Winter 2012
Thu, 12 Jan 2012

Human Robot Interaction (CPS813) is the continuation of the Autonomous Mobile Robotics (CPS607) course where students will explore physical robotic systems designed to extend human presence to remote locations. Topics may include Presence, Situational Awareness, Telerobotics and Agency. The course is designed to provide students with a practical introduction that will involve the design and construction of working robotic systems designed to interact with remote environments.
Anyone who's interested in the course please contact Jimmy Tran at q2tran@scs.ryerson.ca as soon as possible since positions and time to register is limited.
expand/collapse XPToronto/Agile Users Group - Understanding Culture and Temperament in Agile Adoption
Tue, 22 Nov 2011

XPToronto/Agile Users Group - Understanding Culture and Temperament in Agile Adoption -
Location: ENG 205
For more information, please visit: XPToronto
expand/collapse Alex Ferworn's Network-Centric Applied Research Team (N-CART) featured in Macleans.ca
Fri, 04 Nov 2011

N-CART Research Team is featured in Macleans.ca - How Microsoft's affordable Kinect Video game system is changing the world of advanced robotics.
For more information, please visit: Macleans
expand/collapse Computer Science graduate student Quoc Vy wins a Best Paper Award
Thu, 12 May 2011

Telecoms and disability authors win $15,000 prize money. Three authors of papers on telecommunications and disability have been awarded a total of $15,000 in prize money in the 2011 Telstra-TJA Christopher Newell Prize for telecommunications and disability.
The Prize is awarded for the best original paper or papers submitted to the Telecommunications Journal of Australia (TJA) which "demonstrate the tangible benefits that an innovative use of telecommunications technology can deliver in assisting people with disability."
The prize commemorates work of the late Reverend Dr Christopher Newell in the telecommunications industry from 1990 to 2008 representing the needs of people with disability.
The first prize was shared by Melissa McCarthy from the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children NSW for her paper "Using technology to support children with sensory disability in remote areas: The RIDBC Teleschool model" and by Robert Morsillo from the Institute for Social Research at Swinburne University and Telstra Consumer Affairs Melbourne for his paper "One down, two to go: Public policy in service of an available, affordable and accessible National Broadband Network for people with disability."
The second prize went to Quoc Vu Vy and Deborah Ingrid Fels from the Centre for Learning Technologies at Ryerson University, Canada, for their paper "Enhanced Captioning. Speaker Identification: Text vs Images."
These papers have been published in the May 2011 issue of TJA (a subscription only publication), together with those of the other two finalists and have been made publicly available with the support of the sponsor, Telstra http://tinyurl.com/tjanwl
At the awards ceremony, hosted by Telstra in Melbourne, Phill Sporton, executive director, Telstra Service Delivery, announced that Telstra would sponsor the Christopher Newell Prize again in 2012 in collaboration with TJA. The competition is worldwide. Entries are due by 15 January 2012. See http://tinyurl.com/nwlruls For more information, please visit: TWire Pty Ltd. (2011 May 11). ExchangeDaily.
expand/collapse Computer Science graduate students Alexey Adamsky and Alex Yakobovich creates Sudoku3D
Fri, 15 Apr 2011

Adamsky and Yakobovich creates Fersh, a company in Ryerson's Digital Media Zone. Sudoku3D, an app for Windows Phone 7, is played on a cube with all vertical and horizontal faces containing numbers from one to 16; levels vary from easy to extremely difficult.
For more information, please visit: Grad students solve startup puzzle with help of university's Digital Media Zone
expand/collapse Dr. Miri is a guest editor for a special issue on Security and Privacy in Ubiquitous Computing in the journal Security and Communication Networks Journal.
Wed, 30 Mar 2011


For more information, please visit: Security and Communication Networks Journal
expand/collapse Dr. Miri is the general co-chair of The 18th International Workshop on Selected Areas in Cryptography (SAC 2011).
Wed, 30 Mar 2011

The workshop is an annual international event dedicated to specific themes in the area of cryptographic system design and analysis, and it will be held at Ryerson University from August 11 to August 12.
For more information, please see: SAC 2011
expand/collapse Dr. Ali Miri receives SRC Award for excellence in scholarly, research and creative activity.
Fri, 04 Mar 2011

Outstanding scholarly, research and creative (SRC) activity was honoured Feb. 15 at the Faculty SRC Awards. Congratulations to Dr. Ali Miri!!!
Link: Faculty SRC Awards recognize contributions to research
expand/collapse Dean's Seminar Series: Privacy by Design
Fri, 04 Mar 2011

The Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Dr. Cavoukian to give a talk: A World Without Privacy is a World Without Freedom: Privacy by Design Delivers on Both: next Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 11 am to 12 noon. Located at Eric Palin Hall, Room EPH 204.
Link: A World Without Privacy is a World Without Freedom: Privacy by Design Delivers on Both
expand/collapse IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology awards Dr. Jelena Misic as Top Associate Editor
Wed, 12 Jan 2011

Congratulations!! The Certificate of Appreciation is presented to Dr. Jelena Misic as Top Associate Editor for outstanding contributions to IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.
expand/collapse Professors Vojislav B. Misic and Jelena Misic wins Best Paper award at the 6th International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference
Fri, 3 Dec 2010

The paper 'Performance of G-Limited Scheduling in a Cognitive MAC with Transmission Tax,' jointly authored by Vojislav B. Misic and Jelena Misic; was voted Best Paper award at the 6th International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference, held in Caen, France, in June 2010
Link: Best Paper Award
expand/collapse MSc. Computer Science - Good News - The Stick is Full
Tue, 26 Oct 2010

We are building a Computer Science tradition. In 2007 Ryerson received permission to offer the Master of Science program in Computer Science. At the same time, the Department of Computer Science established a tradition of excellence involving a tool borrowed from the military called a "pace stick" -- or simply "the stick".
Link: http://www.scs.ryerson.ca/site_public_dir/CS_Good_News_Pace_Stick_Full.pdf
expand/collapse RYERSON MAKERS CLUB
Mon, 04 Oct 2010

Do you enjoy:
Circute Bending - Hardware Hacking
Micro-controllers - Autonomous Robots
Arduino - Mechatronics - Speaker Building
Electronic Art - DIY Musical Instruments
Chip Amplifiers - Rapid Prototyping
Taking Things Apart!
Then This May Be The Group for YOU!

Inaugural Meeting:
Introduction
Maker Faire NY Report
Future Meeting Topics

Wednesday, Oct. 6th, 2010
5 to 6pm
Eric Palin Hall EPH-314
expand/collapse MSc. Computer Science Oral Examination
Thu, 19 Aug 2010

Name: Helia Mohammadi
Thesis title: iFAST - An Intelligent Fire-threat Assessment and Size-up Technology for First Responders
Date: Tue. Aug. 31, 2010
Time: 2-4 pm
Location: ENG-288

Chair: Dr. Hamelin
Committee: Dr. Santos, Dr. Woungnag, Dr. Sadeghian
expand/collapse MSc. Computer Science Oral Examination Defense Schedule
Tue, 17 Aug 2010

For the most upto date information about schedules please visit this link
Link: http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/computerscience/OralExaminations/ScheduledExaminations.html
expand/collapse Eighth Annual Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust 2010
Tue, 3 Aug 2010

Dr. Ali Miri is the general co-chair of the upcoming conference being held at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on August 17-19, 2010.
Link: http://www.unb.ca/pstnet/pst2010/
expand/collapse The 6th IEEE International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob 2010)
Tue, 3 Aug 2010

Dr. Ali Miri is the general co-chair of the upcoming conference being held at Niagra Falls, Ontario, Canada, on October 11-13, 2010.
Link: http://conferences.computer.org/wimob2010/
expand/collapse NSERC Announcement
Mon, 19 Apr 2010

On behalf of the Department, I would like to congratulate Dr. Cherie Ding, Dr. Alex Ferworn, Dr. Jelena Misic and Dr. Voja Misic who have successfully won NSERC research grants in the 2009-2010 Discovery Grant competition.

Alireza Sadeghian,
Chair
expand/collapse Science Rendezvous 2010 - Video
Thu, 15 Apr 2010

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHIZuZsvKRo
expand/collapse Science Rendezvous 2010
Thu, 18 Mar 2010

You are invited to experience world leading science and technology, right in your own backyard!
For more details check out: http://www.sciencerendezvous.ca/
expand/collapse Job Growth in Computer Science
Tue, 05 Jan 2010

Where the Jobs Are..
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released a 10-year forecast of job growth that projects "professional and related" occupations will increase by 16.8 percent between 2008 and 2018. The professional and related category, which includes computer science jobs, is expected to be the fastest growing category of the 10 major BLS occupational groups. All occupations are projected to grow an average of 10.1 percent. The professional and related category is comprised of eight occupational clusters, including computer and mathematical jobs. The government forecasts a 22.2 percent increase in computer and mathematical jobs by 2018. Moreover, computer science occupations are projected to account for nearly 60 percent of all job growth among all fields of science and engineering over the next eight years. About 13.4 percent of job growth in science and engineering fields is likely to be in engineering positions.
For more details check out: http://www.cccblog.org/2010/01/04/where-the-jobs-are/
expand/collapse Masters student Elmira Ghoulbeigi recieves an ACM-W scholarship to attend ACM-SAC.
Wed, 16 Dec 2009

Elmira Ghoulbeigi, has been awarded an ACM-W scholarship to attend ACM-SAC.
expand/collapse Graduate Teaching Assistant Award of Excellence
Tue, 03 Nov 2009

On behalf of the Department Award Committee, I am pleased to announce the recipients of the 2008-09 Graduate Teaching Assistant Award of Excellence. The award winners are: - Vahab Akbarzadeh - Helia Mohammadi Recognition of the recipients of the awards will be done on Fri Nov. 13th, 2009 during the Annual Science Award Ceremony. On behalf of the Department, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to the award winners.
expand/collapse Masters student Elmira Ghoulbeigi's paper "Probabilistic Developmental Program Evolution" has been accepted at the 25th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing
Tue, 20 Oct 2009

Elmira Ghoulbeigi's paper "Probabilistic Developmental Program Evolution" has been accepted as a full paper at the EC track of the 25th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, to be held at Sierre, Switzerland. With only an acceptance rate of 26.5%, it is a reflection of her dedication and hard work. On behalf of the EvolBic (Evolutionary and Biologically Inspired Computing) group, Dr. Marcus Vinicius dos Santos would like to express his sincere congratulations to Elmira for her achievements.
expand/collapse The Principles of Instruction - Ryerson University Department of Physics Colloquium - Dr. Alex Ferworn
Thu, 15 Oct 2009

For more details check out: Department of Physics Colloquium
expand/collapse Canada's IT industry to create 84,000-plus highly skilled jobs by end of 2013.
Wed, 14 Oct 2009

For more details check out: Msn.com
expand/collapse Recent Graduates of Master of Science program in Computer Science
Fri, 09 Oct 2009

While only a few years old, the Master of Science program in Computer Science is producing a steady stream of high-quality graduates. We would like to share their names with our community. We would also like to thank those that participate in our students' education. For the list of graduates and more details check out: Graduate List
expand/collapse Dr. Alex Ferworn receves ITAC Community Hero Award
Mon, 21 Sept 2009

The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) has chosen Dr. Alex Ferworn to receive its prestigious Community IT Hero award. For more details check out: ITAC Community Hero Award
expand/collapse Science Rendezvous Event - Today's Toronto Star & "Daily Planet" on Discovery Channel
Thu, 07 May 2009

The Toronto Star has an article featuring some exciting projects from the Department of Computer Science at Ryerson University. www.thestar.com/article/630394 For a detailed list check out: www.sciencerendezvous.ca
expand/collapse 2009 NSERC RTI Competition
Fri, 03 Apr 2009

A one year $24,999 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Research Tools and Instrument (RTI) grant has been awarded to Professor Mark Fiala.
expand/collapse Robot Club Takes up the OCAD Robot Sumo Challenge
Fri, 27 Mar 2009

The robot club, reconstituted and run by Prof. Mark Fiala, entered three very capable robots into the OCAD Sumo Robot Challenge: A 100 lb cube of steel called Cassandra; a light-weight robot called Pointless; and finally, to round out the field, the wooden wedge robot "splinter". Members of the team took turns driving, performing cable management and acting as pit crew. The team did very well making it into the semi-finals in several categories.
expand/collapse Matilda the Robot Arrives
Fri, 13 Mar 2009

In February, Computer Science took delivery of an Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) response robot called Matilda. The robot was donated by Mesa Robotics after speaking with several graduate students who were participating in NIST's annual Response Robot Evaluation Exercises in Texas A&M University's test facility. (http://ncart.scs.ryerson.ca)
expand/collapse Ryerson Invited to Demonstrate Importance of Service Animals to Public
Tue, 06 Mar 2009

On March 1, members of the Computer Science department participated in a press event for the Ontario Government's new animal welfare act which has special provisions for the protection of service animals used by law enforcement agencies.
To emphasize the importance of these animals for the safety of Ontarians Ryerson was invited to demonstrate the Ryerson-invented Canine Remote Deployment System (CRDS) for delivering supplies to victims trapped in rubble.
Ryerson University News
Computer Science Events
expand/collapse Greater Toronto Area Linux User Group
Ongoing Monthly

Monthly meetings held at
George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre
245 Church Street, Room ENG211
Ryerson University
Please visit: http://gtalug.org/ for more information.
Computer Science Job Postings
expand/collapse JOB POSTING: Donkey Mob - Junior Developer PHP/Java Full Stack
Thu, 04 Oct 2018

JUNIOR DEVELOPER

PHP/Java Full Stack

We’re DonkeyMob and we’re looking for smart, passionate and talented people to join our small but growing team. We build and maintain a wide variety of products ranging from content sites, mobile apps and social games. You’ll be involved in all aspects of the development process from initial mockup to completion, maintaining web services, researching new technologies, and wrangling legacy sites.

An ideal candidate will have the following: Experience with PHP and Java

The web dev trifecta: HTML/CSS/JavaScript

Practical Object Oriented Design skills and an understanding of design patterns

An understanding of relational and non-relational database systems (MySQL, Mongo)

Experience with *nix/Shell

Experience working with teams using version control software (GIT, Mercurial)

"Willing to learn" attitude, determination and a passion for making the best products possible

An understanding of what lies beneath the technologies you use

Excellent oral and written communication skills

Strong computer science fundamentals

Not easily offended

Nice to haves

Experience with RESTful services

Mobile development

Amazon Web Services

Responsive web development

Game design/programming experience

Perks

Salary: $45-55k

Health, Dental, Medical Benefits

Friendly and collaborative environment

Hours: 10-6pm- miss the rush-hour traffic!

To apply, please send your resume to tristan[at]donkeymob.com.

expand/collapse JOB POSTING: AP1 Inc. - iOS Developer
Thu, 18 Apr 2018



Position: iOS Developer About: AP1 Inc. is a proximity service provider offering the world's most innovative proximity ecosystem of location-based solutions. Committed to creating innovative enterprise solutions by using cutting-edge software and proprietary hardware, AP1 seeks to standardize wireless communication and local positioning technologies by providing developers with our SDK to integrate with any platform. Our advanced communication platform will develop mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and the people they serve, by bringing new levels of communication to new and existing software solutions. AP1 enables brands to reach their goals by providing numerous unprecedented proximity solutions. Through private wireless networks and a suite of software solutions, our product generates valuable analytics, creates direct marketing opportunities, and connects social networks to a physical location.
We are looking for someone that has strong experience developing user interfaces for applications on iOS for both iPhone and iPad. Responsibilities will include the full lifecycle of mobile application development, design, coding, and debugging of mobile applications. You must be able to pick up new technology, follow best practices and work well independently as well as part of a team. We require 3+ years programming experience and building iOS apps. Experience working with command line and Linux based server backend is beneficial. Understanding of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Core Bluetooth framework required. Must have experience submitting apps to app store and have strong understanding of submission process and guidelines.

Primary Responsibilities:
-Hands on development of a complex mobile application
-Act as subject matter expert in all iOS development projects
-Helping to define and deliver against functional and non-functional requirements
-such as performance, reliability and latency requirements
-Building unit tests and acceptance test suites
-Integrate software with existing systems
-Prepare applications for apple app store submission and review
-Maintain standards compliance
-Interface with product managers, architects, support personnel and other developers

Qualifications
-Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Engineering or a related field
-PhD student or PhD candidate or PhD
-3-5 year's experience in developing enterprise applications and at least 2 years of experience developing in iOS Platform
-Experience building complex iPhone Apps that have been successfully delivered to customers
-Exceptional analytical aptitude and attention to detail
-Good organizational and problem solving skills
-Good team player who is self-motivated and well organized
-Strong oral and written communication skills

Desired Skills and Technology Experience:
-Experience with iOS APIs and Frameworks
-3-5 years experience in mobile application development
-Fundamentals in object-oriented design, data structures, algorithm design, problem solving, and complexity analysis
-Excellent understanding of latest changes and features in iOS 9 and 10.
-Experience developing in Swift (ver. 3 and 4), Objective-C, or Java preferred
-Experience in JSON, XML, REST, and Web Services Technologies preferred
-Have worked on at least one published iOS app in app store
-Passion for front end development with heavy mobile app development focus.
-Linux backend or server experience knowledge a plus.

Job Types: Full-time, Contract
To Apply: Please email your cover letter and resume with Subject "iOS Developer Application" to Jessica Santa, jsanta@ap1.io

expand/collapse JOB POSTING: Blue Prism / RPA Consultant - Manager / Senior Consultant
Mon, 24 May 2016



EY's people in more than 150 countries are committed to operating with integrity, quality and professionalism in the provision of audit, tax, transaction and advisory services. We strive to help all of our people achieve their professional and personal goals through an inclusive environment that values everyone's contributions, appreciates diversity of thought, fosters growth, and provides continuous opportunities for development. Recognized as one of Canada's top employers, EY continually strives to be a great place to work.
We currently have career opportunities for Manager / Senior Consultant in our Toronto IT Advisory Services team. The individuals will work directly with clients to transform their business challenges into technology solutions. The goal is to support our clients' efforts to make their business units more effective and efficient and, where required, provide services in connection with the development and implementation of technology solutions. Our experience is also important to the analysis of specific business requirements for alignment with technology architecture, technology infrastructure design, and vendor selection decisions that support the line of business IT organizations of our clients. This position falls within our IT Advisory team, which helps our clients enhance the effectiveness of Operations functions by assisting them as they shift their emphasis from transaction-level control, processing and reporting to more value driven, decision support and analytics. Click here(https://ey.taleo.net/careersection/gexp01/jobdetail.ftl?job=TOR002BO) for the detailed job description.
expand/collapse JOB POSTING: HRI Software Engineer - Humatics
Fri, 05 Feb 2016



Humatics (http://site.humatics.com) - an MIT-connected HRI/sensor tech startup is hiring a senior software engineer.

We need someone with a demonstrated track record building software that enables more productive interactions between humans and robotic systems. If you join us now, you'll be getting in at the ground floor of a company founded to build integrated hardware and software systems that optimize and enrich human-robot interaction. Click here (https://goo.gl/RI9XNh) for the detailed job description.

Apply with resume, samples of previous work and one academic or professional reference to jacky@cjru.ca. Students must be enrolled in part-time or full-time post-secondary classes in Toronto.

expand/collapse JOB POSTING: Mobile/Web Developer (Junior Level, full-time)
Thu, 02 Feb 2016

Location: Wolfville (NS) or telecommute (Eastern or Atlantic Time Zone only)
*Start Date*: April 1st, 2016
*Salary*: $46,000 - $51,000 /year (depending on qualifications and experience)
*Vacation pay*: Yes (2 weeks)
*Health benefits*: Yes
*Application Deadline*: Feb 26th, 2016

*Description*: We are looking for a recent Computer Science graduate and highly talented junior mobile/web developer to join our technical team on the East coast. Our company atmosphere is collaborative, passionate, and fun. We are always innovating and creating new technologies and tools for ourselves and our clients. Come and work with a great team - we learn from and share knowledge with each other every day. The ideal candidate should be a recent graduate in Computer Science and have:
Experience in native and hybrid mobile development including PhoneGap.
Expertise in HTML / JavaScript / CSS.
Experience with Java, Android OS and Android Studio IDE.
Some experience with C# and .NET framework would be a big asset.
Experience with PHP/MySQL would be another big plus.
Basic skills debugging and profiling client-side code.
Experience testing and debugging in multiple browsers/operating systems.
Plenty of attention to detail.
Excellent oral and written communication skills for effective communication.
A desire to learn and grow with us.

Responsibilities include:
Work on our in-house software product TrailMark Office (LAMP stack) and TrailMark Mobile (Android, Windows Embedded 6.5)
Help to develop our new hybrid mobile app (PhoneGap).
Collaborate with other developers to create highly functional, reusable code.
Participate in all software development phases: from design, through implementation, debugging, and testing.
Test, debug and refine software to produce the required product. Please send us your resume including two references via email with the subject line "Mobile/Web Developer" to joerg.tews@trailmarksys.com
expand/collapse JOB POSTING: Research Assistant: Applied Analytics Project
Fri, 29 Jan 2016

Location: Ryerson University, Toronto, ON
Research Assistant

*Preferred Qualifications:*

- *Proficiency in Python programming,*
- *Experience in web scraping and using APIs,*
- *Experience in MySQL,*
- *Experience in Machine Leaning and/or Neural Networks is a plus.*

*Specific Responsibilities include:*

- *Acquire data from the web and some APIs,*
- *Create a database to store the data,*
- *Automate the data transfer and storage,*
- *Perform data cleansing, parsing, integration, and editing.*


For more details, please contact: Ozgur Turetken, Ph.D.,Professor and Director, Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management, E-mail: turetken@ryerson.ca
expand/collapse JOB POSTING: Student Developers and Designer Needed
Fri, 11 Sept 2015



STUDENT DEVELOPERS AND DESIGNER NEEDED: Want to combine your love of audio with dynamic cloud storage and mobile innovation? We need four GTA-area students to help build an innovative audio application here at Ryerson.

iOS Engineer: 1 position (September-April 12-18 hours per week)
Requirements:
Experience with Object Oriented Programming
Experience developing User Interfaces
Experience interacting with Networking APIs
Senior year undergrad or grad students in computer science
Accessible development experience
Solid knowledge of digital audio fundamentals
Team leadership skills
Demonstrable commitment to project execution
Reliability
Strong communication skills
Bonus: Swift, iOS, Audio DSP

Server Engineer: 2 positions (September-April 12-18 hours per week)
Requirements:
Experience with Object Oriented Programming
Experience in Database Programming
Solid knowledge of networking fundamentals (HTTP, JSON, REST, Scalability, Security)
Ability to work in a team
Reliability
Bonus: Node.js, MongoDB, Digital Audio Fundamentals

UI Designer: 1 position (September-December 12-18 hours per week)
Requirements:
Adobe Creative Suite
Experience in accessible design
Senior undergrad or graduate student
Ability to work in a team
Ability to interpret feedback and manage deadlines

To apply:

Apply with resume, samples of previous work and one academic or professional reference to jacky@cjru.ca. Students must be enrolled in part-time or full-time post-secondary classes in Toronto.

expand/collapse JOB POSTING: Software Developer, PhD University Graduate
Thu, 2 Apr 2015

Location: Kitchener, ON, Canada - Montreal, QC, Canada
Software Engineering, Full-time

For more details, please visit: https://www.google.com/about/careers/
expand/collapse JOB POSTING: SmartSimple: Jr. Analyst
Tue, 31 Mar 2015

Department: Implementation
Reports to: Small Project Team Lead
Location: Toronto Canada
Employment Type: Full-time Permanent
Hours: 37.5 per week
Job Grade: TBD

Since 2002, SmartSimple has been providing organizations with an innovative, cloud-based software solution that automates a wide range of administrative processes in multiple vertical markets, including grants, research and claims management. Our system is used by tens of thousands of people every month, working in more than 100 countries around the world. Our company is technologically advanced, culturally diverse and continuously growing with offices in Toronto, New York City and Dublin.

The Jr. Analyst will spend three (3) months in the Small Project Team. As a configuration resource for the Small Project Team (SPT), the Jr. Analyst assists in the execution of small-scale project related work. Under the direct guidance of the Small Project Team Lead and with the mentorship of senior technical staff they will be responsible for platform configuration of client systems. After this time, and the successful completion of two projects, you will be assigned to the pre-implementation or post-implementation team upon completion of the training according to your demonstrated strengths and technical ability. This is a non-client facing, highly technical role.

This position is an ideal entry level role for a recent computer science graduate looking to establish a solid career with a proven Cloud Provider.

Specific Job Responsibilities:
- Work with Small Project Team Lead to review and analyse options within SmartSimple software and determine best way to configure and/or modify software for client systems based on the client Statement of Work (SOW) requirements.

- Collaborate and obtain guidance on the design of client systems from the Business Configuration and Implementation Specialists, Project Managers, or Solutions Architects in the course of work. Get approval for system changes/modifications prior to commencing any configuration work.

- Work in close collaboration with the Project Manager to investigate and help solve client issues. This involves detailed troubleshooting of client systems before escalating issues to the Sr. PM or Development team.

- Review and test configured system functions to ensure adherence to client requests and SOW requirements.

- Assist with performing integrated system testing when new features are applied to a client system.

- Flag and report potential problems or out-of-scope requests from clients to the Project Manager.

Specific Job Requirements:
- Ability to grasp concepts quickly with strong analytical and problem solving skills, and attention to detail.

- Clear, concise and effective communication ability.

- Working knowledge of databases, data modelling concepts and best practices. Ability to read a data model and perform data mapping.

- Experience with application configuration within a project environment for example. Configuration of fields, creation of workflows, tweaking, implementation. Full project lifecycle (conception to production).

- Basic knowledge of 'Software as a Service' solutions (SAAS) and experience of Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). Ability to work independently and within a team environment to achieve project goals.

- Basic knowledge of Java, JavaScript, HTML, XML and CSS a definite asset.

For more details, please visit: http://wwww.smartsimple.com/