CS News Briefs

2021-2022 CS Department End-of-Year Awards

Congratulations to the winners of the 2021-2022 annual Department of Computer Science awards! We were so excited to present these awards in-person at the ceremony on May 4, 2022. You can view the presentation pdf at the bottom of this page!

Team of Computer Science Students to Compete for North American Title in Programming Competition

The University of Virginia is sending a team of computer science undergraduate students to compete in the North America Championship final of the International Collegiate Programming Competition to be held May 26-31.

A few weeks ago, eight UVA teams squared off against roughly 110 opposing teams in the Mid-Atlantic Regional round of the International Collegiate Programming Competition. They all performed well: When the standings were finalized, UVA’s top team, the Seg Faults, placed fourth – which qualified them to move on to the competition’s next level. UVA teams also placed fifth and six, for a total of five Wahoo teams finishing in the top 11 and seven in the top 25.

The Seg Faults team members – Annabel Li, Edward Lue and Chase Hildebrand, all second-year computer science majors – will represent UVA as one of 45 U.S. and Canadian universities in the North American competition, hosted by the University of Central Florida.

HooHacks Rocks 9th Annual Event With More Than 1,200 Hackers – Hundreds of Them on Grounds

HooHacks, the student team behind the University of Virginia’s largest hackathon, hosted its 9th annual event – and the first to mix virtual and in-person attendance – March 26 and 27.

The team managed more than 1,200 participants, about 300 of them in person, and 97 projects submitted during the HooHacks event, which goes by the same name as the team. HooHacks co-presidents Jade Heilemann and Amrit Gorle, both third-year computer science students, said their faculty advisors in the Department of Computer Science at UVA Engineering, associate professor Briana Morrison and assistant professor Rich Nguyen, helped them through what was a novel experience for many students.

Yixin Sun’s Research Helps Secure Internet Applications from Routing Attacks

Yixin Sun, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has published research to help communication network managers strengthen security and privacy-preserving systems.

Computer Science Student Hasan Mukati and Assistant Professor Panagiotis Apostolellis Launch App to Promote Good

Fourth year computer science student Hasan Mukati and computer science assistant professor Panagiotis Apostolellis are developing a mobile app called ImpaKarma as part of an independent study. The digital platform allows groups of friends or community members to join forces around a common actionable cause. Mukati and Apostolellis’ goal in developing the app was to catalyze positive change by empowering users to conveniently coordinate in acts of kindness and organize events to help local – and global – community.

Computer Science Graduate Student Group Research Symposium

The Computer Science Graduate Student Group hosted a research symposium on Wednesday, Dec. 8.

The keynote speaker was John A. Stankovic, BP America Professor of Computer Science and director of the Link Lab for cyber-physical systems. Stankovic, who received a University of Virginia Research Mentor Award for being a role model who is always willing to offer guidance, presented “Real-Time and Cyber Physical Systems: Interwoven Advice and Results.”

CS Research Symposium Poster Session Winners

On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, the CS Graduate Student Group held a Research Symposium in Rice Hall. The event included keynote speakers, faculty talks, and a poster session during which 18 students presented their research. Attendees of the symposium voted on posters and the results are in! 

Devin Harris to Lead Multidisciplinary UVA Team on Digital Twinning Project

The Department of Engineering Systems and Environment’s Devin Harris, a professor of civil engineering, and collaborators from UVA Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and UVA’s School of Education and Human Development have received a new award for $300,000 under the National Science Foundation’s Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research Program.

The project, “Adaptive Digital Twinning: An Immersive Visualization Framework for Structural Cyber-Physical Systems,” aims to explore the power of artificial intelligence in the formation of digital twins for large-scale structural systems. Co-principal investigators on the project are assistant professor of computer science Brad Campbell, who holds a secondary appointment in electrical and computer engineering; assistant professor of computer science (teaching track) Panagiotis Apostolellis; and Jennifer Chiu, an associate professor of education. Harris and Campbell are members of UVA Engineering’s Link Lab, a multidisciplinary center for research in cyber-physical systems.

The team’s research will address the need to preserve existing, often aging, physical infrastructure systems on which society relies for essential needs – such as transportation, energy, water and sanitation, and communication – while modernizing these systems to serve as the smart and agile cyber-physical systems we need to meet demands of the future.

The NSF program funding the project, which is known by its acronym EAGER, is designed for untested but potentially transformative research approaches.

Christopher L. Barrett Elected Member of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine

Christopher L. Barrett, a professor in the Department of Computer Science, has been elected as a member of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Barrett is the UVA Biocomplexity Institute executive director and a Distinguished Professor in Biocomplexity. Under Barrett's leadership, the Biocomplexity Institute's team has been on the front lines of the national modeling, monitoring, planning and response to COVID-19. 

Hongning Wang Earns Information and Intelligent Systems Grant

Congratulations to Hongning Wang, associate professor of computer science, on winning a prestigious National Science Foundation award for his research on online learning to rank, a modern machine learning technique that adaptively improves result rankings during its interactions with end users. Learn more about the grant.