DAC is excited to be part of Virginia Tech’s venture to distinguish its research and education in the field of data and decision sciences through this new initiative. Naren Ramakrishnan, DAC Director, said, “Our data analytics and decision sciences planning group draws members from engineering, sciences, business, liberal arts, humanities, and the natural resources, and our goal is to make this complex be an asset for the entire university.”
Computer Science Department faculty and students presented six research papers and one tutorial at the 22nd ACM Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD 2016), held in August in San Francisco. KDD is the premier annual international conference on knowledge discovery and data mining. Virginia Tech was among the top-10 represented university and industry groups at KDD. In addition the most viewed video and the second most downloaded papers at KDD were written by Virginia Tech CS PhD students and faculty.
Conference URL: http://www.kdd.org/kdd2016/
From September 14th -17th, 9 CS students and 2 CS faculty (Cal Ribbens, Barbara Ryder) journeyed to Austin, Texas to participate in the 2016 ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing. Of the approximately 1000 attendees, 536 were students, 135 were faculty and 260 were representatives from industry/government. This was the 10th Tapia Conference whose theme, Diversity Matters, was reflected in keynote speeches, professional development programs, a student research poster session, a career fair, and “birds-of-a-feather” meetings on practical approaches to supporting diversity and inclusion.
Our two goals in attending Tapia were to: (i) expose CS@VT African-American and Latino/a graduate and undergraduate students to a professional computing conference in which they would be in the majority, and (ii) actively recruit minority graduate students for our MS/Ph.D. programs and for possible future faculty positions.
Dr. Ryder reported, “It was a thrill to personally meet and talk to so many African-American and Latino/a colleagues in computing, including several of our CS@VT alumni – Dr. Cheryl Seals (Auburn), Dr. Jeremy Barksdale (Microsoft), Dr. Kevin Buffardi (Cal State, Chico) and CS@VT Distinguished Alumna Dr. Jamika Burge.” Dr. Ribbens stated: “The Tapia conference is a great opportunity for our students to meet peers and hear from incredible role models, and for faculty to share ideas and enthusiasm with other schools who are also committed to improving diversity in CS.” The excitement of our student participants is expressed in their comments:
CS students Moeti Masiane, Tianna Woodson, Kelvin Aviles, and Teresa Lin also attended. This was a great experience. It continues a strong tradition of CS@VT participation in the Tapia conferences (we have been Gold Supporters of Tapia for many years). We hope to offer the opportunity to attend to more of our students and faculty in future years. To that end, alumni and friends of CS@VT can donate to the department’s Barbara Ryder Diversity in Computing Fund by sending a check to the VT Foundation account #861127.
One of my research topics that I’m most passionate about is on developing machine learning algorithms that detect cyberbullying in social media. Cyberbullying is a serious public health threat that is detrimentally shaping the online experience. And while Internet technology is rapidly amplifying our ability to communicate, it’s important to develop complementary technology to help mitigate the harm of such detrimental communication.
Computer programs that detect online harassment could allow automatic interventions, e.g., providing advice to those involved, but we don’t yet have machine learning algorithms that can handle the scale, the structure, and the rapidly changing nature of cyberbullying. Standard approaches for classification are hindered by the cost of labeling bullying examples and the need for social context to differentiate bullying from other less harmful behavior.
My group is developing machine learning algorithms that use weak supervision, where the input to the algorithm isn’t whether each interaction is bullying, but general indicators of bullying, such as offensive language. The algorithms try to extrapolate from that using social media data, considering who’s sending and receiving messages with the provided indicators, and the overall structure of the relationships in the data. The algorithms do collective, data-driven discovery of who is bullying, who’s being bullied, and what additional vocabulary is indicative of bullying.
The following Great Innovative Idea is from Bert Huang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. Huang presented his poster, Weakly Supervised Cyberbullying Detection in Social Media, at the CCC Symposium on Computing Research, May 9-10, 2016.
Denis Gracanin, an associate professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science, along with Joseph Wheeler, professor of architecture in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and co-director of the Center for Design Research, and Clive Vorster, a visiting instructor in the School of Architecture + Design, have worked the past three years with students from architecture, industrial design, interior design, and computer science to envision how people will interact with their homes in the near future.
Clifford A. Shaffer, professor of computer science in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been awarded the W.S. “Pete” White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. The W.S. “Pete” White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education was established by American Electric Power to honor Pete White, a 1948 graduate of Virginia Tech, and to encourage new interest in the teaching of engineering and improve the learning process. Recipients hold the chair for a period of two years.
The case for gathering and nurturing a diverse academic community is clear. Preparing computer scientists to create solutions for the whole world requires a community of computer scientists that reflects the whole world. Virginia Tech’s “Principles of Community” states it well: “we affirm the value of human diversity because it enriches our lives and the University,” and we seek “… to create a community that nurtures learning and growth for all of its members.” Besides being the right thing to do, time and time again I have seen the benefits of improved access and inclusion for everyone. When we bring together people from different cultures, backgrounds, viewpoints, and ways of thinking, we get better results – better teaching and learning, better creating, better problem solving. And it’s just more fun to come to work when you are part of such a team.
The Department of Computer Science is committed to diversity and inclusion. Particularly in the last eight years under the leadership of Dr. Barbara Ryder, this commitment has increasingly become part of our department’s culture. In many ways, we are just getting started, and I intend to build on this commitment and momentum during my term as department head. Please let us know if you have suggestions for ways to improve diversity in our department and our field, or to see how you can help. And check out the newly revamped section of our website on diversity, and news of the newly established Barbara Ryder Fund for Diversity in Computer Science.
The Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the establishment of the “Barbara Ryder Fund for Diversity in Computer Science.” This new endowed fund honors the outstanding personal efforts and culture-changing example of Dr. Barbara Ryder, J. Byron Maupin Professor of Engineering, who served as CS Department Head from 2008 to 2015. Initial seed funding for the fund comes from the prize accompanying the department’s recent National Center for Women and Information Technology Extension Services Transformation (NCWIT NEXT) award, which was given in recognition of progress and continuing commitment to increase the participation of women in computing. Under Dr. Ryder’s leadership the department’s focus on recruiting and retaining a diverse community of students, staff, and faculty increased significantly. By establishing this fund, the department is committing to a sustained emphasis on diversity. Income from the Ryder Fund will support an exciting range of activities and programs for years to come.
To donate to the Barbara Ryder Fund for Diversity in Computer Science, please visit our Giving to CS@VT page.
Congratulations to Teresa Hall, Sheila Hulick, Andrea Linkous, Missy Thomas, Linda Fitzgerald, and Julia Costello for earning certifications offered by University Organizational and Professional Development (UOPD).
Andrea Linkous– Office Software Skills Training Program and Customer Service Excellence Certificate Program
Sheila Hulick– Research Administrator Level I and Research Administrator Level II
Teresa Hall– Research Administrator Level I
Missy Thomas– Research Administrator Level II
Linda Fitzgerald– Administrative Professional Development Program Certificate and Customer Service Excellence Certificate Program
Julia Costello– Computer Software Skills Training Program
Kurt Luther’s research partnership is revealing the differences in the latitude and attitude of Americans during the Civil War era one historical document at a time and it’s inviting “citizen historians” to transcribe, tag, and discuss primary sources. It may also open up discussions into issues of race, citizenship, and identity.
