Final Event

At the COSMOS final event, the students showed their posters to a packed room of faculty, parents, and friends. I got to meet and talk with some of the parents who I had met for the first time a month ago (seems like only yesterday); now it felt as if I knew them, after having interacted so much with their sons and daughters. I was able to tell them how well the students did, relate some personal stories, and that they were lucky to have such wonderful teen-agers. It was all very positive.

We then had the graduation ceremony, where all the students received their certificates. I was asked to say some words about COSMOS from a professor's perspective. Here is what I said:

For me, my interest in COSMOS is rooted in a deep admiration for high school teachers. I think we all have a strong memory of some teacher who was most influential to us, a teacher who made a lasting difference. This was probably a teacher you had in high school. I can remember in the planning days of COSMOS, having a conversation with Prof. Barney Rickett just about this. We thought, isn't it great that we, as professors, have the opportunity to teach high school students who are the cream of the crop, in a small class setting, on a topic of our choosing? Well, this is the genius of COSMOS. I've now had this privilege twice, and in all my 19 years at UCSD, it is these summer months that, I must say, are pure magic in getting to know and brainstorm with bright students as we have here.

To the students, I hope you will remember your COSMOS experience. In my cluster, in addition to learning about media computing, and abacuses and slide rules, we asked and discussed seemingly outlandish questions, such as "Can computation support consciousness," or "Will humans be able to outlive their physical brains by 'uploading' our knowledge as we do with computers?" For those of you in other clusters, I'm certain you explored equally profound ideas in your discipline. These are the kinds of things we as professors and researchers think about. These questions may not be answered by us or by anyone in our lifetimes, but perhaps they might be answered some day by you. You have experienced the research process that goes on in places like UCSD. You now know a bit of what it takes. It all begins with the simple act of asking these questions, and having the courage to do so. You are all bright enough to be the ones who can do it. You are not too young, and you have to begin somewhere. Keep in mind that there was a time when we, the professors, were students just like you.

In closing, I can tell you that, as your teachers, it would delight us to no end if some day you made such discoveries, and that perhaps it was something in your COSMOS experience that sparked your interest. You are all special, you can do it. And if you do, please ... send us an email! Let us know. And you don't have to wait for a great discovery to contact us. Even a simple "hello" out of the blue is always nice. We are now connected forever, and we want to hear from you. Good luck.

While it was a very happy event, marking the successful completion of COSMOS, it was sad in that we all knew this was the final time everyone would see each other, at least as part of COSMOS. We said our good byes, and then they were gone. I hope they will keep in touch.

Videos in the Cal-IT2 Digital Theater

Yesterday, the students presented their final projects. They gave their presentations, and showed their resulting videos. Today, they will show their posters and hand in final papers.

The video presentations were fun to watch, Paul was right in his prediction (and kudos to him and Nakul for staying up till 1am to generate all the DVDs). Seeing the videos on the big screen in the Cal-IT2 digital theater was a real treat. Some of the more memorable parts: Juan as the evil Kwanton spewing lightning at Billy's angels (Lucia, Melissa, and Mindi) and their final dance, Lara on the cell phone alerting the authorities about a late student, Jonathan as the guy from Outback Adventures ("You're on fire, you're on fire!"), Nestor's magic with the soccer ball, Lucia getting hit with the soccer ball, Forrest's tunnel, Tristan as the MGM lion, GQ's excellent special effects, Matt as the detective, Katie's wonderful Flash animations, and all the memorable scenes of COSMOS 06 life with editing and technical production by Brendan, Christina, Eric, Evelyn, Melanie, Mike, Sid, and Samantha.

I have to say this about our students, they are a very creative bunch. In addition to demonstrating technical sophistication, they have an artistic flair. They were given an outlet for creative expression (with few bounds), and they seized it with gusto. They all came through. I'm proud of each and every one of them.

The Final Stretch

Only a few days left of COSMOS - it has gone so fast! The students are hard at work on their projects. In this final week, they have the following items to complete: a 7-minute video, a slide presentation, a poster, and a paper. The video should capture their COSMOS experience, using the video, image, and audio content they have been collecting during the past month. It should include elements of video processing that they have learned. Finally, they must tell a coherent story. The videos will also allow the students to fully express their creativity, as we have placed very few bounds on what they can do (in fact the only real bound is, "keep it clean!"). The presentations should be 4 minutes in duration, and succinctly describe the processing and editing techniques they used to produce their videos. The poster should reflect the content of the presentation, but in poster form. The paper should explain more fully what they accomplished, with references to research they did. This is a tall order for the final week, but I am happy to see that all the groups are on track for successful completion.

Tomorrow is the big day. They will show their videos and make their presentations to the COSMOS community in the spectacular Cal-IT2 digital theater. It will be bittersweet, as we reach the climax of COSMOS and see what the students have accomplished, but it will also mark the coming-to-an-end of a fun experience.

One-Minute Videos a Success

Earlier this week, the students had to produce one-minute videos using the various skills they have mastered so far. My colleague, Paul Kube, has done a great job in getting the students up to speed on how to use various image and video processing tools as well as how to put content together to create a coherent presentation. In preparation for "the big day" on Friday of next week when they make their final presentations, Paul asked them to produce one-minute videos, having only the past weekend to plan and one afternoon to actually do the composition and editing. I was very impressed with the creativity of the videos, especially those that clearly made use of some advanced techniques they learned. For example, take a look at this video by students Jikyu Choi, Matt Rilla, and Sid Vijay. More impressive was that they were able to get something off the ground so quickly. Paul predicts the final projects will be "great", and I couldn't agree more!

Working the Jumbotron at Petco Park

Today was absolutely spectacular. We went on a field trip to Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, to see how their Jumbotron works. We were hosted by professional cameraman, David Desrochers, who showed us EVERYTHING. We met in the main control room, where all the various media sources (e.g., cameras capturing live video, and video feeds from other sources like NBC and ESPN) feed in, and can be selected and mixed. The processed video is eventually fed out to television broadcast networks. He explained the various stations (video source selection, mixing, replay, audio control, music, etc.), and the roles and responsibilities of the various people who operate them, as well as the producer and director. We then participated in a recreated simulation of an actual baseball game, with the students manning the various positions to actually produce the media portion of the game. We all experienced that this was not so easy, as there is a tremendous amount of activity and coordination (TEAMWORK!) required to pull off what seems to go off so smoothly on TV. Interestingly, most of the control room is based on digital technology (having dropped much of the analog equipment a few years ago). The students saw that the skills they are learning in COSMOS have direct counterparts in what goes on in the control room.

This special day came about because of the initiative by our co-instructor, Beth Simon, who contacted Sue Botos with the San Diego Padres to see if such a visit would be possible. Sue was immediately supportive and made it happen for us. She arranged that we meet with David, who was absolutely outstanding. His wonderfully prepared setup gave the students a hands-on perspective of the complexity of managing the broadcast of a professional baseball game. He took a lot of his time for us, and we really appreciate it.

Days like today are what make COSMOS truly special. To see our students displayed on the Jumbotron - how great is that!

Information and Computation

This afternoon, we dealt with the concept of "information." Of course, they had an informal idea of what information is, but had never really thought about it carefully. And when confronted with the question of "What is information?" it was not so easy for them to provide a definitive answer. This is not unusual, as Shannon, the father of information theory, thought about this a lot before developing the theory. We discussed Shannon's development of his ideas, some of the basic results, and how they relate to computation.

We then began dealing with the concept of "computation." We've already been talking about the abstract concept of Turing machines (and of course, they are using real computers in the lab), but I wanted to begin their introduction to real computers by discussing analog vs. digital computation. So, out came the slide rules and abacuses. We discussed how to do some basic calculations with the slide rule. Each student was given a slide rule, and "oooh's" and "aaah's" were uttered when they succeeded in doing their first multiplication. Yes, the slide rule really does work, and it seems like magic! Of course, it's not magic, and the mystery of why slide rules work will be dealt with next time, after which we'll go on to the abacus. I'll be interested to see who will be the first to be able to articulate why slide rules are analog and abacuses are digital.

All in all, I think it was a good afternoon. They seem motivated to learn, but we are throwing so much at them that overload is always an issue. My afternoon session with them was only one of three learning sessions they had today (a lecture this morning on dark matter by a UCSD physicist, and then Lara's scientific communications class), never mind the other sessions throughout the week. Well, at least they're getting a taste of what college life will be like, and hopefully they will learn how to manage their time so they benefit from each learning opportunity as much as possible.

COSMOS is off the ground!

COSMOS 06 is officially started, and what a GREAT group of students! On Sunday, we met all the proud parents, who dropped off their 9 daughters and 11 sons for what is to be a month of the second COSMOS program at UCSD. They should be proud - these are students, mostly high school seniors but also a few juniors, with top grades and many other distinguishing qualities.

This year, the focus is on "Media Computing." Basically, the students will be learning about programming, but in a fun way, using images, video, and audio that they capture throughout the month using digital cameras they have been given. They will learn how to process and integrate (via programs they will write), and present this multimedia data, and their final projects will result in a DVD of their work. More generally, they will also learn about computer science, and some of the deeper concepts of our discipline.

I have a wonderful team working with me. Christine Alvarado is back, and new on board are Paul Kube and Beth Simon, all as instructors. Beth, Christine, and Paul came up with the great idea of focusing on media computing. Lara Geronime is back as our super Teacher Fellow, and we have two very sharp TA's, Roshni Malani and Nakul Verma, both graduate students in computer science who also have a keen interest in teaching.

Yesterday we began with introductions in the morning, followed by Beth and Christine discussing what computer science is about and getting some feedback from the students on their interests. In the afternoon, Paul presented a lecture on "It's all bits", introducing basic concepts - from what is a bit to what is a Turing machine - and some of the history of computer science. I enjoyed hearing my colleagues give their spin on what our discipline is about.

Today, I did the afternoon session, and we got into a bit of a brainstorming session on some of the deeper questions of computer science like, might computers be able to "think" some day (and what does that mean), and are we "just" machines. I was very impressed with their level of engagement, and some of the insightful comments and questions. This is a VERY bright group (and they are not at all shy!). We even talked about how computer science is influencing other disciplines, and vice versa (e.g., physics and quantum computing). Indeed, the relationship of computer science to other disciplines, and the influence and adoption of its concepts (algorithm, information, complexity) to sciences such as biology and physics is a theme I will be stressing throughout this month.

I'm looking forward to getting to know each and every one of these students better. They are eager to be challenged, and are refreshingly open to new ideas. I can't imagine a better group!