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!
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!
posted by Joe at 11:08 PM
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