Media Coverage
A digest of Illinois Computer Science faculty, alumni, and students who are featured in the media.
Symmetric Games CEO On Trends in Video Gaming
May 31, 2019WGN Radio -- Symmetric Games CEO Dan Nikolaides (BS CS ’05) talks with WGN radio’s Wintrust Business Lunch about the video gaming industry. "You see a lot more participation by young women. The advent of games on mobile phones, it's ... democratizing."
Famous Female Alumni of IIT
May 19, 2019Yahoo News/NewsBytes -- Professor Sarita Adve makes a list of well-known and accomplished female graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology. A graduate of IIT-Bombay, Adve, the Richard T. Cheng Professor of Computer Science, is No. 2 on the list.
Scientists Help Artificial Intelligence Outsmart Hackers
May 14, 2019Science -- Researchers say they have found a new way to give AI a defensive edge against adversarial attacks based on patterns hidden in images. Bo Li, a computer scientist at the University of Illinois who was not involved in the work, says distinguishing apparent features from hidden features is a “useful and good research direction” but also still needs more work.
Cultivation Leads $7.7 Million Investment In Construction Software Firm
May 14, 2019ChicagoInno -- Champaign-based startup Reconstruct raised a $7.7 million Series A round led by Cultivation Capital. Reconstruct was co-founded by Illinois CS Associate Professor Derek Hoiem. Also covered by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
AI Can Now Defend Itself Against Malicious Messages Hidden In Speech
May 10, 2019Nature -- Bo Li, a computer scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her co-authors wrote an algorithm that transcribes a full audio clip and, separately, just one portion of it. If the transcription of that single piece doesn’t closely match the corresponding part of the full transcription, the program throws a red flag — the sample might have been compromised.
Espresso Royale Location With Link To Mosaic Closing
May 2, 2019Smile Politely -- The Espresso Royale coffee shop on campus that closed in May was reportedly the site of a small-but-important piece of computer science history. Illinois CS alum Marc Andreessen has said it's the spot where he had the idea that he could create what would eventually become the Mosaic browser.
Online Education Provider Coursera Is Now Worth More Than $1 Billion
April 25, 2019Forbes -- Coursera, the seven-year-old online education provider, is worth more than $1 billion, according to CEO Jeff Maggioncalda. Coursera's offerings include 14 online masters degrees in computer science and other disciplines from schools like the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The Brave Browser Launches Ads that Reward Users for Viewing
April 24, 2019TechCrunch -- With the latest desktop version of the Brave browser, users can now opt-in to the Brave Ads program. Brave is an ad-blocking web browser startup led by Brendan Eich (MS CS '86), creator of the JavaScript programming language and former Mozilla CEO. He’s long maintained that the vision is “bigger than an ad blocker.”
Bootstrapping in Chicago
April 23, 2019ChicagoInno -- "Runtime Verification, founded in 2011 and based in Urbana, is building technology that identifies problems in a company’s software. Since launching, Runtime has grown only on revenue made from its business contracts. It now employs a team of 30."
Stage Players: Michael and Mona Heath
April 23, 2019WTTW-TV -- Public TV in Chicago features a short video profile of “obsessive theatre-goers and philanthropists” Michael and Mona Heath.
Internet Browsers Became Mainstream 26 Years Ago Today
April 22, 2019Digit -- Today marks the 26th Anniversary of the 1.0 version of the Mosaic browser. The easiest way to explain Mosaic would be to say that it’s the great grandpappy of the browser you are using to read this story. Launched back in 1993, Mosaic was developed at the University of Illinois.
Facebook Invests $4M to Expand Computer Science Master’s Program
April 18, 2019Geekwire -- Facebook has invested $4.2 million to expand a Northeastern University computer science master’s program that helps people from other fields get into tech to the University of Illinois, Georgia Tech, and Columbia.
Finding a Home Base in Crisis With Anemone
April 16, 2019Smile Politely -- Illinois CS student Ananya Cleetus has developed an app, called Anemone, for helping people handle mental health issues. She says she is currently on leave but plans to return to school in the fall.
Could Artificial Intelligence Save the Pentagon $15 Billion a Year?
April 15, 2019C4ISRNET -- After several years in which he turned down similar requests from the Chinese government, Pentagon representatives contacted Tom Siebel in 2015. Like their Chinese counterparts, US officials wanted help with artificial intelligence. Within six months, Siebel's C3 had demonstrated a reduction of as much as 28 percent of unscheduled maintenance events for the E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft.
University of Illinois Lands a $100M Gift to Engineering School — Again
April 15, 2019Chicago Tribune -- The University of Illinois’ acclaimed College of Engineering has received a record $100 million gift and will be renamed the Grainger College of Engineering. Also covered by The Associated Press, Inside Higher Education,
Campus Conversation: Ryan Cunningham
April 10, 2019The News-Gazette/Campus Conversation podcast -- Lecturer Ryan Cunningham appears in an interesting conversation that touched on ethics in CS, how the department’s ethics courses regularly evolve to reflect current events, the impacts of social media, protecting privacy rights, and more. "If we're going to find out what privacy means in the digital age, the thing that we need to do is have a conversation about it."
High School Students Attend SAIL at Illinois CS
April 10, 2019The News-Gazette -- Members of the Tuscola High School Hack Club attended SAIL— a one-day event to spotlight Computer Science at the University of Illinois (scroll down near the end of the News-Gazette's High School Confidential feature).
Should We Embrace Metro’s Broken Escalators for Keeping Us In Shape?
April 9, 2019The Washington Post -- Escalators in Washington, D.C., Metro stations often break. But that may be a good thing, according to research from Illinois CS Professor Sheldon Jacobson. “When people use public transit, they typically must walk (or) cycle to the stop/station, and on the back end, do the same," Jacobson said via email. “Also, during the transit ride, they may stand (more calories burned)."
Illinois Professor Improves Airport Security Systems
April 8, 2019The Daily Illini -- After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government increased airport security and changed the system for screening passengers. In 2011, airports introduced Transportation Security Administration precheck, a process developed with the help of work done by Sheldon Jacobson, a Computer Science professor.
The Fight in Illinois Begins Again to Protect Your Vote
April 5, 2019Chicago Sun-Times -- "Gerrymandering has been around since the early days of the Republic, but powerful computers and big data have made the practice much more effective. … Scientists at the University of Illinois proposed a way to take politics out of redistricting by letting a carefully designed algorithm draw the maps," referencing research by Professor Sheldon Jacobson.