A digest of Illinois Computer Science faculty, alumni, and students who are featured in the media.
Bloomberg -- Recent graduates from Illinois Computer Science - Alan Jin, Eric Lee, Surabhi Sonali, and Caren Zeng - talk about their experiences in joining the workforce during the coronavirus pandemic.
MIT Technology Review -- For the past 20 years, this list of innovators highlights some of the “possible directions that technology will take in the coming decade.” Illinois CS professor Bo Li made the list this year through research efforts to make AI safer “by devising new ways to fool” it.
South China Morning Post -- Today, Professor Heng Ji is one of the most-referenced authors in her field of NLP but said that female Chinese academics do not get the recognition they deserve. “I want to index the email addresses of all the magnificent women scientists in China, so when the committees in China invite experts to give speeches, they can reference the list and invite females,” said Ji.
Chicago Tribune -- Professor Sheldon H. Jacobson argues that the state of Illinois needs a bottom-up approach to enhance and enforce public health protocols.
Built In Chicago -- Illinois CS alumni Rohan Gupta, Anil Jason, and David Silin have received $4.25 million in backing from GSV Ventures and Sierra Ventures. Their startup company, Quillbot, aims to use AI to improve how we write.
The Hill -- Professor Sheldon H. Jacobson discusses the need to balance air system security with public health security and proposes incremental modifications to airport security protocols.
Popular Mechanics -- Four projects that “reveal the patterns and insights that can help you make sense of the latest COVID-19 statistics” include Associate Teaching Professor Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider's interactive 91-DIVOC visualizations.
The Associated Press -- Professor Sheldon H. Jacobson offers a possible explanation behind the uptick in gun-carrying rates at airports: people who are still flying during a pandemic may be different — and more prone to carry a gun. In particular, leisure travelers have mostly stopped flying. “People who are leisure flyers traveling with their families, they don’t bring guns to checkpoints,” Jacobson said.
Wisconsin State Journal -- University communities could see a spike in COVID-19 cases when students return to campus. In this guest column, Illinois Professors Sheldon H. Jacobson and Janet A. Jokela discuss possible risks, implications, and mitigation strategies.
The Chronicle of Higher Education -- The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's CS + X programs are cited as an example of an growing trend towards integrating computer and data science into a variety of disciplines, even as the computer science enrollment boom strains colleges.