A digest of Illinois Computer Science faculty, alumni, and students who are featured in the media.
The University of Sidney News -- At that time, there were just a dozen computers in existence worldwide, and the Illinois Automatic Computer (ILLIAC), built by the University of Illinois, was considered the best. Ideas around intellectual property were more relaxed then than now, and Illinois University was happy to share their ILLIAC blueprints, if Sydney shared its own advances on ILLIAC with them.
Chicago Tribune -- Gov. J.B. Pritzker has toyed with the idea of mandating that all college students at state schools be vaccinated prior to their return to campus in the fall. Although elected officials often veer into areas that are outside their purview, in this case, a statewide requirement makes good public health sense.
HPC Wire -- Co-led by Girish Chowdary, an associate professor at the Center for Digital Agriculture at NCSA, COALESCE seeks to innovate using a combination of non-traditional digital agricultural tools, like robotics and modeling, and physical tools, like sensors and drones.
Chicago Tribune -- As the Illinois General Assembly begins the process of redistricting, Illinois CS professor Sheldon H. Jacobson argues that computational tools can help serve the best interests of voters by revealing the packing and cracking techniques of gerrymandering.
Forbes -- In 2017 Ankush Aggarwal (BS CS '16) cofounded Avail Finance, a Bangalore-based fintech that offers loans to blue collar workers who are typically ignored by mainstream banking institutions. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Avail offered interest-free loans to more than 100,000 gig workers who had lost their source of income, helping them tide over the financial stress.
Yahoo! Finance -- Seven research projects are sharing slightly more than $400,000 in funding through the Jump ARCHES research and development program to address challenges and expand on lessons learned about COVID-19 vaccinations and testing. Illinois CS professor, Jimeng Sun, earned Jump ARCHES support through his project, "Every shot counts: Development of a novel predictive model and toolkit to predict and decrease vaccine-preventable rural COVID-19 deaths."
Grainger Engineering News -- Duality, the first accelerator program in the nation that is exclusively dedicated to startup companies focused on quantum science and technology, launched today. The program is led by the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Chicago Quantum Exchange. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is a founding partner, along with Argonne National Laboratory and P33.
USA Today -- Delta Air Lines is the only major U.S. airline that continues to block airplane middle seats in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 on its flights. The airline has committed to continue to do so through the end of April. Is this good public health practice or bad business practice?
The Hill -- Illinois CS professor Sheldon H. Jacobson noted the importance of this (past) election was most apparent with over 100 million people voting early and over two-thirds of eligible voters participating, the highest percentage since 1900. What got lost during this election season amidst the COVID-19 chaos is the decennial census.
WCIA -- A lot of you probably have a photo album filled with old pictures of family members. You may have never met some of them. But what if you could see them move? That’s what one website is offering with a service called, “Deep Nostalgia.”
U of I professor, David Forsyth, says this sort of technology has improved a lot over the last decade — think Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram filters. Now, he says companies are experimenting.