Media Coverage

Meta Research -- In this Q&A, we hear from Kevin Lewi, a Research Scientist in cryptography and security at Meta, and Harjasleen “Jasleen” Malvai, a PhD candidate in computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, both of whom have participated in the Meta PhD internship program. Their experiences set them up to excel academically and have proved pivotal in shaping their early careers. 

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The Story Collider -- There’s rarely an expected path in science. This week’s episode, produced in partnership with The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, features two stories from scientists - including Illinois CS professor Heng Ji - of their cutting-edge research institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who took unexpected journeys to get where they are today.

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Forbes -- Based on her success to date, GlobalWafers Chairman CEO Doris Hsu made the 2022 Asia Power Businesswomen List unveiled by Forbes Asia this month. I talked to the holder of a graduate degree in computer science from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by Zoom from the company’s headquarters in Hsinchu on Wednesday. We discussed the new Texas project, how geopolitics is influencing the company’s investments, and Hsu’s advice for success. 

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TheStreet -- “Taking the first flight of the day makes sense out of hub airports, but when departing from a smaller regional airport, that second flight carries with it less risk of delays,” said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign computer science professor Sheldon H. Jacobson. “It’s often best to take the second flight of the day from these smaller airports, as long as that flight is in the morning.” 

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Forbes -- Doris Hsu (MCS '93); Chairman and CEO, GlobalWafers; Age: 61; Taiwan. The U.S. is working hard to boost domestic production of semiconductors, enacting the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act this year to attract investment. Hsu answered that call. She leads GlobalWafers, one of the world’s largest suppliers of silicon wafers used in making chips.

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Gizmodo -- Using a $20 off-the-shelf drone, researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario have created what is effectively an airborne scanning device that can triangulate the location of every WiFi-connected device in your house. Yikes. Researchers Ali Abedi and Deepak Vasisht, professor with Illinois CS, who recently presented their findings at the 28th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, call this contraption “Wi-Peep,” which is a deceptively cute name for a project with such horrifying implications.

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More Coverage: Toronto Star, TechRadar

Intelligent Living -- Scientists have developed an underwater camera that is powered solely by sound waves and is around one hundred thousand times more efficient than other undersea camera systems. Haitham Al-Hassanieh, an electrical and computer engineering assistant professor, as well as Illinois CS affiliate faculty, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who was not involved in the study, added: “This will open up great opportunities for research both in low-power IoT devices and underwater monitoring and research.”

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The Hill -- Election day is just one week away. Polling data suggest a close race for control of the House and the Senate. RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight, two well-followed websites that use polling data to forecast the outcome of the election are in agreement, though their specifics are not completely consistent. Yet, as was seen in the 2016 Presidential election, polls can be wrong, writes Illinois CS professor Sheldon Jacobson.

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Alcalde -- Peng Ong (MS CS '88) still remembers the first time he got to explore a computer. He was around 13 years old, well before MacBooks sat upon desks and tables everywhere, and the TRS-80 Micro Computer System was for sale at a department store in his native Singapore. ... That love of computers has taken Ong on a journey across the world to The University of Texas, behind the scenes as one of the founders of Match.com, and now back to Singapore as an investor and adviser behind dozens of tech companies.

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Chicago Tribune -- The life expectancy of Americans has dropped for two consecutive years. The first year, attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, was consistent with other countries. The second year was not. In spite of how much our nation spends on health care  services, which reached $4 trillion in 2020 or around $12,500 per person, these funds are providing less health benefit value for Americans, writes Illinois CS professor Sheldon Jacobson.

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