Media Coverage
A digest of Illinois Computer Science faculty, alumni, and students who are featured in the media.
Cybersecurity: Preventing Hackers From Achieving Their Goals
July 26, 2018Illinois Innovators podcast -- When you think cybersecurity, you’re probably thinking about measures to keep hackers out of your network. Illinois CS Assistant Professor Adam Bates is focused on next steps, after an attack begins.
Ivy League Degree for the Nontraditional Student
July 25, 2018Inside Higher Ed -- Coursera is expanding partnerships with traditional universities, this time its first Ivy League degree, at Penn. The degree follows the three master's degrees offered through Coursera by Illinois, where Professor John C. Hart says “people come to this degree for the Illinois brand.
40 Under 40 Where Are They Now? Revisiting Ad Age's First 40-Under-40 List
July 24, 2018Ad Age -- The magazine revisits the members of its 2006 40-Under-40 list, which included YouTube co-founder and Illinois CS alum Steve Chen.
UI Awards $5 Million In 2nd Round Of 'Investment for Growth' Grants
July 23, 2018The News-Gazette -- New "Investment for Growth" grants will provide $5 million for 14 projects at the University of Illinois, among them three that involve CS: the Center for Smart Agriculture, the Illinois Center for Autonomy, and the Illinois Secondary Teacher Education and Computer Science Initiative. Also covered by WAND-TV.
UI Submarine Goes To National Competition
July 23, 2018WCIA-TV -- A submarine created by Illinois Computer Science students and other students from the College of Engineering is headed to a national competition. The autonomous submarine will compete in the International Robosub Competition in San Diego.
Why I Don't Invest In AI
July 21, 2018VentureBeat -- Monk’s Hill Ventures Managing Partner and Illinois CS alum (MS CS '88) Peng Ong writes that he doesn't invest in AI because "the capabilities of AI technology are often over-promised" and an important question is often overlooked: "What problem are they solving?"
UI Data Science Degree Sees Rise In Enrollment As Chance Of Employment Soars
July 20, 2018The Daily Illini -- Data science is growing rapidly, and some employers are using standardized testing to judge prospective employees’ data-science knowledge. “It’s perfectly fine for employers to have a test,” said John Hart, professor and director of online professional programs in CS.
Nancy Amato To Lead Illinois Computer Science
July 19, 2018The Chronicle of Higher Education -- Nancy Amato, a professor of computer science and engineering at Texas A&M University, will become head of computer science and a professor of engineering at the University of Illinois.
Internal Documents Show How Amazon Scrambled To Fix Prime Day Glitches
July 19, 2018CNBC -- “More people came in than Amazon could handle,” Matthew Caesar, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois and co-founder of cybersecurity firm Veriflow, said. “And Amazon couldn’t use all the resources they had available because there was a bug or some other issue with their software."
Method Revolutionizes Tracking The Spread Of Cancer
July 17, 2018The University Network -- A team of researchers led by Assistant Professor Mohammed El-Kebir has developed a new method to track the spread of cancer cells, yielding a clearer understanding of cancer migration than ever before. Their algorithm, called MACHINA, tracks the spread of cancer cells.
U of Illinois Names Alum, 1st Woman To Head Computer Science
July 15, 2018Chicago Tribune via AP -- The Los Angeles Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, San Francisco Chronicle, and numerous others pick up coverage of Professor Nancy Amato being named the next Illinois CS department head.
Robotics Expert To Be First Woman To Lead UI Computer-Science Department
July 12, 2018The News-Gazette -- Nancy Amato is named the new head of Illinois Computer Science. “It’s an awesome place to do research, it’s a top-five CS program. ... I’m really honored and humbled, honestly,” Amato said in an interview with the Champaign newspaper. ASEE's First Bell and the CRA Bulletin also covered the news.
New Informatics Tool Makes the Most of Genomics Data
July 12, 2018Technology Networks -- A new computational tool developed by University of Illinois researchers -- including CS Professor Saurabh Sinha -- and the Mayo Clinic combines genomic information to make stronger predictions about what genomic features are associated with specific drug responses.
2018’s Best & Worst Cities to Drive In
July 10, 2018WalletHub -- Some cities are better for those behind the wheel. To determine those places, WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities across 29 key indicators of driver-friendliness. Adjunct Professor Eyal Amir adds his expertise on how to drive for less, autonomous vehicles, and more.
The 27 Books Marc Andreessen Recommends You Read This Summer
July 6, 2018Quartz -- Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen (BS '94) has the kind of tech-industry clout that makes even his summer reading recommendations news, in this case a list of primarily politics, psychology, and history books that also marked his return to Twitter after two years. Also covered by CNBC.
Want A Job In Data Science? You Might Have To Take A Standardized Test When Applying
July 5, 2018Chicago Tribune -- Data scientists are in high demand, but some companies say they have struggled to find job candidates whose skills fit their needs. So eight have created a data science standards board. John C. Hart, professor and director of online and professional programs at Illinois Computer Science, says data science is exploding so it's no surprise companies are banding together to do such testing. Titus Fong, a recent graduate of the department's MCS-DS program, says he would have appreciated a standardized test to prove his skills to employers.
Myntra CTO Jeyandran Venugopal Helped Set Up Amazon In India, Then Moved To A Firm That Rivals Amazon
June 28, 2018YourStory -- Now CTO of India’s online fashion market leader Myntra, Jeyandran Venugopal (MS CS ’01) worked at Amazon for almost eight years and has been a significant participant in the growth of India's e-commerce economy over the last 10 years.
Police: Man Breaches Secure Area At Atlanta Airport, Rushes Delta Plane On Tarmac
June 28, 2018WXIA-TV Atlanta -- CS Professor Sheldon Jacobson is interviewed in this story on the arrest of a man who rushed a Delta Airlines plane on the tarmac at Atlanta's airport. "It doesn't scare me because there were enough checkpoints and layers in place ..." Jacobson appears at 1:42 in the video version of the story.
Demystifying the Blockchain
June 27, 2018The New York Times -- A series devoted to blockchain technology's evolving place in the worlds of tech and finance notes the recent announcement by Andreessen Horowitz -- whose co-founders include Marc Andreessen (BS '94) -- of a $300 million investment fund devoted to blockchain technologies.
Andreessen Horowitz Hires Its First Female General Partner
June 25, 2018Recode -- One of Silicon Valley’s buzziest venture capital firms, Andreessen Horowitz, has hired its first female senior investing partner. Marc Andreessen (BS '94) is a director and co-founder of the firm.