News

May 1, 2008

Professor Ibarra elected to Academia Europaea

Professor Oscar Ibarra was recently elected a Foreign Member of the Academia Europaea in the Informatics Section. Academia Europaea is a non-governmental association of scientists and scholarswho collectively aim to promote learning, education and research.Founded in 1988, the organization’s more than 2000 members include leading experts from the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, the letters and humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics and law. The Informatics Section (IS) is one of 17 sections of the Academia. As of 2007, IS had 73 members of which 7 are Foreign Members. Professor Ibarra now joins this elite group.

April 21, 2008

Kuo and Langton Win Undergrad Programming Battle

The team of Alexander Kuo and Colin Langton won the UCSB Programming Battle, a head to head competition in which UCSB Undergrads program strategies into tiny “bots” over a 5 hour marathon coding session to capture objectives and defeat their opponents. At the end of the 5 hours, the programs play against one another in simulation to discover the wining teams. It was an incredibly close battle this year, with undergrads Bryan Donyanavard and Marc Mendonca tied 1-1 with the eventual champions going into the final round. Special thanks to Ph.D. student Bryce Boe who organized the event, and to Scott Bonebrake, Adam Doupe, and Professor Sherwood for their assistance in getting it set up. You can read more details about the event on the UCSB Programming Battle Web Page

April 3, 2008

Two Staff Excellence Awards for Computer Science

Don Voita and Greta Carl-Halle

Two CS staff members were recognized by the university for their outstanding service. Students Affairs Manager Greta Carl-Halle and Systems Administrator Don Voita received the Citation of Excellence Award from the UCSB Staff Assembly. The purpose of this award is to acknowledge and celebrate outstanding achievements and meritorious service of the career staff. With these two new awards CS staff will have three Citation of Excellence Awards in the last three years. Graduate Program Assistant Amanda Hoagland received the Citation of Excellence Award in 2006.

The excellent job performances of Greta Carl-Halle and Don Voita are best explained by the following quotes from the nomination letters written by the faculty and staff.

The award nomination letter for Greta Carl-Halle states: “Greta Carl-Halle’s performance in our Department as an employee has been stellar. She does not only perform her duties to perfection, but she also takes initiative in improving our graduate and undergraduate programs, and she has had a significant positive impact on our Department. She provides a golden standard for professionalism and ethics. She does her job with extreme efficiency, accuracy, and with knowledge that reflects her 10+ years of service on campus. Furthermore, she does not miss any opportunity to serve the campus through committees, volunteering for events, and actively encourages her staff and others to better themselves in professional and personal ways. Recognizing her with this award would not only reward an extremely deserving employee, but it would also provide an excellent role model for all UCSB employees.”

The award nomination letter for Don Voita states: “Don Voita is a truly exceptional staff member. He has consistently performed well above the call of duty, and, in a number of occasions, he has contributed novel solutions to problems that affected the Department for years. In addition to his extraordinary achievements, Don also deserves praise for his hard-working and positive attitude in the workplace. Don is just one of the most pleasant people to work with. He is a truly exceptional staff member, who has great interpersonal skills, strong dedication to his work, and overwhelming enthusiasm. Don’s service to the Department is beyond any job description and for which there cannot be any adequate compensation. Therefore, this award would at least signify our appreciation for his critical role in the success of the Department.”

Department of Computer Science

University of California, Santa Barbara