March 2022 E-News – IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute, Machine Learning for 5G/6G, HackIllinois 2022

18 Illinois CS faculty are involved in research projects through the new IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute

Each project pairs faculty and students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, housed within The Grainger College of Engineering, with IBM researchers to form large-scale research collaborations in the areas of Hybrid Cloud and AI, Quantum Computing, Materials Discovery, and Sustainability.

Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering and Illinois Computer Science Department Head, Nancy M. Amato, didn’t hesitate when describing her work associated with the new IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute as “one of the broadest research projects I have ever been associated with.” Learn more →

Collaborative Work Pairs Wireless Networking, Machine Learning Experts to Improve Upon 5G, 6G Performance

Deepak Vasisht’s previous work indicated more could be done to improve upon a problem found in 5G performance. He then connected with fellow professor Gagandeep Singh and PhD student Zikun Liu to produce a machine learning based system. Learn more →

Student Co-Directors Explain the Enthusiasm, Sense of Community Behind HackIllinois 2022

Raghav Saini and Yi Shian Ho share details about all the work that went into making this year’s hackathon successful – including leaning on past directors, who remain engaged and helpful mentors. Learn more →

Illinois CS Papers Earn Top Honors at Conferences

Topics receiving recognition include Heng Ji’s COVID-19 Literature Knowledge Graph Construction, two topics from Josep Torrellas’ i-acoma research group, Sarita Adve’s efforts with ILLIXR, Madhusudan Parthasarathy’s foundational study of exact learning of logical formulas, and more. Learn more →

Quantum All-Star: Dakshita Khurana

Two years ago, a twist of fate turned an expert on classical cryptography into a budding leader in quantum cryptography. As the new world of quantum information science comes into being, it’s showing enormous potential to solve old challenges in novel ways – and cybersecurity is one realm in which quantum promises to shake things up. Learn more →

Reconstructing the Construction Industry

Based on ideas and technology developed at The Grainger College of Engineering, the early-stage technology company, Reconstruct – cofounded by Illinois CS professor Derek Hoiem – is bringing computer vision and AI to buildings, infrastructure, and retail stores around the world. Learn more →

Method for Diagnosing PIR Sensor Failures Could Cut Back Unnecessary Smart Building Expenses

Answering questions about Passive Infra-Red (PIR) sensors could cut unnecessary expenses for smart building operations. Sibin Mohan, Adjunct Research Assistant Professor with Illinois CS, is investigating this with CSL PhD student Ashish Kashinath. Learn more →

Illinois Musicians, Chemists Use Sound to Better Understand Science

A team of researchers – including composer and software designer Carla Scaletti (CS MS ’88) – at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is using sonification, the use of sound to convey information, to depict biochemical processes and better understand how they happen. Learn more →

Preparing for a Cyber Attack
Assistant Professor with the Computer Science department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an affiliate with the Security and Privacy Research Center, Gang Wang, spoke with Jon Hansen about the growing concern of potential cyber warfare between Russia and Ukraine spreading to other countries. WGN Radio →

You Still Need to Wear a Mask on Planes. Here’s Why It’s a Good Idea
If someone on a flight has COVID-19, you obviously don’t want to sit next to them, but you also don’t want to sit behind them, the researchers concluded. “You have to look at not only east-west transmission, but also north-south transmission,” says co-author Sheldon Jacobson, a computer scientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who studies public health and aviation security and has received funding from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Time →

Nearly-Broke to $1.5 Billion: How They Built Loom and Grew It to 14 Million Users
Two years into college, Vinay Hiremath (former Illinois CS student) dropped out, drawn in by the allure of startups, which would take him from a small college town in Illinois to Palo Alto, CA. A little over three years later, he co-founded his own. Today, we know it as Loom, the asynchronous video messaging company that now serves over 14 million users and 200,000 businesses.  Forbes →

Computer Architecture Podcast, Ep. 7: Domain-specific Systems for AR/VR and Extended Reality
with Dr. Sarita Adve
Dr. Sarita Adve is the Richard T. Cheng Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests span the system stack, including hardware, programming languages, operating systems, and applications. Her group recently released the Illinois Extended Reality testbed (ILLIXR), the first fully open source extended reality system to democratize XR systems research and development.
Computer Architecture Podcast →

Hoop Hype: March Madness Brackets Get America Talking Again
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researcher Sheldon Jacobson has spent the past decade trying to build the better mousetrap to predict brackets. Last year, he boiled it down to three models. His computers produced 1 million brackets using each. Two of the models produced combinations that would’ve won the ESPN pool contest that included around 17 million entries. Associated Press →

Generating and Identifying Propaganda With Machine Learning
New research from the United States and Qatar offers a novel method for identifying fake news that has been written in the way that humans actually write fake news – by embedding inaccurate statements into a largely truthful context, and by the use of popular propaganda techniques such as appeals to authority and loaded language. Unite.ai →

UI Advancements Change the Purpose of Virtual Reality
Sarita V. Adve, a professor in computer science, explained how the University is now looking into extended reality initiatives. Adve is also involved in the Illinois eXtended Reality testbed and consortium. ILLIXR aims to understand and apply extended reality tech. “XR promises to be the next interface to computing and has the potential to transform virtually all aspects of our lives,” Adve said. The Daily Illini →

UI Professors Discuss Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision
AI is becoming increasingly common in the contemporary technological landscape. However, misconceptions about the field still remain. David Forsyth, professor in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, noted that despite the recent startup fervor surrounding AI and computer vision, most of the systems’ applications are in less-flashy, practical ways.  … Derek Hoiem, professor in Computer Science, has focused the majority of his career on studying how AI and computer vision can make the world a better place. The Daily Illini →

Illinois Computer Science Speaker Series
Check the calendar for upcoming speakers!
The Illinois Computer Science Speaker Series brings prominent leaders and experts to campus to share their ideas and promote conversations about important challenges and topics in the discipline. Join us online: talks are virtual this year!  View the Calendar →

SAIL 2022
April 1-2, 2022
High school students get a taste of what it is like to be an Illinois CS student by attending this student-run hybrid event that is virtual and in-person. Speak to professors, advisers, and student leaders, and attend a variety of short courses! More information →

Engineering Open House
April 8-9, 2022
The University’s largest student-run event features student and corporate exhibits, design competitions, guest speakers, and campus tours. More information →

Celebrating Illinois Computer Science
April 12, 2022, 4 p.m.
Every year we gather as a department to celebrate Illinois Computer Science. This year we highlight the pathways Illinois CS has built and share the course we are charting. All computer science faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend. More information →

Utpal Banerjee Distinguished Lecture in High Performance Computing
April 14, 2022, 3:30 p.m.
Join us for the inaugural Utpal Banerjee Distinguished Lecture in High Performance Computing with featured speaker David J. Kuck. The lecture will be held in the NCSA Auditorium. More information →

Celebration of Excellence
April 26, 2022, 5 p.m.
Illinois CS students, alumni, and faculty have long been recognized for their leadership contributions to computing and information technology in the classroom, in the research lab, and in industry. We are honored to celebrate these accomplishments. More information →

Investiture Celebration for Jeff Erickson, Svetlana Lazebnik, and Craig Zilles
April 27, 2022, 4 p.m.
Join us for the investiture celebration for Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Professor Jeff Erickson, Donald Biggar Willett Faculty Scholar Svetlana Lazebnik, and Severs Faculty Scholar Craig Zilles. More information →