Assistant Professor Weihua Zhou, Applied Computing, will present a Chemistry department seminar on Friday, February 12, 2021, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. He will present ” Artificial intelligence for medical image analysis: our approaches.”
by Career Services
Michigan Tech’s Spring Career Fair is next week. We have 166 recruiting organizations registered so far. The event will be held virtually from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17.
Students can start registering for time slots to meet with company reps starting at 12:05 a.m. tomorrow (Feb. 11) on CareerFair Plus. We also encourage our first-year students to check out the group meetings at the fair, which are similar to company information sessions.
In preparation for the big day, we are hosting career fair prep workshops and events this week and next. Please pass this information on to your students and encourage them to register, as we have staff and recruiters who are eager to help prepare students for the fair.
Preparing for a Virtual Career Fair
- Wednesday, Feb. 10 | 4 to 5 p.m. via Zoom (passcode MTUPrepare)
Resume and Interview Blitz
- Thursday, Feb. 11 | 3-5 p.m. Register here
- Monday, Feb. 15 | 3-5 p.m. Register here
What: Info Session: ICPC Programming Competition
When: Thursday, February 11, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Where: Zoom
An information session about the ICPC Programming Competition will take place this Thursday, February 11, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
ICPC Programming Competition, North America North Central Regionals, will be held, Saturday, February 27, 2021. The contest will be held remotely using the Kattis contest system and Zoom for team communication.
Practice contests will be organized prior to the event.
Please contact Associate Professor Laura Brown (lebrown@mtu.edu), Computer Science, with questions.
What are programming competitions?
Programming competitions are team events (groups of 3 students) that test student knowledge through the answering of programming questions, correctly and quickly. Top teams at the various events can go on to compete against top teams in the world.
Why do you want to participate?
The programming contest tests your skills against other teams and universities, helps in developing problem solving skills, and can aid in preparation for job interviews, offering practice in solving problems quickly.
When and how you can participate?
The programming contest is usually held in the Fall, but runs virtually in spring 2021. Student eligibility rules are listed here: https://icpc.baylor.edu/regionals/rules, which basically indicate that the student 1) can compete a maximum of five times at the regional levels, 2) started college in 2016 or later, and 3) was born 1997 or later. First year graduate students may be able to participate under these rules.
Forming teams
Students who are interested and eligible may sign up to form teams of up to three students.
If you are unable to attend the information session, please complete the form linked to below to indicate your interest, register teammates, or notify organizers that you are looking for teammates.
https://forms.gle/AYtCmJzxNyf2YWGb6
Fine more information and resources at https://bit.ly/3aLiu1O.
by Graduate Student Government
Registration for this year’s virtual Graduate Research Colloquium (GRC) is open. Due to the continuation of the SARS-CoV-19 pandemic, the GRC will be held virtually on Thursday and Friday, April 1and 2.
The GRC is a great opportunity to work on your presentation skills and prepare for upcoming conferences. Students are free to give an oral presentation, a poster talk, or both. All talks will be scored by judges from the same field as the presenter.
Cash prizes are available for the top three places in both oral and poster presentations (1st – $300, 2nd – $200, and 3rd – $100). Registration closes Tuesday March 2, at 11:59 PM. Register today.
Poster presentations will take place in a pre-recorded video style. The deadline for video submission is Monday, March 22. A short Q&A session will take place with judges between 4-6 p.m. on April 1. Oral presentations are limited to 12 minutes plus a Q&A session.
The GRC will be capped off with a virtual awards ceremony. All participants and judges are invited to attend. The ceremony will be held on April 2, from 5-7 pm. Full information can be found on our website.
Feel free to contact Sarvada Chipkar if you have any questions or concerns.
The Institute of Computing and Cybersystems will present a Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Alina Zare on Friday, April 16, 2021, at 3:00 p.m.
Her talk is titled, “Multiple Instance Learning for Plant Root Phenotyping.”
Dr. Zare is a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at University of Florida. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of pattern recognition and machine learning.
Lecture Title
Multiple Instance Learning for Plant Root Phenotyping
Lecture Abstract
In order to understand how to increase crop yields, breed drought tolerant plants, investigate relationships between root architecture and soil organic matter, and explore how roots can play in a role in greenhouse gas mitigation, we need to be able to study plant root systems effectively. However, we are lacking high-throughput, high-quality sensors, instruments and techniques for plant root analysis. Techniques available for analyzing root systems in field conditions are generally very labor intensive, allow for the collection of only a limited amount of data and are often destructive to the plant. Once root data and imagery have been collected using current root imaging technology, analysis is often further hampered by the challenges associated with generating accurate training data.
Most supervised machine learning algorithms assume that each training data point is paired with an accurate training label. Obtaining accurate training label information is often time consuming and expensive, making it infeasible for large plant root image data sets. Furthermore, human annotators may be inconsistent when labeling a data set, providing inherently imprecise label information. Given this, often one has access only to inaccurately labeled training data. To overcome the lack of accurately labeled training, an approach that can learn from uncertain training labels, such as Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) methods, is required. In this talk, I will discuss our team’s approaches to characterizing and understanding plant roots using methods that focus on alleviating the labor intensive, expensive and time consuming aspects of algorithm training and testing.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Zare earned her Ph.D. in December 2008 from the University of Florida. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Florida in 2016, she was a faculty member at the University of Missouri.
Zare’s research has focused primarily on developing machine learning and pattern recognition algorithms to autonomously understand and process non-visual imagery. Her research work has included automated plant root phenotyping using visual and X-ray imagery, 3D reconstruction and analysis of X-ray micro-CT imagery, sub-pixel hyperspectral image analysis, target detection and underwater scene understanding using synthetic aperture sonar, LIDAR data analysis, Ground Penetrating Radar analysis, and buried landmine and explosive hazard detection.
by Center for Educational Outreach
Since 1972, Summer Youth Programs (SYP) at Michigan Tech has offered students in grades 6-11 a variety of hands-on explorations in engineering, science, technology, computer science, business, design, and the humanities.
From college and career discovery to academic immersion, SYP is a fantastic mini college experience that packs a ton of learning, experimenting, and fun into each day.
Around 50 programs are offered, along with several scholarship opportunities, and run weekly from June 20-Aug. 7.
In addition, if any Michigan Tech staff or faculty have children in college (other universities welcome) that are interested in learning more about our summer staffing opportunities on campus please visit the employment page of our website.
The Department of Computer Science will present a lecture by Dr. Elizabeth Veinott on Friday, February 12, 2021, at 3:00 p.m.
Veinott is an associate professor in the Cognitive and Learning Sciences department. She will present, “Beyond the system interface: Using human-centered design to support better collaborative forecasting.”
Speaker Biography
Elizabeth Veinott is a cognitive psychologist working in technology-mediated environments to improve decision making, problem solving and collaboration. She directs Michigan Tech’s Games, Learning and Decision Lab and is the lead for the Human-Centered Computing group of Michigan Tech’s Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC).
She has been active in the ACM’s SIGCHI and on the conference organizing committees for CHI Play and CSCW. Prior to joining Michigan Tech in 2016, she worked as a principal scientist in an industry research and development lab and as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center. Her research has been funded by NIH, Army Research Institute, Army Research Lab, Air Force Research Laboratory, and IARPA.
Lecture Abstract
Teams use technology to help them make judgments in a variety of operational environments. Collaborative forecasting is one type of judgment performed by analyst teams in weather, business, epidemiology, and intelligence analysis. Research related to collaborative forecasting has produced mixed results.
In her talk, Veinott will describe a case of using cognitive task analysis to develop and evaluate a new forecast process and tool. The method captured analysts’ mental models of game-based forecasting problems, and allowed the process to co-evolve with the system design. The tool was tested in a simulation environment with expert teams conducting analyses over the course of hours and compared to a control group. Challenges and lessons learned will be discussed, including implications for human-centered design of collaborative tools.
The virtual Bob Mark Business Model Pitch Competition takes place Thursday, January 28, 2021, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Graduate and undergraduate students from across campus disciplines are invited to compete. When registering, contestants can choose the competition category, as this year two pitch competition categories are available.
A tribute to the late Professor of Practice Bob Mark, College of Business, the Bob Mark Business Model Pitch Competition recognizes student entrepreneurial spirit.
Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the community are invited to attend this energized virtual pitch competition.
Register to attend the Bob Mark Business Model Competition
Register to compete in the Bob Mark Business Model Competition
Category 1: Idea Pitch
A two-minute idea pitch that presents a creative solution to a problem. Pitches will be evaluated on their uniqueness and the potential impactfulness.
Category 2: Business Model Pitch
A four-minute business model pitch which touches on the innovation technology, emphasizes product-market fit and the potential value it brings to the market. Prizes will be awarded to the most scalable and actionable business model pitches. Participants in the Business Model Pitch category are encouraged to sign up for the Business Model Boot Camp workshop on January 20, 2021 https://bit.ly/HuskyInnovateBootcamp
This event is hosted by Husky Innovate, a collaboration between Pavlis Honors College, the College of Business and the Office of Innovation and Commercialization. Prizes will be awarded by the College of Business, the MTEC SmartZone, and Husky Innovate.
Prizes include:
Idea Pitch Category
- First Prize: $125
- Second Prize: $75
- Third Prize: $50
- Social Impact Award: $100 (sponsored by Dr. Ellie Asgari – COB Gates Professor)
Business Model Category
- First Prize: $2,000 (sponsored by Rick and Jo Berquist)
- Second Prize: $1,000
- Third Prize: $500
- Honorable Mention (2 prizes): $250 each Audience Favorite: $250
- MTEC SmartZone Breakthrough Innovation Award: $1,000
- Social Impact Award: $1,000 (sponsored by Dr. Ellie Asgari – COB Gates Professor)
Husky Innovate is Michigan Tech’s innovation and entrepreneurship resource hub. The unit hosts free workshops, competitions, NSF I-Corps lean startup workshops, innovation talks, internships, mentorship, and the Silicon Valley Experience.
Michigan Tech’s Health Research Institute (HRI) will host a panel discussion on Monday, January 25, 2021,, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Health research at Michigan Tech has been steadily growing for over 10 years. This growth has led to many practical uses for the technology developed. Three researchers, Dr. Megan Frost (Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology), Dr. Bruce Lee (Biomedical Engineering), and Assistant Professor Dr. Weihua Zhou (College of Computing) will discuss their experiences with start-ups and applying their research to relevant health problems.
by Graduate Student Government
The Graduate Student Government announces that registration for this year’s virtual Graduate Research Colloquium (GRC) is now open. Due to the continuation of the SARS-CoV-19 pandemic, the event will be held virtually to avoid any community spread from taking place.
It is gearing up to be an exciting event, and we are excited to see what everyone has to present. The GRC will be held Thursday and Friday, April 1/2. The event is a great opportunity to work on your presentation skills and prepare for upcoming conferences. Students are free to give an oral presentation, a poster talk, or both. All talks will be scored by judges from the same field as the presenter, who will give valuable insight and feedback on how you to improve the presentation.
Cash prizes are available for the top three places in both oral and poster presentations ( 1st – $300, 2nd – $200, and 3rd – $100). Registration closes at 11:59 p.m., Tuesday March 2, at 11:59 p.m. Don’t wait, register today.
Poster presentations will take place in a pre-recorded video style. Video submission deadline is March 22, 2021. A short Q&A session will take place with judges between 4-6 p.m. on April 1st.
Oral presentation will be a 12 minute talk followed by Q&A session. The event will be capped off with a virtual GRC awards ceremony. All participants and judges are invited to attend. The ceremony will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. April 2, following the close of GRC. Full information can be found on our website.