ADAPT and Insight showcase Research at Data Summit 2017

Posted Fri, 16/06/2017 - 11:40 by gconway

Prof. Andy Way (ADAPT) with Taoiseach Leo VaradkarPhD canditates from the School of Computing's main research centres, ADAPT and Insight, showcased their work at this year's Data Summit in Dublin. The theme of this year's summit was "What does the Data Society mean to you?" and presented an opportunity for hear leading international, European and Irish speakers debate the social, technical, ethical and cultural issues that arise in the context of our world of total connectivity.

The ADAPT and Insight researchers had posters displaying the innovative research in data technology from both centres, examples of which ranged from sentiment analysis of tweets on RTE's 2016 general election and budget, to visualising financial data through virtual reality.

Both SFI funded DCU CSETs where invited to attend the summit by the Department of the Taoiseach and were lucky enough to meet the newly appointed Taoiseach, Leo Varardkar, on his first full day in office.

2017 Irish IOI Team Selected!

Posted Tue, 25/04/2017 - 14:47 by gconway

AIPO - 2017 IOI TeamSaturday 22nd April - After an intense three days of competitive programming battles, four talented young men from around the country have been selected to represent Ireland at the prestigious 29th International Olympiad in Informatics this summer in Iran.

John Ryan (17yr - St. Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh, Thurles, Tipperary), Kieran Horgan (16yr - Davis College, Mallow, Co. Cork), Aidan Molloy (17yr - Bruce College, Montenotte, Cork) and Oisin O’Duibhir (16yr - Scoil Mhuire Agus Íde, Newcastle West, Limerick) were the top four students after the final Team Ireland qualification competition on Saturday. A total of eight students from the AIPO National Finals in February were invited to this Fidelity sponsored 3 day bootcamp on DCU campus for a mix of competitive programming training and IOI qualification contests.

With the public scoreboard keeping parents on the edge of their seats, there was a little as 3 points in the final contest between fourth and fifth position. But when the final solutions were submitted and the scoreboard revealed, Aidan Molloy to his delight had grabbed the final position. Team Ireland will fly out to Tehran on the 28th July for a week courtesy of Fidelity Investments and DCU, where they will join over 80 international teams from around the world on the trip of a lifetime.

Girls Hack Ireland 2017 @ DCU

Posted Fri, 24/03/2017 - 15:33 by gconway

Girls Hack Ireland 2017The most recent Girls Hack Ireland event was held at the All Hallows campus of DCU on Saturday March 11th. Over 50 girls (aged 13 to 17) were introduced to web design and writing HTML/CSS. The day included a panel interview of women in STEM careers and was supported by a number of students and staff from the Faculty of Engineering and Computing as well as volunteers from the Insight Centre for Data Analytics and other industry partners who provided technical support and encouragement to the teams.

The girls came together in teams to create a comic based on a fairy tale or story and impressed the judges (including the School of Computing's Dr Monica Ward) with their ability and creativity. Winners of the judges prize took on the tale of Snow White with seven hackers working to retrieve Snow White's Instagram account from the Evil Queen. The audience prize went to a team who had a topical view of Red Riding Hood meeting Donald Trump in Phoenix Park.

2017 National Programming Olympiad @ DCU

Posted Tue, 07/03/2017 - 17:07 by gconway
AIPO 2017 - Senior WinnersAIPO 2017 Senior Winners - (L-R) 3rd - Oisín O'Duibhir, Scoil Mhuire Agus Íde, Limerick; 1st - John Ryan, St. Josephs College, Thules; 2nd - Kieran Horgan, Davis College Mallow

The cream of BT Young Scientists and CoderDojo took up the challenge of the National Programming Olympiad (AIPO) competition at DCU during the mid-term break (25/2/17). Sponsored by Fidelity Investments Ireland, 33 students from around Ireland flexed their coding muscles in one of the tough competitions in the country for second level students. After qualifying through an online preliminary round, the students had to code solutions for 8 algorithmic puzzles to be crowned 2017 National AIPO Champion.

2017 BT Young Scientist Technology category winner and budding Data Scientist John Ryan (17) from St. Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh, Thurles clinched his first Senior title with a score of 425 from a possible maximum of 600. He was closely followed in 2nd place by his 2016 Team Ireland comrade, CoderDojo Mallow’s Kieran Horgan (16) with a score of 370 points. Newcomer Oisín O’Duibhir (16) took the bronze medal with a score of 360 points. The Junior top prize went to Suneet Mahajan (14) who was competing with our youngest competitor, his sister, Ayushi (11), both from Douglas, Cork.

All of the talented youngsters at the National Finals are self taught to the level of a 2nd year University student. This shows their passion and dedication to coding, technology and self-learning. A remarkable accolade!

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