Hi Everyone!!!
Another exciting month is upon us, and we have some great updates and events line up
Funding Update:
We have been working tirelessly to get funding to improve our infrastructure and have managed to secure a 40k SLEF funding for a new server. We're looking forward to leveraging the new infrastructure to deliver even more innovative experiences and opportunities for the Waterloo CSC community.
Canadian Undergraduate Computer Science Conference:
The Canadian Undergraduate Computer Science Conference is gearing up for a landmark event for students interested in computer science across the country. The conference is looking for organizers. If you're interested in helping out, this is a fantastic opportunity to get involved. Fill out this form if you're interested:
https://forms.gle/eNqCQJL2WMPiLZw86
Also we've been contacted by the Student and Postdoc Advisory Committee (SPAC) of Computer Science Canda (CS-Can), they are looking for a few people to fill some positions such as; members at large, a secretary, and an indigenous representative! If you guys are interested, you guys can check out this link! https://cscan-infocan.ca/student-and-postdoc/
Oracle Labs:
Oracle labs is hiring MSc and PhD graduates for full-time research and development positions in Canada. Current open positions include:
* Developing a soon-to-be-open-source LLM agent framework.
* Using said LLM framework for various industry applications, for example, to create a data science agent.
* Detecting and mitigating unintended biases in LLMs Explainability for LLMs.
* Internship opportunities: https://labs.oracle.com/pls/apex/labs/r/labs/internships
Upcoming Events:
Projects Program: The Projects Program is back!!! Whether you’re looking to build hands-on experience, collaborate with a team, or learn from a mentor, this is your chance to work on exciting projects this term. The Kickoff Event has been rescheduled from February 13th to Febuary 27th (tentatively) watch our instagram/discord for confirmation on these dates Professor Talks:
We are gearing up for a series of exciting and insightful professor talks and Panels in March:
* Professor Talk by Professor Christopher Betty on Fluid Dynamics/Simulations from the lens of the Graphics Programmer on Match 11th.
* Professor Talk by Professor Mohammed Serry on Controlling buildings structures
CO-OP Panel:
We're thrilled to introduce our upcoming Co-op Panel. This panel brings together seasoned co-op students and industry professionals who will not only share firsthand insights on landing, thriving in, and leveraging co-op positions, but also offer practical mock interviews to jumpstart your career. It is scheduled to be hosted in the middle of March.
Industry Talk:
We're on the lookout for industry speakers! If you know someone or are interested in presenting an industry talk, please reach out.
Right now we have an Industry talk scheduled for March 27th 5:30pm, our distinguished speakers are from *Blackberry QNX*. The speakers are traveling all the way from Ottawa to talk to us about their work.
Blackberry QNX is a real-time operating system (cs452 moment hehehe) known for its reliability, security, and a micro kernel architecture. Used in automotive, medical, and industrial systems, it ensured a fault tolerant, and deterministic performance.
The three speakers who will be coming to our Industry Talk are;
* *Elad Lahav*: Most Distinguished Architect in our Core Product Engineering team
* *Louay Abdelkader*: Director, Product Management for QNX OS and Virtualization Products
* *John Hanam*: Developer Relations Manager
As one of the CSC Alumni (who now works at QNX) described them;
* Ah, looks like you guys got the masterminds on board, nice.
So, it's looking like it will be an interesting talk. You guys should come!
Trivia Night: Join us for a fun night of Trivia on March 5th! Test your knowledge on a variety of topics, from classic computer science puzzles to pop culture and everything in between.
Alt-Tab: Alt-Tab is our very own tech talk series presented by students! It consists of several 15-minute talks about a variety of topics related to computer science and technology. It is scheduled to be hosted at the end of March. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Past Events:
BOT: Our recent Beginning of term event was a MASSIVE hit!!! We got over 100 people in attendance. Thank you to everyone who joined and made it a success.
CSC Circles: We recently hosted our CSC Circles event and it was a fantastic success!!! Over 80 students joined us this term. Student were assigned into random groups based on mutual interests and got to have fun activities like playing board games and Jeopardy. This term we saw an even more diverse mix of people compared to last term, with upper year students making nearly 40 percent of the participants. Thank you to everyone who made this event possible and thank you to everyone who participated in this event for an amazing time!
Virtual Talk: We hosted a Virtual Workspaces Talk Exploring How The School of CS Can Help You Excel on Feb 10th 2025 by Professor Robin Cohen. Key highlights include a keynote presentation by Mr. Liam(Idk full name, pls fill in) and interactive segments such as live polls were held to gauge student interest in synchronous online delivery of two current discussion-oriented CS courses. The initiative not only provided valuable insights into virtual workplace practices but also reinforced our commitment to supporting student success in an increasingly remote and digital world.
Thank you to everyone for contributing to CSC, whether by being a part of the executive committee, or just by participating in CSC activities in general. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the events!!!
