Student Spotlight: Veteran Zixu Yu Hopes to Continue Serving His Country

Zixu Yu was thrilled to join the Anteater family this year as a computer science major in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS). Returning to school after four years in the Marine Corps required him to step outside his comfort zone, but he hopes to one day return to serving his country by working at a military research facility. He also wants others to understand the opportunities of service. “I want the younger generation to know that the military can be a place to express their talent.” Here, Yu shares about his service in the Marines and plans for Veterans Day.

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HPI@UCI Symposium & Grand Opening

EVENT:  The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) Research Center in Machine Learning and Data Science at UC Irvine, founded in 2020, invites guests to a symposium and (COVID-delayed) grand opening to learn more about the innovative AI research of UCI and HPI students and faculty.

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Daily Pilot: “UC Irvine tests new technology to help seniors during Thursday’s California ShakeOut” (Nalini Venkatasubramanian quoted)

The idea for “CareDEX” was born. The technology was developed by Nalini Venkatasubramanian, a professor of computer science at UC Irvine and Nikil Dutt, a Distinguished Professor of computer science, Sharad Mehrotra, a Chancellor’s Professor of computer science, Lisa Gibbs, a clinical professor of geriatrics [and chief, division of geriatrics and gerontology, family medicine] and geriatrics project scientists. “The idea was creating information preparedness, which allows us, senior care facilities, first responders, the government and other stakeholders to keep track of priorities and needs of the older adults. 

Read the full story on the Daily Pilot (may require a subscription).

Graduate Student Spotlight: Markelle Kelly Highlights the Human Side of Computer Science

Recognizing the importance of cross-disciplinary work, computer science Ph.D. student Markelle Kelly is partnering with cognitive scientists on her research into human-machine collaboration. “Collaborating with people who are really knowledgeable in this realm results in a much more useful framework than if machine learning researchers tried to reinvent the wheel ourselves,” she says, highlighting ongoing research efforts between UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) and the Department of Cognitive Sciences. In fact, her collaborative approach has helped her earn multiple fellowships at UCI. Last summer, she received a fellowship through UCI’s Steckler Center for Responsible, Ethical, and Accessible Technology (CREATE), and this year she was awarded fellowships through the Irvine Initiative in AI, Law, and Society and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI at UCI). Here, she talks about her machine learning research and future plans.

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UCI and BlackBerry Win NSF Convergence Accelerator Grant

The National Science Foundation has awarded $750,000 to a multidisciplinary team from the University of California, Irvine’s Cybersecurity Policy & Research Institute (CPRI), its Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences and BlackBerry to address the challenges around secure communications on public 5G networks.

The funds are being allocated under the NSF convergence accelerator program, which supports projects that tackle national problems.

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BBC: “The Computer Errors From Outer Space” (Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi quoted)

In early September 1859, the most intense geomagnetic storm ever recorded raged in the planet’s atmosphere. … If such an event were to occur in the future, it could theoretically damage power lines and internet cables across many regions, says Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, [computer science assistant professor] at the University of California, Irvine. “There is also this risk of charged particles causing data corruption,” she adds. “Right now, the actual extent of damage, it’s very difficult to predict.” Daniel Whiteson, [physics and astronomy professor] also at the University of California, Irvine, agrees, adding that such an incident could potentially be “catastrophic” and that our understanding of the physics inside the Sun is not well-developed enough to allow us to be able to predict major solar ejections well in advance.

Read the full story on the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221011-how-space-weather-causes-computer-errors

Senior Spotlight: Tennis Player and CS Major Matthew Sah Serves Up Aces On and Off the Court

As a freshman in high school, Matthew Sah could already envision himself thriving at UCI. That’s why he didn’t hesitate to accept his offer to become an Anteater when he was recruited to play for the UCI Men’s Tennis team the summer before his senior year.

“I really liked the campus, the location and I knew that the school had strong academics in a lot of areas,” says Sah, who is studying computer science. “Some of my favorite parts about going to UCI are the people, academics, being able to live in Newport with my friends and the food.”

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CPO Magazine: “A Legal View of New NIST Quantum-Resistant Algorithms” by Bryan Cunningham

How to lose your company in a data breach:

  • Step 1: Suffer a data breach (which almost all companies have or will);
  • Step 2:  Get sued by plaintiff’s lawyers waiting to pounce or, worse, an Attorney General or regulator;
  • Step 3:  Be found not to have met the applicable “standard of care;”
  • Step 4:  Pay up, and possibly lose your business.

“Standard of Care?”, you say. What’s that and why should I care? And where does NIST fit in?

“Standard of Care” is legalese for the minimum an organization must do to have acted “reasonably” in a lawsuit. In most data breach cases, if you are found not to have acted reasonably, e.g., by not employing sufficiently strong encryption, you likely will have to pay economic damages, sometimes reaching bet-the-company territory. Damages and penalties in a cyber breach case likely will reach $1 billion this decade.

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