News 2009

CMS Royal Institution Masterclasses (Dec 09)

CMS is pleased to announce the following a series of mathematics masterclasses for sixth formers. The classes are organised by the Royal Institution and will take place at the Greenwich campus on Saturday mornings in early 2010.

23 January: Tony Mann - Mathematicians behaving badly: Greenwich's place in the history of mathematics
30 January: Graham Hoare - Fibonacci, Prime, Fermat, Perfect and Mersenne numbers
6 February: Chris Bailey - Saving the Cutty Sark: Mathematics and a national treasure
27 February: Chris Walshaw - How Google Works: The wonderful world of networks, graphs and the power method
6 March: Terry Heard - title TBA
13 March: Andrew Fitzharris - All the Fun of the Fair

All masterclasses run from 10am-12.30pm in King William Court, room 315 (KW315) - the Burnside Lecture Theatre. If you would like to attend, please contact Mr Tony Mann.
Directions to Greenwich Campus - The Royal Institution

Students Reach Semi-Finals of IBM Challenge (Dec 09)

A team of CMS students have reached the regional semi-final of the IBM Universities Business Challenge 2009/10 to be held at the Royal Bank of Scotland building in Bishopgate, London on February 25th.

The team consists of Fiona Conn, Luca Guarnieri, Christakis Demetriou, Aaron Elliott & Rudolf Klokner, all second year students on Multimedia, Digital Media and Web Technologies programmes. They will be joining other teams from across the region to compete in a series of team activities which give members the chance to work as management consultants in a realistic, fictional company, making all the critical business decisions that affect the company's performance.
IBM Universities Business Challenge

IMA approves undergraduate maths programmes (Nov 09)

The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) has just approved all of the CMS maths & stats BSc honours programmes, including Mathematics, Financial Mathematics, Statistics, Mathematics for Decision Science and Mathematics Statistics & Computing, plus all combined honours which major in maths or stats, i.e. Mathematics with ... and Statistics with ... degrees. [Note: computing, information systems & digital media degrees have their own separate accreditation from the BCS.]

This approval is good news for students who seek the status of Chartered Mathematician after completing their degree. Specically, according to the IMA wording: "These programmes will meet the educational requirements of the Chartered Mathematician designation, awarded by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, when they are followed by subsequent training and experience in employment to obtain equivalent competences to those specified by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for taught masters degrees."
IMA website | undergraduate maths & stats programmes

CMS research group wins national award (Oct 09)

A group from CMS has been awarded 'Outstanding Engineering Research Team of the Year' at the Times Higher Education Awards ceremony in London (15th October). The team was awarded the prize for its help in saving the Cutty Sark ship, the popular heritage attraction which nearly decayed beyond repair a few years ago.

The judges said: "Greenwich has demonstrated the rare combination of outstanding research and real impact in an area not normally noted for engineering. The application to cultural heritage will have an enormous impact on the UK's long-term economy." Professor Chris Bailey, who leads the group, commented: "We are thrilled that this partnership with the Cutty Sark Trust, which has led to techniques which can help other heritage structures, is being recognised in this way."
Project website - Times Higher Education Awards 2009

GET/CMS Fair - booking still open (Oct 09)

Booking has just opened for the Computing & IT Campus Event 2009 which takes place on Wednesday 18 November in the Queen Anne Building, Greenwich campus. Open exclusively to School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences undergraduates, postgraduates and recent alumni, this is your chance to speak directly to recruitment agencies and representatives about student jobs, part-time vacancies, graduate opportunities & programmes, membership to BCS, summer internships, gap year placements, careers in teaching and postgraduate study

Anyone wishing to attend the event must collect one of the event preparation handouts from the CMS Employability/Placements office - QM359.
Computing & IT Campus Event 2009

CMS student wins position at Google (Sep 09)

Final year Business Information Technology student, Gemma Hollands has had a very successful summer. Not only did she graduate with a 1st class honours degree and gain a place on Google's prestigious summer internship scheme in Ireland, but she has also now been offered permanent employment with Google.

Gemma reports that the assessment process was very long and arduous - even when selected by her managers in Ireland for a permanent position, her profile had to be approved by Google Head Office in Mount View, California!
BSc Business Information Technology | Google Jobs

CMS Students Graduate (Jul 09)

On Friday 24th July CMS students who had successfully completed their programmes of study graduated at a ceremony held in the Chapel at the Maritime Greenwich campus.

As well as students based in Greenwich, students studying at approved centres in countries such as Syria, Zambia, Bahrain and Malta also came to graduate at this ceremony.
Pictures from the graduation ceremony

CMS lecturer interviewed on BBC radio 4 (Jul 09)

Dr Chris Walshaw, a CMS lecturer and keen musician, has been interviewed by the BBC about the abc music notation system that he invented and which is used for many forms of music all over the world. The interview was broadcast during the programme "From Dots to Downloads" on BBC Radio 4 at 1:30pm on Tuesday 21st July.
From Dots to Downloads | abc notation | Chris Walshaw's web site

CMS Expert offers fire safety advice (Jul 09)

Prof. Ed Galea of the Fire Safety Engineering Group was recently interviewed by the BBC to offer fire safety advice following a large fire at a south London tower block.
Prof. Galea's interview | Fire Safety Engineering Group

Computing, IS & Digital Media degrees re-accredited by BCS (Jun 09)

The British Computer Society (BCS) have re-accredited CMS' entire suite of computing, networking, information systems and digital media degrees. This means that any student graduating from CMS in all core undergraduate and postgraduate computing degrees will have fulfilled the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional (CITP). Those on the more technical degrees will also have partially fulfilled the requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer (CEng) or Chartered Scientist (CSci).

The BCS visit, at the end of May, granted all accreditations that had been requested. As a part of the visit, the BCS also interviewed both staff and students and commented very positively on their findings.

Details of individual programme accreditation can be found on programme pages from the links below. [Note: maths & stats degrees have their own accreditation from the IMA.]
BCS Accreditation | undergraduate programmes | postgraduate programmes

Outstanding satisfaction for CMS students (Jun 09)

CMS is top of the league tables for satisfaction amongst computing students, according to the latest subject comparison tables from the Times Online. And for maths student satisfaction CMS comes in second, with a score of 90% (only narrowly topped by Leicester with 91%).

Both outstanding results reflect the National Student Survey (NSS), an annual government run exercise, commissioned by the higher education funding councils, which polls most final year undergraduates across the UK. It provides students with an opportunity to make their opinions on their higher education student experience count at a national level and helps prospective learners make informed choices of where and what to study.
Times Online subject comparisons: Computing | Maths (both sorted by student satisfaction)
National Student Survey website

CMS student awarded scholarship for Apple Conference (May 09)

CMS student Sachin Handiekar, studying BSc Computing Science and currently in his sandwich year placement at GlaxoSmithKline, has been awarded a Student Scholarship to attend the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) taking place at Moscone West, June 8-12, 2009, in San Francisco. The WWDC Student Scholarship Program gives free attendance to regularly scheduled conference sessions, labs, and special events during the week including a Welcome Session and a Career Fair.

According to the conference website: "The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is the premier technical event for developers and IT professionals innovating with Apple platforms" and provides them "with in-depth technical information and hands-on learning about the powerful technologies in iPhone OS and Mac OS X from the Apple engineers who created them."
Apple Worldwide Developers Conference | BSc Computing Science

CMS students working at Develop (May 09)

Three CMS students, including Chris O'Brien (2nd year BSc Computing with Games Development), have been accepted to work as volunteers at Develop in July. Develop is a conference where games design and development professionals can "learn from each other and share experiences, be inspired by world renowned experts and gurus, get up-to-date with the latest development tools and techniques, make new contacts and catch-up with old ones."

Ryan Flynn, programme leader for BSc Games & Multimedia Technologies and the new BSc Games Technology and who also teaches on the BSc Computing with Games Development degree, commented: "Develop is well regarded conference on games technology; nearly all major games development studios go to it and there are lots of famous speakers from the industry. This is excellent news for the students and for the School."
Develop | BSc Computing with Games Development | BSc Games & Multimedia Technologies | BSc Games Technology

Maths department rated fourth in the UK (May 09)

The latest league tables from the Guardian have rated the Mathematics Department as 4th in the UK, after Oxford, Cambridge and Warwick. Published annually, the Guardian University Guide offers "timely and helpful advice" on all aspects of the university experience, from choosing which course and where to study, to what to expect from student life.

Tony Mann, Head of Department, commented: "I am absolutely delighted at this result. I'm particularly pleased that we scored extremely well in the categories of student achievement and student satisfaction. It's wonderful that these efforts and achievements have gained this public recognition. I'm very proud of all the department's staff and students."
Mathematics rankings | Guardian University Guide 2009

e-Motion - the CMS Multimedia Degree Show (May 09)

This year's digital media degree show, e-Motion, will showcase work created by students graduating from CMS's suite of digital media degrees.

The show starts on Thursday 4th June (6 - 8.30pm) and is open on Friday 5th & Saturday 6th (12 to 4pm) in King William Court. Please take time to come and wander around the exhibits including creative websites, edutainment CD-Roms, digital video, 3D animation and computer games and try them out.
e-Motion website

Three students offered interships at Google (May 09)

Three final year Business Information Technology students - Gemma Hollands, Clinton Ritchie and Sahir Osman - have been offered prestigious 3 month summer internships with Google. They will all be based in Google's Dublin offices.

The University's Guidance & Employability Team (GET) were key in supporting the students' applications. The selection procedure was highly competitive and Google staff were very impressed with all three; one of the key criteria cited by Google was that applicants must be involved in community or voluntary work of some kind.
Google Internships | GET

CMS lecturer appointed to council of BKSTS (Apr 09)

Dr Chris Woollard, a CMS lecturer whose teaching includes cinematography and contemporary art & film, has been elected to the council of the British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS). A member of the BKSTS Education & Training Committee for some time, Chris will be joining important figures in the film and television industry, including Sir Sidney Samuelson and the managing directors of Odeon and Ascent, to further its development in Britain.

The British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society - The Moving Image Society - is an organisation of members which represents the interests of all those who are creatively and technologically involved in the business of providing moving images in any form and through any media.
British Kinematograph, Sound & Television Society

Case study for collaboration on new Diploma (Apr 09)

The Grammar School for Girls in Wilmington (GSGW) has been working closely with the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences to deliver the new Diploma in IT from September 2009. As part of this collaboration a "hugely valuable case study" (e-skills uk spokesperson) has been written as a resource for schools and colleges looking to engage with universities in preparation for Diploma delivery.

The Diploma in IT is a flexible qualification for 14-19 year olds, designed in partnership with universities and employers, which reflects the blend of business, technical and interpersonal skills needed in modern IT professional roles.
Diploma in IT - Case Study (requires registration)

Major speakers to visit University

On Tuesday June 2nd, the University of Greenwich is pleased to present an afternoon exploring the history of mathematics & computing in the appropriate setting of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich:
      Donald Knuth: "History of Computer Science versus History of Mathematics"
      Karen Parshall: "Victorian Algebra"

Don Knuth is a retired professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he joined the faculty forty years ago. His multi-volume work-in-progress entitled "The Art of Computer Programming" has been translated into twelve languages. His software is used to format the pages of most of the world's books and journals about mathematics and physics. He tries to write computer programs that are actually a pleasure to read.

Karen Parshall is Professor of History and Mathematics at the University of Virginia. She works on the history of science and mathematics in America and the history of 19th- and 20th-century algebra, and her research currently focuses on the life, times, and mathematical work of the British mathematician, James Joseph Sylvester. The organisers are grateful to the London Mathematical Society for support for Professor Parshall's visit.

Date:   Tuesday 2nd June 2009, 2-4pm
Venue: Burnside Lecture Theatre, King William Court (KW315),
           Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS
All welcome. Admission free.
Travel directions - Further information from Tony Mann

CMS Head to Chair CPHC (Apr 09)

Dr Liz Bacon, Head of the School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences, has just been appointed Chair of the Council of Professors & Heads of Computing (CPHC). The CPHC is a UK-wide body which represents university computing education & research within the higher education sector, representing their interests and concerns to a wide range of commercial & industrial organisations including central & local government, the funding & research councils and professional bodies.

Dr Bacon has been elected as chair of CPHC for the next two years. She commented: "I am delighted to have been appointed to this position. I believe that CPHC has a crucial role to play in Britain's future and with a predicted shortfall of 50,000 IT degree qualified professionals in the UK by 2016, encouraging more school pupils to study computing is a key agenda for the Council."
The Council of Professors & Heads of Computing

CMS Cutty Sark research on BBC (Apr 09)

A BBC Radio 4 documentary highlights CMS research which is helping to restore the Cutty Sark. In the programme, part of a series entitled Click On, Clare English reports on how computer modelling is playing an important role in the ship's conservation.

Professor Chris Bailey, who leads the CMS team, said: "We've been using computational technology to build a digital model of the ship. Once we've got the iron frame and hull built into the computer, we can answer all the 'what if' questions - how to lift the ship, how to support it, before you do it in real life, where you only have one chance to get it right."
Project website - Click On - BBC News feature

CMS Comic Relief Challenge (Mar 09)

CMS held a Comic Relief Challenge this year, with many different events happening to raise money for Comic Relief.

The Main Challenge was kept under wraps until the day and involved creating a short film to a set brief. The finished films were screened at a special CMS night at the Greenwich Picturehouse on the 17th March and raised £240 for charity.
CMS Comic Relief Challenge

CMS Expert on BBC2's Horizon (Mar 09)

A Horizon documentary on BBC2 featured the research work of the Fire Safety Engineering Group within CMS. The programme, "How to survive a disaster", was shown on Tuesday 10th March and discusses what to do when disaster strikes and how people's actions affect their changes of survival.

The Fire Safety Engineering Group is led by Prof. Ed Galea. He appears on the programme as part of the team of leading experts gathered by the BBC who helped produce this ultimate guide to disaster survival.
Horizon: How to survive a disaster - Fire Safety Engineering Group

Film and drama students collaborate (Feb 09)

A group of CMS students studying BSc (Hons) Film & Television Production have been collaborating with their peers from BA (Hons) Drama to film a production of the Cherry Orchard at the Bathway theatre, Woolwich. The film students shot rehearsals in long shot initially so they could do in-depth planning and assess all the angles that they would need to edit flexibly and creatively. The drama students worked with the camera crew on multiple set-ups, repeating their performances, and gained invaluable experience of industry practice.

Programme leader, Julie Watkins commented: "The collaborative sessions highlight the essential cooperation between actors and camera crew to realise a complete television production. It was a very positive experience and future collaborations are planned."
More pictures - BSc Film & Television Production - BA Drama

CMS students use state-of-the-art motion capture equipment (Feb 09)

A group of final year students from BSc Digital Animation & Production have been visiting the University's Medway campus to use state-of-the-art motion capture equipment. Helped by Dr Mark Goss-Sampson and Pete Brooks from the Dept of Life & Sports Science, as well as programme leader Nigel Newbutt, they were able to capture their precise movements using a set of sensors / markers. The system (Qualisys) is an industry standard, used in the games, entertainment and film industries.

The students worked alongside Mark to identify and capture 'live' the data they needed for their projects. Using 'live' data in this way is fairly new to these systems and allows for previews in real-time. Nigel commented: "We believe this is the one of the first animation degrees in the UK to give students access to this kind of technology. Working in this way means our students have industry-ready skills."
BSc Digital Animation & Production

CMS student wins 3rd prize in IBM contest (Feb 09)

A CMS student has been awarded 3rd prize in the IBM Student Mainframe Contest 2008. Sachin Handiekar, currently on placement with GlaxoSmithKline as part of his BSc Computing Science studies, vied against students from across the UK, beating contestants from the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, amongst others.

According to IBM, "mainframes are growing in popularity in the industry and require a new generation of mainframe experts". The competition consisted of increasingly difficult sections entitled Breaking the Ice, Practical Experience and Real-World Challenge. The top three students in the final category, including Sachin, have all won a Playstation 3, plus a visit to IBM Hursley, Winchester.
IBM Student Mainframe Contest

CMS helps develop optical internet infrastructure (Feb 09)

A joint proposal with the Center for Integrated Photonics (CIP), based at the BT Research Labs, has been successful in securing £60k funding in the Technology Strategy Board's Photonics Feasibility Competition.

Prof. Chris Bailey said: "The project will use our expertise to help develop reliable and cost-effective optical equipment for use in next generation optical internet infrastructure (e.g. optical fibre in the home). Starting with TSB support it is intended that the results from this project will broaden out into a major FP7 project bringing in key EU players."
Technology Strategy Board competitions

Symmetry Group named after Maths student (Jan 09)

Ameli's certificate

A first year maths student has just had a symmetry group named after her. Ameli Gottstein won the Greenwich Maths Time Christmas Quiz and chose, as her prize, to have a new mathematical structure, a group of symmetries in multi-dimensional space, named after her. The Ameli Gottstein Group [C[1], C[2], C[3], C[4]]=[25, 0, 12, 2008] corresponds to an elliptic curve of conductor 8129515890.

The group is one of many discovered by Prof. Marcus du Sautoy; on his blogspot, Finding Moonshine, he has offered to give them names to celebrate birthdays and special anniversaries in return for a donation to his chosen charity, Common Hope. About Ameli he commented that "she preferred [having a group named after her] to an Amazon token - clearly a mathematician in the making."
Finding Moonshine - Greenwich Maths Time

CMS demonstrates world-leading research in RAE2008 (Jan 09)

The results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2008) confirm that research undertaken by the School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences (CMS) is amongst the best in the world. RAE2008 rated 70% of the work submitted by the Centre for Numerical Modelling & Process Analysis (CNMPA) in the highest quality categories within the area of Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering (UoA 28). Of this, 30% was rated as 'world leading' and 40% 'internationally excellent'.

Prof Ed Galea, Co-Director of CNMPA said "I am delighted that 70% of our research has been acknowledged by the toughest independent analysis in the UK to be world class. It is a tribute to our team of talented and hard working researchers that we have been judged to be outstanding by our peers. These results show that world leading research is not restricted to the Russell Group."

Meanwhile, Head of School Dr Liz Bacon said "We are extremely proud of the work of all of our researchers. In addition to the outstanding work of CNMPA, CMS has made substantial achievements in the two other extremely competitive subjects, Computer Science and Statistics. These research efforts make a substantial contribution to making our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes amongst the best in the UK."
CMS RAE2008 results - Centre for Numerical Modelling & Process Analysis

CMS helps promote IT Diploma (Jan 09)

The School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences (CMS), in collaboration with the Grammar School for Girls Wilmington (GSGW), has just produced a promotional video about the new Diploma in IT. Just under seven minutes long, the film features interviews with Dr Liz Bacon - Head of CMS, Prof. Ed Galea - Director the Fire Safety Engineering Group in CMS, as well as IT industry professionals.

The aim is to promote the diploma to a local consortium of 5 schools led by GSGW and, with funding from Kent County Council, a DVD of the video is being given to their pupils to encourage them into computing careers and considering studying the Diploma in IT.
The video - Diploma in IT

CMS triumphs in Business Development Competition (Jan 09)

The School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences (CMS), has won both first and second prizes in the University of Greenwich Research Business Development Competition for 2008. This is a new award with the top prize, a grant of £10,000, given to the group who over a three year period increased their percentage of research and business revenues the most.

In this case, between 2004/5 and 2007/8 the Centre for Computer & Computational Science (CCCS), led by Dr Miltos Petridis, increased revenues from £49,559 to £174,064 - an increase of 251%, whilst the Computational Mechanics & Reliability Group (CMRG), led by Prof. Chris Bailey, increased from £202,428 to £623,684 - an increase of 208%. Officially, there was only one award; however the CMRG achievement was considered "well worthy of recognition" and so an exceptional second prize was made. Dr Liz Bacon, Head of CMS, commented "This is an outstanding achievement for CMS and I'm sure you will join me in congratulating both the groups on their success."
CMS Research

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