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The following is a list current news items within the school.

Computing students take second place in international programming competition
A team of students from Robert Gordon University's (RGU) School of Computing recently achieved a top position in the Irish Collegiate Programming Contest. Working to solve eight complex programming problems over the course of a four-hour timed period, BSc (Hons) Computer Science students, Alin Rohnean (21), Alexandru Faur (23), and Alexandru Ghitescu-Hrin (22) who live in the city centre, along with Team Coach and Lecturer Dr Daniel Doolan, battled it out against 30 other university teams, coming in second place just behind Dublin Institute of Technology after leading the competition for the first half.
Hosted by University College Cork's Association for Computing Machinery Student Chapter, the competition was designed to foster a passion for computer programming by bringing together students from across the UK to put their knowledge of algorithms, problem solving and computer programming to the test. The RGU team, who were the only Scottish competitors in the contest, were sponsored in the competition by Aberdeen-based IT firm, Codify, specialists in developing software for business.
Codify's Managing Director, Mark Griffiths, is a graduate from RGU’s School of Computing and several of his staff are fellow RGU alumni. A member of staff also currently sits on the School's Industrial Advisory Board.Mark Griffiths commented: "I would like to congratulate the team on this fantastic achievement - to come second out of 30 teams speaks volumes about the calibre of talent. I look forward to Codify continuing to support RGU’s students and this important industry in the future."
Daniel Doolan, Team Coach and Lecturer at the School, adds: "I am delighted that our students placed so high in a competition with such a high standard of entries. The team worked hard and dealt with the pressure of competing at an international level very well. I’d like to thank Codify for their generous support without which this success would not have been possible."

MSc student wins Poster Prize at BCS Women Lovelace Colloquium
Wuraola Jinadu in the MSc Computing Information Engineering Jan 2011 class won First Prize for her poster at the BCS Women Lovelace Colloquium in Bath. The BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium is a national one-day conference for women students in computing and related subjects. BCSWomen is a BCS Specialist Group that provides networking opportunities for all BCS professional women working in IT around the world. The Group's main objective is to provide support for female IT professionals, as well as mentoring and encouraging girls/women to enter IT as a career.

Software Development Society
Software Development Society has recently won the New Society of the Year Award. A group of our Computing MSc students founded the Software Development Society (SDS) in 2011. The group has regular seminars that cover varied aspects of software development. In March, seminars have been devoted to a variety of programming languages including Java, C++, PHP, C#, Objective C. The society also organised a charity dinner to fundraise for the Water for Africa project.

Applicants' Day - Saturday 3rd March
School of Computing, will be holding their first of two Applicants' Days on Wednesday 3nd March 2012. For further information, please click here.

Applicants' Day - Wednesday 7rd March
School of Computing, will be holding their second of two Applicants' Days on Wednesday 2nd March 2011. For further information, please click here.

University awarded €638,000 for advanced computing research.
Researchers at Robert Gordon University's Institute for Innovation, Design and Sustainability Research (IDEAS) have been awarded €638,000 as part of a European Commission-funded project to undertake world-leading research to improve the performance of modern computing technology. Click here for more information.

Open Day - 5th October
School of Computing, will be holding their first of two Open Days on Wednesday 5th October 2011. For further information, please click here.

Open Day - 5th November
School of Computing, will be holding their second of two Open Days on Saturday 5th November 2011. For further information, please click here.

Applicants' Day - 2nd March
School of Computing, will be holding their second of two Applicants' Days on Wednesday 2nd March 2011. For further information, please click here.

Applicants' Day - 5th March
School of Computing, will be holding their second of two Applicants' Days on Saturday 5th March 2011. For further information, please click here.

Christmas Lecture - Friday 10th December
School of Computing, will be holding their annual Christmas Lecture on Friday 10th December at 2pm. For further information, please click here. (PDF Poster)

BCS talk HTML5
School of Computing, recently hosted a BCS talk on HTML5, by Craig Nicol, from Amor Business Technology Solutions. A video capture of the talk is now available online here

Open Day - Saturday 6th November
The second of two Open Days will take place on Saturday 6th November from 11-3pm

For further informationa and to register for this event, please go to the registration page

Open Day - Wednesday 6th October
The first of two Open Days will take place on Wednesday 6th October from 10-3pm

For further informationa and to register for this event, please go to the registration page

Graduation Success - Yvonne Lowe
Yvonne Lowe, celebrated gaining a BSc Hons in computing and information from the Robert Gordon University surrounded by her friends and family.

The 41-year-old left school when she was 18 and went straight into employment in Lincoln, where she is originally from.

After 15 years of working in the private and public sectors she gave it up and moved to Aberdeen with her partner. She suffers from epilepsy and has been under the care of various consultants but she was told she would need major surgery to relieve the effects of her condition. She said: “The surgery had a huge impact on my life and it was an extremely hard time for my partner and myself.

“When I began to get my strength back I decided that I should return to education as I had always wanted to further my studies but never had the opportunity. “Despite the continuing effects of my medication, and being a mature student among a peer group aged 18 to 25, I thoroughly enjoyed my course and time at university. I am delighted that I managed to complete my degree.”

During her course she was president and one of the founder members of RGU: Singers, the university’s singing group, as well as being the student representative.

Graduation Success - Zoe MacKay
Fife graduate celebrates success before jetting off on world trip. Zoe MacKay (21) from Kincardine in Fife, who graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Computing and Information, last week from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, was recently awarded the Amor Prize for best fourth-year student.

Rounding off a successful four years, the ex-Dunfermline High School pupil celebrated her recent success at His Majesty's Theatre where she graduated on Friday 16 July, with family and friends.

Earlier on this month, Zoe received an i-pod and Amazon voucher from Andrew Cameron of the Amor Group, Scotland's largest independent business technology solutions company, at the School of Computing's annual prize giving reception attended by fellow students and academics.

Zoe is now set to travel the world for six months, jetting off to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and America at the beginning of September.

Reflecting on her time at University, Zoe said: "I really enjoyed my course and feel that it has provided me with the relevant industry skills for my future career. I'm looking forward to the next chapter in my life and hopefully travelling around the world will broaden my horizons and give me more life experience."

Graduation Success - Michael Topp
Ellon student wins British Computing Society award. Michael Topp (21) from Ellon, who graduated with a First Class BSc (Hons) in Computing for Internet and Multimedia last week from Robert Gordon University, was recently awarded the Year Four British Computer Society Prize for Academic Excellence at the School of Computing's annual prize giving.

Rounding off a successful four years, the ex-Ellon Academy pupil celebrated his recent success at His Majesty's Theatre where he graduated on Friday 16 July, with his family and friends.

Earlier on this month, Michael received his prize from Chris Liddle, of the Aberdeen branch of the British Computer Society, at a reception attended by his fellow students and School of Computing academics.

After leaving school, Michael decided to explore his interest in web development and attended a Robert Gordon University Open Day where he was impressed by the facilities and decided to apply.

Reflecting on the past four years, Michael said: "I have really enjoyed my time at University and have no regrets. My course has really equipped me for the working world and I hope to get a full-time job which will develop my skills further."

Whilst dealing with the pressures of full-time study, Michael found time to dedicate himself to charitable causes.

Michael explains: "I captained two teams in this years' ChildLine World Footie Competition helping to raise £2139 for the charity from March to June. I also ran the Big Fun Run in Aberdeen representing ChildLine and managed to raise a further £100."

Graduation Success - Emma Clarke
Emma Clarke (23) from Torphins will celebrate the end of a successful four years at University when she graduates at 2.30pm on Friday 16 July with a First Class BSc (Hons) in Computing for Graphics and Animation.

The ex-Aboyne Academy pupil was recently jointly awarded the Divex Prize for Best Fourth-Year Student on her course at the School of Computing's annual prize giving ceremony on Friday 2 July, and has already started working as a Software Developer for local business software solutions company, Codify.

Collecting the Divex Prize earlier this month had special meaning for Emma as she was presented the prize by her dad, Derek Clarke, Joint Managing Director of Divex, a world leader in commercial and military diving equipment.

Emma's proud dad also saw her pick up another accolade at the prize giving, the Frances Morrison Prize for Best Honours Project involving software development. For her final-year project, Emma visited her mum's pre-school class to do research into developing an innovative educational computer game for pre-school children.

During her university years, Emma has been a member of several committees including the Academic School Board, Student Staff Liaison and Faculty Quality Assurance Committee and also regularly worked as a Student Ambassador at University Open and Applicants Days. It was at one such Open Day that Emma met Katherine Rutherford, a former Computer Science student at the University and now Marketing Manager at Codify. Katherine invited Emma to come and meet the team at Codify, which resulted in them offering her a software developer position.

Emma comments: "Even though I have already started my new job, I am really looking forward to graduation as it will close one chapter of my life and open another. My new job at Codify includes liaising with clients, developing SharePoint and Business Intelligence solutions and training clients on the Microsoft software solutions we develop. I feel my course at the University has really prepared me for the working world and has given me lots of opportunities to further my career."

School of Computing Prize Giving
RGU's School of Computing will host its annual prize giving ceremony at its St Andrew Street building on Friday 2nd July at 2.15pm in lecture Theatre C47.

This year's ceremony will see around fifty prizes being presented for the highest academic achievement to Undergraduate and MSc students selected from all of the School's courses. This is a time to celebrate the successes and special achievements of our students. This is an acknowledgement of the hard work and commitment that students from the School of Computing have shown towards their studies.

After the ceremony there will be an opportunity for prize winners, guests and sponsors to mingle over refreshments in the School's Computing Technology Centre.

Robert Gordon University Excels in National League Tables
Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen has again excelled in a national league table with an outstanding performance in graduate employment helping the University to be the top modern University in the UK for the third year in a row and the only modern university to appear in the top 50 of all UK universities.

Graduates of Robert Gordon University are amongst the most sought after by employers in the UK according to The Times Good University Guide 2011 published today. Only Imperial College has a better record for students going in to graduate-level jobs with both Cambridge and Oxford lagging behind RGU.

Professor John Harper, Acting Principal of Robert Gordon University welcomed the results. He said, "In the current economic climate where the job market is increasingly competitive, it's important that new graduates have the skills that employers want. The University has been particularly successful in engaging with companies to ensure that our graduates are well equipped for their chosen profession and this is reflected in the league tables."

Robert Gordon University came 46th overall, the first time the University has appeared in the top 50 of The Times Good University Guide, just behind Heriot-Watt (43rd), Dundee (44th) and Stirling (45th) universities.

SICSA-NRP Workshop
The School of Computing is hosting a joint SICSA-NRP workshop on Complex Systems Engineering on Friday 30th April from 10-16:30 in H230, Garthdee.

Admission is FREE and lunch / rereshments are provided.

Seminar Flyer

Presentation from World Wide Waste talk by Mary Vincent
http://www.greenstarsolution.com/presentations.html

‘World Wide Waste’ – Talk on green IT to highlight energy issues
One of the world’s leading experts on green IT innovation is to visit Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen this month to deliver two lectures. The first will be tailored towards students and another as part of the North-east’s IT Leaders’ Forum which was launched in February.

On Monday 12 April, serial entrepreneur Mary Vincent, founder and CEO of Green Star Solution, a global business and technology firm, will examine why innovation methodologies for IT are so important. Brought to Scotland through the Girl Geeks global network for women in IT, Mary hopes to urge more women to create technology-related businesses.

Ian Allison, Head of the School of Computing at Robert Gordon University, comments: “We are delighted to welcome Mary to our shores. When you consider that Google handles something like 200 million searches daily, and some say just a couple of these generate as much energy as it takes to boil a kettle, the issue of green IT suddenly becomes a pressing matter. Research suggests that the IT industry generates as much greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines!”

Open to the public, the second talk of the day, from 5.30pm at the University’s St Andrew Street Building, will be co-sponsored as part of the IT Leaders’ Forum by HEAD, the IT resourcing group, ScotlandIS, the trade body for IT in Scotland, and law firm McGrigors. The aim of the Forum is to grow and support a network of IT managers and this event will allow members to share ideas on the global green IT issue.

Based in San Francisco, speaker Mary Vincent has an impressive track record of software product innovation, and is now an ambassador for green software solutions. Previously, she worked at Sun Microsystems and DHL, creating and managing global Java programmes. She has since founded a number of green businesses and is keen to establish links with businesses and educational communities across the world. For more information, visit: http://www.greenstarsolution.com.

Sheryl Newman, Operations Director of IT training consultancy Easthaven, the company that coordinates the Aberdeen arm of Girl Geeks Scotland, adds: “This event is great news for the women in IT working in Aberdeen. Mary is a phenomenal speaker and has proven time and time again that female entrepreneurs can engineer hugely profitable ventures that are ethically and environmentally sound.”

For more information and to register for this free event, call 01506 472200 or email leigh-ann.donoghue@scotlandis.com

Keeping more than one oar in the water
Feature on the importance of work placements being offered at Robert Gordon University, profiling computing graduate and rowing champion Judith Herbert. The University looks to reach out to organisations that could take part in what is a mutually beneficial exercise. Judith now works as an IT Auditor for global accountancy firm Ernst & Young.

For more information click here.

Applicants' Day (3rd & 6th March)
RGU's School of Computing will be hosting a Applicants Day on Wednesday 3rd and Saturday 6th March at its St Andrews Street Building. This is your chance to come along and find out more about the School and the courses you have applied for, sample the environment you will be studying in and talk to current students about student life.

We think you will be impressed. The School of Computing offers a range of professional undergraduate computing degrees. Computing is the focus of study in all years of every course. This means that you concentrate on computing from the very start of your University studies, and have the time to develop a deep understanding of the subject, and to perfect advanced practical skills.

For more information click here.

Quick on the draw to network with students
RGU uses ‘snappy’ computer technology to connect with potential recruits.

An Aberdeen university is hoping to attract future students with the latest computer technology.

Robert Gordon University has created quick-response cards to be distributed to maths, science and computing teachers across Scotland to pass on to pupils.

The cards look like a normal business card with a barcode displayed across the front. The code is a web link to RGU’s school of computing’s new I-create website. Pupils can access the site by taking a picture of the code with the camera on their mobile phones.

The phone needs to have special software in place to scan the code and access the site, which can be downloaded from the internet.

The website features information about computing courses at the university and pupils can also take part in an online chat session with lecturers and other potential students.

Ian Allison, head of the school of computing, said: "This interactive campaign, including the visual, snappy format of the new site, has been designed to draw out the exciting, technology-led aspects of the courses on offer at the School of Computing."

"Our aim is to surprise, attract and engage our mainly young audience by connecting with them on their level, using tools that mean something to them. "The school of computing offers a wealth of innovative courses that are crucially relevant to industry today and we hope that the campaign will encourage young people to find out more about their further study options and a wealth of career opportunities open to them."

The new site can also be accessed at www.rgu.ac.uk/icreate

Microsoft to inspire Robert Gordon University students
The Microsoft Inspiration Tour, a national series of technology talks by the software giant, is to visit the School of Computing at Robert Gordon University this week, on Tuesday 2 February. The event is being run to inspire students to develop industry-ready skills both in and out of class that will be relevant for the next ten years. It will enhance their CVs by exposing them to some of Microsoft's newest development technologies currently being used in industry, including Silverlight and XNA. The Tour will take the format of a two-hour lecture presented by Microsoft expert Paulo Barone. He will be focusing on recent trends in web technology, from user interaction and rich internet applications to building scalable applications taking advantage of cloud computing. Professor Ian Allison, Head of the School of Computing said, "We believe it is vital to work with industry leaders like Microsoft. Collaborations of this kind play an important part in ensuring that our graduates will continue to enter the job market with the skills and knowledge that employers are looking for." Students will also take part in round one of the Imagine Cup, the world's leading student technology competition. Their challenge will be to apply their know-how and creativity to 'Imagine a world where technology helps solve the world’s toughest problems', as identified by the United Nations. Prizes for UK winners will include laptops as well as the latest software and peripherals. This year's competition will enhance students' career prospects by providing opportunities for them to meet leading employers in the technology arena, from software companies through to creative agencies and game companies. Any college or university student who is in education full or part-time can take part in the competition although this event is being run for the University's School of Computing students only.

IT leaders come together in Aberdeen
Robert Gordon University’s School of Computing, in association with ScotlandIS, the trade body for the information and communications technologies industry, has formed an IT Leaders’ Forum for the North-east of Scotland. Leaders across the region are invited to participate in this group.

Co sponsored by HEAD, the IT resourcing group, and law firm McGrigors, the aim of the Forum is to grow and support a network of IT leaders. The Forum will allow members to share ideas and deal with issues together, as well as receiving expert input from leaders in the field at tailored networking events. The first event organised by the IT Leaders’ Forum is to take place at Robert Gordon University’s St Andrew Street Building in Aberdeen city centre on Thursday 14 January from 5.30pm.

David Mitchell, Senior Vice President of IT Research for leading market analysts, Ovum, is to deliver a presentation at the launch event, the Forum’s inaugural Technology Forecast. David has previously presented the Technology Forecasts in Edinburgh, but through this co-sponsorship ScotlandIS has been able to bring this annual event to Aberdeen too.

Professor Ian Allison, Head of the School of Computing at Robert Gordon University, who has played a key role in setting up the Forum, comments: “This is a really positive step forward for the IT specialists in the North-east and the University is delighted to be part of it. We launching a new course in IT Management in February, designed to fill a growing shortage of technical leadership skills across all sectors, and initiatives such as the Forum will reinforce this objective.”

Christmas Lecture (Festive Feast of Multimedia)
Christmas Lecture - Friday 11th December (Festive Feast of Multimedia)

Further details can be found here

ECIR2010 publication success
A new paper "Colouring the Dimensions of Relevance", by Ulises Cerviño Beresi and Yunhyong Kim, has recently been accepted for publication as a poster paper by the 32nd European Conference in Information Retrieval (ECIR'2010).

ECIR2010's full paper acceptance rate is only 22%. Ulises' paper is one of the two additional full paper submissions accepted as posters.

Computing student works to improve performance of popular search engine
A student hoping to graduate with a Masters from Robert Gordon University's School of Computing next month has found a way to improve the performance of one of the world’s leading search engines.

Using the spare cycles of the computers at the University, Maryam Kontagora from Abuja, Nigeria, ran a myriad of concurrent MapReduce jobs to simulate hundreds of users searching and sorting on Google at the same time, ultimately improving the results of these searches.

The MSc student has just been informed that an article based on the findings she has put together for her Masters dissertation has been accepted at a top international conference. The IEEE International Conference on Complex, Intelligent and Software Intensive Systems (CISIS), to be held at Krakow, in February 2010 will give Maryam a forum in which to showcase her findings.

Her work describes how to improve benchmarks of the search engine's MapReduce environment on multiple virtual machines. According to the international reviewers for the CISIS conference, her article "is certainly interesting for the audience and a very good and solid work".

Introduced by Google in 2004, MapReduce is a programming environment to allow hundreds of computers to work together on gaining results for complicated searches. Thousands of MapReduce jobs are executed on Google's clusters every day, meaning that lots of the searches we run on our favourite restaurants and TV shows will be executed by using a MapReduce tool.

Maryam explained: "My ultimate career goal is to help advance knowledge in the field of parallel computing and how it may be used to improve the performance of large tasks, like searches that would normally take a long time to execute."

 Dr Horacio Gonzalez-Velez, a lecturer with the School of Computing who is Maryam's academic supervisor for her dissertation, said: "Maryam has always demonstrated an outstanding ability for computing. She is a very clever young woman with an ability to identify useful connections among concepts that other people miss. Her work is definitely a step in the right direction and will hopefully help us to gain further insights into the performance of parallel computers."

Professor Ian Allison, Head of the School of Computing added: "This project is an excellent example of how our applied research shapes our teaching. Students get to work with leading edge technologies and ideas. I'm delighted that Maryam will have a chance to discuss her work to an international audience."

New course to address skills shortage

With IT managers at the forefront of business change – addressing strategic challenges at a time when we are trying to scramble our way out of the recession – it has become even more important for organisations to have skilled personnel ready to step into senior IT roles.

A taster session for a new Masters course in IT Management developed by Robert Gordon University, which has been designed to fill a growing shortage of technical leadership skills across all sectors, will take place on Tuesday 17 November at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa, Pitfodels, Aberdeen. The Business Breakfast event, taking place from 8am, will see Ron Mitchell, Chief Information Officer, BP North Sea, talk on the challenges facing IT leaders in the current climate.

Ron says, "I believe that the new course will enable people from technical backgrounds to bridge the gap between IT delivery and IT leadership, so that they can take a lead in providing services and solutions. The challenge for IT leaders is to truly understand their organisation and to ensure that they provide the solutions required to address real business needs."

With the need for skilled IT professionals already outstripping demand, market analysis has shown that this is going to continue to increase in the UK for at least another five years. In particular, there is a serious shortage of skilled IT managers, and there are very few courses available that offer the blend of industry-relevant material that these managers need.

The new postgraduate course, which will see a first cohort begin their studies in January, will be delivered by online distance learning supplemented with on-campus teaching days. A full-time version of the course is planned for September 2010.

Professor Ian Allison, Head of the University’s School of Computing, explains, "The key aim of the new course is to provide technical leadership skills, brought together in the same way that our highly-regarded Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programme supports business managers of the future. It is aimed at experienced IT professionals who are seeking to lead IT projects and services, and capitalise on the career opportunities the predicted surge in demand for IT skills will bring.

"We are really excited about the mix of subjects that this unique course will bring together, including IT strategy planning, project management, leadership skills and enterprise systems management. With teaching staff who are experienced IT leaders, the course has been designed in collaboration with industry. On-campus teaching days that have been built into the course will give students the chance to hear from guest speakers at the cutting-edge of IT leadership, as well as an excellent opportunity to network with fellow professionals."

For further details about both the event and the new course, contact Robert Gordon University’s School of Computing on 01224 262700, or email msc-enquiry@comp.rgu.ac.uk. Alternatively, visit: http://www.rgu.ac.uk/ITManagement

School of Computing Open Days
The School of Computing are holding two Open Days on Wednesday 7th October and Saturday 7th November.
For more information please click here.

University Open Day to include ‘Xtra’ special workshop for parents
Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, is to open its doors to prospective students this Saturday (7 November) with some rather interesting ideas on how to keep parents and friends amused while students take part in a variety of workshops and fact finding exercises.
The University's School of Computing will be inviting parents and friends into an 'X Factor' style video booth to make their own podcasts which will then be broadcast using the facility’s podcast server. They will be asked about themselves and what they think of the University, guided in using iMovie to produce some high quality footage.
Named the top new university in the UK by The Times Good University Guide 2010, the University has already held one Open Day this year, attracting around 2000 visitors, and decided to open its doors for a second time to allow as many prospective students as possible to see what’s on offer. This will be the first time that a Robert Gordon University Open Day has taken place on a Saturday and is designed to fit in with the busy lifestyles that so many of us follow.
With more than 1000 expected visitors, the ever-popular event will be held from 11am till 2pm at both the Garthdee and city centre campuses, with the School of Computing workshop taking place at the St Andrew Street Building in the city centre.
Each of the three Faculties – Health and Social Care, Design and Technology and Aberdeen Business School - will host their own range of dynamic events throughout the day. These will include: hands-on activities with the FF1600 racing car in the School of Engineering; a tour of the scene-of-crime lab and demonstrations of fingerprints, DNA profile and handwriting analysis from the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences; a critical care scenario with a computerised patient in the School of Nursing; multimedia demonstrations at the Scott Sutherland School; portfolio examples and guidance at Gray's School of Art, and a wide range of talks specific to individual Schools and courses.
Representatives from the different support departments at the University will also be on hand to discuss any questions about how to apply, the costs of going to university, where to stay and adapting to student life. There will also be tours of the student accommodation at Woolmanhill, as well as RGU: SPORT, the University’s £10 million sports centre.
Kate Blake, University Marketing Manager said, "Having invested significantly in our new buildings at Garthdee and updated the facilities at our city centre campus, we know that once people visit Robert Gordon University, they will see the benefits of studying in such a fantastic environment.
"The 'Podcasting for Parents' workshop should be particularly interesting, taking place in a newly refurbished suite at St Andrew Street, and illustrates our commitment to ensuring both prospective students and their guests enjoy their time at Robert Gordon University."
Free buses will run between the city centre and Garthdee campuses every fifteen minutes. For further details, call 01224 262204 or visit the Open Day website at: www.rgu.ac.uk/openday.