Jean Bartik Computing Symposium
Workshops Thursday 27 February 2020
Designing Your User’s Experience (Michelson 220)
Presented by: Dr. Danielle Cummings, Department of Defense
Have you ever read an instruction manual that confused you more than it helped? Or visited a website and had no idea how to navigate it or find useful information? Or launched a new software tool and couldn't figure out how to use it without help, training, or google?
So many good ideas fail because of bad designs. In this workshop we will be discussing concepts related to user interface design and how it contributes to product development and providing a good user experience. Then you will apply what you've learned to a real-world design problem and will use rapid prototyping tools to quickly design and test a solution.
By the conclusion of this workshop you will be able to identify characteristics of good and bad designs and know how to avoid making ambiguous design choices. You will understand what mental models are, how they're formed and how they help us to interact with the world around us. And you will learn to capitalize on your users' existing mental models to make sure your product design and its proper operation are clear.
Reverse Engineering for CTFs (Michelson 221)
Presented by: ENS Kristina Bodeman, United States Navy
This workshop will provide an introduction and experience in reverse engineering in a CTF event. During the workshop we will review assembly and how the stack works. Then we will dive into how assembly ties into reverse engineering in a CTF and the tools used to solve those problems. Lastly, we will walk through a demo problem with an additional problem provided for practice and a solution posted at the end. No pre-requisite is necessary, but it helps to already understand assembly
This is the (An)Droid You’re Looking For (Michelson 316)
Presented by: Katie Thompson and Joni Pepin, Capital One
Android devices currently make up about 86% of the galaxy’s market share. We will explore the intricacies of front-end mobile development by building a basic Android application with the latest development tools, covering topics such as material design and network integration. May the force be with you! Pre-requisites: experience with Java preferred
Neuromorphic (Brain-inspired) Engineering (Rickover 112)
Presented by: Dr. Kaitlin Fair, Air Force Research Lab
Neuromorphic Engineering offers brain-inspired hardware and software solutions that are generally more computationally and energy efficient than traditional computing architectures (such as a desktop computer). Many of these architectures process information entirely using spikes, with the spikes being passed between simple neuron processing units - inspired by the way the human brain represents and processes information. In this workshop, the loose ties between the human brain and these neuromorphic architectures will be explored and the advantages and disadvantages to using these systems will be discussed. Participants will then gain a better understanding of these concepts by programming the neurons of a neuromorphic simulator to perform basic mathematical functions. Pre-requisites: linear algebra, familiarity with writing code (suggested, not required)
Workshops Friday 28 February 2020
Technology Entrepreneurship: How to Develop a Business Plan for Your Next Great Idea(Michelson 202)
Presented by: Dr. Lori Sussman, University of Southern Maine
Entrepreneurs solve problems, transform the way we do things, create jobs, and drive prosperity. However, there is a significant gap between the number of male and female owned small businesses in the United States. While women are increasingly harnessing their entrepreneurial spirit, it is critical to encourage and support this behavior, eliminate obstacles, and encourage entrepreneurship. Unlocking the potential of young women in college level technology programs provides them a vision of what could be. This workshop is to encourage young technology leaders to consider the creation of their own women-owned business.
Introduction to Natural Language Processing (Michelson 392)
Presented by: Dr. Summer Rankin and Kate Dowdy, Booz Allen Hamilton
The ability to process and analyze text is an important area of data science and has applications in many fields from cyber security to medicine. Natural language processing (NLP) is a growing field at the intersection of linguistics, computer science and artificial intelligence. This workshop will be a hands-on introduction to NLP, using Python. We will take a dataset from raw text, through cleaning and pre-processing, to building an unsupervised (topic) model to extract patterns. Then, we will visualize the results. Pre-requisites: Experience with Python (beginner level is adequate).
Git Basics (Michelson 316)
Presented by: Capt. Taylor Paul, United States Marine Corps
While working on a degree in a computing major, students will be instructed to complete many programming assignments. Sometimes, they will work with a group of students to complete these assignments. In either case, version control is crucial to success. The goal of this workshop is to expose students to a distributed version control system called Git. Students will learn about Git repositories and some of the common commands.
Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) for the Department of Defense (Michelson 360)
Presented by: Frank Wakeham and Autumn Sand, Booz Allen Hamilton
Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) have more than commercial and entertainment applications, and the Department of Defense is beginning to experiment with and embrace these solutions across the spectrum of warfighter needs – from training, to mission planning and rehearsals, to maintenance, to in-the-field operations. The field is crowded with equipment, systems, and solutions providers focused on supporting our military and advancing the state-of-the-art at an incredible pace. As these technologies continue to mature, the applications for addressing military challenges and enhancing warfighter readiness and effectiveness will expand dramatically. This workshop will provide a brief overview of Augmented and Virtual Reality, what is the state-of-the-art today and where it is going, and where it is and will be used to support our national defense. Following the overview discussion and Q&A, we will break into small groups to get hands-on experience with a number of AR/VR applications, ranging from high-end head mounted displays to mobile devices. Join us for a glimpse of the future!
