News 2006
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December 2006
Best Paper Prize Awarded to Robotics Researchers
A paper by academics in the Department of Computer Science recently won the
"Best Paper Award" at a prestigious international conference.
The paper, by Julian Ryde and Professor Huosheng Hu, was highly recognised at
the 2006 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) International
Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics. It took the top prize as the best
conference paper from around 300 papers presented in the conference.
For decades, autonomous robots have been shackled by the 2D (two dimensional)
assumption, which has been necessary due to the absence of suitable 3D
(three-dimensional) sensors. Even today 3D sensing technology is problematic and
expensive. The paper, entitled "Cooperative Mutual 3D Laser Mapping and
Localisation", offered both a theoretical insight and practical solutions for 3D
sensing technology to be used in many real-world applications, e.g. for
autonomous robots to operate in unstructured environments (both indoor and
outdoor) to implement service, rescue and entertainment tasks and to help
elderly and disabled people in their daily life at their homes.
Acclaim for Essex Students - Computer Science PhD Students win Top Awards
for their Research
Computer Science PhD students win top awards for their research -
read the full article.
Research Councils UK business plan competition
The Department congratulates Klaus McDonald-Maier and his colleagues Karl Heeks,
Andrew Hopkins and Richard Scottow on having just been the runner up in the
finals of the Research Councils UK business plan competition.
It was a prize for their company UltraSoc
http://www.ultrasoc.com/, which has developed patented technology that makes
it easier to find and mend bugs in embedded computer systems.
The competition was organised to promote enterprise by researchers based in UK
HEIs and public sector research establishments. The competition covered all
eight of the UK Research Councils.
You can read the press release at
http://www.essex.ac.uk/news/2006/nr20061207.htm
August 2006
Two Computer Science students win "Most Enterprising Student" awards.
Two students from the department have won coveted awards over the summer.
 |
The cream of Britain's young business talent compete around the country each
year for the Shell Step Awards. Mark Kemp and
Stephen O'Neil won Most Enterprising Student 2006 in Essex and Oxfordshire respectively.
Mark was presented with his award at a Shell Step Awards Ceremony in Chelmsford
hosted by the Essex Development & Regeneration Agency (ExDRA) in partnership
with Business Link.
Stephen
picked up his award at a ceremony organised by Oxford Innovation and so
impressed the company he was working with that they have offered him full time
employment after he graduates. |
July 2006
Christopher Lynch won the Best Student Paper award at the 2006 IEEE World
Congress on Computational Intelligence within the IEEE International Conference
on Fuzzy Systems. This is the best international conference in the field of
Computational Intelligence. The award was won for the paper entitled "Using
Uncertainty Bounds in the Design of an Embedded Real-Time Type-2 Neuro Fuzzy
Speed Controller for Marine Diesel Engines" by Christopher Lynch, Hani Hagras
and Vic Callaghan.
May 2006
An article in the Times on Monday 22nd May 2006, features Ramaswamy
Palaniappan and his latest research in the field of EEG (electroencephalogram)
biometrics.
Read the article.
Silver Medal Award for Audio Engineering at Essex
| In May 2006
Professor Malcolm Hawksford was awarded the Silver Medal (formerly
Emile Berliner Award) of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) bearing the
citation, "For major contributions to engineering research in the
advancement of audio reproduction". The award was presented in Paris
at the opening ceremony of the 120th International AES Convention, where the
pictures above show the medal and its presentation from Neil Gilchrist, the
current president of the Society and BBC broadcast engineer. Professor
Hawksford is with the Department of ESE and has been at Essex since 1971.
His published research is principally in the field of Audio Engineering and
has gained him international recognition. Malcolm is a strong advocate for
systems and engineering practices that advance the quality of audio
reproduction systems, an ethos he tries to instil in his undergraduate
students on the B.Eng. degree in Audio Engineering. He currently chairs the
AES Technical Committee on High Resolution Audio and has organised and
contributed to numerous workshops and technical sessions.
|
 |
|
The silver medal. |
|
Photo: Claude Gourbin Photographe Paris |
Recently Malcolm has applied his knowledge in sound
reproduction by staging a concert of oriental music at the University, the
concert was recorded April of this year while visiting Marrakech in Morocco. |
New Department
Will explore New Horizons
Article about
HIPNet
in The Engineer Magazine
April 2006
Maria Collects Innovation Award
Lecturer Dr Maria Fasli has
collected another award for developing innovative teaching.
 |
She receives a £5,000 Innovative Teaching Development Fund award for a
project which aims to produce practical guidelines for developing software
agents.
The award follows her success in obtaining a £50,000 National Teaching
Fellowship last year.
The latest award, from the Higher Education Academy in partnership with
Microsoft, is specifically aimed at driving the development of innovative
teaching in Computer Science and IT.
Dr Fasli's project will develop a set of principles to help students in
the design and implementation of software agents using Microsoft.NET technology.
|
February 2006
ESE Head of Department's Visit to Pakistan
Anthony Vickers, the
Head of Department of Electronic Systems Engineering recently visited three
cities in Pakistan, Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore giving a series of lectures
and attending the Dawn Higher Education Expo. He had the pleasure of also
meeting with several Essex Alumni Dr Zahid Saleem, Ghazanfar Hussain,
Muhammed Yaseen, Nasrullah Khan as well as many faculty members from COMSATS
Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), the National University of Computer
and Emerging Sciences, the NED University of Engineering and Technology, and the
Government College University Lahore (GCU). The picture below was taken on the
steps of GCU showing Dr Vickers with his hosts and other academic visitors.
Photo: Dr Vickers with his hosts and other academic visitors in Pakistan.
The purpose of the trip was to investigate potential collaborative links with
Universities in Pakistan and meet and assist students thinking of studying at
Essex University. Dr Vickers was extremely pleased with the trip and will be
returning to Pakistan in May to continue developing the links.
January 2006
Digital Lifestyles Centre
We are pleased to announce the
formation of a new interdisciplinary Research Centre at the University of Essex
- Digital Lifestyles Centre. The centre was created to optimize the design and
development of pervasive computing technologies in inhabited environments, by
combining the technical expertise of the Intelligent Inhabited Environments
Group (IIEG) with the social-technical prowess of Chimera.
Critically, for the Ambient Intelligent domain to advance, innovative
technological research must be informed by real human needs, which are sensitive
to social and cultural norms and user perceptions of technology. We believe this
new centre will provide such a capability by harnessing long established
expertise in socio-technical and pervasive computing research and development,
focused around what is a UK and world leading research facility - the iDorm2 is
a multi-room apartment, which provides a flexible testbed for future
digital-home technology. The iDorm2 builds on the networked embedded technology
developed within its forerunner, the iDorm, which was featured on the BBC
Tomorrow's World programme in 2002.
For more details please contact
Dr Martin Hicks.
Previous years news: [2007] [2005] [2004]
[2003] [2002]
[2001]
![[picture of mobile robot]](/csee/images/rotator/lb10.jpg)
