Computing Reviews News

Featured Reviewer: Bálint Molnár

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our October featured reviewer, Bálint Molnár. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) New database technologies and various methods of computational intelligence—artificial intelligence (AI), data science, machine learning, and so on—have found widespread application in practice.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) A historian who studies the changes to everyday life throughout history.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) It will be necessary for people to obtain higher-level education and skills that include not only computer literacy but also the handling of complex systems in human environments. I work on business processes and workflows in enterprises that exploit recent technologies such as blockchain and AI/data science

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Archimedes—he developed many advanced (though premature) ideas in mathematics.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Rock and classical.

--

Click here to read one of Bálint’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Jon Millen

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our September featured reviewer, Jon Millen. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) The developments that made the biggest splash in the past ten years were based on inventions made more than ten years ago. The most recent is Bitcoin, as well as other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. Quantum computing is starting to look practical, but it originated around 1980. The success of AlphaGo in beating a master at Go was an application of deep learning, which was bolstered by back-propagation algorithms from around 1986.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) Probably designing video games.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) Computer science has always been about elegant algorithms, invented by creative researchers. You never know what exciting innovation is coming next. 

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Albert Einstein. Isn’t he everybody’s favorite?

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Blues, boogie-woogie, folk rock, classical Spanish guitar.

--

Click here to read one of Jon’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Hamdy Soliman

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our August featured reviewer, Hamdy Soliman. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) The emergence of quantum computing and the possibilities it brings, both in terms of novel algorithms and computing architecture, but also its threat to existing security designs.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) A restaurateur or chef. I love to cook!

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and advances in security and machine learning, sensors will become ubiquitous and will dominate all aspects of our lives, including being embedded throughout our devices and bodies. The research I am working on contributes toward future IoT use cases as well as securing sensor communications.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) My favorite historical figure in computing would be Claude Shannon. His work was the basis for a lot of information theory (back then "communication theory") and he made big contributions to cryptography and telecommunications. He also invented the first wearable computer (for all you Apple Watch fans out there).

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I enjoy orchestral/classical music.

--

Click here to read one of Hamdy Soliman’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Epaminondas Kapetanios

 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) I would have to mention deep learning (convolutional neural networks, CNNs), not so much because of the success stories in object recognition through the revival of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and artificial intelligence (AI), but for highlighting how delusional it is to believe in having crafted intelligible intelligence with the current computer architectures and organizations.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) Sports science and coaching.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) I think computer science may have created some sort of intelligent machine acting as a “black box” to, and creating hilarious interactions with, humans. Explaining decisions and actions in conversations with end users may alleviate this deficiency and foster synergy between humans and intelligent machines.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Jean Monnet was one of the key founders of the European Coal and Steel Community, the predecessor of the European Union and a project for peace, cooperation, and the protection of human rights. 

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Rhythm and blues (R&B) and blues.

--

Click here to read one of Epaminondas Kapetanios’ reviews.

 

Featured Reviewer: André Mariën

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our June featured reviewer, André Mariën. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) Infrastructure as code, software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and so on, i.e., freedom for the people.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I would be an architect, constructing something tangible.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) That is actually about now, so it is easy to “predict.”

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Leonardo da Vinci, an impossibly creative individual with diverse interests.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Music from the 60s and 70s.

--

Click here to read one of Andre Mariën’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: S. Ramakrishnan

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our May featured reviewer, S. Ramakrishnan. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) It is difficult to choose just one among many, so here are two: processor speed and smartphones.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer field, what would you be doing instead?

A) Quite an interesting question. I would likely be a mathematics teacher in schools.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) Robots everywhere, with most roles currently done by humans done by robots. I am working on machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and emotion recognition.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Mahatma Gandhi, who united a diverse India and used two highly valuable principles, namely truth and non-violence, to get freedom.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Carnatic music and melody songs in Tamil.

--

Click here to read one of Dr. Ramakrishnan’s reviews.

 

Featured Reviewer: M. Sasikumar

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our April featured reviewer, M. Sasikumar. 

Q) What is the most important thing that has happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) Hard to pinpoint one specific event out of the huge number of strides made in the last decade. In a sense, the biggest game changer has been the phenomenal increase in computing power, including network capacity. This has enabled a lot of old ideas like deep learning to become practical.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) Perhaps aeronautical engineering, which was the alternative to computer science I was given when taking admission in engineering. Of course, today, aeronautics is also full of computing!

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) Computing is going through a phase of rapid change, making any prediction hard. One direction I would like to see is accessible programming for ordinary people, just as computing as a technology has evolved. Programming would reach the level of human-to-human communication, with keyboard and mouse and difficult syntax a thing of the past. I have teams working in speech and language technologies, which is one of the emerging approaches to human-computer interaction (HCI). A b brain-computer interface (BCI) is another relevant technology in this direction.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation in India, for having led a nation to freedom with simplicity, truth, and non-violence as the primary weapons.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Carnatic music.

--

Click here to read one of Dr. Sasikumar’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Nancy Eickelmann

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our March featured reviewer, Nancy Eickelmann. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) This is a two-part question concerning theoretical and applied computer science. Quantum computing in the field of the theoretical, and big data in the field of applied science.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) Teaching English literature.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) On a positive note, information and knowledge of our world will continue to increase and be readily available. On a less positive note, it may be at the cost of individual privacy and freedom.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Eleanor of Aquitaine; she lived a long and accomplished life.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Music is like food in that it is of the moment and the mood. 

--

Click here to read one of Nancy’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Susan Ferebee

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our February featured reviewer, Susan Ferebee. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) One of the most important computing advances is edge computing, which solves the need to process data in real time, locally, without transmission across a large network. Edge computing has relevance for big data processing, connected vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and 5G towers, just to name a few.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) If I were not working in computer science, I would most like to work in physics, particularly the study of quantum physics. The two fields will begin to overlap as more is understood about quantum physics and quantum computing. Another area of interest I have is neuroscience, and related to that, how computing can replicate neural processes.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) Computer science will take us further into an ubiquitous, always-connected technological world where lines between our human body and brain will be blurred with our connections to technology, artificial intelligence, and devices. The question then becomes: as artificial intelligence and computing take over much of what our brains work on now, what new challenges will our brains choose to work on?

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Leonardo DaVinci combined science, art, and engineering, and displayed his wide range of thinking in notebooks, which have helped me develop a thought approach that synthesizes many disciplines.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) My favorite type of music is alternative.

--

Click here to read one of Susan’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Eugene Callahan

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our January featured reviewer, Eugene Callahan. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) The spread of Agile and DevOps.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) Farming.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) Prediction is very hard, especially about the future. But I hope our work on easily combining data from different APIs might prove useful to some people.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) George Berkeley. He brought clarity to a vexing philosophical problem.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Reggae.

--

Click here to read one of Eugene’s recent reviews.