Sasu Tarkoma new head of the Department of Computer Science

Since Jukka Paakki announced that he will step down from the post of head of the department on 1 January 2016, Professor Sasu Tarkoma has been elected the new head for the period 1 January 2016-31 December 2017. There were a total of 7 applicants for the position, out of whom the rector decided to appoint Tarkoma on the basis of the proposal by the dean of the Faculty of Science.

The staff of the department would like to congratulate Sasu and wish him success in his new duties. This is a good opportunity to ask our new leader some questions.
 

 

The inevitable first question: How does it feel?

ST: It feels good to get to develop the work of the department. 

 

Why did you decide to apply for the post as head of the department?

ST: I've been working with developing the day-to-day operations of the department lately, first as professor in charge of networks and systems, and then also as deputy head. I've tried to develop the operations of both the programme and the department actively, while building networks. I thought this might be a good background for the duties of the head of the department.

 

What kind of head will you be for the department?

ST: I'll be ahard-working builder with the goal of creating the best teaching and research community in the Nordic countries.

 

How do you want the staff to support you in your new duties?

ST: I hope we'll be building the department together. United, we can face the big challenges of society. For instance, we could combine the skills within the sub-programmes with digital solutions in science.

 

The university is facing huge changes in the near future, such as the reorganisation of services, the Big Wheel course reformation, and the researcher pools. We will probably also face lay-offs. How will the department survive these challenges?

ST: The coming years will be very demanding, but we have to see the oppotunities, as well. For instance, with the Big Wheel reformation, we will get a new Data Science Master's programme, which will support multi-disciplinary work and enforce the department's status as a pillar of digital knowledge. We will survive the challenges by building on our strengths and keeping busy.

 

You have many research projects on the go at the moment. How will you divide your time between research and leadership?

ST: My duties as head of the department will take up most of my time, but I will use what's left on reasearch. This means that I'll have to give up teaching.

 

In which direction will you take the department and how?

ST: I can see two directions for the department; the first is about developing the basics of computer science and the other is multi-disciplinary data science. They are both necessary for their impactiveness and to support the strategy of the University of Helsinki. Important themes include developing teaching, research and societal impact.

 

Do you have any fine 'inauguration words'?

ST: I would like to thank my predecessors for their good leadership and I will attempt to continue this tradition.

 

Text/questions: Pauliina Pajunen

Translation: Marina Kurtén

Created date

21.12.2015 - 12:34

Inter-university research and training centre on information security

The University of Helsinki and Aalto University have set up a joint research centre focusing on information security. The new centre, HAIC (Helsinki-Aalto Centre for Information Security), will coordinate the Master’s-level security education between the university and Aalto, with links to research and doctoral education.

The idea is to build bridges to the industries and gain their support for the education, and e.g. grants for MSc students coming from outside the EU, the head of the Department of Computer Science, Sasu Tarkoma, says.

Computer science undergraduate Petteri Timonen awarded in US science competition

Petteri Timonen, 19, came second in his category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

On Friday, 15 May, Timonen, who is studying computer science at the University of Helsinki, was awarded a grant worth 1500 USD, some 1330 euros, in the Systems Software category of the Intel ISEF science competition.
 
As his entry, Timonen submitted a software tool he developed for Finland’s Red Cross to make mobile blood runs around the country as cost-effective as possible. Timonen implemented his tool in cooperation with the Blood Service.

The tool has gained international attention, as no tool like it seems to have been developed anywhere else. Timonen has also negotiated with the American Red Cross by email.

Renewed Carat App Gives a Smart Boost to Battery

 
The Carat Project Team at the University of Helsinki, Department of Computer Science, has published a new version of the popular mobile energy-awareness application.

After launch in June 2012, Carat has helped over 850,000 users, of which 41 per cent have been Android and 59 per cent iOS users, respectively. The new user interface follows modern application design guidelines and presents battery information in a more intuitive and easy to use manner.

- In addition to the new user interface, we have increased the accuracy of the energy saving recommendations of Carat, says Professor Sasu Tarkoma, the leader of this research done at the university.

The user interface features the number of energy intensive applications (Hogs), energy anomalies (Bugs) and user recommendations (Actions) at a glance on the main screen as well as global energy statistics for the device community.

Cover Song Identification Using Compression-based Distance Measures

M.Sc. Teppo E. Ahonen will defend his doctoral thesis Cover Song Identification Using Compression-based Distance Measures on Friday the 1st of April 2016 at 12 o'clock in the University of Helsinki Exactum Building, Auditorium CK112 (Gustaf Hällströminkatu 2b).  His opponent is Academy Professor Petri Toiviainen (University of Jyväskylä) and custos Professor Esko Ukkonen (University of Helsinki). The defence will be held in Finnish.

Measuring similarity in music data is a problem with various potential applications. In recent years, the task known as cover song identification has gained widespread attention. In cover song identification, the purpose is to determine whether a piece of music is a different rendition of a previous version of the composition. The task is quite trivial for a human listener, but highly challenging for a computer.