Crimson Crux

Remember UP ACM, the Filipino student organization who made the news last year after winning two of the five ACM International Student Chapter Excellence Awards? Well, I’ve got some news for you.

UP ACM has done it again!

The organization has won the 2005-2006 Excellence Award for Outstanding Community Service, the same category it won last year. (more…)

That is the question that a recent Newsbreak report poses and dissects. One salient line:

[Philippine Science High School] graduates in UP are sometimes accused of overconfidence and academic delinquency in the latter part of their courses.

As a Pisay graduate myself, I’m able to refute and support several of the article’s points. True, some PSHS grads in UP end up fighting for academic survival, but take note of the word some (even the quotation above says “sometimes”). Many Pisay alumni graduate with stellar academic records, along with extra-curricular and student leadership feats.

(more…)

Mon Abasolo over at Pinoy Tech Blog espouses the use of Open Office, which is entirely logical for all ye computer users. Even if you’re an established MS Office user, it still pays to install Open Office on your PC — at the very least, it broadens your perspective on things and makes you appreciate FOSS.

If you like a Pinoy feel to Open Office, download UP Office, developed by a quartet from the University of the Philippines. The screenshot is courtesy of Noel Feria, one of UP Office’s developers. You can find better pics on his blog.

If you don’t want to install Open Office (why?) but still want to access open document formats, you can use the OpenOffice.org Viewer created by a UP DCS undergraduate group under the supervision of Prof. Rommel Feria. The file is quite small — barely 350 KB! The viewer will run on any platform with a Java Virtual Machine.

The University of the Philippines, as the eternal vanguard of Philippine nationalism, poses an alternative to the Western toga and cap as the graduation attire of choice for Philippine schools. The sablay — first used at UP Diliman in 1990 — is a truly unique, truly UP, and truly Filipino academic costume.

According to a slip of paper I got when I bought my own sablay (yes, yours truly has just graduated!):

The word Sablay has two meanings: one, a loose piece of clothing, worn by a person, that is simple yet elegant and joined in front by an ornament, and two, the draping object or fabric on the shoulder.

The Sablay gets its inspiration from the muslim malong but incorporates various traditional elements found in other Philippine cultures. Running through the Sablay are geometric motifs of indigenous Philippine tribes.

The characters woven into or printed on the sablay are in Alibata, the ancient Philippine alphabet, and stand for the initials of UP. Upon graduation, the sablay is transferred from the right to the left shoulder — the consummation of a UP student’s college life.

Aside from being Pinoy to the core, the sablay has practical advantages over the toga. Dr. Victor Paz, Director of UP’s Archaeological Studies Program, once mentioned in his Arkiyoloji 1 class that the sablay is more suited for the tropical climate, compared with the toga which was born in colder lands. This might seem like a minor issue, until you get to know that there have been cases of UPians fainting in the middle of academic ceremonies due to the choking heat of the toga.

For another article on the sablay, you can visit the UPD Information Office’s Archives.

Congratulations to the faculty and student body of UP Diliman’s Department of Computer Science for being the College of Engineering’s Best Department for AY 2005-06!

Modesty aside, we believed right from the start of the year that our batch can do it. One year of balancing acads with extracurricular stuff paid off, bigtime.

The week-long celebration of the UP Diliman Department of Computer Science’s 25th anniversary drew to a close this day with the CS Symposium.

Computer science students from UP Diliman and other universities presented their research output and shared them with the CS community and industry leaders in the Computer Science Undergraduate Research Symposium, the last event of the week (nicknamed “Silver Flame“).

I can now let out a brief, very brief sigh of relief. Sigh. (There you go.) Yesterday, we successfully presented and defended our thesis, HAMSTER (the other half of the project MOVISS). I mentioned HAMSTER a few months past, branded as S^infinity.

The good news is that a certain company has contacted us and shown interest in the project. Their representatives seem satisfied, impressed even, with the two groups’ presentations. Well, I think we were just fortunate to have handled well the questions that the panelists threw at us. Now, only the final demo with our adviser looms in the horizon! I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Postscript. Entries on the CS Week:

Introduction and Original Sked
Revised CS Week Sked
Silver Flame Sets UP Ablaze
UP ACM Programming Contest
UP Parser Editorial Exam

Time to pass on the torch (and the burden). Good luck to the next editors of the College’s first and foremost department-based publication!

Friday, March 3. 8:30-11:30AM. MH 233A, Melchor Hall, UP Diliman (Part of Silver Flame, the 25th anniversary of the UPD DCS)

Bring pen and bluebook.

Available positions:

Editor-in-Chief (required one year tenure in Parser)
Associate Editor
Section Editors (News, Features, Tech, Opinion, Literary)
Graphics Head

Layout Head Screening:

Submit your portfolio thru email (upparser@yahoo.com) or hand-in, on or before the editorial exam.

Want to win THREE iPod Shuffles plus Php 1,000 in cash? If you think you have the brains, then join the 2nd UP ACM Programming Competition!

What is the 2nd UP ACM Programming Competition?

The 2nd UP ACM Programming Competition will test the contestants’ problem solving and computer programming skills under time pressure. The contest will serve as a simulation for the ACM International Collegiate Programming Competion 2006, to be held in November this year.

Venue: MH 215, Melchor Hall, UP Diliman
Date: Thursday March 2, 2006 (Part of Silver Flame, the 25th Anniversary of the UPD DCS)
Time: 8:30am-12:00pm

Qualifications
1) Non-graduating UP undergraduate students (students with at least one year to stay in the University) from any course or college
2) No prior ACM-ICPC (International) experience
3) Contestants should form at most three members per team. Well, if you want to hog the three iPods…
4) The organizers are not allowed to join (doh!)

Prizes
1st prize
** THREE Ipod shuffles
** Php 1,000 (for the whole team)
** Internship opportunites from Pusit.com, a Friendster affiliate company

2nd prize
** Php 1,000
** Internship opportunites from Xackup, a Friendster affiliate company

3rd prize
** Php 500

For more information, visit http://2ndpc.upacm.org

Interested parties, contact Ardee Aram (09186951341), Mai Sibayan (09216484928) or TJ Roque (09224956730)

Sponsors
Pusit.com
Xackup
Hardware Magazine

Great talks, great exhibits, great food, and Paco Sandejas to boot! Definitely, what a great way to start the week!

Students and faculty alike trooped to the Engineering Theater yesterday as UP Diliman bore witness to the inauguration of Silver Flame, the week-long celebration of the Department of Computer Science’s 25th anniversary.

The day kicked off with the Opening Ceremonies, with DCS Chair Dr. Cedric Angelo Festin giving the welcome remarks. The CS Representatives gave a preview of the week’s great line-up of events, while the candidates for the next batch of CS Representatives presented their platform.

The Student-Teacher Dialogue followed, where the DCS Faculty, led by Dr. Festin, addressed the issues and concerns of the Department and its student body. Several points raised were the imminent transfer of the DCS to the new COELACS Building, laboratory fees, the selection process for competition-bound students, curriculum changes, and the relevancy of non-high-level CS subjects.

Lunch was served in the Grand Pakain, held at the College of Engineering Fourth Floor Lobby. CS Week revelers were treated to lechon and other great servings.

The afternoon was graced by the presence of two dignitaries, namely Dr. Rowena Guevara, Dean of the College of Engineering, and Dr. Paco Sandejas, renowned venture capitalist, executive, and co-inventor of the world’s first Grating Light Valves. GLV is a technology being used by Sony and Silicon Light Machines.

Dean Guevara gave an inspirational message to DCS students, after which she introduced Dr. Sandejas. The latter gave a talk on Career Paths, sharing his experiences and insights on careers for CS students, entrepreneurship, venture capital companies, and technologies which appeal most to investors.

Exhibits showcasing the Department and the various organizations comprising the UP CS Network were set-up in the 2nd Floor Lobby, along with posters of CS 192 User Interface Design projects and CS 176 (Computer Graphics) animations and stills.

Logistical problems were encountered due to the suspension of classes last February 27, which was supposed to be the opening day of the CS Week. However, the Department and the CS Week organizers decided to push through with the celebrations.

Due to the (unfortunate) suspension of classes today, some events in UP Diliman’s Computer Science Week 2006 have been shuffled.

Events for tomorrow (Tuesday, February 28):

10:00 - 11:00 - Opening Ceremonies
11:00 - 12:00 - Student-Teacher Dialogue
12:00 - 01:00 - Grand Pakain
01:00 - 02:00 - Inspirational Message from the Dean followed by a Talk by Dr. Paco Sandejas: Career Paths

The Undergraduate Research Symposium is tentatively moved to March 6-7, following the same symposium schedule. Events for the other days will still follow the original schedule.