UCLA Computer Science Department
Alumni Advisory Board
Winter 2023 Meeting
Thursday, March 2, 2023
6:30pm-8:30pm
Tannas Suite, Engr IV, and on Zoom
Attendees
Board Members: James Anhalt, John Busch, Alfonso Cardenas, Bill Goodin, Rizwan Kassim, Francis Nickels, Laurie O’Connor, Eddie Shek, Diana Skaar, David Smallberg, Roderick Son, Lorenz Verzosa, Frank Xiong, Ning Ning Yu, Ben Zamanzadeh
Alumni Guest: Edward Tsai
Faculty: Todd Millstein, Glenn Reinman, Paul Eggert
Department and School Staff: Cassandra Franklin, Osanna Kazarian, Madelen Hem
Student Leaders: Ava Asmani (ACM), Emily Fajardo (ACM-W), Evy Nguyen (ACM-W), Anoushka Chintada (UPE)
Presentations by Profs Millstein and Reinman
Profs Millstein and Reinman presented an overview of the Department. Please see attached slides for details. Highlights include two new faculty openings. A Mentor Professor with experience in mentoring underrepresented students, and a Teaching Professor who will share the teaching of lower division classes with Profs Eggert and Smallberg.
Subject areas that the Department is seeking to expand into and hire faculty are: Human Computer Interfaces and Systems and Security.
The Department has launched a Data Science minor in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.
Prof Millstein mentioned that 10 percent of all applications for freshman positions at UCLA were to the Computer Science Department (approximately 14,000).
Prof Reinman thanked the student leaders for their significant contributions to the success of their fellow students and the CS Department. They have held many social events, company infosessions, career fairs, and other events; and helped students feel engaged, especially first-year and transfer students.
Prof Reinman also described a new program in the Department called Break Through Tech AI, which is designed to connect college women with careers in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Companies seeking to hire these very qualified students are encouraged to join the program at no cost. Please see Prof Reinman’s slides for more information.
Student group presentations
Please see the attached presentations by ACM, ACM-W, UPE.
Presentation by Prof Aditya Grover
Prof Aditya Grover, who is a new professor in the Department, described some of his research in applying AI to climate modeling. Please see his attached slides.
General Discussion
There was a discussion about how alumni and companies can contribute to the Department. The Department has an Affiliates Program, https://www.cs.ucla.edu/industry/, which supports student group activities and events, as well as funding for 25 female CS students to attend the annual Grace Hopper Conference. For additional information, please contact Prof Millstein, todd@cs.ucla.edu, or Prof Reinman, reinman@cs.ucla.edu.
Prof Millstein was asked how the CS Department can help non-CS majors become more knowledgeable about CS? He mentioned that about 2000 non-CS students are already attending CS classes (mostly lower division), especially CS 30, which is an introduction to the CS 31 series.
Diana mentioned that Google is seeking employees with interdisciplinary experience. Prof Millstein commented that the Department collaborates with the School of Medicine and the Anderson School. There was also a comment that CS graduates need better communication skills to be successful.
Prof Millstein was asked how students can find more research opportunities. There is no official program to connect students with faculty for research; but students are encouraged to approach faculty members directly.
Prof Millstein invited alumni to advocate on behalf of the CS Department to the new Dean when he or she arrives this summer, especially with respect to increasing the number of faculty positions in CS.
We were pleased to have Ed Tsai attend the meeting as a guest alumnus. He offered to help students learn more about entrepreneurship.
Other Items:
We ask each Board member to make sure that his or her information on the website is current, http://www.cs.ucla.edu/alumni-advisory-board-members/
UPE website and Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/upe.ucla/
UPE slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hcizYWFKltIuaBCpIJerujvN0kCcoVOzhwAhzXGtLoc/edit?usp=sharing
ACM website and Facebook page:
http://uclaacm.com
https://www.facebook.com/uclaacm/
ACM slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iA9p0hcbNFwRGClYKKnpWBLq3OBidr-Indk_E6j7-gU/edit
ACM-W Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/uclaacmw/
