Each week, we will hold an optional "Exploration Session" featuring a presentation, discussion, or activity on a topic related to computer science, but outside the normal scope of CSE 142. These sessions will provide opportunities to engage and interact with your classmates, the TAs, and a variety of guests, as well as to explore aspects of CS, STEM, and related areas in ways beyond the programming focus of CSE 142.
Exploration sessions occur on Thursday evenings from 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT (Seattle time) over Zoom at this link.
For every 3 Exploration Sessions you attend, you will receive 1 token that grants an extension for a late checkpoint. See the Ed post for complete details. If you missed a checkpoint, go ahead and submit it even though it'll be marked as late on Ed. At the end of the quarter, we will automatically accept Math.floor(# of sessions you've received credit for / 3) checkpoint submissions you have successfully completed.
There's far more to computer science than just writing code -- there are even some computer scientists who write barely any code at all. Theoretical computer science uses mathematical tools to do CS at a more abstract level. You'll get to do some theoretical CS yourselves in future classes, for today we'll try to just see one example: How does one design an algorithm (that is, decide what code should be written) when the inputs are coming from people who might lie to serve their own interests? We'll go through one example in detail -- designing a badminton tournament where no one ever wants to lose (yes, there are tournaments where teams do want to lose!).
Speaker(s): Robbie Weber
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A quick tour through the process that happens between when you request a website and when it actually shows up on your computer. Along the way we'll also talk about what can go wrong in that process, and how that relates to current issues like censorship, privacy, and web security.
Speaker(s): Rob Thompson, Andrew Fitz Gibbons
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Come on a journey with Kasey Champion and Kim Nguyen as they guide you through their top tips for not losing your gd mind trying to pursue a career in tech while attending the UW.
Speaker(s): Kasey Champion, Kim Nguyen
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Ever wondered what it's like to be a CSE TA? How many hours it takes to grade assessments? Curious about applying to be a TA? Join your TAs for a fun Q&A session where you can learn more about the behind-the-scenes of teaching!
Speaker(s): Anthony Chung, Thevina Dokka, Sumant Guha, Ana Jojic
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We have been learning Java, but there are so many other programming languages out there! What makes these languages different? Why use one over the other? And how far can programming languages push the limits of computing? Join us for an exploration of several different programming languages and what makes them special.
Speaker(s): Omar Ibrahim
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Extended reality (XR) sits at the intersection of computer vision, graphics, and human-computer interaction. This talk will briefly cover the history of extended reality (including VR/AR) leading up to the current generation of devices, and how all the pieces come together to create immersive experiences. There will also be a hands-on component demonstrating how to quickly get started with XR development from any device.
Speaker(s): John Akers
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How do we build robots that can assist people with mobility limitations with activities of daily living? In this talk, I will focus on one such activity - feeding. Successful robot-assisted feeding depends on reliable bite acquisition of hard-to-model deformable food items and easy bite transfer. Using insights from human studies, I will showcase algorithms and technologies that leverage multiple sensing modalities to perceive varied food item properties and determine successful strategies for bite acquisition and transfer. Using feedback from all the stakeholders, I will show how we built an autonomous robot-assisted feeding system that uses these algorithms and technologies and deployed it in the real world that fed real users with mobility limitations.
Speaker(s): Tapomayukh "Tapo" Bhattacharjee
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What should we do when faced with uncertainty? Is it better to assume a pessimistic or optimistic outcome? In this talk, we will see how being optimistic leads to a surprisingly powerful set of algorithms that work in a wide variety of environments where not everything is known. We'll see that these algorithms can be applied in a wide suite of applications, like with helping Netflix decide what to display to its users, or how Google recommends the fastest route to your destination, and even by those conducting medical trials in order to find the most effective treatment.
Speaker(s): Hunter Schafer
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The floor is open to ask TAs and your instructor about the learning experience here at UW. As we enter yet another quarter of online learning, how can we tackle online better than we did the quarter before? What strategies can we apply to CSE 142? What even is CSE? Come prepared to discuss tips for online learning with your peers, ask questions of all kinds, or to listen to others. This is a great opportunity to prepare yourself for the wonders of CSE to come.
Speaker(s): Andrew Cheung, Miya Natsuhara, May Wang
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