Computing students’ talents recognised with society awards

Taken from: https://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/computing-students-talents-recognised-with-society-awards-2/

Computing undergraduates from the University of Northampton have been recognised for their work with awards from a prestigious society.

Ten students received awards during the Northampton British Computing Society branch annual general meeting, which was held at Avenue Campus on Tuesday 3 October.

Gary Hill, Head of Computing at the University, said: “I’m proud that our students are receiving awards for their achievements from the British Computer Society and HMGCC.

“To have such an award win on their CVs will help to give them a competitive edge when they embark on their chosen careers.”

Jan Jaworski, left, and Ohood Sabr

The award winners were:

Best first year student – Jan Jaworski

Best final year student – Ohood Sabr

Best Barclaycard Business-related dissertation – Kelly-Nicole Maitland-Coffin

University of Babylon MSc scholarships – Ohood Sabr and Mustafa Altameemi

HMGCC (Her Majesty’s Government Communications Centre) awards were also presented during the evening to the following:

Best dissertation – Warren Haskins

Best group project – Aleexa Cresta, Mahbub Haque, Saifur Rahman, Tomas Taujanskas and Tobi Ayilara. Pictured below.

All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruon

We can compute – undergrads scoop society awards

Taken from: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/we-can-compute-undergrads-scoop-society-awards/

Computing undergraduates from the University of Northampton have been recognised for their work with awards from two prestigious bodies.

Ten students received awards during the Northampton British Computing Society branch annual general meeting, which was held at Avenue Campus on Thursday 29 September.

Gongs were awarded by the British Computing Society (BCS) and HM Government Communications Centre (HMGCC)

Gary Hill, Head of Computing at the University, said: “I’m proud that our students have been recognised for their achievements from the British Computer Society and HMGCC.

“To have such an award win on their CVs will help to give them a competitive edge when they embark on their chosen careers.”

The award winners were:

BCS Best Computing 1st Year Award – Oloruntobi Abimbola Ayilara

BCS Best Computing Student Performance Prize – William Hurer-Mackay

BCS Best Business Computing 1st Year Award – Florin-Sebastian Ciobanu

BCS Best Business Computing Student Performance Prize – Souad McFarlane

HMGCC Best Dissertation Prize – Riyam Khalid Kareem Marjan

HMGCC Best Group Project Prize – Doaa Mundher Dalal Al-Midhatee, Gideon Awuah, Solomon Green, Ohood Hazim Sabr Sabr and Sana Ullah.

All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruon

Computing at Northampton 2018

A recent workshop presented by Scott Turner, Naomi Holmes, Adel Gordon and Janet Jackson at Northampton Learning andTeaching Conference 2014- Northampton 2018: Planning, Designing and Delivering Student Success gave participants an opportunity to 'play with' some of the computing technologies they have been investigating as tools for Environmental and Geography Students.

Visualising the field from Scott Turner


Related
Virtual Reality for Environmental Science Students

A recent paper was presented by John Sinclair and co-authored by Stuart Allen, Linda Davis-Sinclair, Trish Goodchild, Julie Messenger, and Scott Turner at Northampton Learning and Teaching Conference 2014- Northampton 2018: Planning, Designing and Delivering Student Success about STEM outreach and employability.

Enhancing student employability skills through partnership working in STEM outreach

John Sinclair, Stuart Allen, Linda Davis, Trish Goodchild, Julie Messenger, Scott Turner

Contact details:

john.sinclair@northampton.ac.uk

Abstract:

For over a decade, University of Northampton staff and students have delivered successful STEM outreach activities, master classes and co-working opportunities to learners in schools and FE colleges.  In addition, the University works with the local STEMNET contract holder to gain national recognition for staff and students STEM Ambassadors and recognises STEM Ambassadors through awards (staff and student) as part of its annual celebration of volunteer achievement.  Both developments derive from a culture of empowering students as partners and enhancing the student journey.

The University has developed a co-ordinated programme of training and events to empower students and staff to engage with school and community outreach.  A cross-University STEM Steering Group (SSG) which features both management and grass roots-level representation from the across the University (Science and Technology, Health, Education, the Arts and its Centre for Employability and Engagement) manages the activities, including recruiting representation from the student body.  As such, SSG is uniquely well-placed to champion STEM activities across the University and to make these available to the wider community.  Local schools are able to access inspirational science activities, whilst University students gain employability-related skills in leadership, communication, project-delivery and self-motivation and staff gain valuable CPD.  Students also identify more strongly with the University.  The total package plays a major role in contributing to University aspirations in widening participation and is hugely popular with participants.  This paper will outline the project and will showcase the positive enhancements which it offers to University of Northampton students and school participants.

Related
Junkbots

6th Form students working with professional scientists - University of Northampton

Taken from: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/sixth-form-students-spend-their-summer-holidays-working-with-professional-scientists-at-the-university-of-northampton

Sixth Form students spend their summer holidays working with professional scientists at the University of Northampton

• Thursday 22nd August 2013
  Sixth Form students have had the opportunity to work alongside professional scientists at the University of Northampton on a research project as part of the Nuffield Research Placements programme.  
  
  
  The six students were from schools across the county and spent six weeks at the University’s School of Science and Technology, gaining hands-on experience and a valuable insight into a professional research environment. The University has been actively involved with this programme for several years and it is part of the School of Science and Technology’s larger commitment to outreach.
  
  
  The participants included Sheldon Kawonga from Kettering Science Academy, Emmanuel Hlouverakis and Hafiz Alaraf both from The Duston School, Agota Geciauskaite from Malcolm Arnold Academy, James Adams from The Northampton Academy and Phillipa Hawkley from Brooke Weston Academy. All were invited to give presentations on their individual projects, which varied from building a mobile device app to investigating the sensitivity of magnetic particle inspection technique.
  
  
  Nuffield Research Placements provides 1,000 students each year with the opportunity to work alongside professionals in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) sector. The programme is open to students on the first year of a post-16 STEM course and placements are available across the UK in universities, commercial companies, voluntary organisations and research institutions.
  
  
  One of the students, Phillipa Hawkley, said:  “I found this experience to be really good as we got to use facilities that we don’t have at school and the chance to use this software puts us above others our age and will really help with university applications.”
  
  
  James Adams said: “It’s been a good experience, especially from a software developer’s point of view, as I’ve never had the experience of developing something based on someone else’s specifications.”
  
  
  Dr Abdeldjalil Bennecer, Senior Lecturer in Engineering at the University of Northampton commented: “The sixth form students are about to enter the second year of their A-levels and have spent six weeks over the summer with us working on individual projects.
  
  
  We held interviews with each student and the ones we offered places to were the brightest in their class and expressed an interest in STEM subjects at university level. We tailored the project briefs to suit their interests.
  
  
  It's been a beneficial few weeks for these students and we have thoroughly enjoyed working with them and giving them the ultimate experience of working with professional scientists."
  
  
  Related links:
  
  

  Nuffield Bursary student 1 - Web sustainability

  Junkbots - Nuffield Bursary Placement: Day 16 - Modelling and tying up loose ends!

  Junkbots - Nuffield Bursary Placement: Day 15 - Designing the Programming Project

  Robots, junk and 3D 

  
  
  
  

Raspberry PI Event - Useful Sources

In a previous posting the training event for students was discussed: http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/raspberry-pi-event-26th-march-2013.html

In this post I wish to share some of the sources that were used to provide basic Raspberry PI skills and request comments on others that could be used.

- how to find the operating system on-line; download and install the operating system on to a SD Card. 
    I found this resource from Adafruit useful: http://learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/adafruit-raspberry-pi-lesson-1-preparing-and-sd-card-for-your-raspberry-pi.pdf by Simon Monk and the main download site for Raspberry PI OS http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

- Setting up the Raspberry PI including selecting basic configuration settings.         Again Adafruit one by simon Monk http://learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/adafruits-raspberry-pi-lesson-2-first-time-configuration.pdf 


Are there others you would recommend?

• More details of BCS Northampton can be found at: http://northampton.bcs.org/  
• Details about Raspberry PI can be found at: http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
• Link to a set of video tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/user/RaspberryPiTutorials
• training event for students was discussed: http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/raspberry-pi-event-26th-march-2013.html

Raspberry PI Event - 26th March 2013

An event organised by BCS Northampton; University of Northampton Computing Society (details of the society can be found at: http://www.northamptonunion.com/society/UoNComputingSoc/) and Department of Computing and Immersive Technology, University of Northampton, ran a training event for Computing students on the Raspberry PI.

Twelve students spent sometime on 26th March 2013 looking at:-
- how to find the operating system on-line; download and install the operating system on to a SD Card;
- Setting up the Raspberry PI including selecting basic configuration settings;
- Investigating the desktop and the software included.

The two goals of the session were:-
- to provide training to a group of students who could offer basic Raspberry PI support for a BCS Northampton event later in the year;
- to encourage the students to come up with their own ideas on what they could demonstrate at the same event.

• More details of BCS Northampton can be found at: http://northampton.bcs.org/  
• Details about Raspberry PI can be found at: http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
• Link to a set of video tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/user/RaspberryPiTutorials

University to create MMOG with students

BSc Computer Games Development lead by Martyn Simmons is the focus of an article by the Magazine EDGE about plans to develop a massively multiplayer game ( MMOG). The MMOG is just one of the aspects considered, a game involving Stoke Bruene Canal is discussed as is the Games courses multidisciplinary nature.

BSc  Computer Games Development
HND Computer Games Development


Also mentioned in the article is NVision and the advantages of having on-site immersive environment equipment.

For more details see:  University of Northampton to create MMOG with students
The article can be found at: http://www.edge-online.com/get-into-games/university-of-northampton-to-create-mmog-with-students/2/

Computing Courses

BSc and HND Computing Provision (click on the links below for more details of the courses)

• BEng/MEng Computing (Computer Networks Engineering)
• BEng/MEng Computing (Computer Systems Engineering) 

• BSc (Hons) Computing (also available part-time)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Graphics and Visualisation)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Internet Technology and Security)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Mobile Computing)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Software Engineering)
• BSc (Hons) Computing - One Year Top-Up 
• BSc  Computer Games Development
• HND Computing (Compute​r Net​works Engineering)
• HND Computing (Computer Systems Engineering)
• HND Computing (Graphics and Visualisation)
• HND Computing (Internet Tech​nolog​y and Security)
• HND Computing (Mobile Computing)
• HND Computing (Software Engine​ering) 
• HND Com​puting

The University of Northampton's, Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies offers five courses within the MSc Computing postgraduate provision (shown below) all available either part-time or full-time. 

• MSc Computing
• MSc Computing (Internet Technology and Security)
• MSc Computing (Computer Networks Engineering)
• MSc Computing (Software Engineering)
• MSc Computing (Immersive Technologies)

The contents are the opinion of the author(s) and not necessarily the view of the University of Northampton.

Computing graduates 2012

Over the next two days (19th and 20th July 2012) this year's successful computing finalists graduate from the University of Northampton. 

Congratulations to them and good luck in the future.

Details about some of these courses can be found at:
http://www.northampton.ac.uk/info/200170/subject-areas/291/computing

Computing Courses

BSc and HND Computing Provision (click on the links below for more details of the courses)

• BEng/MEng Computing (Computer Networks Engineering)
• BEng/MEng Computing (Computer Systems Engineering) 

• BSc (Hons) Computing (also available part-time)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Graphics and Visualisation)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Internet Technology and Security)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Mobile Computing)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Software Engineering)
• BSc (Hons) Computing - One Year Top-Up 
• BSc  Computer Games Development
• HND Computing (Compute​r Net​works Engineering)
• HND Computing (Computer Systems Engineering)
• HND Computing (Graphics and Visualisation)
• HND Computing (Internet Tech​nolog​y and Security)
• HND Computing (Mobile Computing)
• HND Computing (Software Engine​ering) 
• HND Com​puting

The University of Northampton's, Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies offers five courses within the MSc Computing postgraduate provision (shown below) all available either part-time or full-time. 

• MSc Computing
• MSc Computing (Internet Technology and Security)
• MSc Computing (Computer Networks Engineering)
• MSc Computing (Software Engineering)
• MSc Computing (Immersive Technologies)

The contents are the opinion of the author(s) and not necessarily the view of the University of Northampton.

waste as tool to inspire potential computing students

A recent article in the Northampton Herald and Post " How a university is using waste as tool to inspire students" by Lawrence John discusses the Junkbots project. 

"FUNNY looking robots called junkbots could be the key to encouraging more children across the county to become engineers, computer programmers or scientists.

One force which is driving this idea forward is the University of Northampton.

For the past few years, staff from its science and technology department have been going out to primary and secondary schools to spread the word that science is fun.

By working with schools, the university hopes to show pupils a different side to computing and hopefully raise their interest in what they can achieve" Lawrence John

For the whole article click here.

Booking now taken for Introduction to the world of Crypto

Book your place at  https://events.bcs.org/book/159/

Presenter: Sarith Chandra MBCS CISSP Security+ MSc(Info Sec) MSc(Eng) BEng(IT)

26th January 2012

Time: Evening session for 2 hrs - 18:30 registration, 19:00 start, 20:30 end, 20:30 - 21:00 Q&A + Networking session
Location: Room NW205 in The Newton Building, Avenue Campus, University Of Northampton, NN2 6JD

Objectives:
- Introduce Cryptography for Beginners
- Refresh some Crypto concepts for Experts
- Learn some Best practices
- Interactive session with "Crack some code" examples

Target Audience: Students, Fresh graduates, IT professionals, Developers/DBAs and anyone with general interest in Cryptography. All welcome.

Detail: 
- Cryptology
- Cipher Exercise
- Cryptography
- Cryptanalysis
- Some Best Practices
- Database Encryption
- Crypto Challenge (competition)

Pre-requisites:
- You need to only have general awareness of IT and Computer Security concepts
- Willingness to learn about this field and its concepts
- This session does not delve into the mathematics of cryptography and is suitable for absolute beginners
- If you like solving puzzles then you might enjoy some of the exercises during the interactive session


For further queries please contact - csarith@bcs.org

• Newton Building, University of Northampton

Book your place at  https://events.bcs.org/book/159/