A.M. Turing Award Evening

The A.M. Turing Award Evening took place on Thursday 4th November, titled "Compilers, Algorithms and International Collaboration". In the webinar, three scientists discussed the latest developments in the field of compilers and algorithms.

Speakers and summaries of lectures

Programming future computer systems – a matter of control

Harry Wijshoff, professor of application- oriented computer science, Leiden University

Up till now, computers have been instructed through a straight chain of commands that are predefined by a program consisting of algorithms and data structures which, thereupon, are compiled down into a stream of computer readable instructions. Harry Wijshoff discusses some recent developments through which this chain of commands can be broken down, so that computer systems themselves become more in charge of their own execution whilst still maintaining (human) control.

Quick detection of high-degree entities in large online social networks

Nelly Litvak, professor of algorithmic complex networks, University of Twente

On-line social networks claim a central role in delivering and spreading information, facts and opinions. Popular groups and users are pivotal in this process, and the number of followers is a common proxy of popularity. This contribution deals with the problem of finding the most followed users and groups in a social network. This sounds like a simple sorting problem, but it is not, mostly because the network is not available to us, so we can find the most popular entities only by exploration. Nelly Litvak discusses a simple, efficient, and easy to implement two-stage randomised algorithm that provides a highly accurate solution for this problem.

Uncomfortable dialogues

Maarten de Rijke, University Professor AI and Information Retrieval, University of Amsterdam

What can you do as an academic researcher when walls are erected around countries? Should you discontinue any academic collaborations you might have with stakeholders in those countries and refrain from setting up new ones? How can you make a positive difference? In his contribution, Maarten de Rijke shares a perspective on and experiences with working with stakeholders in challenging countries, based on a simple yet consequential maxim: maintain a dialogue.

Watch the evening’s talks in full.

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