D-INFK news channel

We've all heard it, we all know it, we’ve all seen it: Computer science is not regarded as a “beacon” of diversity. In this interview, Professor Kenny Paterson, Head of the Department of Computer Science details his experiences with diversity, the challenges we face, and how D-INFK might be getting a bit better one step at a time.

Every year on the fourth Thursday of April, International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated to raise awareness about the need for greater representation of women in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, we celebrate and thank all women working at the Department of Computer Science.

From 13 to 17 February, 33 young women joined a weeklong course organised by CSNOW to learn more about studying computer science at ETH Zurich. Between lectures and programming workshops, they discovered the welcoming community of women at the department.

The "International Day of Women and Girls in Science" was launched in 2015 and is celebrated annually on the 11th of February. It aims at raising awareness of the crucial role played by girls and women in science and technology. As part of this day, ETH drew attention to the many exceptional female scientists who study, teach and research at ETH Zurich.

Johanna Pirker, Assistant Professor at Graz University of Technology, spent September and October as a visiting professor at the Game Technology Center (GTC) of ETH Zurich. In this interview, she explains what we can learn from video games and why our image of gamers does not correspond to reality.

Autonomous virtual humans that move and behave naturally are Siyu Tang’s vision. One area from which the computer scientist draws inspiration are our behavioural patterns. Collaboration with architects and surgeons provides further input – and it also reveals the enormous potential of virtual people.

Kristina Hostáková, postdoc in the Foundations of Cryptography Group at the Department of Computer Science was given the CAST/GI Promotion Award IT-Sicherheit. The award honours doctoral theses that promote advancements in IT security and make IT applications more secure.

ETH alumna Paulina Grnarova wants to use artificial intelligence to revolutionise the way the legal industry works. Her recent appearance on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list has catapulted her into the spotlight.

In this video, postdoc Ece Özkan Elsen talks about her return to research, why she loves medical data science, and how she works to support other women in computer science.

Insight into everyday life as a student: In the first episode of this video series, computer science student Selin Baris talks about how she moved from Turkey to Zurich, how she got over her homesickness and how she learned to strike a balance between her studies and free time.

When algorithms reinforce biases: doctoral student Afra Amini is studying automated human language processing and its pitfalls.

As one of the first computer science students at ETH Zurich, Cornelia Haldemann began her studies in 1981 and graduated in 1987. Today, she heads the product data management of an internationally active Swiss company and, after many years of work, meets change with serenity.

Gabriela Keller studied computer science at ETH Zurich from 1988 to 1993. Today, she is the CEO of Ergon Informatik, where she started working as a software developer shortly after graduating. She still feels connected to the department today.

From robots that offer solace to algorithms that help judges make fact-​based decisions, robotics and machine learning are entering new domains that were once the preserve of humans.

From June 13 to 19, 2021, the first European Olympiad in Informatics for Women, EGOI, took place in Zurich. The organising committee and the participants look back on instructive, intensive, and unforgettable days.

Next week, the first European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics will take place in Zurich. The competition, which will have around 160 participants from 43 countries, is organised with a strong involvement from students of the Department of Computer Science.

Alexis Block, a doctoral fellow with the Advanced Interactive Technologies Lab at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems, has developed HuggieBot, a hugging robot, to improve emotional well-being during the pandemic.

Under the direction of D-INFK Professor Juraj Hromkovic, the ABZ trained children for the robotics competition entitled "First Lego League". Two teams made it to the finals, one of which was received by ETH Rector Sarah Springman for a visit.

In 1981, ETH Zurich launched its new computer science degree programme and 110 students started their first semester. 40 years later, the Department of Computer Science is the academic home of over 2500 students and enjoys growing interest worldwide.

Christina Pöpper, a professor at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), studied and earned her doctorate at ETH Zurich, where she also advocated for women at the Department of Computer Science. Today, she shows her students the elegance and beauty of computer science.

Kristina Hostáková joined Professor Dennis Hofheinz’s research group at the Institute of Theoretical Computer Science last December as a postdoc. In this interview, she talks about asymmetric cryptography, her experiences on the path to ETH Zurich and the promotion of women in computer science.

Niao He joined the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Data Science. Get to know her in this short interview.

Shweta Shinde joined the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich in October 2020 as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Computer Science. Get to know her in this short interview.

Valentina Boeva, Professor of Biomedical Informatics at the Department of Computer Science, uses modern methods of machine learning to analyse the whole-​genome sequence of a tumour. One focus of her research is on epigenetic changes in tumour cells. These are temporary and reversible changes in the genome.

Ana Klimovic officially joined the Department of Computer Science of ETH Zurich in August 2020 as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. Due to the coronavirus crisis, her arrival was postponed until September. Get to know her in this short interview.

In the latest episode of the ETH podcast Professors Julia Vogt and Fanny Yang explain why machine learning is an important tool in medicine.

Entrepreneur, app developer, ESOP scholarship holder: at the age of only 24, Larissa Laich has already achieved a lot. Her curiosity and enthusiasm for her field have shaped the young computer scientist’s career from her first programming attempts at school to her Master’s degree at ETH Zurich.

The majority of multiple sclerosis patients consider fatigue the single most wearing symptom. And yet, fatigue is still poorly understood. Doctoral student Liliana Barrios wants to change that by introducing smartphone-based methods enabling patients to measure their motor fatigability remotely and more frequently.

Julia Gschwind, BA-​student at the department of computer science, is one of the two winners of the Alfred Escher Prize 2020. This year, the "Swiss Youth in Science" competition provided the framework for the award.

Katja Wolff, a doctoral student at the Interactive Geometry Lab, has developed an algorithm that aligns textile patterns along seams.

In light of International Women's Day 2020, ETH Zurich puts successful women centre stage. Read about Prof. Julia Vogt, tenure track assistant professor of medical data science, in this article.

During the CSNOW taster week, 37 young women visited the Department of Computer Science for a week. They coded their own app, met students and researchers and created a basis for choosing a field of study.

Siyu Tang officially joined the Department of Computer Science of ETH Zurich in January 2020 as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Computer Vision. Get to know her in this short interview.

Fanny Yang officially joined the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich in January 2020 as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Computer Science. Get to know her in this short interview.

The CSNOW (Network of Women in Computer Science) supports and connects women the Department of Computer Science. At the turn of the year, the organisation’s leadership changed.

Marina Draskovic came to us from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, and spent her Student Summer Research Fellowship (SSRF) as part of Professor Friedemann Mattern’s team, where she helped develop an app that measures fatigability in patients with multiple sclerosis.

As a female computer scientist, Julia Chatain has experienced many conscious and unconscious biases. With her work at ETH Zurich’s Game Technology Center, she aims to refute such prejudices for future generations and to show everyone – not least the women themselves – that yes, women can code!

Vasiliki Kalavri didn’t know anything about computer science before she encountered it at university. Today, she is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich. Dr. Kalavri and her team are building Strymon, a next-generation stream processing system that is faster, more flexible and more autonomous than existing systems.

Professor Valentina Boeva officially joined the Department of Computer Science of ETH Zurich in early June 2019 as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics. Get to know her in this short interview.

Professor Julia Vogt officially joined the Department of Computer Science of ETH Zurich at the beginning of May 2019 as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Medical Data Science. Get to know her in this short interview.

Dana Drachsler Cohen is an outstanding IT specialist at ETH Zurich. The Israeli researcher is working on the security of systems such as autonomous vehicles and cryptocurrencies.

Think girls aren’t interested in computers? Think again! ETH Globe accompanied schoolgirls for a week as they took part in a computer science taster course.

What if you had the chance to complete your own research project at ETH over the summer and to join in discussions about the university’s future? Read more about Katherine Bancroft and Siqi Liu. 

Professor Olga Sorkine has won this year’s Rössler Prize for her work in the field of computer graphics. The prize comes with a research award of CHF 200,000.

Mirroring the international spirit at the Department of Computer Science, our students share their points of view and describe their impression of ETH, their studies and future personal as well as professional goals in Switzerland.

According to ETH's latest gender monitoring report, around 12% of students at D-​INFK are women, while the share of females at ETH level is almost three times higher (30.6%). So, it is vitally important that the department has promotion processes for female students with aspiration, knowledge and skills. I have talked to Christina Poepper and Adrian Altenhoff about the future of the "Frauenfoerderung" (FF).

The Department of Computer Science welcomes its new Assistant Professors, Prof. Olga Sorkine und Prof. Andreas Krause. They will start teaching at the department in the Spring Semester of 2011. (German)

Master's student Simona Constantinescu and her seven fellow students won the first prize in the category Information Processing at the iGEM 2010 with their project “E. lemming”.

Two female doctoral students at the Department of Computer Science have received the 2010 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship Award, and two more were among the finalists.