DLSU COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES

T: ([phone] E: [email protected]

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CCS Talk: Planning Your Professional Life in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

De La Salle University College of Computer Studies and AI Pros, Inc. invites everyone to a talk entitled "IE Session - Planning Your Professional Life in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" on December 11, 2018 (Tuesday) from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM at The Verdure, 4F Henry Sy, Sr. Hall. The talk will review the latest trends affecting millennials with respect to their professional choices, and the role of education in these. It will focus on how new technologies are disrupting many industries and how professionals will be affected.

About the speaker: The speaker is Professor Paris de I'Etraz of the IE Venture Lab at IE Business School, the 8th top business school in the world. He has spent over 20 years in investment banking and venture capital, mainly at USB Bank and ABN MARO, where he served as Managing Director in Mergers and Acquisitions for both firms. After being a banker, Professor Paris became an entrepreneur founding five (5) startups in the areas of sports marketing, video games, advertising, solar power, and CRM banking software. He has started IE Venture Lab in 2010, the largest business school startup accelerator in Europe. Since its inception, the IE Venture Lab has accelerated over 400 startups that have raised over 100 million USD. The Venture Lab has also held over 50 Venture Days in over 30 countries since 2012 where over 1000 startups have competed for funding with international investors. Professor Paris has also developed and registered two patents, one in 1999, which provides an enterprise solution to the “six degrees of separation” idea, and another in 2009 that takes client management into virtual online platforms with two-way communication between clients and service providers.

Presently, Professor Paris splits his time between running the Accelerator, MBA classes, executive education Innovation Programs at large companies and M&A/Strategic advisory consulting. He specializes in the application of emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, Virtual Reality and others to disrupting existing business models and developing richer user experiences.

This is a free lecture, but limited slots are available. Interested participants are required to register via the site https://bit.ly/2E13wqi.  For any inquiries, you may send them to Ms. Princess Gannaban, Assistant of the CCS Research and Advanced Studies Office, via email address [email protected].

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CS-ST student wins Most Innovative Award at “Game On” Challenge

from: www.instagram.com/dlsu

Congratulations to Vincent Ortega, II (5th year, BS in Computer Science with specialization in Software Technology (BSCS-ST)), who recently won the Most Innovative Award at the “Game On” Challenge. He was recognized during the ICT Awards Night held on November 10, 2018 at SM Aura, Bonifacio Global City.

Jank Fu, is the winning game Ortega submitted to Game On 2018, and was developed under the CCS GameLab. It is a physics-based PC game that uses Microsoft Kinect, and is a fighting game that aims to beat virtual enemies in real-time. The game was also nominated for Best in Gameplay and Public’s Choice Award categories.

Wonderland AR, another GameLab submission, was nominated for the Best Mobile/Handheld Game and Most Innovative Award as well. This game was developed by other BSCS-ST students  Candy Joyce Espulgar, Neil Justin Romblon, and Gabrielle Amze Raymundo.

Game On Challenge was organized by the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), and it aims to promote game development and creation among the youth, hobbyists, and professionals.

GameLab is a research laboratory under the Advanced Research Institute for Informatics, Computing and Network, the research center of CCS. It focuses on developing interactive applications, while promoting innovation and nurturing creative talent in the fields of graphics, animation, multimedia, and entertainment. CCS faculty members managing GameLab are Mr. Neil Patrick Del Gallego, Dr. Conrado Ruiz, Jr., and Mr. Christian Terrence Esguerra. Students interested to become part of GameLab may apply via http://bit.ly/GAMELabApply.

Again, our heartfelt congratulations to our students for this achievement!

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CCS celebrates Lasallian Mission Week 2018

As we commemorate the tercentenary of our founder’s passing, we continue his legacy through the Lasallian Mission to be of service to the last, the lost, and the least.

This coming Nov 5-10, 2018, we celebrate the Lasallian Mission Week with the theme “One Heart, One Commitment, One Life”, with the following CCS-led activities:

CCS College Sponsored Mass on Nov 8 2018, 12:00nn at PGP Chapel

My Safe Cyberspace: Awareness Campaign against Cyberbullying Photo/ Infographic Contest from Nov 5-8 2018

My Safe Cyberspace: Awareness Campaign against Cyberbullying Culminating Night on Nov 9 2018

Exciting prizes will be given to the winners of the contest and the raffle draw! We look forward to your active participation!

Live Jesus in our hearts!

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Biggest PH Contingent to PACIS from DLSU

Ten DLSU students from BSCS, MSIT, DIT, participated in the Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) 2017, making them the biggest Philippines contingent to PACIS to date. 

PACIS is the annual regional conference of the Association for Information Systems (AIS).  It serves to provide a platform for Information Systems and Information Technology academics and professionals to share their research findings, ideas and practices in a high quality annual forum. PACIS 2017 which is the 21st conference, was held in Langkawi Island, Malaysia from July 16 to 20.

Philippines, together with Indonesia, was especially mentioned during the Gala Dinner for having a big increase in the number of participants this year. The entire Philippine contingent was from DLSU.

Faculty and students from DLSU College of Computer Studies

Avril Ranezca Fernandez and Rissa Quindoza

Elcid Serrano

Sarah Pandes and Marivic Tangkeko

Jypzie Catedrilla

Celeste Chan

Ma. Beth Concepcion

Rabby Lavilles

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CCS AdRIC Hosts Junior Interns from Phil. Science High School

The CCS Advanced Research Institute for Informatics, Computing and Networking (AdRIC) is hosting Philippine Science High School (PSHS) students nationwide as Junior Interns. The students, who are part of the 2017 Science and Technology Internship Program, will be deployed to the various Research Centers of CCS. 

Opening Ceremony at the Henry Sy Sr. Hall

CCS Dean Dr. Merlin Teodosia Suarez welcomes the PSHS students and faculty.

Ms. Charibeth Cheng, External Affairs Director, introduces the CCS degree programs.

Ms. Ethel Ong, AdRIC Director, introduces the Research Centers.

Industry guests talking about their respective IT fields/specialties: IT Service Management, Game Development, Startup/Technopreneurship, Cyber Security, Augmented/Virtual Reality.

The Junior Interns working in the Research Centers until June 29 will have various activities and projects with the guidance of CCS faculty researchers/mentors.

The Science and Technology Internship Program was initiated by the Department of Science and Technology - PSHS System. The Program aims to increase the students’ awareness in the areas of computing and information technology as well as to equip them with the knowledge and skills needed in the conduct of computing research.

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DLSU Wins in GDAP’s Game On Challenge

Students from the DLSU College of Computer Studies developed the game The Tempest Core which has won the Innovation Award at the recently concluded 2016 ICT Creative Awards Night.

The Game On Challenge is a competition hosted by the Game Development Association of the Philippines. It was established to encourage students and schools to start developing games and look to becoming future game developers. It aims to promote the spirit of game development and creation among the youth, hobbyists and professionals. It also ensures the continuous creation of ideas and developers that will liven the local ecosystem to work and grow.

For more information, visit http://www.gameon.ph.

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DLSU CCS and Saint Jude Catholic School Collaborate to Implement Computational Thinking Curriculum for K to 12′s STEM Strand

Updated 10:35AM, 12 February 2016

The De La Salle University College of Computer Studies (DLSU CCS) has partnered with Saint Jude Catholic School’s high school department to implement a Computational Thinking Curriculum. This curriculum is designed for the specialized technology subjects of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics strand of the Senior High School. It aims to introduce the idea of integrating computational thinking across the basic education program to improve students’ problem solving skills and motivate some to pursue computing degrees in higher education. The Computational Thinking Curriculum is designed by the Consulting and Education Center, a unit under DLSU CCS which offers Continuing Education focused on ICT. 

(L-R: CEC Director Allan Borra, CCS Faculty Shirley Chu, CCS External Affairs Director Charibeth Cheng, CCS Dean Dr. Merlin Teodosia C. Suarez, St. Jude Catholic School Principal Fr. Emilio Lim, SVD, SJCS Asst. Head for Senior High School Dr. Manuel Tanpoco, SJCS Faculty Roselle Quito) 

What is Computational Thinking?

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) describes Computational Thinking as:

“Computational Thinking is a problem-solving process that includes but is not limited to the following characteristics:

Formulating problems in a way that enables the use of computer and technology to solve them

Logically organizing and analyzing data and information

Representing data through abstractions such as models and simulations

Automating solutions through algorithmic thinking

Generalization and transfer of computational thinking as a process to solve a wide variety of problems”

Computational thinking as a learning goal presents a different set of content and context compared to programming classes in high school. While programming classes are usually focused on learning how to program, that is to a write a set of instructions that the computer can understand to complete a task, computational thinking aims to develop the ability solve problems computationally. Instead of just learning about programming concepts and constructs, the focus is on the nature of problems and their complexity and how computational thinking can address these when designing solutions. The context demands that students, whether they choose business, science, engineering, arts, music or whatever field of study, will learn to identify problems around them and consequently the means to solve them with computing technologies.

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DLSU CCS Now a CompTIA Authorized Academy

(L-R) CompTIA’s Mr. Lance Seachon, CCS CT Dept. Chair Ms. Jocelynn Cu, CT Faculty Mr. Roger Uy, CompTIA Country Manager Mr. Orlando Seachon, CCS Dean Dr. Merlin Teodosia C. Suarez, CCS External Affairs Director Ms. Charibeth Cheng, CT Faculty Ms. Arlyn Ong

The DLSU College of Computer Studies is now an authorized academy of the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). In the recognition ceremony held at the DLSU Henry Sy Sr. Hall, CompTIA Country Manager Mr. Orlando Seachon said they are happy to have DLSU as a partner in delivering an effective IT curriculum in the Philippines. 

DLSU CCS is looking into having even more of its faculty members get certifications after 2 from its Computer Technology Department received their CompTIA A+ Certification. With CompTIA’s learning content and the CCS faculty’s expertise, students can expect an even more robust, learner-centered educational program that prepares them for a career in the rapidly evolving IT industry.

CompTIA offers vendor-neutral IT certifications that test different knowledge standards, from entry-level to expert. It assists academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and government retraining agencies in enhancing the learning experience for students preparing for an IT career.

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ST & CT Departments Given Highest ITEO Evaluation Rating

The Software Technology (ST) Department and the Computer Technology (CT) Department of the College of Computer Studies were given awards for their Outstanding Student Evaluation Performance for Academic Year 2014-2015.

The ST and CT Departments placed First and Second respectively in the annual evaluation of faculty members as rated by the students. This assessment of performance is conducted by the DLSU Institutional Testing and Evaluation Office.

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CCS Team Wins 2nd Place in ACM ICPC Regional Qualifier

Team Clear Mind from DLSU CCS finished 2nd in the Metro Manila regional qualifier for the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) - Philippines.  The team managed to solve 8 out of 10 problems during the competition’s 4-hour duration. In 1st place was Team Fuchsia from Ateneo de Manila University and in 3rd was Team Modulus, also from ADMU.

2nd Place, Team Clear Mind (From Left-Right) Prof. Jaderick P. Pabico (Judge from UPLB), Dr. Rafael P. Saldaña (Contest Director), Marc San Pedro, Matthew Allen Go, Johansson Tan, Arturo Caronongan. Photo courtesy of CompSAt.

Meanwhile, another group, Team Green Mind, is also among the competition’s top 10, placing 5th. Both teams, coached by CCS faculty Arturo Caronongan, will compete in the Final round of the 2015 ACM ICPC Philippines National Programming Contest scheduled on October 19 to be held in University of St. Louis, Tuguegarao, Cagayan Province.

Team Clear Mind and Team Green Mind (From Left-Right)  Matthew Allen Go, Johansson Tan, Marc Dominic San Pedro, Sean Felix Cua, Marvin Dale Baky, Avril Ranezca Fernandez, Arturo Caronongan. Photo courtesy of CompSAt.

The ACM ICPC Metro Manila was organized and hosted by the Computer Society of the Ateneo (CompSAt).

The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is the premiere global programming competition conducted by and for the world’s universities. It operates under the auspices of the Association of Computing Machinery, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, and is sponsored by IBM, a globally integrated technology and consulting company.

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Former FBI Agent, CCS Alumna, talk about Agile Software Development

A seminar on Agile Software Development was recently hosted by the CCS Information Technology Department. The event’s featured talks focused on agile software development methodology and how it compares to the waterfall model.

The guest speakers were retired FBI agent and consultant Dr. Stephen Cutler and CCS alumna Ms. Aimee Rowena Sy.  

Dr. Stephen Cutler

Ms. Aimee Rowena Sy

Case studies were also presented during the seminar to give the audience realistic and complex real life situations.

Dr. Cutler is presently the Chief Compliance Officer of Omnipay, a global payment processing solutions provider while Ms. Sy is the Software Engineering Manager at Accenture (Navitaire), a company that delivers industry-leading technology services for airline and high-speed rail clients worldwide.

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Capiz State University Students Visit CCS Research Centers

Computer Science students from the Capiz State University, Mambusao Satellite College, together with faculty members, visited DLSU CCS to know more about the College’s research areas and to see its research facilities. A short talk was conducted by CCS External Affairs Director Ms. Charibeth Cheng to discuss the various research initiatives of the College, before the students explored the Research Centers located at Gokongwei Hall.

Ms. Charibeth Cheng talking about research at CCS.

"We thank CCS for allowing us and our students to visit and see the research centers. The talk inspired the students and gave them new insights on the social relevance of technology innovations,” said Ms. Rosel Dionio, Capiz State University faculty member.

To know more about the CCS research centers, you may log on to http://computerstudies.dlsu.edu.ph/research or email [email protected] for inquiries.

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DLSU Team Wins 2nd Place in Hack the Climate Competition

A weekend of hackathon or a programming marathon event was held after the Hack the Climate Conference at De La Salle University. Students and young professionals gathered at the Microsoft Philippines office for the 2-day competition where a DLSU team won 2nd place.

(L-R) Earl Go-Aco, Laurenz Tolentino, Giselle Que | Photo courtesy of Laurenz Tolentino.

Team Bingo members Laurenz Tolentino (BSCS-ST), Earl Go-Aco (BSMEM), and Giselle Que (BSMEM graduate) pitched the idea of connecting Non-government Organizations with donors through a portal called FundRun. Through the portal, the NGOs and donors may conveniently organize events for a cause. Their team won PhP 25,000 and gift items.

Team Re/Cycle which won 1st place and the grand prize of PhP 40,000 developed a mobile application that gives rewards points to bikers. The points may be redeemed for vouchers and gift items at stores along bikers’ frequented routes. The team also won a BizSpark account from Microsoft and a co-working space pass at Bitspace to develop the app further, and gift items from sponsors.

In third place was Team Eco-Base which produced Kernel Kit, a mobile application that seeks to encourage gardening to produce home-grown food. Their app targets hobbyists just starting to plant in their own backyard, gardeners who have more advanced knowledge in backyard farming, and professional agriculturists. The kit gives them the information they need to become successful gardeners, including guidance from a leading agriculturist. The team won PhP 10,000 and gift items.

The hackathon was organized by Hack the Climate in partnership with Watson Institute Philippines.

-with reports from The Philippine Star.

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ROOTCON and DLSU CCS Host 1st Inter-University InfoSec Conference

ROOTCON Campus Tour, co-hosted by De La Salle University College of Computer Studies, is ROOTCON’s first ever Information Security gathering exclusively for university students. 

The first half of the event featured talks on Information Security 101, Information Security Career 101, Introduction to Hacking, Exploit Development, Malware Analysis, and Debugging, among others. 

Photo via ROOTCON.

The event’s 2nd half featured Capture the Flag (CTF), a hackathon or codefest that has intermediate to advanced challenges like reverse engineering, return oriented programming, packet sniffing, debugging, and web exploits.

Photo via ROOTCON.

Winning the first-ever ROOTCON Campus Tour’s CTF was TeamBRT from PUP Computer Science Department. The team won free passes to ROOTCON 9, ROOTCON’s annual hacker conference open to everyone including InfoSec professionals, developers, and students.  ROOTCON 9 will be held in Taal Vista, Tagaytay from September 18-19, 2015.

TeamBRT wins 1st ROOTCON Campus Tour’s CTF. Photo via ROOTCON.

ROOTCON, which comes from the words “ROOT” (super user on Unix systems) and “CON” (conference), started in 2008 to provide quality - yet fun, form of hacking conference.

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Hack the Climate Conference at DLSU

DLSU College of Computer Studies joined Hack the Climate, together with other school and community partners, in advocating the use of technology to help alleviate the effects of climate change.

Photo via Hack the Climate.

Hack the Climate, founded in 2014, partnered with Watson Institute Philippines for this year’s HacktheClimatexWatson’s Social Enterprise Conference. The conference, held at the DLSU Henry Sy Sr. Hall, brought together environmental advocates, social entrepreneurs, and programmers to discuss various efforts on environment protection, possibly with the help of technology.

“Our goal is for our participants to not only come up with innovative apps and devices, but economically sustainable start-ups. This is the most practical way to ensure that their tech creations will continue to grow and make a difference, long after the hackathon is over. We also wanted to open this year’s event to individuals who may not know how to code, but who are equally passionate about protecting the environment. Social entrepreneurship is one of the most accessible and effective ways for people to implement solutions and affect change,” said Project Head and Watson Institute Community Builder Raya Buensuceso.

The conference featured talks from private groups that advocate environment protection such as Climate Change Commission, WWF-Philippines, Greenpeace, Climate Reality, Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines, Global Shapers and Move.ph.

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CCS Teams Showcase E-health Projects at the Global Forum on Research and Innovation for Health 2015

Two research projects from CCS, GetBetter and Recupera, were showcased at the Global Forum on Research and Innovation for Health 2015 held at the PICC.

The Get Better Tele-Diagnosis System aims to provide quality healthcare to people from rural, poor and geographically isolated areas. Through this project being funded by the World Health Organization, the poor and marginalized will be able to benefit from the major strides of progress in Internet and database technology, and ICT in general. The proponents of this multi-disciplinary research are Dr. Arnulfo Azcarraga (Faculty, Software Technology Department), Ma. Christine Gendrano (Faculty, Software Technology Department), Consuelo Santos, (Faculty, Communication Department), Kimberly Blanquera (Student, Software Technology Department), Jan Michael Dayupay (Student, Software Technology Department), and Mark Genesis Romantigue (Student, Software Technology Department).

The Recupera project was created mainly for active post-stroke patients in order to help address their lack of motivation in wanting to recover. Through a gamified application which uses Kinect, the emotional disposition and physical improvements of patients may be tracked by physical therapists. The proponents of this research are Dr. Merlin Teodosia Suarez (Faculty, Software Technology Department), Renz Abergos (Student, Software Technology Department), Paolo Josef, (Student, Software Technology Department), David John Ricafort (Student, Software Technology Department), and Edwill Tan (Student, Software Technology Department).

The global forum was hosted by the Council on Health Research for Development, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Health, and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development.

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Insider is company’s worst security nightmare–Pandora

In Photo: This undated photo courtesy of Pandora Security Labs Inc. shows CEO Isaac Sabas at his office. Sabas said companies should take steps to guard against cybersecurity threats that may come from employees.

AN insider who has access to a company’s store of sensitive data could pose a threat to its cybersecurity, Pandora Security Labs Inc. CEO Isaac Sabas said in a recent interview.

“Actually, that’s the greatest threat.” The attacks, Sabas noted, may arise from the line of discontented staff, who may conspire with external hackers involved in data theft for money. Citing news reports, Sabas pointed to the hacking of Sony Entertainment Pictures in 2014 as example.

Researchers at a cybersecurity firm claim that six former employees could have compromised the company’s network, he said.

An assessment prior to Sony’s hacking that appeared as an article in the Harvard Business Review said “Insiders can do much more serious harm than external hackers can, because they have much easier access to systems and much greater window of opportunity.”

Authors David M. Upton, an American Standard Companies professor, and Sadie Creese, a cybersecurity professor, both of Oxford estimates at least 80 million insider attacks occur in the US each year.

“But the number may be much higher, because they often go unreported,” the authors said.

In the Philippines, the number of cases of insider attacks is growing, Philippines Institute of Cyber Security Professionals (PICSPro) President Angel Redoble said.  To prevent internal threats, a company would require a cybersecurity team that would keep an eye on the conduct of all the individuals who have authorized access to sensitive data, according to Sabas.

The team should also regularly check the company’s information-technology (IT) group, he added. “Even in the US they say the greatest threat could be the IT admin.”

A separation between information security and IT should be in place to create and enforce counter-check, Sabas recommended.

“It’s a [relationship between a] checker and maker,” Sabas said. “The IT should not check the exam it makes.”

He said a company should not overlook its cybersecurity, otherwise it would compromise the sensitive data of its clients. “An insider attack has impunity to any anti-hacking solutions, however advanced.”

Image Credits: Photo courtesy Pandora Security Labs Inc./Businessmirror