School of Computing and Intelligent Systems

The School of Computing and Intelligent Systems (shortened to SCIS) is located on the Magee College

Magee College

Magee College is a campus of the University of Ulster located in Derry, Northern Ireland. It opened in 1865 as a Presbyterian Christian arts and theological college...

of the University of Ulster

University of Ulster

The University of Ulster is a multi-campus, co-educational university located in Northern Ireland. It is the largest single university in Ireland, discounting the federal National University of Ireland...

, Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

. SCIS focuses on teaching and research in the main areas of computer science

Computer science

Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

, games

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

, electronics

Electronics

Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

, robotics

Robotics

Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...

and multimedia

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

. It currently offers 5 main undergraduate bachelors degree programmes in the above areas and 3 one year taught postgraduate masters degrees in the areas of creative technologies, intelligent systems

Intelligent Systems

is a Japanese first-party video game developer and internal team of Nintendo Co., Ltd. It has its headquarters in the Nintendo Kyoto Research Center in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture....

and financial services

Financial services

Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...

. PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

research opportunities are also available.

Student Achievements

Students past and present have been successfully taking part in competitions and events organised by leading software companies and industry.
In 2009 students on the games course have been active participants in an international video games competition, taking part in the 'Dare to be Digital' competition in Edinburgh.
Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

Corporation has also collaborated with SCIS in the hosting of the Games Summit, entitled XNAFEST 2009.
In 2008 top computing students were rewarded for their academic achievements in an awards ceremony which saw students receiving prizes from some of the top IT companies in Northern Ireland.

History

SCIS was formed in 2001 through a merger of the School of Computing and Mathematics and School of Engineering on the Magee campus. Professor Martin McGinnity was the first Head of School (HOS) (2001-2005) and he has since moved on to become Director of the Intelligent Systems Research Centre. Professor Liam Maguire is the current HOS (2005 to date). His inaugural professorial lecture took place in March 2009 to an invited audience.

Teaching and Learning Environment

The staff in SCIS are supportive of students in a teaching and learning environment composed of first-class computing facilities. The computing laboratories have the latest software needed for the programmes and are equipped with Smartboard technology and state-of-the-art computers.

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

in SCIS is carried out by the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) undertaken by academic staff. ISRC was officially launched in May 2007 by the then Economy Minister Nigel Dodds This research is in the areas of computational intelligence

Computational intelligence

Computational intelligence is a set of Nature-inspired computational methodologies and approaches to address complex problems of the real world applications to which traditional methodologies and approaches are ineffective or infeasible. It primarily includes Fuzzy logic systems, Neural Networks...

, neural networks

Neural Networks

Neural Networks is the official journal of the three oldest societies dedicated to research in neural networks: International Neural Network Society, European Neural Network Society and Japanese Neural Network Society, published by Elsevier...

, fuzzy systems, artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

, cognitive robotics

Cognitive robotics

a robot is a robot device that is built from inanimate matter. Its behavior in response to the environment is deterministic, based on how the robot was designed. Cognition is the process of acquiring and using knowledge about the world for goal-oriented purposes, such as survival...

, ambient intelligence

Ambient intelligence

In computing, ambient intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing that was originally developed in the late 1990s for the time...

, wireless sensor networks and brain computer interfacing
ISRC was opened in 2006 with £20 million invested by Invest Northern Ireland

Invest Northern Ireland

Invest Northern Ireland is Northern Ireland's regional economic development agency. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment...

, ILEX and the University of Ulster. This is the largest single research investment in the 150-year history of the Magee campus.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.