MCS

Author: max

  • MCS Club Presents Wordles

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    At the department’s picnic, students Helen Wauck and Nate Jenson presented three framed “wordles” on behalf of the MCS Club to department members who will soon be leaving. These cluster together words often used to describe administrative assistant Linda Hewitt, who will be retiring in September, and professors Karl Knight and Choong-Soo Lee, who at…

  • If Electronic Pollbooks are the Answer, What is the Question?

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    max

    I had hoped to spend today at the annual conference of the Election Verification Network (EVN) and in particular taking part in a panel on electronic pollbooks. Alas, I was unable to travel and the panel was canceled. However, one of of the other panelists blogged about what he would have said. I’ll post a…

  • Cool Music App from a Gustie

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    max

    Hans Anderson, a class of 2001 Computer Science major, is the lead developer behind iFretless Bass, one supercool app for making music. I can’t hope to describe it; go to their web site and view one or more of their videos, in which you’ll see and hear Hans demonstrating its responsive musicality. When not running…

  • A student blogs from Vienna

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    max

    The MCS Department currently has students studying in Vienna, Budapest, Hirakata, and Galway. [Correction: one also continues in Seville.] We hope to share reports from all of them to inspire others considering study away. Today we share a blog from Tim Krippner, who is in Vienna.

  • Urn Problems and the Election

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    max

    Anyone who has studied discrete probability has run into urns containing balls of varying colors, which are withdrawn according to seemingly arbitrary rules, always ending in the same big question that Jakob Bernoulli’s own students surely posed: Why do we even care? For example, suppose three urns are filled with the following balls. Urn 1:…

  • MCS Students Blog from Abroad

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    Four students majoring in Math and Computer Science are studying abroad this semester and at least two of them are blogging about the experience.  Math major Rebecca Anderson ’13 is writing the blog “Rebecca Goes to China” from Zhuhai, China, and Computer Science major Michael Patterson ’14 has contributed two posts so far to the…

  • Analyzing Electronic Poll Books

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    max

    I used my 2010-2011 sabbatical to delve into the application of computer technology to election administration, specifically what are known as “electronic poll book” systems. I’ve continued working on this since, with the latest outcome being a guest post on Bluestem Prairie showing that the “Center of the American Experiment’s claims for photo ID cost…

  • Alumnus Matt “Twig” Johnson in Kickstarter Video

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    Matt “Twig” Johnson, a CS major from the class of 2000, is visible in the promotional video on the Defense Grid 2 Kickstarter project from his employer, Hidden Path Entertainment. (Hat tip: Brian Kleinke ’01 and Matthew Hirsch ’00.)

  • Gustavus MCS LinkedIn Group Established

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    If you use LinkedIn, please consider joining our group: “Current students and alumni of the Mathematics and Computer Science department at Gustavus Adolphus College are invited to use this group for networking purposes and to stay in contact with the College and each other. Faculty members are also welcome.”

  • “I’m Glad I was a Math Major”

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    max

    I attended the Minnesota Supreme Court’s oral argument today in the League of Women Voters vs. Ritchie case. The justices’ questioning of both lawyers was extremely vigorous. As I was leaving, I overheard another spectator comment to his companion: “I’m glad I was a math major.” I didn’t get a chance to ask him what…