Both events will be held at COM-G12-Main Lewin, Computer Science Department (ground floor) on the 19th of June, starting from 12:00.

12:00 - RSE Seminar: Tackling the learning curve of scientific programming

By: Dr. Patricio Ortiz

Talk Abstract:

Programming is part of the curriculum of students of computer science, and it will be complemented with other related subjects to make them knowledgeable on the subject. The situation of a science or engineering student is the opposite; typically they have one course to learn one language, and that language is usually not the one they will first face in real-life situations. This situation has occurred for decades, and it is likely not going to change, but there is a real need to better prepare science and engineering students to face the very steep learning curve of having to start programming as part of an ongoing project or their thesis. Universities like ours offer excellent facilities like the HPCs supplied by IT Services, yet the reality is that many students and young researchers may have never used a Unix based system, let alone a parallel system.

The book I wrote, “first steps in scientific programmings” aims at facilitating the passage through the learning curve by providing tips based on years of experience and my interaction with students and brilliant young researchers who did not have the opportunity to learn anywhere else the challenges which programming in a scientific environment involve.

I will briefly describe the points which I think are more important to emphasise, points which I’ve confirmed as important by interacting with other experienced researchers at the U. of Sheffield, who are trying to provide support for the people starting in this field.

Link for the book:

https://sites.google.com/view/fsscientificprogramming/home

A supportive link:

https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/rcg/my-blog/research-computing-notes/firststepsinscientificprogramming

Please Register using Eventbrite

13:00 - Coffee and Cake event

The Coffe and Cake event is open to everyone and offers a great opportunity to further discuss the topics raised by our speaker. In addition, if you have any particular research software issues or would like to have a general discussion about research software or software in teaching, please come along for an informal chat with the RSE team.

The Software Sustainability Institute(SSI) is a cross-council funded group that supports the research software community in the UK. It has championed the role of the Research Software Engineer and has led national and international initiatives in the field.

In this interview series, the RSE team talk to University of Sheffield students about the role of coding in their research.

RSE Sheffield in the 2nd RSE conference

I am thrilled to have joined the Research Software Engineering team at Sheffield. My new role is attached to the INSIGNEO Institute for in silico Medicine here at the University of Sheffield, developing image registration software as part of the CompBioMed project.