The School of Computing Science now has a new home to be proud of -- The brand new state-of-the-art space on the Surrey campus! The School is now permanently based on the east side of Galleria 4 of the campus. The school houses cutting edge teaching and research labs and well-known faculty. Come and check it out! 

  On 21st February, 2007 SFU Surrey held its Annual Open House. It was an avenue for students, parents and members of the general public to come and see what the University is about and what it has to offer.

The event was driven by the efforts and enthusiasm of the student volunteers and various program advisors who assisted the public in gaining knowledge of the various university programs and helped interested parents and students with their questions.  

The School of Computing Science showcased some interesting activities and demos that stimulated and engaged the public to understand Computing Science and the principles underlying it. Some of these activities were the Towers of Hanoi competition, the Traveling Salesman Problem contest, Animation projects done by students, the FIRST LEGO League™ program and a demo on Designing Insects with Squeak presented by Dr. Toby Donaldson.

In addition to these activities, the School offered general information on its programs and options including its Dual Degree Program in Canada and China – the first program of its kind in North America.  

By far, the Towers of Hanoi competition was the most popular activity! Each player had to move 6 discs from the left peg to the right (with some constraints) in the shortest possible time. The winner of this contest was Elie El-Zammar who finished in 2:37 minutes.

In the Traveling Salesman Problem contest, each player had to decide the shortest route possible between 12 points on a board dubbed as the 12 towns that Ernie, the Traveling Salesman must visit carrying two heavy bags. The winner for this contest was Danny Yan from Burnaby South Secondary School.

In addition to this, the third attraction was the FIRST LEGO League™ Program. This demo attracted kids, teenagers and parents to check out the cool robots made by the kids participating in the League. (For more information on FIRST LEGO League™ Program visit http://www.firstlegoleague.org/) 

These contests and demos drew on some important disciplines of Computing Science. For example, one of the ways in which you can determine the shortest route between towns in the Traveling Salesman Problem, is by using mathematical optimization. This is a branch of Computing Science that seeks to answer the question `What is best?’ for problems in which the quality of the answer can be expressed as a numerical value. 

In the Towers of Hanoi contest, you move discs from one peg to the other in the shortest possible time. This contest illustrates a number of fundamental Computing Science and Mathematics concepts such as recursion, iteration, and induction.

The FIRST LEGO League™ program aims to stimulate kids’ interest in science and technology by drawing from concepts in engineering, robotics and computer programming. 

Also, there were three interesting presentations by the Computing Science faculty and staff. Lecturer John Edgar presented on the School of Computing Science and the programs it offers, Lecturer Harinder Khangura presented on Computers in Our Lives: Privacy, Copyright, and Censorship and Vivian Chu, the Dual Degree Program Coordinator, presented on Bringing Worlds Together – Canada and China, Computing Science Dual Degree Program. 

The SFU Surrey Open House 2007 was a good opportunity for the School to interact with the public and the public to learn about the School. For more information on Computing Science @ Surrey please visit http://students.surrey.sfu.ca/p_students/programs/cmpt  

Written by Salima Vastani