News — CWI Amsterdam

Cryptology researcher Marc Stevens awarded with Google research prize

CWI researcher Marc Stevens of the Cryptology research group has been awarded the Google Security Privacy and Anti-abuse applied award.

Better ranking for big data using seriation solution

The recent availability of large data sets leads to the challenge of identifying patterns and structures in them. These patterns can be deployed to improve the user experience

Martin Kersten appointed ACM Fellow

CWI fellow Martin Kersten has been appointed as one of the 2016 fellows of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM).

CWI DIS researchers speak at Xinhuanet Forum

In November 2016 Pablo César and David A. Shamma spoke at the first Intelligent Valley Forum in Nanjing, China.

David A. Shamma named ACM Distinguished Member

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named CWI researcher David A. Shamma as one of the 45 Distinguished Members 2016 in the subcategory ‘distinguished engineers’.

NWO Complexity grant for Stochastics researchers

A consortium led by CWI researcher Rob van der Mei (Stochastics) has been awarded a grant within the Complexity in Transport & Logistics programme. Elenna Dugundji of CWI is one of the co-applicants an project manager of the research project. In total 15 proposals were submitted, of which 7 were granted. The available budget for this programme is a maximum of € 3.5 million and is provided by the NWO divisions of Social Sciences (MaGW) and Physical Sciences (EW) and the NWO governing board.

NWO TOP grant for Peter Grünwald

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded a Physical Sciences TOP grant 1 for curiosity driven research to Peter Grünwald of CWI.

Yfke Dulek awarded with Ngi-NGN master thesis Information prize

On 28 November Yfke Dulek (University of Amsterdam) will receive the Ngi-NGN master thesis Information prize for Informatics & Computer Science (5000 euro) at the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen in Haarlem.

ERCIM News 107 on Machine Learning co-coordinated by Sander Bohte - extra Open Access section

In October 2016, ERCIM News No. 107 was published: http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en107. It features a special theme on current trends and new paradigms in Machine Learning, coordinated by the guest editors Sander Bohte (CWI ) and Hung Son Nguyen (University of Warsaw).

Dick Bulterman new head of department Computer Science VU University

He succeeds Guus Schreiber, who will in December start as the new dean of the science faculties of VU University. Dick is endowed Professor of Distributed Multimedia Languages & Infrastructures at VU University and CWI fellow. He is appointed for a period of two years.

Informs award for CWI Stochastics researchers

Researchers Bert Zwart (ST) and former PhD student Arnoud den Boer have been awarded the INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Section Award at the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2016 in Nashville.

New attacks on location-based quantum cryptography

For secure communication of classified information, researchers want to deploy the sender’s location, so a receiver can be sure that a message is, for instance, really coming from the White House. Classic location-based methods are shown to be unsafe but location-based quantum cryptography seemed to have a chance.

CWI develops new calculation methods in collaboration with ING bank and UvA

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have developed new calculation methods for the estimation of financial risks.

Large-scale computer simulations reveal biological growth processes

Researchers at CWI and AMC used large-scale computer simulations to discover how cell types work together to form new blood vessels. Understanding vascular growth is essential for understanding and manipulating processes such as tumour growth, wound healing, and a number of eye diseases.

New impulse for Dutch-Danish quantum research

Danish-Dutch quantum research will get a new impulse. At the official opening of the “Villum Centre of Excellence for the Mathematics of Quantum Theory” (QMATH) in Copenhagen a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by research centers QuSoft and QMATH.

CWI develops new tools for data exploration

PhD student Thibault Sellam from CWI developed new tools to explore large databases. It allows explorative users to find interesting information hidden inside a database, with little or no knowledge of the data beforehand.

CWI and Inria sign partnership agreement

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) and Inria have signed a partnership agreement at the festive 70th anniversary of CWI in Amsterdam. Inria invited CWI to set up an Inria International Lab (IIL) together.

SysBioSim and CWI Join Forces to Improve Drug Development for Kidney Diseases

SysBioSim, a systems biology simulations and bio-modeling company, and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the Dutch national research center for mathematics and computer science, have announced a new partnership focusing on the improvement of drug development for Kidney Fibrosis.

Van Wijngaarden Award 2016 for Sara van de Geer and Xavier Leroy

Mathematician Sara van de Geer and computer scientist Xavier Leroy receive the Van Wijngaarden Award 2016 on Wednesday 2 November 2016.

CWI commemorates the 100th anniversary of computer pioneer Van Wijngaarden

2 November marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Adriaan van Wijngaarden.

CWI & BYBORRE collaborate in unique Red Bull tech project at ADE

During Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) and textile studio BYBORRE explored the future of club culture at the exclusive Red Bull At Night Playrooms event.

Quantum entanglement can make communications more efficient

Entanglement – a quantum mechanical correlation between particles that can exist even over long distances – might be used for future ways of communication.

CWI wins Amsterdam Marathon business run

CWI's running team has won the business run of the Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday 16 October. The team was the fastest in a field of 80 teams in the half marathon event. The winning team time was 7.48.46 (added time of the first five runners), an average of 1.33.45 per runner. CWI is a regular competer in the Amsterdam Marathon event.

Mapping the 'dark matter' of human DNA - research published in Nature Communications

Researchers from ERIBA, Radboud UMC, XJTU, Saarland University, CWI and UMC Utrecht have made a big step towards a better understanding of the human genome. By identifying large DNA variants in 250 Dutch families, the researchers have clarified part of the 'dark matter', the great unknown, of the human genome. These new data enable researchers from all over the world to study the DNA variants and use the results to better understand genetic diseases. The findings were published on 6 October in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

CWI launches spin-off Stokhos Emergency Mathematics

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) announces the foundation of its new spin-off Stokhos Emergency Mathematics. Stokhos provides software solutions which enable the proactive relocation of emergency services based on predictions of future demand.

CWI mathematically describes cloud formation

Clouds play a major role in weather and climate, but are hard to include in predictions due to their chaotic nature. CWI researcher Jesse Dorrestijn developed new mathematical representations of clouds to use in climate models and weather forecasts.

New electricity grids possible with computer simulations

Renewable energy requires new electricity grids, sometimes over entire continents, because 'green energy' is often generated in remote locations.

Tijs van der Storm appointed at University of Groningen

Tijs van der Storm has been appointed professor of Software Engineering at the University of Groningen (RUG) It is a part-time appointment per 1 September 2016 that Van der Storm will combine with his position as researcher in the Software Analysis and Transformation (SWAT) group at CWI.

Three articles from the Netherlands published in ERCIM News 106 on Cybersecurity

In July 2016, ERCIM News 106 was published: ercim-news.ercim.eu/en106. This issue featured a special theme on Cybersecurity, in which three articles from the Netherlands were published and one from Belgium. Another article from the Netherlands, on the 100th birthday of former CWI (MC) director and informatics pioneer Aad van Wijngaarden, was published in the Research & Society section.

Cryptographers from the Netherlands win 2016 Internet Defense Prize

Cryptographers Léo Ducas from the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) and Peter Schwabe (Radboud University) have won the 2016 Internet Defense Prize. They were awarded the prize with their co-authors Erdem Alkim (Ege University, Turkey) and Thomas Pöppelmann (Infineon Technologies AG, Germany) for their paper 'Post-Quantum Key Exchange – A New Hope'.