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Richard Linley retires as Queen’s School of Computing Staff

Although Richard will remain active in his faculty role, Richard has retired his role as Continuing/System Application Specialist and he will be greatly missed among staff. The School of Computing staff celebrated Richard’s retirement after hours on Teams. The event was called ” Toast to Richard.” This event was unlike any retirement party as there were musical performances, bedtime stories, and an exchange of memories and laughs.

Here is what some of the staff had to say.

” Long before I became tech savvy, I had a small problem with my computer mouse!
One morning for some unknown reason, I wasn’t able to get the little arrow into the corner of my computer screen no matter how hard I tried. Then, I thought I had a solution and picked up my mousepad and mouse and held them in various positions near my computer screen trying to get the little arrow in the corner! During this time, who should walk into my office but Richard! He had this incredulous look on his face and he asked me what on earth was I doing! As I started to explain he began to laugh hysterically. After a while he was able to collect himself enough to try and explain to me why what I was doing would never work! I didn’t understand it but I knew it was a big mistake! I made Richie swear he wouldn’t tell anyone but as the day went on, other staff members proved that he had! ”
– Irene LaFleche, previous Undergraduate Program Assistant

“Honestly, for me, Richard just seemed like the Gentle Giant. He always made me feel so welcome. Always made me laugh in the mornings. If I was having a bad day, Richard could make me laugh! He also had a big conversation with me that I can remember when I came in after my brother passed away .I can remember him really taking it in and asking about my dad, and how he felt. He mentioned his kids and how it made him feel hearing that news kind of saying “I cant ever imagine” and my goodness, did that hit home. He gave me a big hug, and made me feel just a bit better knowing that it was all so genuine.”
– Carly Napier, Administrative Secretary

“Richard loved to visit and eat my student chocolates! I loved his visits to my office!  They made my day.”
– Karen Knight, Undergraduate Program Assistant

“I really enjoyed the early morning conversations with Richard while waiting for the coffee to perk. He was so welcoming when I started and made me feel I was really part of the School of Computing family. We talked about all kinds of things like cottaging on the lake, family and pets, plays, my love of US college football and so much more.”
– Noreeen Haun, Research Administrative Assistant

“Richard has this wonderful way of making everyone feel welcome in the School. When I first came on as staff in December 2018, Richard never held back on his witty one-liners about my pregnancy. My favourite one by far was at a staff potluck when he was trying to convince me to have seconds on his dessert. He said ‘that piggy of a baby of yours will thank you for it!’ I’d like to think I burned some calories with the laughter so I went ahead and had seconds.”
– Aysha Tayab-Ratsep, Marketing and Communications Coordinator

We thank Richard for everything he has done for the Queen’s School of Computing community and we wish him all the very best! 

Queen’s School of Computing Celebrates the Class of 2020

Fall Convocation has come and gone and this one was much different from previous years. However, all accomplishments merit a celebration. That’s why the School of Computing was happy to host a virtual reception on Zoom. In the spirit of keeping traditions alive, all guests were invited to use a background image of the main foyer in Goodwin Hall.

It was as close as the real experience while keeping everyone safe. Guests could mix and mingle in smaller groups through breakout rooms that were named after popular spots across Queen’s campus. Each room was named after certain popular spots around campus. Finally, it was possible to get a “seat” in The Tea Room!

We hope that all graduates took some time to celebrate their accomplishments in a meaningful and safe way.

QWIC hackHer Competition 

The hackHer Competition hosted by QWIC was a wonderful opportunity for women in computing to showcase their innovation and compete for recognition and prizes. Here are the winners from this year’s competition.

Prize Category: Casual Coder
Winner – Brie Basma Chabi

Prize Category: Excellence in Diversity
Winner – Emma Landry

Prize Category: Most Innovative Project
Winner – Isabella Enriquez, Jessica Li, Marc Kevin Quijalvo, Truman Be

Prize Category: Health and Education
Winner – Lexi Iocca, Inika Chikarmane, Nathanael Yao, Camila Izquierdo

Prize Category: Social and Entertainment
Winner – Graeme Badley, Emmeline Berger, Mary Whetham

Yinchen Shi wins Best Paper Award at the IEMCON 2020 Conference

“I’m honoured to receive the best paper award in the category of computer network and distributed systems at IEEE IEMCON 2020. It was a team effort that created this achievement, I’d like to express my sincere appreciation for all the supports from my supervisors during the time I researched my topic at BAM Lab. This research experience has helped strengthen where my passion lies and has also helped solidify my desire to travel longer in the computer science industry!”

Keep up the great work Yinchen! 

School of Computing Dean’s Honour List Recipients 

The 2019 Dean’s Honour list has been released and we’re proud to see remarkable representation from the School of Computing. Here are the recipients.

Congratulations to you all!

Gabor Fichtinger receives the Prizes for Excellence in Research award

The recipients of this year’s Prizes for Research in Excellence Awards have now been released and we are proud to announce that Gabor Fichtinger one of the three recipients. Recognized as one of the highest internal research award since 1980, Gabor will be receiving $20,000 for his research endeavors. Congratulations Gabor and all the very best!

Full story on The Queen’s Gazette:

https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/recognizing-research-and-scholarship-queen-s

Queen’s School of Computing’s collaboration with Kingston Distributed Systems gains widespread recognition in Kingston

On October 26th,  Dr. Hossam Hassanein and Dr. Sameh Sorour from the Queen’s School of Computing and the team at Kingston Distributed Services were presented with a cheque of $740,000 to conduct a Joint NSERC Alliance project titled Democratizing Edge Computing,  aimed at making computing resources more accessible and cost effective.

With the project’s capacity to make Kingston the focal point for providing a prominent and necessary resource, this occasion brought widespread media attention in Kingston.

Read more about this innovative project in the following stories:

The Queen’s Gazette

The power of computers

The Whig Standard

https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/computer-research-project-could-make-kingston-world-leader

The Kingstonist

Joint NSERC Alliance Project ‘puts Kingston at the forefront’ in distributed computing

 

Congratulations to all involved! We’re excited to see this project unfold and progress.

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