News Archive 2009

"iPhone Application Programming", a class offered by Prof. Jan Borchers' B-IT Chair for Media Computing, has recently entered the worldwide Top 100 Downloads on iTunes U.

Read more...

Further information:

iPhone application programming class

iTunes U

Due to the overwhelming success of Schüler-Krypto in the previous years, Schüler-Krypto 2010 will offer two courses this year. They will be held on February 25 and 26, 2010. The courses will address schools, introducing school students to the important field of cryptography. Read more about Schüler-Krypto 2010 (in German).

On Monday, December 7, 2009 Prof. Jan Borchers, head of the B-IT-endowed Media Computing Group, will open Germany's first Fab Lab. These labs let anybody get from an idea for a new device to a prototype quickly, offering a glimpse of the future of personal fabrication in which, for example, 3d printers will let you print out your personal plastic cell phone cover at home - greatly impacting how we will think about mobile devices in the future.

Fab Labs recently started at the MIT Media Lab, and are being set up in many countries - thanks to RWTH Aachen University and the B-IT Foundation now also in Germany. From soldering stations and Arduino microcontroller boards, to a PCB mill, 3D printer and laser cutter, the Media Computing Group's Fab Lab offers a set of tools to turn ideas into prototypes in new ways. The opening ceremony begins at 6 pm.

For more information see the Fab Lab page at Fab Lab.

B-IT Research School in Applied Computer Science, approved by the State of North-Rhine-Westphalia, started in October 2008. First batch of applicants were accepts into B-IT Research School in 2009. Now a new application round has opened. Interested students from Germany and international students with an outstanding academic record are welcome to apply for the PhD and Combined Master-PhD Scholarships. The scholarships are to be filled in by March, 2010 .

Application deadline for these scholarships is January 2, 2010.


More information:

About the Scholarships

About the Areas of Research Covered in B-IT Research School

About the Application Requirements

About the Application Process

B-IT offers in Winter Semester 2009/2010 a lecture series on privacy that addresses a wide audience in Germany. Most of the following announcements will therefore be in German.

Das B-IT bietet im Wintersemester 2009/2010 eine Vortragsreihe zum hochaktuellen Thema Datenschutz an. Die Ringvorlesung Datenschutz bietet interessierten Bürgern die Möglichkeit, wesentliche Informationen aus erster Hand zu erhalten und sich somit eine fundierte Meinung zum Thema zu bilden.

Fragen des Datenschutzes werden dabei nicht nur aus der Sicht der Informatik betrachtet. Die Vortragsreihe beleuchtet das Thema -neben Fragen der IT- auch aus rechtlicher, politischer, künstlerischer und theologischer Sicht.

Das Programm:

29. Oktober 2009.
Prof. Dr. Klaus Brunnstein Universität Hamburg.
Datenschutz versus Informationsfreiheit: zum Schutz der Privatsphäre in Zeiten des Internet.

12. November 2009.
Gerhart Baum Bundesminister a.D
Rettet die Grundrechte: die Spannung zwischen Sicherheit und Freiheit.

26. November 2009.
padeluun Künstler und Netzaktivist.
Kommunikationsgesellschaft ohne Avantgarde, Phlegma als Gestaltungsprinzip.

14. Januar 2010.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Spiros Simitis Goethe Universität Frankfurt.
Kann es einen Datenschutz noch geben?

4. Februar 2010
Prof. Dr. Knut Wenzel Goethe Universität Frankfurt.
Nur Gott sieht ins Herz: Theologische Vorbehalte gegenüber dem Willen zum totalen Wissen.

Weitere Informationen...

A One-Day Symposium "The ABC of Life Science Informatics" will held at B-IT on November 6, 2009. The gathering is aimed a bringing together research groups from academia and industry working in the fields of bioinformatics and chemoinformatics in the Aachen-Bonn- Cologne region (the ABC-region).

The "The ABC of Life Science Informatics" is the second of its kind. The first one was held in the past year. Its enormous success leads to a repeat: "The ABC of Life Science Informatics" gathering on November 6, 2009. B-IT gladly provides the platform for this exchange of ideas.

Read more about the scientific programme in general...

Scientific programme in detail

Professor Dr. Steve Horvath, Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Human Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles, will present his most recent findings in his talk "Gene Network Analysis" on July 31, 2009, at 11.15 a.m., B-IT Rheinsaal. Others are welcome while space permits.

Dorkbot is an international network of people doing interactive art and electronic hacks. Now Aachen has its own Dorkbot chapter, one of the first in Germany. The inaugural meeting took place on June 6, with participants from Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Darmstadt, and Duisburg. The next meeting is on July 22. Dorkbot Aachen was initiated by Prof. Jan Borchers and his B-IT endowed Media Computing Group;

More information...

Modern products more and more contain software as an important component. On one hand the cycles of innovation are getting shorter and software allows to quickly and easily adapt a product to new needs. On the other hand software serves a tool of integration. Software-based solutions allow by their combination and interaction for new functions. Software has therefore become a key element in a highly competitive market.

Fraunhofer Institute FIT and it co-operation partners from industry and academia present up-to-date results from this area that have been obtained through an initiative funded by BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research). The present symposium, held at B-IT, addresses software-developers, users and decision makers from industry and academia.

Main topics

• end user development
• usability
• engineering of embedded complex control systems
• transition to a more flexible document and process landscape

Programme of the Symposium (in German)

Read more.. (in German)

This summer school on cryptography offers undergraduate and graduate students and researchers the opportunity to crypt a bit. It provides acquaintance and interaction in an intellectually stimulating and informal atmosphere in pleasant surroundings.

Description

The one-week summer school crypt@b-it 2009 takes place 3-7 August 2008 in the b-it building. It will explore some areas of cryptography:

• Cryptography in Practice: How to make it small, fast and secure
• Topics in Symmetric Cryptology
• The Enigma crypto machine.

In addition, there will be tutorials and hands-on exercises on topics somewhat related to the lectures, including an exhibit of an actual Enigma machine. The intended audience are undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdocs and researchers who work in the area or at least have a basic knowledge.

Speakers

• Marc Joye, Thomson R&D, France.
• Bart Preneel, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
• Joachim von zur Gathen, b-it Bonn.
• Max Gebhardt, Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI).

More information...

B-IT Department of Computer Security (cosec) presented a lecture on May 18, 2009 within "Kinderuni" (Children's University), a Lecture Series of the University of Bonn addressing school children. The goal of Kinderuni is to introduce school children to current research at the University of Bonn. In this case, the students were introduced to cryptography, taking "typical" examples from their experience. Here is one example: The current school lesson is boring (may happen...). Aline wants to send a note to Sebastian. But Luca is interested in it too. How can Aline send Sebastian a note without Luca being able to read it? Encryption is a way to achieve this. But how can it be done? The lecture offers solutions to this problem.

Computers are in wide use today, often connected to the Internet or to each other through Wireless LAN. But anyone who is able to detect and receive the respective waves can monitor this. Is it probably the suspicious van at the opposite side of the street? Encryption can prevent this. Basic methods of encryption for this area were presented. All material and all texts can be found though the link below (in German).

More information and additional material (in German).

B-IT-bots, service robots, won first place in the Robocup@Home League at the German Open 2009 Championship held in Hannover, April 20-24, this year. The competition was held on the occasion of the Hannover Fair. The B-IT-Bots team was lead by B-IT Professors Paul Plöger and Gerhard Kraetzschmar.

The RoboCup@Home League is a competition for service robotics that takes place in an environment of several furnished rooms. During the course of the competition, these rooms are changed several times. The robot must independently and safely find and navigate around these rooms autonomously.

Read more about the B-IT bots and their team.

No formula 1 car or any toaster is run today without software. Software engineering is the key to market success for middle-sized businesses. The "Software Engineering Symposium 2009" at B-IT presents new approaches, knowledge and experiences from the initiative "Software Engineering 2006" by BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany). Speakers include among others: Professor Dr. Klaus Pohl (Requirements Engineering) and Dr. Uwe Dimslaff (sd&m, board of management).

Time: June, 3, 2009, 1.00 p.m.

Venue

Bonn-Aachen International Center
for Information Technology (B-IT)
Dahlmannstraße 2
53113 Bonn

More information about how to get to B-IT

How to get to B-IT

Registration and Programme

Participation is free of charge with a registration until May 29, 2009.

Scientific Programme

Registration

B-IT Professors Martin Hofmann-Apitius and Jürgen Bajorath have organised again a series of talks about Life Science Informatics that will be held on Thursdays in B-IT lecture hall. This semester the Lecture Series will focus on research carried out in industry. The Lecture Series in Summer Semester 2008 centred on research in academia.

More information about the Lecture Series 2009, held in co-operation with B-IT partner Fraunhofer SCAI, can be found below.

Information about the B-IT Lecture Series in Life Science Informatics 2009

Four publications of B-IT Professor Borchers' group were accepted in this year's ACM CHI Conference. The conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) is organized by the non-profit Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Read more on this here.

Since 2005, 5 PhD students have completed their theses under the supervision of B-IT Professor Bajorath, the latest PhD thesis being completed in January 2009. Three former PhD candidates are continuing their work as postdocs in the department of Life Science Informatics.

The current application phase for the PhD and combined Master-PhD scholarships of the B-IT Research School has finished. Please visit this page from time to time for the next scholarship openings.