20 years of the School of Computer and Communication Science
IC Dean Rüdiger Urbanke © Alain Herzog / EPFL 2022
On Saturday November 5, hundreds of faculty, students and alumni gathered at EPFL to mark the 20th anniversary of the School of Computer and Communication Science, discovering how it has evolved over two decades and looking ahead to the next 20 years.
Computer science has been described as the most influential research field of the past fifty years and EPFL’s School of Computer and Communication Science has played an important role in this evolution in everything from quantum computing to safety and security online. In 2022, in its 20th anniversary year, the School marked an important milestone, breaking into the top ten Computer Science and Information Systems departments in the world according to the QS World University Rankings by subject.
Alumni from far and wide were able to discover how much the School has grown and learn about current cutting-edge research, through tours, demonstrations, workshops and poster sessions. These included participation in two virtual reality, full body movement in 3D demonstrations with Ronan Boulic’s Immersive Interaction Research Group, visits to EPFL’s brand new Datacenter and heating plant, tours of the new Student Prototyping and Outreach Tank (SPOT) and poster session discussions with current students.
The day of celebration also included short talks on some of the issues of the day: Professor Rachid Guerroui demystified cryptocurrencies; Professor Carmela Troncoso shared her insights into designing computer systems to protect society; sustainability in information technology was discussed by Professor Jean-Yves Le Boudec; Professor Sabine Süsstrank outlined the challenges of the deepfake arms race; and Professor Mark Pauly enlightened the audience with … light!
In a parallel celebration for IC’s 20th anniversary, for the first time a Capture the Flag competition was hosted by EPFL. Capture the Flags or CTFs are cyber security competitions with a goal to reverse engineer, decrypt and hack into computer systems to capture flags and win points for your team. The LakeCTF saw ten top teams from around the world competing - congratulations to the winners, the cheriPi team from the University of Cambridge.
All four of the School’s Deans – Professor Willy Zwaenepoel, EPFL President, Martin Vetterli, Professor James Larus and current Dean, Professor Rüdiger Urbanke shared their fond memories on building up the IC school, and reflected on the exiting opportunities that lie ahead. There was also recognition of Martin Hasler, ad interim Dean from 2000-2002.
“Computer science has developed in ways we couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago and the IC School has grown and evolved in line with this progress. My philosophy at the inception of the School was simple – hire the best people, get out of the way and let them get on with what they do best!” reflected Professor Zwaenepoel.
An evening gala included a roundtable that discussed innovation, research and education with notable alumni including Patrick Hertzog, Co-founder of Nexthink SA, Oana Balmau, Assistant Professor at McGill University, Hông-Ân Sandlin, Senior Scientific Project Manager in Data Science at armasuisse and Mark Kornfilt, President & CPO at Vimeo.
As the night drew to a close EPFL President and former IC Dean Martin Vetterli delighted the crowd with a rousing speech that left staff, students and alumni alike immensely proud of their association with the School.
“In 2021 IC had 56 laboratories, 51 professors, almost two and a half thousand students and five thousand alumni. For several years running it has had the highest growth rate among all EPFL schools and whether it’s in security and privacy, the links between computer science and fundamental theoretical sciences, quantum computing or the bridges between computer science, life sciences and medicine, IC is at the forefront of leading-edge research and thinking in this field,” he said.
Last but not least, Professor Urbanke thanked all those who have contributed to the foundations of the School over the past 20 years and shared his thoughts on the future, “Like Professor Zwaenepoel my philosophy is also simple and continues the focus on hiring the best people and undertaking leading-edge research in such a fast-moving field. IC combines computer science and communications, something that is very rare and that puts us in an extremely strong position for the challenges that lie ahead. I look forward to shaping a School that continues to get bigger and better.”
