By: Haiyi (Yvette) Gong
Before you know it, we’re almost one month away from finishing the Fall semester. Time does fly especially when you are doing so much learning and getting involved with campus activities. In case you missed some events that happened this term, we collected a few summaries from all the CMS student clubs to keep you informed and updated. Within the CMS department, there are a total of five student-run clubs, covering various disciplines such as Computer Science, data science, and more. Here are what they have to say…
The Association of Mathematical and Computer Science Students (AMACSS)
AMACSS has taken the first few months of the year to draft some very exciting ideas for the CMS student community in the year ahead. We have conducted recruitment for Academic Representatives and look forward to bringing you some awesome review seminars for many of your first- and second-year courses!
Some other fun activities that we have lined up for the year ahead include events to help you prepare for exams such as Study Together Sessions, Coffee House with Professors, and much more. We also have some other exciting events prepared which include Trivia Nights, Mini Hackathons, all leading up to our grand CMS Gala which is planned to happen towards the end of the winter semester.
If any of these review seminars or events sound interesting to you, follow us on Instagram @amacss_utsc to keep a lookout for when those occur. You can even use the link in our Instagram bio to join our discord server!
The Data Science and Statistics Society (DS3)
DS3’s vision is to become the most learner-centric data science community on campus and create an environment where students feel encouraged to engage with data science and statistics. One of the needs we have identified in the student community is for skill development. Thus, we strive to provide students with a wide range of opportunities to engage and gain experience in data science and statistics.
The past two months have been busy at DS3. We kicked off the new academic year with our Annual General Meeting (AGM), where students gained valuable job hunting and interview tips by engaging in networking circles. We also playing board games while relishing delicious snacks and refreshments. Stay tuned for many such socials in the coming year!
The Introduction to Data Science workshop took place during the reading week. We had the privilege to collaborate with Professor Sotirios Damouras from our Statistics department for this event. In this comprehensive workshop, Professor Damouras gave a brief but thorough introduction to data manipulation, and plenty of resources that participants could take home to further learn about data science. Students gained insights into data analysis by working with real-life data sets using RStudio. We were delighted to see the participants engaging with data and fuelling their passion to build something tangible by the end of the workshop.
Lastly, we have planned many exciting events like the Paper Reading Group, Data Collection Event, and much more in the upcoming months. If you have not already done so, follow us on Instagram @ds3.utsc so you don’t miss out on more of our captivating events!
Hack the Valley (HTV)
For the past 8 months, our team of 15 organizers has been planning tirelessly for Hack the Valley 7, our first in-person hackathon in 3 years. This event at UTSC featured 600 hackers participating in our 36-hour long event, and over 50 sponsors present and eager to hire upcoming tech talent.
Hackers from around the world networked with our sponsors, TD, Accedo, RBC, Xero, FGF Brands, Wealthsimple, and more. Some were even interviewed on the spot! We’re very proud of the new skills the hackers learned during HTV, and the projects the teams made in a short time frame. To keep up the energy at the event, we hosted activities like therapy dogs, a magic show, karaoke, and a gaming night to help hackers create lasting memories with other attendees. And of course, lots of coffee and communal meals were given to the hackers for some brain fuel!
Plus, our Women in Science Summit brought together experts who identified as non-male for discussions with our hackers about the importance of having a safe and inclusive community of non-male hackers.
Our hackers went home with projects they were excited to show off to the world. Many winners were first-time hackathon goers and left with an even greater passion for the tech industry. We’re happy to say that numerous connections were made between mentors, volunteers, hackers, and everyone who had a passion for innovating in the tech space. We hope to continue supporting this hacker community for years to come here at UTSC.
Women in Computer Science, Statistics & Mathematics (WiCSM)
WiCSM aims to uplift and empower talented young women of UTSC who wish to pursue careers in the CSM field. In the months of September and October, WiCSM's event theme was all about networking and resume-building.
In collaboration with multiple brilliant female lead engineers and product managers at HubSpot and the supportive staff of the AA&CC, we held our first networking event of the year: HubSpot Day in the Life! The event was hosted by a HubSpot recruiter, who even gave her email to WiCSM students who were seeking future internships. Students in attendance were able to learn a lot about HubSpot from an insider perspective, ask industry-related questions, and gain valuable networking connections by the end of the event!
We were also in search of candidates to take on a mentee role with our new collaboration with the Canadian Football League (CFL). Divya Bajaj, a CFL lead data engineer, agreed to take on a WiCSM member in 2nd year or more under her wing for the current academic year. The mentee will learn how AWS, Snowflake, DBT Cloud Platform, and Python work for CFL. This mentorship will kick off in early November, and we are so excited to work with CFL to make this mentorship program an enriching learning experience for the selected mentee.
Lastly, we recruited our executive team for the 2022-2023 academic year! In the month of October, we have been busy planning exciting events for the current and upcoming semesters. We really hope that all of you could stay in touch with us. Don’t hesitate to drop by and say hi at one of our future events! Keep in touch with us at: linktr.ee/wicsm.utsc.
The Computer Science Enrichment Club (CSEC)
CSEC is a student-run group that focuses on helping students who are passionate about computer science to take the next steps in their careers. We focus on teaching the basics of competitive programming and introducing coding competitions and hackathons to students. We also consider ourselves to be the bridge that connects UTSC students to the industry!
You've heard the buzz about startups. Everyone is talking about them, and it's time to learn more about what they do and how to start one. We had a Startup Seminar featuring Daniel Zhao on October 21st to talk about his journey and experience, providing insight to the entrepreneurial students within the CMS department.
Looking ahead at upcoming events, your resume and CV are the first things that employers see when you apply for a job. To help with that, we have an upcoming workshop with the AA&CC on November 2nd to dive into CV and resume writing. Get a leg up on the competition by perfecting your resume now.
To wrap up, we’ve got some exciting events coming up this Fall and Winter semester! If you can't make it out to one of these events but still want to participate in the club, send an email to csec.utsc@gmail.com and we'll be happy to hear from you!
Wrapping up
We hope this blog paints a clear picture of what the clubs have been working on and helped you to locate a club or event that interests you. In addition, follow @utsccms on Instagram to stay tuned with department-held events or university updates! We hope to see you at our future events. Best of luck with the rest of your school year!