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I'm surprised that universities don't open their doors to such events for everyone. 'Systems' is fairly industry-focused. So, academia-industry partnerships on

by screye 2y ago

I'm surprised that universities don't open their doors to such events for everyone. 'Systems' is fairly industry-focused. So, academia-industry partnerships on seminars seems like a great idea. It's a shame (and imo, mind boggling) that SF proper doesn't have a tier 1 university. While Stanford and Berkeley are very close, the lack of a grounding institution makes SF culture feel 'dispersed'.

mechanicker 2y ago
Would love UC Berkeley to revive innovation and collaboration as seen during the BSD days.
- musicale 2y ago
  So RISC-V isn't enough for you? ;-) More seriously, it does seem like there were a number of interesting systems research and development collaborations in the 1980s: BSD at Berkeley, Athena at MIT, Andrew at CMU, etc. Currently it seems like the interest, funding, opportunities, and incentives for academic researchers are largely for short-term projects and AI/ML rather than long-term, ongoing systems projects. The modern funding and publishing landscape seems to emphasize speed and quantity over quality and impact. Moreover, it seems that companies with deep pockets (Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia) may be less likely to collaborate with and/or fund academic projects as IBM and DEC did in the 1980s. It could be that those partnerships weren't hugely beneficial for AT&T, IBM and DEC's businesses.
- throwaway2037 2y ago
  eXperimental Computing Facility isn't enough for you?
weinzierl 2y ago
The mentioned TUMuchdata is held at an university. I think a lot depends on the individuals behind such activities. I don't know anyone behind TUMuchdata and had no contact to the department for years but the chair is still the same as when I studied there and I think he might be exactly the person that would permit or even foster such activities.
- mzinsmeister 2y ago
  While we get a lot of support from all three database related chairs at TUM we like to highlight that we are an independent non-profit initiated, founded and run exclusively by students (which includes PhD students like me by now). We were founded with the main mission of making sure normal bachelors and masters CS students know about the high quality database research at TUM with projects like HyPer and now Umbra.
Aurornis 2y ago
> I'm surprised that universities don't open their doors to such events for everyone You have to be very careful about letting people use your facilities to host events. Unfortunately, grifters will use any opportunity to do something on a university campus as a way to imply they are associated with the university. Even self-help author Tim Ferriss recommended this trick in his “Four Hour Work Week” book: He advised using university campuses to speak so you could leverage their credibility for your brand (I can’t remember the exact details) It became such a problem that universities really can’t risk letting random groups come use their facilities. It doesn’t take long before someone abuses it to say they “Lectured at <university>” or “Gave a speech at <university>”
- weinzierl 2y ago
  The mentioned TUMuchdata requires a signed form, in German, handed over in person (not email) to join their community. I think this is not required to just attend one of their events. The events are at the university campus which is quite off, and makes it relatively inconvenient to get there if you are not at the university anyway. So, I guess they found a viable filter.
  - Aurornis 2y ago
    My closest community college allows venue rentals. The filter is that few people think it’s prestigious to speak at the local community college.
    - II2II 2y ago
      I work at a government facility that offers venue rentals. The rental contract states the facility name must not be used in order to avoid the scenario where someone tries to make a private event sound like it is endorsed by the government. Oddly enough, the facility name gives the impression it is affiliated with an unrelated institution. This results in interesting conversations where one starts by dissuading grifting based upon the implied affiliation, and ends by telling them they are barking up the wrong tree when they try grifting based upon the actual affiliation. If these people did not exist, many institutions would be far more generous with their space. That is especially true of colleges and universities, where there is often a strong desire to foster positive relationships with the community.
musicale 2y ago
Many universities have seminars that are open to the public, online or/and in person.
azinman2 2y ago
It does have UCSF which is tier 1; it’s just medically focused.
aijfedklmnop 2y ago
Systems have been cleaved in two for who knows what purposes. Systems have always deserved a proper segregation from product, that's been lost in this new paradigm.
worstspotgain 2y ago
You can think of Cal as the non-med school portion of UCSF. We think of the East Bay as non-SF, but the perceived distance is mostly water psychology. If you glued Emeryville to the SF waterfront, it'd be way closer to downtown than SF State. I'm not familiar with LA traffic and transit, but I would not be surprised if it took way longer to get to UCLA from the LA City Hall than to Cal from SF's. It's harder to walk there though, at least until 2030.[1] It's true that SF culture is dispersed, but that's sort of intentional, a hyper-local city of neighborhoods. [1] https://oaklandside.org/2022/12/20/bay-bridge-bike-path-on-track-for-2030/ https://oaklandside.org/2022/12/20/bay-bridge-bike-path-on-t...
- screye 2y ago
  No, Berkeley feels far. Harvard, MIT, NYU, UW, UPenn, ETH Zurich, ICL, UCL...all are in the center of their respective cities. Even Cornell-Tech went out of its way to find a little island (literally) right by mid-town NYC. Berkeley is situated similar to Stevens or Wellesley. They are close enough, but no one is going to go for an evening seminar to these locations on a weekday. NYU or MIT on the other hand, feel effortless to add to a commute back gome.
  - worstspotgain 2y ago
    Sure, but it's less than a factor of 2. As of right now, driving: Seattle City Hall to UW: 12mins Boston City Hall to Harvard Square: 14mins LA City Hall to UCLA: 20mins (a bit cheating since it's 100% freeways) SF City Hall to University & Oxford: 24mins NY City Hall to Columbia: 27mins
throwaway2037 2y ago
As I understand, UCSF (University of California at San Francisco) is a graduate school only. And, the medical school _is_ Tier 1, as I understand. Wiki says: > In 2023, UCSF received the 2nd highest research funding from the National Institutes of Health. In 2021, the university spent $1.71 billion in research and development, the second most among institutions of higher education in the U.S.

by screye 2y ago

mechanicker 2y ago

Would love UC Berkeley to revive innovation and collaboration as seen during the BSD days.

musicale 2y ago
So RISC-V isn't enough for you? ;-) More seriously, it does seem like there were a number of interesting systems research and development collaborations in the 1980s: BSD at Berkeley, Athena at MIT, Andrew at CMU, etc. Currently it seems like the interest, funding, opportunities, and incentives for academic researchers are largely for short-term projects and AI/ML rather than long-term, ongoing systems projects. The modern funding and publishing landscape seems to emphasize speed and quantity over quality and impact. Moreover, it seems that companies with deep pockets (Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia) may be less likely to collaborate with and/or fund academic projects as IBM and DEC did in the 1980s. It could be that those partnerships weren't hugely beneficial for AT&T, IBM and DEC's businesses.
throwaway2037 2y ago
eXperimental Computing Facility isn't enough for you?

weinzierl 2y ago

The mentioned TUMuchdata is held at an university. I think a lot depends on the individuals behind such activities. I don't know anyone behind TUMuchdata and had no contact to the department for years but the chair is still the same as when I studied there and I think he might be exactly the person that would permit or even foster such activities.

mzinsmeister 2y ago
While we get a lot of support from all three database related chairs at TUM we like to highlight that we are an independent non-profit initiated, founded and run exclusively by students (which includes PhD students like me by now). We were founded with the main mission of making sure normal bachelors and masters CS students know about the high quality database research at TUM with projects like HyPer and now Umbra.

Aurornis 2y ago

> I'm surprised that universities don't open their doors to such events for everyone You have to be very careful about letting people use your facilities to host events. Unfortunately, grifters will use any opportunity to do something on a university campus as a way to imply they are associated with the university. Even self-help author Tim Ferriss recommended this trick in his “Four Hour Work Week” book: He advised using university campuses to speak so you could leverage their credibility for your brand (I can’t remember the exact details) It became such a problem that universities really can’t risk letting random groups come use their facilities. It doesn’t take long before someone abuses it to say they “Lectured at <university>” or “Gave a speech at <university>”

weinzierl 2y ago
The mentioned TUMuchdata requires a signed form, in German, handed over in person (not email) to join their community. I think this is not required to just attend one of their events. The events are at the university campus which is quite off, and makes it relatively inconvenient to get there if you are not at the university anyway. So, I guess they found a viable filter.
- Aurornis 2y ago
  My closest community college allows venue rentals. The filter is that few people think it’s prestigious to speak at the local community college.
  - II2II 2y ago
    I work at a government facility that offers venue rentals. The rental contract states the facility name must not be used in order to avoid the scenario where someone tries to make a private event sound like it is endorsed by the government. Oddly enough, the facility name gives the impression it is affiliated with an unrelated institution. This results in interesting conversations where one starts by dissuading grifting based upon the implied affiliation, and ends by telling them they are barking up the wrong tree when they try grifting based upon the actual affiliation. If these people did not exist, many institutions would be far more generous with their space. That is especially true of colleges and universities, where there is often a strong desire to foster positive relationships with the community.

musicale 2y ago

Many universities have seminars that are open to the public, online or/and in person.

azinman2 2y ago

It does have UCSF which is tier 1; it’s just medically focused.

aijfedklmnop 2y ago

Systems have been cleaved in two for who knows what purposes. Systems have always deserved a proper segregation from product, that's been lost in this new paradigm.

worstspotgain 2y ago

You can think of Cal as the non-med school portion of UCSF. We think of the East Bay as non-SF, but the perceived distance is mostly water psychology. If you glued Emeryville to the SF waterfront, it'd be way closer to downtown than SF State. I'm not familiar with LA traffic and transit, but I would not be surprised if it took way longer to get to UCLA from the LA City Hall than to Cal from SF's. It's harder to walk there though, at least until 2030.[1] It's true that SF culture is dispersed, but that's sort of intentional, a hyper-local city of neighborhoods. [1] https://oaklandside.org/2022/12/20/bay-bridge-bike-path-on-track-for-2030/ https://oaklandside.org/2022/12/20/bay-bridge-bike-path-on-t...

screye 2y ago
No, Berkeley feels far. Harvard, MIT, NYU, UW, UPenn, ETH Zurich, ICL, UCL...all are in the center of their respective cities. Even Cornell-Tech went out of its way to find a little island (literally) right by mid-town NYC. Berkeley is situated similar to Stevens or Wellesley. They are close enough, but no one is going to go for an evening seminar to these locations on a weekday. NYU or MIT on the other hand, feel effortless to add to a commute back gome.
- worstspotgain 2y ago
  Sure, but it's less than a factor of 2. As of right now, driving: Seattle City Hall to UW: 12mins Boston City Hall to Harvard Square: 14mins LA City Hall to UCLA: 20mins (a bit cheating since it's 100% freeways) SF City Hall to University & Oxford: 24mins NY City Hall to Columbia: 27mins

throwaway2037 2y ago

As I understand, UCSF (University of California at San Francisco) is a graduate school only. And, the medical school _is_ Tier 1, as I understand. Wiki says: > In 2023, UCSF received the 2nd highest research funding from the National Institutes of Health. In 2021, the university spent $1.71 billion in research and development, the second most among institutions of higher education in the U.S.