2015

Review of the ICT thesis contest 2015

The ICT thesis contest was held on 5th and 8th of June in Mektory conference hall. During the two-day public event the evaluating committees, which included representatives from several ICT companies, selected the best theses in five competition categories and gave out three special awards. Additionally, OÜ Adcash gave out a company-named scholarship to a successful thesis of MSc hardware category.

The competition took place for the third time, including for the first time all the IT faculty specialities. Objectives of the contest were to ensure students a better preparation for academic defence, to give feedback and acknowledge thesis writers for their academic accomplishments. Also involve as many students as possible in the audience, to give them a possibility to gather inspiration for writing their own thesis. On the other hand, to create favorable conditions for companies and students to meet and discuss potential collaboration possibilities

From all of the IT faculty’s master’s and bachelor’s curricula, 11 curricula were represented. The contest received a total of 60 applications. During the 2015 spring semester about 200 theses will be defended in the IT Faculty. All of the theses submitted to the completion passed through preliminary evaluation, 26 thesis remained on the sieve:

• BSc software category - 26 applications, 8 theses passed to final stage;
• BSc hardware category - 8 applications, 4 theses passed to final stage;
• MSc software category - 12 applications, 6 theses passed to final stage;
• MSc hardware category - 9 applications, 5 theses passed to final stage;
• MSc interdisciplinary curricula category - 5 applications, 3 theses passed to final stage.

A remarkably high workload and responsibility fell to the 26-member preliminary evaluation committee as they had to work through 60 theses within 2 days. The committee consisted of the representatives of academic staff, who read and evaluated the theses, selected the final round candidates and gave their recommendation who of the candidates deserved a special prize. A deep bow and praise to all the members of the preliminary evaluation committee for the work done!

All the concerned parties - students, members of the evaluation committees, ICT companies and other interested parties, met during the final round’s public event held in Mektory. The students presented their theses in accordance with the academic practices and answered questions from the committee members and audience. During these two days five different compositions of evaluating committees, which included representatives from several ICT companies in additions to the academic staff, evaluated the presentations. At this point, we would like to thank the members of the evaluating committees and the chairmen for their hard work, and hope that students, who took part of the contest, received important input and confidence for the academic defence of their theses.

Best theses were acknowledged with scholarships - a winner for each category was chosen, three special prizes were given out and also an Adcash-named scholarship. Adcash-named scholarship was targeted to a successful thesis author of MSc software category with a purpose to make students acquainted with Adcash as a good international employer.

The authors of the best Bachelor’s level (BSc) theses are:

• Liisi Mõtshärg, Isikunimede analüüs, parsimine ja vormindamine Eesti, Saksamaa ja Suurbritannia nimede näitel (the winner of BSc software category, scholarship 500€), supervisor Gunnar Piho;
• Ekke Tõiv Uustalu, Raspberry Pi-l põhinev veebiliidesega temperatuuri monitooringu- ja prognoosisüsteem (the winner of BSc hardware category, scholarship 500€), supervisor Eduard Petlenkov;
• Andrei Reinus, WhiteDB C# API loomine ja jõudluse analüüs (a special prize "Outstanding application", scholarship 250€), supervisor Martin Rebane;
• Janis Ardel, Facebookiga integreeritud autojagamise rakendus androidi platvormil (a special prize "Outstanding application", scholarship 250€), supervisor Ago Luberg.

The authors of the best Master’s level (MSc) theses are:

• Helena Lissenko, Mitme Kinecti kasutamine pööramisliigutuse registreerimiseks (the winner of MSc software category, scholarship 500€), supervisors Sven Nõmm and Juhan-Peep Ernits;
• Jaroslav Popovitš, Distributed Connect Proxy (the winner of MSc hardware category, scholarship 500€), supervisor Eduard Petlenkov;
• Olga Dalton, An Automated Framework for securing iOS Applications (the winner of MSc interdisciplinary curricula category, scholarship 500€), supervisors Roger Kerse and Rain Ottis;
• Aleksandr Porošin, Reversed Search Maximum Clique Algorithm Based on Recolorin (a special prize "Outstanding research", scholarship 300€), supervisor Deniss Kumlander;
• Aleksandr Porošin, Reversed Search Maximum Clique Algorithm Based on Recolorin (Adcashi-nimeline stipendium, scholarship 1000€), supervisor Deniss Kumlander.

In addition to the student presentations, the representatives of event supporting companies introduced their companies and made proposals about new theses topics for future graduates.

Both days of the contest featured an exciting talk from an invited speaker. Kristjan Vassil, research fellow at the Institute of Government and Politics, University of Tartu, gave an overview of the diffusion of Internet voting and profiles of Internet voters, on 5th of June. On 8th of June, Asse Sauga, a board member of Estonian Cryptocurrency Association and trainer of cryptographic currency, made an introduction to topic of "Bitcoin as a new paradigm".

Furthermore, both days of the contest ended with a discussion about employer’s expectations for fresh graduates who will be entering the labor market of ICT sector. Both employers and students came to the conclusion, that not only do professional skills matter, but also social skills like being a teamplayer, a leader, aware of cultural differences, assertive, conscientious, knowing how to make a presentation or persuade someone, are important. The employers found that a university should promote the acquisition of these skills through various teaching methods within the professional studies. The discussion also touched on the current situation in the labor market, where the field of work is greater than the number of people who could do it. Besides, it was considered important that people working in other fields, such as designers, product developers, project managers and others, should also have IT skills and should be more involved with the ICT sector in their studies and work.

TUT Faculty of Information technology would like to thank all of the companies and other organizations, who contributed to the realization of the contest - contributed to the scholarship fund, introduced new thesis topics, sent their representatives to work in the evaluating committees, expressed their opinions in the discussion, gave a promotional gift to the contest participants and helped with the organizational matters. Thank you: OÜ Adcash, AS Cybernetica, AS HireRight Estonia, AS Tieto Estonia, AS Eesti Telekom, Oracle Estonia, OÜ IBM Eesti, OÜ Testonica Lab, OÜ Fortumo, AS Nortal, OÜ Eliko Technology Competence Centre in Electronics-, Info- and Communication Technologies, AS Kühne + Nagel, Ministry of Education and Research, Estonian Electronics Industries Association, AS Real Systems, Information Technology Foundation for Education through Study IT in Estonia Programme, SA TUT Development Fund and ITÜN.

Also take a look at the pictures of the contest: June 5th (MSc day) and June 8th (BSc day).

The organizers of the ICT thesis contest
Liisi Ilu and Elena Vaarmets
Faculty of Information Technology
iktkonkurss@ttu.ee

Partners

The competition is organized by the TUT Faculty of Information Technology with Information Technology Foundation for Education's IT Academy programme.