Making your surgeon a better carpenter

“The hope is that computer assistance makes your surgeon a better carpenter.” So said Dr. Burton Ma, of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at York University, as he gave my senior students—and several hundred more from other GTA schools—a lucid, well-organized, and sometimes gory look at the marvels made possible by the fusion of contemporary computer science and cutting-edge (pun!) medicine.

Thanks to the kindness of Faculty of Science and Engineering Liaison Officer Katrina Angel, nearly 40 of my students and I were treated to presentations by Dr. Ma, the York University Rover Team—three podium finishes in the last three years!—a demonstration of computer (in)security by a team of graduate students led by Dr. Bill Tzerpos—who’s worked with one of the designers of Turing, our great introductory programming language—and a rather generous snack which easily became lunch!

Of course, my students were the most polite and engaged: they asked many thoughtful questions and conducted themselves with maturity and poise. It was an exciting day for all, not least because many had never before been on a university campus, nor taken such a complicated trip on The Better Way!

I was proud and pleased that our school was represented at Links to Computing Day by such a fine contingent of future “carpenters,” security experts, and Martian explorers!