About #

Informatics & Computer Science Society members participate in the annual research programs. They are typically pre-university students. Members jointly co-author articles and/or papers concerning topics related to informatics, computer science, and computing systems.

• New members begin as probationary members, meeting weekly.
• Lead members act as lead authors or research organizers.

Meetings are conducted online, and ICSS places no geographical limitations on membership.

Is it easy to become a member? #

Members are held to a high standard, not only regarding computer science knowledge. Successful candidates should have strong programming skills for their age, and they should also have strong communications skills, self motivation, and effective collaboration skills.

What skills should members have? #

Members should have some but not necessarily all of the following skills:

• Computer programming
• Computer systems (e.g. Shell scripting, operating systems)
• Writing and research skills
• Asynchronous communication, teamwork in large groups

Lead members are expected to be “T shaped” with a strong set of broad skills while simultaneously having domain expertise in one area.

What interests should members have? #

ICSS members should have the enthusiasm to learn and share with other members: to brainstorm, to share, to collaboratively explore, and to discuss.

Informatics & Computer Science refers to both theoretical and applied fields of computation, as well as any field where computation is the mechanism by which to perform research, engineering, or design. This is very broad; see the following examples:

• Traditional computer science, e.g.:
  • Computational theory, algorithms, data-structures
  • Natural language processing, machine learning
  • Digital circuits, compilers, operating systems
  • Computer Graphics, distributed systems, databases
  • Cryptography, discrete math
• Applied computational physical sciences, e.g.:
  • Computational physics, chemistry, biology
  • Engineering and simulation, robotics
  • Medical applications, public health
  • Earth/atmospheric data and modeling
• Computational social sciences, e.g.:
  • Computational sociology, linguistics
  • Computational economics, finance, law
• Computational arts, e.g.:
  • Computational design, generative art/music
  • Media processing/composition
  • Human computer interaction, UI/UX
• Software engineering and security, e.g.:
  • Mobile and desktop applications
  • Gaming and media
  • Web and social platforms
  • Networking and cyber-security
  • Embedded systems