About
Simo-Serra laboratory was founded in October 2018 and has been accepting students since April 2019. The lab belongs to the Waseda University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Computer Science and Engineering. It is located in the Nishi Waseda Campus, which is near Shinjuku. The research focuses on machine learning, computer vision, and computer graphics.
Laboratory Facilities
Espresso Machine
The laboratory counts with an italian espresso machine as the backbone of the kitchen. Students are encouraged to bring their own mugs, and some common mugs are provided for those without their own mugs. It is possible and recommended to make a cafe latte for maximum enjoyment. Besides the espresso machine, an electric kettle and other miscellaneous items are provided.
Student Space
The student free space consists of 12 desks on an elevated carpet. Wired and wireless internet is provided, along with sever thin clients which can be used browse the internet and access the server infrastructure. Seats are non-reserved and can be used in a first come, first serve-bases. There are separate assigned seats for staff and Ph.D. students.
Servers
To support staff and students with their research, the laboratory has a large number of both GPU and CPU Linux servers, and web services available. Services include a wiki, git, and online storage. All services are unified with a single login framework for ease of usage.
Library
We have an ever growing library of books at the laboratory. The main focus is technical books to support students in their research that cover topics such as computer graphics, machine learning, computer vision, optimization, statistics and mathematics. Some mangas are also available for students and staff in their off-time.
Fresco Paintings
We are proud have three large fresco paintings on permanent display in the laboratory. These fresco paintings were created in 2019 by the artist Josep Minguell Cardenyes in Tàrrega (Spain) and were removed from the wall they were painted on with the Strappo technique to be brought to Japan. They help create a productive work environment and inspire students and staff with scenes from the ancient greek story of The Odyssey (wikipedia).
For more details and the making of, please refer to the detailed blog post.
Pottery Display
There is also a permanent pottery display of pieces conisting of dominantly porcelain drawn with “gosu” (呉須) and authored by the head of the laboratory.
For some examples of the pottery please refer to the pottery website.
Joining the Laboratory
Each year the laboratory recruits new students from the Waseda University Computer Science and Engineering department. If you are interested in joining the laboratory, please refer to the student recruitment calls which are posted in the blog.