Stefania Dumbrava (@sdumbrava.bsky.social)

Subway Takes but with computer scientists!

🚀 Postdoc in Data Management for AI @ TU Wien (Vienna) - 3 years Research & teaching on #dataManagement foundations for #AI and modern #AIsystems. 📅 Start: ASAP | ⏳ Deadline: Jan 8, 2026 👉 jobs.tuwien.ac.at/Job/261722?cul… Lab: dmki-tuwien.github.io

"Keep the hands in mind" — indeed. Fine motor skills (FMS) have been largely overlooked in the era of the internet. A new meta-analysis identified a positive correlation between FMS and academic success, and the details are fascinating. The study aggregated 118 articles to check the correlation between specific sets of FMS and academic skills (Writing, Math, Reading, and Cognition). Crucially, they distinguished between different types of motor skills: Dexterity: Object manipulation (e.g., pegboards). Graphomotor: Using a tool (pen/pencil) to draw symbols. Speed: Rapid movements (tapping). Finger Gnosia: Proprioception. Here are the key takeaways from the study: - The link is moderate to strong: Fine Motor Skills and academic success are significantly linked. - It persists with age: The link exists in older students (adolescents) just as much as in young children. It is not just a developmental phase. - Tool use matters most: Among all FMS, Graphomotor skills (using a pen/pencil) are more important for academic success than simple dexterity (moving pegs). There is a functional difference between manipulating an object and using a tool to create a symbol. - Theory update: The data supports "Functionalism" (hands directly help learning) and "Shared Processes" (hands and brains share neural networks) as the correct way to look at this, rather than the old "Amodal" theory (hands are irrelevant). Fine Motor Skills, and especially handwriting, deserves a comeback!

It's time to remove laptops from classrooms. 24 experiments: Students learn more and get better grades after taking notes by hand than typing. It's not just because they're less distracted—writing enables deeper processing and more images. The pen is mightier than the keyboard.

Off to a great start at @uniwroc ! 🚀 7 expert keynotes, 46 outstanding students from 14 countries, & 4 days of lectures, poster presentations, & social events 🤓 👉 vldb-sc25.cs.uni.wroc.pl

BREAKING: MIT just completed the first brain scan study of ChatGPT users & the results are terrifying. Turns out, AI isn't making us more productive. It's making us cognitively bankrupt. Here's what 4 months of data revealed: (hint: we've been measuring productivity all wrong)

Researching graph databases, SPARQL engines, or stores for Knowledge Graphs? Submit to TGDK Special Issue: Data Management for (Knowledge) Graphs. Deadline July 1st, 2025. Resources, experience reports and extended workshop/conference papers welcome. CfP: bit.ly/4luAUXZ

@SIGMODConf @sdumbrav @aroraakhilcs @olafhartig @semihsalihoglu @csaudk ‼️Correction ‼️ Papers due March 31st 23:59 AoE 🚀

🚨🚨 24 more hours to register your abstracts for the GRADES-NDA workshop @SIGMODConf Papers due March 30th 23:59 AoE 🚀 Submission link: easychair.org/conferences/?c… Other details: gradesnda.github.io @sdumbrav @aroraakhilcs @olafhartig @semihsalihoglu @csaudk

In a recent @dagstuhl seminar we developed a research roadmap towards Computer-Using Personal Agents, which automate complex tasks like today's Computer-Using Agents, but include context via controlled access to personal knowledge graphs. Our vision paper: openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/34788

⏰ Reminder - Abstract submission deadline: T - 1 week away (March 17th, AoE) - Paper sbumission deadline: March 22nd, AoE 👉 gradesnda.github.io cc: @aroraakhilcs @sdumbrav @SIGMODConf @csaudk @ENSIIE @TelecomSudParis @olafhartig @semihsalihoglu

⏰ Reminder: 17th of March abstract submission deadline for GRADES-NDA@SIGMOD/PODS 2025 👉 gradesnda.github.io cc: @gradesnda, @aroraakhilcs

Registration open until 21/04 for the 2025 VLDB Summer School - 28-31/07 - University of Wroclaw 🇵🇱 We have great lecturers on privacy preserving data management, data analytics, distributed databases, cloud computing, graph data & data(base) theory. vldb-sc25.cs.uni.wroc.pl

When asked to draw a scientist, school-age kids in the United States are increasingly sketching women, according to a study from 2018. Read more on #WomenInScienceDay: scim.ag/3WWWoSD

Together with Riccardo Tommasini, we're excited to announce Yuanyuan Tian (@yytian) & Juan Reutter as keynotes for the Transforming Graph Data Workshop @EDBT/ICDT 2025! 🌟 Join us on March 25th in Barcelona! 🇪🇸 transforming-graphs-workshop.org cc: @rictomm

🗓️ 1 week left to finalize your EDBT Round 1 submissions ☀️ Join us in Tampere in March 2026! 🇫🇮 👉 edbticdt2026.github.io/?contents=impo… cc: General Chairs - @KstsStefanidis & Zheying Zhang

GRADES/NDA - The 8th Joint Workshop on Graph Data Management Experiences & Systems (GRADES) and Network Data Analytics (NDA) invites submissions for 2025. The deadline for submissions is March 17, 2025. Checkout the website for instructions. gradesnda.github.io

⏰ 1st Round Research Papers deadline coming up! February 5 AoE: Paper submission March 27 AoE: Notification April 29 AoE: Revised paper submission May 25 AoE: Notification for revised submission June 9 AoE: Camera-Ready copy 👉 edbticdt2026.github.io

⏰ Last call for the Transforming Graph Data (TGD) Workshop @ EDBT 2025 🇪🇸! ☀️ Short abstracts due this Friday Jan. 31 (AoE). Full Papers (6p LNCS) due next Friday Feb. 6th (AoE). Submission link: cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TGDWorkshop2025 Website: transforming-graphs-workshop.org cc: @rictomm

Exciting News! 🎉 Happy to share that #Tampere will host the @edbticdt 2026! ✨ 📅 Round 1 starts on: February 5 for EDBT Papers March 13 for ICDT Papers More details: lnkd.in/d4Ei4tPB We can’t wait to see your great submissions and welcome you to Tampere! @ITC_TampereUni