CSC eNewsletter

Welcome to the online edition of CSC eNews, a monthly electronic newsletter for alumni and friends of the Department of Computer Science at NC State University.

If you are a CSC alum and wish to be added to the email distribution list, click here. Corporate or individual friends of the department may be added to our distribution list by sending an email request to Ken Tate, Director of Development & External Relations for the NCSU Department of Computer Science.

December 22, 2005

Graduate Milestone Achieved in Fall Diploma Ceremony

On Wednesday, December 14, 2005, approximately 1,000 relatives and guests watched in pride as over 130 degrees were conferred by the department during our Fall Diploma Ceremony held at the beautiful Meymandi Concert Hall in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. Of the 132 degrees conferred, almost 47% came from the graduate program (7 PhDs and 55 MS degrees), the highest percentage in the department's history. more

Departmental Research Grants, Gifts, and Support

Thanks to Fujitsu Transaction Solutions for their recent donation of $5,000 in support of our Senior Design Center.

Thanks to the recent generous contributions (and matching corporate gifts) from Ling Tai, Yao Chen, and William & Sally Fuller, the Dr. KC Tai Memorial Endowment has grown in value to almost $35,000.

Congratulations to Dr. Khaled Harfoush for having his proposal titled "Roaming WLAN Networks: Security and Performance Implications" funded for $40,000 by the NCSU Center for Advanced Computing & Communication. The award will run from January 1st, 2006 through December 31st, 2006.

SDC Project Teams Demo Their Designs at Posters & Pies

Approximately 300 people braved the elements on Monday, December 5th to take part in the Senior Design Center's fall Posters & Pies Event at the Talley Student Center. Thirteen teams made presentations and demoed their projects during the event, which was co-sponsored by Super ePartners, EMC and SAS. One such project team (shown here) collaborated with students in the College of Design to create a virtual tour of several "hot spots" on campus and will be used as part of an interactive display at the new NCSU Visitor's Center being built on Western Blvd. In addition to taking a virtual stroll across the Courtyard of the Carolinas, the display will allow visitors to play a virtual game of Dodgeball inside a packed Carter-Finely stadium or play a game of Paintball on the famous Brickyard. For a full list of our fall projects, click here.

Phase I Deadline for "Pathway to the Future" Campaign is December 31st

We would like to extend our appreciation to alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of the department who have already purchased a brick on the EBII "Pathway to the Future" brick campaign. The interest since the campaign was launched last month has been incredible. Just a reminder, please make sure your brick order is postmarked by December 31st in order to ensure it is in place in time for our official dedication event on April 28, 2006. Brick orders will be accepted after this date, but will be held until there is sufficient quantity for processing the engraving and installation.

These commemorative bricks require a donation of $150, and can be ordered through this printable online order form.

Herndon & Smith Named Inaugural NC-SIM Scholarship Winners

Congratulations to CSC sophomores, Kevin Herndon of Winston-Salem (left) and Aaron Smith of Charlotte (right), for being named the winners of the first ever North Carolina Society for Information Management (NC-SIM) scholarships. Each of the awards is valued at $2,500. NC-SIM is a professional organization comprised primarily of CIOs and CTOs from local companies. They established the scholarship using proceeds from their highly successful golf tournament and CIO Forum events, with the intent of "giving back" to the community and helping support the next generation of technology leaders. Smith and Herndon were introduced as the inaugural recipients of the scholarships during an executive reception on November 29th for the 2005 CIO Forum & Executive IT Summit held at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Conference Center in RTP.

Bahram Awarded First Dr. KC Tai Memorial Endowment Gift

Congratulations to CSC junior, Sina Bahram, for being selected as the very first scholarship winner to come from the Dr. KC Tai Memorial Endowment. The endowment was created in 2003 by family, friends and colleagues of Dr. Tai to honor his significant contributions to the department and the University in the field of software engineering. Dr. Tai, who passed away in October 2002, was known as being a kind, compassionate, and caring person, who enjoyed helping others. The endowment was established to provide an ongoing source of programmatic and/or scholarship funding to help future generations of NCSU software engineering students and faculty, with highest priority going to individuals with medical hardships or disabilities. Bahram, who is blind, will receive $1,000 from the award.

If you would like to contribute to the Dr. KC Tai Memorial Endowment Fund, please make your check payable to the "NC State Engineering Foundation Inc." and send it to Ken Tate, NCSU Department of Computer Science, Campus Box 8206, Raleigh, NC 27695.

Candidates Sought for Alumni "Wall of Fame" in EBII

As we move into EBII, our new home on Centennial Campus, we have set aside some prime space to honor the accomplishments of our alumni. Our distinguished alumni include innovators with patents and software applications which have changed our lives, founders of large Fortune 500 companies, individuals who have made significant contributions to National Security and space exploration, winners of prestigious awards, recognized leaders in business and academia, and so much more - some we know of, but many we do not. If you are an alum of the department, or know of an alum with extraordinary accomplishments you feel are worthy of recognition on our "Wall of Fame", please contact Ken Tate at 919-513-4292 or kmtate2@ncsu.edu.

Old CSC Photos Sought

Perhaps some of our older alumni remember the days of punch cards and waiting for computer time. If so, and if you have an old photo or two which you can share with us, we would love to publish it and/or use it in some of our graphics within EBII. The photo at right is a good example. It comes from the University Archives Photograph Collection, and was taken in the 1960s. It shows a very young Don Martin (future CSC department head) seated at the console of the Ambilog-200, a new $200,000 computer purchased under an NSF "Center of Excellence" grant.

If you have a photo to contribute, please scan it at a min of 300dpi and send a digital copy to kmtate2@ncsu.edu. If you send us a hard copy, please let us know if you need it back. Either way, please send us your contact information in case we need to obtain a release to use your photo in our publications or displays.

ePartners Career Connection Event Planned for February 1st

Just a reminder for our ePartners & Super ePartners, our annual Career Connection event is scheduled for Wednesday, February 1st from 10 am to 2:30 pm in EBII, our new facility on Centennial Campus. This event, which provides access to hundreds of computer science students, is provided exclusively for our ePartner companies. As an added benefit, now that we are co-located in the same building with ECE, we also plan to open access to the event to their students. Students will be encouraged to bring their resumes and be prepared to explore career goals and opportunities with company representatives. ePartners are asked to hold the date on their calendars as more information will be sent directly in the next few days.

CSC Faculty / Staff News

Dr. Harry Perros, Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor of computer science, has been named a guest editor for the February 8, 2006 issue of Computer Networks Journal, providing his expertise to a section dedicated to papers on Optical Networks.

We all scream for ice cream

It used to be the public could only purchase ice cream made by NC State's Department of Food Science once a year during the State Fair. Not any longer. The department, through the NCSU Creamery, is now selling more than a dozen varieties of ice cream and four types of milk throughout the year. more

Notice Regarding Year-end Gifts

With the end of the tax year approaching, we normally see a frantic rush of year-end donations during the holiday season. Please know that if you plan to make any type of outright gift to the department before the end of 2005, for tax-purposes, all documentation must be postmarked no later than December 31st. Checks should be made payable to the "NC State Engineering Foundation" and mailed to Ken Tate at NCSU Dept of Computer Science, Campus Box 8206, Raleigh NC, 27695. If your gift is for a special purpose (a specific endowment, a multi-year pledgepayment, etc.), please designate the purpose on the "memo" line.

You can also give online via the Annual Fund using the link at left. If you so desire, please remember to designate that your gift go to the Department of Computer Science.

If you have special questions or needs relative to an outright or deferred / planned gift, call Ken at 919-513-4292. If he is not in, please leave a detailed message and he will return your call promptly.

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