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.

March 24, 2006

EB2 Dedication Event Plans

The official dedication of Engineering Building 2, our new home on Centennial Campus, is scheduled for Friday, April 28th, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm. You are invited to join us for special presentations from Dean Nino Masnari, Chancellor Jim Oblinger, and Progress Energy Chairman and CEO, Robert McGehee, followed by facility tours and a reception. Invitations went out in the mail early in March, but if you did not receive one, more details and an online RSVP form are available here.

Departmental Research Grants, Gifts, and Support

Cisco Systems has selected NC State as one of just five universities nationally to participate in their National Cisco Internet Generation Scholarship (NCIGS) program. Through the NCIGS program, Cisco plans to award two annual scholarships to underrepresented NC State CSC undergraduates (minorities and/or females). Each scholarship is valued at $5,000/year and is renewable as long as the student maintains enrollment in computer science and maintains a minimum 3.0 GPA. The program also includes internship and Cisco Engineering Education opportunities. Since the scholarships are renewable and new scholarships will be awarded to two new freshmen each year, as many as eight NC State CSC students could receive NCIGS awards concurrently as the program matures. Cisco plans to award the first two scholarships to two incoming freshmen starting in the fall 2006.

Special thanks to all our sponsors who contributed $5,000 each to the department in support of the EB2 dedication ceremony on April 28th. Official sponsors for this event are EMC, Red Hat, Tekelec, IBM, Network Appliance, Cisco, and Progress Energy.

John Deere has renewed its commitment as a Super ePartner by providing the department an unrestricted contribution of $25,000. As a founding member of the ePartners Program, we greatly appreciate John Deere's ongoing support.

WakeMed has renewed its commitment as an ePartner by providing the department an unrestricted contribution of $5,000.

Gent Hito (BS '94) and n software have donated $1,000 to the department for scholarship funding.

Dr. Laurie Williams has received supplemental funding from the National Science Foundation for her research project titled "ITWF: Collaboration Through Agile Software Development Practices: A Means for Improvement in Quality & Retention of IT Workers" valued at $118,728.

Beers Wins Inaugural Chip Kelly / ISSA Scholarship

William "Will" Beers, a senior double majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics, has been awarded the inaugural Charles W. Kelly / Raleigh ISSA Scholarship. The scholarship endowment, launched this year by the local chapter of the Information Systems Security Association, will be awarded annually to a qualified junior or senior with a demonstrated interest in working in the field of computer security. more

Welcome New SAB Members

We would like welcome two new members to our Strategic Advisory Board (SAB): Jesse Fearrington, Sr. VP & Director of Cross Channel Technologies with Wachovia in Charlotte, and Chester "Chet" Fennell, recently retired VP of Research and Development at Tekelec headquartered in the Research Triangle Park. The SAB is a dynamic group of industry executives and academic leaders who provide department leaders input and guidance, critical to helping shape our strategic direction. Their 2006 annual meeting is planned to coincide with the EB2 Dedication event on April 28th. For more information on the SAB, click here.

Eos Lab Now Open for Students in EB2

ITECS would like to inform everyone that the newest Eos computing lab, in 1203a Engineering Building II, is now open and available for student use. The lab features 63 PCs running Realm Linux, 8 PCs running Windows XP, and 16 Sun workstations running Solaris 8, and will be staffed by an Eos Operator. For Operating Hours and further information, please consult the Eos Lab page.

CoE Open House Scheduled for April 8th

The NCSU College of Engineering will host its annual Open House on Saturday, April 8th, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. All Engineering departments, including Computer Science, will participate in this event with information, materials and demonstrations. Activities and displays are planned on both main campus and Centennial Campus. For more detailed information, click here to consult the CoE's official Open House page.

Sun Microsystems Plans University "Sun Day"

As part of the Academic Developer Initiative, Sun Microsystems is visiting the NC State campus on April 21st for "Sun Day", an event intended to give students and faculty a chance to hear about Sun's powerful, free, open-source software, straight from the creators and experts. The event will be held in Room 1231 in EB2 from 11:45 am to 3:30 pm, and will feature three presentations and plenty of prizes. A free pizza lunch will also be available EB1 Atrium. To register, send an email to waronke@ncsu.edu with "USD Registration" as the subject line.

"Posters & Pies" Event to Showcase Senior Projects - May 3rd

You are cordially invited to the NCSU Computer Science Senior Design Center's "Posters & Pies" event on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 from 10:00 am - 12:30 pm. This semester's event is sponsored by Super ePartners, John Deere and Tekelec. In a fast-paced and stimulating format, each of our student teams will give a concise 2½ -minute presentation on their senior design projects in Room 1025 in EB2. After the presentations, attendees are invited to stay for lunch and hands-on demonstrations and displays in the atrium. Companies interested in sponsoring future projects are welcomed and encouraged to attend. Please register your planned attendance at http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/rsvp/posters-pies/ by April 26th, so that we may properly plan for this special event.

A limited number of project slots are available for the fall semester. If you are interested in securing one of the remaining fall 2006 project slots, please contact Ken Tate at 919-513-4292 or kmtate2@ncsu.edu as soon as possible.

CSC Alumni Urged to Update Contact Info

With almost 5,000 CSC alumni, keeping mailing lists up-to-date is an ongoing challenge. In fact, each time we send out Connected, our alumni newsletter, or any other mailing, we have hundreds returned due to inaccurate mailing addresses. Please help us by updating your email and/or preferred home or business mailing addresses using our online contact update site.

"Pathway to the Future" Campaign Update

Phase I of our "Pathway to the Future" brick campaign is complete and we are happy to report that to date, over 250 bricks have been purchased by alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of CSC and ECE, generating over $38,000 in support for the two departments. Phase I orders should be installed in time for the EBII dedication event on April 28th.

If you would still like to order a brick, you can still do so. Brick orders will be accepted on an ongoing basis, and will be installed when there are sufficient quantities. These commemorative bricks require a donation of $150, and can be ordered through this printable online order form.

CSC Faculty / Staff News

Daniel A. Reed, director of the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), Chancellor's Eminent Professor and Vice-Chancellor for Information Technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an adjunct professor for the NC State department of computer science, will be appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) the White House announced this week. more

Dr. Annie Antón, associate professor of computer science, has been elected to a three-year term (July 1, 2006-June 30, 2009) on the Computing Research Association Board of Directors. This election by her peers is a strong acknowledgment of her leadership ability and her colleagues' regard for her work in the field. more

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