CSC eNewsletter

May 31, 2005

201 Receive Degrees in Spring Diploma Ceremony

On May 14, 2005, approximately 1,500 relatives and guests watched in pride as over 200 degrees were conferred by the department during our Spring Diploma Ceremony held at Memorial Auditorium in downtown Raleigh. The graduating class included 6 PhDs, 48 MS degrees, and 147 BS degrees, making it one of our largest graduating classes in the department's 38 year history. Mr. Bill Weiss (BS 1976), founder, Chairman, and CEO of The Promar Group, served as guest speaker for the event. Special thanks to Red Hat and Tekelec for sponsoring this very special event. more

Departmental Research Grants, Gifts, and Support

Thanks to ePartner, I-cubed, and Corporate Friend, Fujitsu Transaction Solutions, for their recent contributions of $5,000 each and their ongoing sponsorship of Senior Design Center projects.

Thanks to new ePartner, Itron, for its recent $7,000 contribution and its support of the department's needs and sponsorship of a Senior Design Center project.

Dr. Michael Young has received supplemental funding from the National Science Foundation for his research project titled "Creating Effective Task Descriptions from Action Plans" valued at $15,000.

Dr. Laurie Williams has received supplemental funding from the National Science Foundation for her research project titled "CAREER: The Test-Driven Development of Secure and Reliable Software Applications" valued at $6,000.

CSC Student Wins Prestigious 2005 Engineering Senior Award

Computer Science major Nathaniel Horner is the winner of the College of Engineering 2005 Senior Award for excellence in the humanities. The award was announced at the Engineers' Council annual spring banquet on April 28. Nathaniel is pursuing a double major in Computer Science and English, as well as minors in Cognitive Science and Art & Design. He is a Benjamin Franklin Dual Degree Scholar, Caldwell Scholar, and CHASS Outstanding Scholar. Nathaniel is also in the University Scholars and Honors programs. He received the Richard L Porter Award and the Gregory Poole Scholarship and is editor of Americana, NC State's online student magazine. more

CSC Project Team Selected to Compete in CSIDC 2005 World Finals

For the second time in the past 3 years, one of our Senior Design Center project teams competing in the IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition (CSIDC) has been selected as one of the top ten in the world. The multi-disciplinary team, consisting of David Coblentz (CSC), Dakota Hawkins (CSC), Jonathan Lewis (CSC), and Ben Noffsinger (Fisheries & Wildlife), will travel to Washington, DC at the end of June to participate in the CSIDC 2005 World Finals. Their project entitled NEAT: Networks for Endangered Animal Tracking, combines GPS technology with wireless sensor networks to that can be used to track animal movements in the wild. For more information, including a video clip of their Dr. Seuss-inspired project overview presented at our most recent "Posters & Pies" event, click here.

If you are interested in sponsoring a project in the fall, please call Ken Tate at 919-513-4292 and reserve your slot as soon as possible; class enrollment and the number of available project teams are projected to be down slightly next fall.

Year-end CSC Pig Pickin'- Food, Fun and Awards

Hundreds of Computer Science students, faculty, staff and guests celebrated the end of the 2004-05 academic year at ACM/AITP's 11th annual CSC Pig Pickin' on April 29th. Raleigh's historic and tranquil Pullen Park provided attendees a chance to relax and indulge in some traditional southern cuisine, enjoy a variety of fun and games, and recognize some very deserving students and faculty for their work over the past year. Thanks to corporate sponsor Cisco Systems, and support from the Engineers Council and Student Government, the CSC Pig Pickin' has grown from a small event to a large, much-anticipated department tradition. more

Pullen Road / Western Blvd Access to Campus Closed this Summer

Beginning Monday, May 16, Pullen Road south of Cates Avenue to Western Boulevard will be closed and will remain closed throughout the summer months. This road closure is necessary in order to demolish and then rebuild the culvert that carries the Rocky Branch stream under Pullen Road. more

Tri-XML 2005 Conference: Special Opportunity for Students

The Tri-XML 2005 Conference, the official conference for Triangle area XML users, will be held July 28-30, 2005, at NC State's McKimmon Center. This conference is geared toward users of XML and XML-related technologies. Speakers present on a wide range of topics, from beginning concepts to cutting-edge technologies. Registration Fee: $199 for the three-day conference. A limited number of students who submit posters may attend for $89/student (minimum criteria, ask for details from Kay Ethier, kethier@travelthepath.com). more

Engineering Summer Camps (including Computer Science) Set

Each summer, the College of Engineering offers rising high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to experience engineering, science, and technology at NC State. Each of the workshops held during the summer are week long residential programs where students get to experience the engineering discipline of their choice. The computer science camps are scheduled for June 12-17, June 19-24, and June 26-July 1. Each session costs $550 and includes room and board, materials and supplies. Need-based scholarships are available for students who provide documentation from their school counselor. This is an excellent opportunity for high school juniors and seniors to gain a hands-on feel for the field of computer science, as well as to gain a glimpse into college life here at NC State. If you are interested in finding out more about the Engineering Summer Programs click here.

Faculty / Staff News

Congratulations to the following faculty appointments and promotions: Drs. Rada Chirkova and Khaled Harfoush have been reappointed for a second term as Assistant Professors in Computer Science. Dr. David Thuente has been promoted to Full Professor of Computer Science. Dr. Peter Wurman has been promoted to Associate Professor of Computer Science with conferral of tenure

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Ben Watson of Northwestern University will be joining the department as an Associate Professor of Computer Science effective January 1, 2006. His research focus is in Visualization and Graphics.

Dr. Annie Anton will serve as guest speaker for the Department of Homeland Security's Privacy Advisory Committee to be held at the Harvard Law School on June 15th.

Dr. Robert Rodman was invited to write two short radio scripts on linguistics for "Talkin' About Talk." a National Public Radio series celebrating 2005 as the "Year of Languages." Rodman's first script "What's Special About Language?" was the first to be aired in the series. The second script discusses forensic linguistics and focuses on his current research at NC State University. To access the radio program, visit http://www.cofc.edu/linguist.

We regret to announce the departure of Kelly Potter, Technical Communication Advisor for the Senior Design Center, effective May 27th. During her 5 years with the SDC, she has touched the lives of hundreds of our students. Her influence and positive impact on the professional communication (writing, speaking, teaming) component of the program make it one of the very best. We wish Kelly the best in her very promising career.

We welcome Roger "Trey" Murdoch as the newest member of our department's IT support staff. Trey just completed his BS degree in CSC with us this spring, and will officially join our team on May 31st.

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