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Computer Science eNewsletter

Hunting for (Software) Bugs

Photo of Dr. Tao XieNot all bugs are bad, but software “bugs” can be dangerous. Dr. Tao Xie & Microsoft Research are teaming up to discover more efficient ways for programmers to check their work so defects or “bugs” in programming code can be identified and corrected. more


New Research Can Spot Cloud Computing Problems Before They Start

Large-scale computer hosting infrastructures offer a variety of services to computer users, including cloud computing – which offers users access to powerful computers and software applications hosted by remote groups of servers. But when these infrastructures run into problems – like bottlenecks that slow their operating speed – it can be costly for both the infrastructure provider and the user. New research from NC State University will allow these infrastructure providers to more accurately predict such anomalies, and address them before they become a major problem. more

Gordons Establish Scholarships with a Service Twist

Photo of Gordon FamilyComputer Science alumna Suzanne Gordon (B.S. CSC ‘75, M.S. CSC ‘80) and her husband, Ralph (B.S. CE ‘72), have recently made a multi-year pledge to establish the Gordon Family Scholarship Endowment, which will provide an annual award to an outstanding undergraduate pursuing a degree in computer science. A similar endowment has been created by the Gordons to benefit undergraduates pursuing a degree in the College of PAMS. In the spirit of “paying-it-forward”, both scholarship awards will require that recipients volunteer one hour per week as a tutor in math or computer skills. more

Out of Sight, Not Out of Mines

“Mining Likely Properties of Access Control Policies via Association Rule Mining," a paper by graduate student JeeHyun Hwang and Dr. Tao Xie, Vincent Hu from the Institute of Standards and Technology, and Mine Altunay from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), was published in the Proceedings of the 24th Annual IFIP WG 11.3 Working Conference that took place recently in Rome. The paper discusses the authors' approach to automatically mine likely properties from an access security policy by a technique called association rule mining. more

Faculty Promotions and Re-appointments Announced

The Department of Computer Science at NC State University is pleased to announce a number of faculty promotions, effective August 16, 2010. more

Making an Impact

Photo of BTEC LabNC State makes a greater contribution to the Triangle's economy than any other local college or university, say respondents to online polling conducted by the Triangle Business Journal. Garnering 50% of the 1,424 votes, NC State easily distanced itself from second- and third-place finishers UNC-Chapel Hill (28%) and Duke University (15%). more

Centennial Campus Construction Update

Construction continues on Centennial Campus; here’s a brief update in case you haven’t visited recently. The Keystone Science Center, Centennial Campus' newest building is now open. The Hunt Library and associated parking deck are approximately 10% complete. The Chancellor's Residence has been framed. The Alliance Center continues pre-leasing and design. The hotel and conference center project has an executed land lease. The Shores townhouse project is under review and two other housing projects, student dorms and apartments geared towards working professionals, are moving forward. Plans are in place to construct a fabric bubble on the engineering oval to house food service.

Who Buys What? Research Finds Clues To Marketing Innovation

Introducing innovative new products and ideas to the marketplace can be a tricky proposition. Sometimes they take off immediately (like the iPod) and sometimes they can take a while to garner consumer confidence (like the Segway). A troubled economy can make it more difficult to convince consumers to take a leap on a new product. But new research from North Carolina State University finds that targeted marketing to opinion leaders makes it more likely that consumers will buy into innovative products and ideas. more

Honeycutt Wins “Pride of the WolfPack” Award

Photo of Linda HoneycuttLinda S. Honeycutt (right), Office Manager of the Computer Science Department, was recently selected as one of the recipients of the "Pride of the WolfPack" Awards within the College of Engineering. more

NC State Expert: Oil Spill Not Likely to Reach N.C.

As the disaster in the Gulf continues to unfold, the southeastern U.S. is preparing for the potential economic and environmental repercussions should the oil reach its shores. Fortunately, current models indicate that the N.C. coastline may end up unscathed. more

Departmental Gifts & Research

Fidelity Investments has $25,000 to the department to renew its sponsorship of the Fidelity Investments “Leadership in Technology” Executive Speakers Series for the 2010-11 academic year. The funding will support the Sr. Design Center Program and the ePartners Program as well as the speaker series.

NetApp has $15,000 in support of the department, the Sr. Design Center Program and the ePartners Program.

The North Carolina Chapter of the Society for Information Management (NC-SIM) has donated $11,656, which will be used to provide full tuition to two CSC students for the 2010-11 academic year.

Allscripts has donated $5,000 in support of Dr. Ben Watson’s Design Tech summer intensive program.

Tony Brown (B.S. CSC ‘83) and his wife, Kathryn (B.A. English ‘83) have donated $5,000 to the department to be used to provide scholarship funds for underwater endowments.

Drs. Peng Ning, Tao Xie, and Xuxian Jiang have been awarded $150,000 by the Army Research Office to support their research proposal titled “A Virtual Computing Testbed for Research and Education in Information Security.” more

Dr. Injong Rhee has been awarded $298,356 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support his research proposal titled “Investigation of Human Mobility: Measurement, Modeling, Analysis, Applications and Protocols.” more

Dr. Xiaohui (Helen) Gu has been awarded $300,000 by the Army Research Office to support her proposal titled “Predictive Anomaly Management for Resilient Virtualized Computing Infrastructures.” more

Faculty / Staff News

Dr. Tao Xie has been appointed to the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) History Committee. more

Congratulations to Drs. Xiaosong Ma and Ting Yu on the recent birth of their second son, Leo Dongchi Yu. Mother, son (and four-year old big brother Felix) are doing well!

Department Pages on Facebook and LinkedIn

Alumni, students, faculty, staff, and corporate partners of the NC State Department of Computer Science, interested in networking to foster collaboration, entrepreneurship, partnerships, career development and professional growth are invited to join the department's pages on Facebook and LinkedIn.

CSC "Jobs List"

If you are a CSC student or alum and would like to receive an automatic email notice whenever new postings are activated on the CSC online jobs board, you are invited to subscribe to the cscjobs list. We may also use the list to announce career fairs, company campus visits & info sessions, and other career related events and activities. This is an "opt-in" list, so you must subscribe to receive the notices. Students can subscribe via the Subscribe Interface at http://lists.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr (type cscjobs in the Mailing List box and press Search) or by sending an email to: mj2@lists.ncsu.edu (leave Subject Line blank), in the body of the message type subscribe cscjobs, and then send your message. For more information about subscribing please check http://lists.ncsu.edu/.