CSC eNewsletter

March 31, 2005

CSC Alumna Reappointed to NCSU Board of Trustees

At its meeting in Chapel Hill last week, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors approved several new appointments and reappointments to the NC State University Board of Trustees. Among those approved for reappointment to a second four-year term was CSC alumna, Suzanne Gordon of Cary, NC. Gordon received both her BS in computer science and mathematics and her MS in statistics from NC State. She is the chief information officer and vice president of information technology at SAS in Cary. Gordon was named a ComputerWorld Premier 100 IT leader in 2003. She has served on NC State's Alumni Association Board and on the College of Management Advisory Board. She is also a frequent speaker and mentor to women pursuing technical careers, and is active in a medical ministry that provides services to low-income individuals. more

Departmental Research Grants, Gifts, and Support

Corporate partner, Red Hat, has provided a $2,500 sponsorship gift in support of the department's upcoming spring diploma ceremony to be held on May 14th at Memorial Auditorium in downtown Raleigh.

Thanks to Dr. Jun Zhou for continuing to support the Dr. KC Tai Memorial Endowment Fund. His most recent gift of $240 brings the endowment value to over $29,000.

Corporate Friend and long-time department partner, ABB, Inc. has awarded Dr. Laurie Williams $115,067 to support her research project titled "In Regression Testing without Code".

Congratulations to Dr. Jaewoo Kang, whose proposal titled "Enabling Large-scale Data Analysis over Pool of Disparate Scientific Data" has recently been funded for $8,000 by the NCSU Faculty Research & Professional Development Fund.

$60,000 Pledged to Launch new Diversity in Computer Science Endowment

Seeded with the generous donations of several members of our Strategic Advisory Board (SAB), we are proud to announce the launch of the "Diversity in Computer Science Endowment". This new fund has been developed to provide the department with much needed funds to support activities and initiatives targeted at increasing the attraction and retention rates for females and under-represented minorities in the field of computer science. SAB Chair, Keith Collins (BS, '82), who along with his wife Margie committed $25,000 to the cause, says the endowment will provide a flexible source of funds which can be targeted where the strategic need is the greatest. "With these funds, the department can fund not only scholarships, but recruitment and outreach programs, mentoring programs, speaker series, faculty recruitment and awards, and other strategic programs", Collins adds. Thanks to the collective efforts of Collins and fellow SAB members Jo Goodson (BS, '75) and Chris Crump (BS, '78), $60,000 has been committed to the endowment to date.

If you would like to join in and support this new fund, send your check (made payable to the "NC State Engineering Foundation") to Ken Tate, NCSU Campus Box 8206, Raleigh, NC 27695. For more information, you can contact Ken at 919-513-4292 or email him at kmtate2@ncsu.edu.

EBII Construction on Track for Fall 2005 Completion

Construction of the new Engineering Building II (EBII) on Centennial Campus is progressing rapidly. By fall semester 2005, the Department of Computer Science will occupy the east wing, and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will occupy the west wing. The contractors are working diligently to ensure that 10 of the classrooms and the critical teaching labs are finished by the beginning of the fall semester. Faculty and staff should begin relocating to the new building by late September, with a goal of being fully relocated by the end of October. more

C Programming Language Tutorial - March 31st

The Microsoft .NET Users Group is hosting a series of tutorials this semester, covering many aspects of the C language suitable for all experience levels. Part 1 of this series will be held on Thursday, March 31st, 6-8 pm in Withers 402-A. All undergraduate and graduate students are invited to attend this session, which will include the following topics:

o Introduction, history and standardization
o Translation details and language structure
o Declarations of objects, identifiers, types, declarations versus definitions
o Expressions, expression precedence
o Statements
o Functions
o Arrays, array types declaring arrays, indexing/subscripting arrays
o Pointers, declaring pointers, operations on pointers, illustrations
o Structures, unions and enumerations

2005 Park Scholars Announced

NC State recently named 46 students as Park Scholars for fall 2005, including Richard Taylor Fondren Jr. of Beaufort, NC who plans to major in computer science. These prestigious scholarships are valued at $55,000 for in-state students and $103,000 for out-of-state students. The awards pay expenses for four years at NC State and include a stipend for each student to buy a computer. To learn more about this incredibly talented and diverse group of scholars, visit http://www.ncsu.edu/news/park_scholars/2005_parkrecipients.htm.

Final "Road to Red Hat" Event

ePartner, Red Hat, has asked us to inform all CSC students of the following events which have been scheduled to highlight career opportunities within their growing company headquartered on Centennial Campus. For more information, consult Red Hat Career Events.

The final "Road to Red Hat" session has been planned for April 18. This session will begin at 5:30 pm promptly at the Red Hat headquarters, and will feature Pizza, a guest speaker, and company representatives who will answer your questions about internships, coop positions, and new grad hiring plans. In addition, Red Hat will give away an open enrollment RHCE-track class seat to a lucky attendee.

Balik and Chandler Awarded Progress Energy Scholarships

Congratulations to Computer Science students Adam Chandler and Alexander Balik, who were recently awarded the Progress Energy CSC Scholarships for the 2004/05 academic year. Chandler is a junior from Raleigh, while Balik is a senior from Cary. These scholarships are valued at $2,500 each. A special reception, hosted by Progress Energy leadership, was held in Page Hall on February 22nd to honor all the Progress Energy scholarship recipients from across the College of Engineering. The Department of Computer Science would like to thank Super ePartner, Progress Energy, for their ongoing support of our students, our department, and our university. more

Pizza Across America: A new kind of "Google Search"

The term "Google search" has taken on a whole new meaning, as the search engine giant has focused its attention on finding the best and brightest computer science talent here at NC State University. And their innovative search program, called Pizza Across America, offers students a chance to take a break from studies to socialize and eat pizza while learning more about career opportunities with Google. more

Conference Aims to Bring AI Researchers, Game Developers Together

The success of a computer game is coming to depend "more and more on the science and technology of the artificial intelligence (AI) that goes into it, rather than the graphic elements alone," says Dr. Michael Young, assistant professor of computer science at NC State University's Department of Computer Science. "These games present compelling real-world problems for both industry developers and AI researchers. The work happening at this intersection is simply amazing," he says. That 'intersection' is the focus of the first Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE) conference, to be held June 1-3, 2005, in Marina Del Rey, Calif. Young, who also is co-director of the Center for Digital Entertainment at NC State, is chair of the AIIDE 2005 conference. more

EGRC Renamed in Honor of Former Chancellor Monteith

The North Carolina State University Board of Trustees has voted to name the Engineering Graduate Research Center (EGRC) on Centennial Campus for former Chancellor Larry K. Monteith. The building will become the Larry K. Monteith Engineering Research Center. A native of Bryson City, NC, Monteith had a 41-year career associated with NC State. He was the university's 11th chancellor, serving from 1989-1998. He also was dean of engineering from 1978-89. 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.

Bond Build-out Reaches Halfway Point

Chancellor James L. Oblinger has a laundry list of reasons why the higher education bond referendum of 2000 is so vitally important to the university's future. As a parent, he only needs one. During a celebration ceremony marking the halfway point of the bond build-out held at Engineering Building I last week, Oblinger told the crowd that "I walked into this building this afternoon and went right to the third floor. Diana and I have a senior in chemical engineering and materials science - a double major - and I can tell you that through his eyes, I saw this building first," Oblinger said. "For what it means to our students, and for Adam in particular, I can't thank you enough as a taxpayer, as a very proud parent and as your chancellor." The build-out, when completed, will add more than 1.3 million square feet of new space to NC State, and will renovate more than 900,000 square feet of existing space. more

Open Invitation to Chancellor's Installation - April 20th

All members of the NC State community are cordially invited to the Installation of Dr. James L. Oblinger as the Thirteenth Chancellor of NC State University on Wednesday, April 20, 2005. The ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Reynolds Coliseum with a reception immediately following in the Talley Student Center courtyard. Please join us as NC State celebrates this historic occasion. Additional information about the installation is available at www.ncsu.edu/installation.

Faculty / Staff News

Welcome to Charlene Lassiter, who joined the department on March 4th as our receptionist & office assistant in the main office in Withers Hall.

Dr. Annie Antón, associate professor and director of the Privacy Place, was recently named chair of the Privacy subcommittee by the USACM Public Policy Committee, the focal point for ACM's interaction with U.S. government organizations, the computing community, and the U.S. public in all matters of U.S. public policy related to information technology. On March 2nd, she made a presentation titled "Privacy Matters" at the National Science Foundation CISE Distinguished Lecture Series in Washington, DC. She has been appointed to the NSF CISE Advisory Committee effective fall 2005. She has also recently been invited to join the board for the CRA Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research. Finally, capping off a very busy period, she is scheduled to be the dinner speaker at the Defense Science Study Group banquet in April in Alexandria, VA.

Dr. Alan Tharp recently participated in a televised Michigan State of the State discussion that included issues such as the education of Michigan students, the impact of cuts, and how higher education issues compare with those in other states. Please note that the title under Dr. Tharp's picture is in error.

Dr. Ed Gehringer was quoted recently in an Associated Press article in the Detroit News titled "Harvard, MIT Reject Applicants Who Peeked into Admissions Computer". The article, which explores the ethical issues of computer and network hacking, can be read in full at http://www.detnews.com/2005/technology/0503/09/tech-111950.htm.

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