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.

Team Qualifies for Grand DARPA Challenge

On Saturday, October 8th, in what must have seemed like a scene from a science fiction movie, a driverless 1987 Chevy Suburban, nicknamed "The Desert Rat," and 22 other driverless vehicles set out on their way across the Mohave Desert on a grueling 150-mile race. The technology that guides the Suburban is the product of a partnership between NC State University and Insight Technologies Inc. and may one day revolutionize not only the way the military performs missions, but also the way that commuters drive to work each day. more

Story Update - A team from Stanford University won the $2M competition. The Insight / NCSU "Desert Rat" completed approximately 26 miles of the desert course, and finished ahead of 11 of the 22 teams. Congratulations!

Departmental Research Grants, Gifts, and Support

We welcome Field2Base and SlickEdit as the department's newest ePartners. Field2Base, headquartered in Morrisville, delivers an integrated, highly scaleable, mobile communications platform designed specifically for use at any field location. SlickEdit, also headquartered in Morrisville, provides software developers with multi-language development environments and the most advanced code editors available. In addition to providing generous unrestricted support to the department, both Field2Base and SlickEdit are also sponsoring Senior Design Center student projects this fall.

Researchers at NC State's College of Education are taking advantage of children's love for computer games by integrating science learning with game development. Through a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant, members of the College's science education program have teamed up with NCSU's Department of Computer Science (Dr. R. Michael Young), Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications unit (DELTA), Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science and the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to implement the HI FIVES (Highly Interactive, Fun Internet Virtual Environments in Science) program. HI FIVES researchers will develop easy-to-use game creation tools and teach high school instructors how to build compelling games teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) content. The research is being conducted at the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation - a research and outreach arm of the College of Education. more

Congratulations to Dr. Robert Funderlic and fellow researchers from Chemistry, ITD, and Statistics, whose multi-disciplinary proposal titled "Comparative and Web-Enabled Virtual Screening" has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for approximately $385,000. The award will run from September 23rd of this year through July 31, 2006.

MCNC has provided $10,000 to Dr. Harry Perros to support his research efforts on EnLIGHTened Computing.

CSC Alumni Start-up Nominated for Top NCTA Award

TransLoc, Inc., a company founded by four NC State computer science alumni, has been selected as a finalist for the 2005 North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) Award for Early Stage Company of the Year. As reported recently, TransLoc has contracted with NCSU Transportation to offer real-time online information on the location of each of the Wolfline buses on campus. The four alumni involved with the start-up include co-founders Joshua Whiton (BSCSC '04) and Dominique Bischof (BSCSC '03, MSCSC '04), along with Jesse Lovelace (BSCSC '05) and Justin Harris (BSCSC '04). The 2005 NCTA Award Winners will be presented at a gala dinner ceremony on November 17, 2005 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Cary.

PhD Student Named Junior Research Ethics Fellow

The Research and Professional Ethics Program is proud to announce that NC State PhD student, David Wright, has been named one of its Junior Research Ethics Fellows for 2005-2007. The university-wide competition carries with it an award of $1,000. As a Fellow, Wright will participate in the workshop, "Introduction to Research Ethics", and collaborate with two Senior Research Ethics Fellows, Drs. Tom Honeycutt and Ed Gehringer to create an interactive instructional module in computer science and research ethics. His work will be a part of a national initiative funded by the National Science Foundation to create a Model Curriculum for Land Grant Universities in Research Ethics (LANGURE). More details on LANGURE are available here: www.ncsu.edu/langure.

NC State graduate students interested in applying for a Research Ethics Fellowship may do so here: http://www.chass.ncsu.edu/ethics/page.php?name=fellows

EGRC Officially Renamed Monteith Research Center

The NC State University community gathered at an event held on October 5 to celebrate the renaming of the Engineering Graduate Research Center as the Larry K. Monteith Engineering Research Center (MRC). Chancellor James Oblinger unveiled a bronze plaque (Photo: by Becky Kirkland) on the plaza following the ceremony held inside the MRC. Monteith was the university's 11th chancellor, serving from 1989 to 1998, and was dean of the College of Engineering from 1978 to 1989. more

Privacy Survey 2005 Needs Your Input

Dr. Annie Antón and the researchers at ThePrivacyPlace.org are conducting an online survey about privacy policies and user values, and they need your input. The survey, which should take you 10-15 minutes to complete, is supported by a NSF ITR grant (National Science Foundation Information Technology Research). The results will allow the PrivacyPlace.org to guide organizations as they ensure their website privacy practices are clear, concise, and understandable. Prizes include $50 Amazon.com gift certificates and IBM sponsored giveaways! take survey

WiCS Selected to Host CRA-W Distinguished Lecture Series Event

We are pleased to announce that NC State and our Women in Computer Science (WiCS) have been selected by the Computer Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) to serve as a host school for an upcoming CRA-W Distinguished Lecture Series event, most likely to be held next spring. According to faculty advisor, Dr. Xiaosong Ma, the program will fund a lecture by a selected distinguished guest, a dinner and panel session, as well as an informal lunch for women in the department. More information to be communicated as it becomes available. Congratulations WiCS!

Faculty & Staff Move to EBII to Start in November

Computer Science faculty and staff will begin a phased transition into EBII beginning around November 7th and continuing into January. Those in Withers Hall will be among the first to move to allow for planned decommissioning and renovations of that building to begin. Students, alumni, and corporate visitors needing to meet with faculty and/or staff during this period are advised to call prior to meetings to get the latest on move-related logistics.

Sun Microsystems Seeks NCSU Campus Evangelist

Sun Microsystems is launching a new campus initiative for the 2005-06 academic year, designed to promote Sun technology and development tools to student developers at select campuses across the United States, including NCSU. If you are an undergraduate or graduate student in engineering or computer science, and you are interested in becoming the Sun Campus Evangelist at NCSU, see http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/employment/jobs/sun-evangelists.pdf for more details on the role and application requirements

April 28, 2006 - Save the Date!

All alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of the department are encouraged to reserve April 28, 2006 at 3 pm in your calendar for the official dedication ceremony for EBII on Centennial Campus. This will be a very special day in the soon-to-be 40-year history of the department and we hope that you can be with us to celebrate. More details will be forthcoming in the coming months.

Final 2005 'Road to Red Hat' - Nov 28th

Students, are you aware that one of the leading technology companies of the 21st century is headquartered in your backyard? Are you knowledgeable about Linux and open source? Did you know that Red Hat hosts one of the premier summer internship programs in the Triangle? And have you heard that Red Hat started a co-op program for engineering students in January 2005? Find out more by attending the year's final 'Road to Red Hat' event at Red Hat's Centennial Campus headquarters on Nov. 28th. The event will start promptly at 5:30 pm. There will be PIZZA, guest speakers and Red Hat representatives on-site to answer your questions. In addition, Red Hat will give away an open enrollment RHCE-track class seat to one lucky attendee. See you on the 'Road to Red Hat'.. more

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