Computer Science eNewsletter

Boyer Receives NSF CAREER Award

Dr. Kristy BoyerCongratulations to Dr. Kristy Boyer on receiving a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This award, valued at $497,149, supports her proposal titled “Fostering Collaborative Dialogue for Rigorous Learning and Diverse Student Retention in Computer Science”. Boyer becomes the 25th NSF CAREER Award winner for the Department of Computer Science at NC State (24th currently on faculty), one of the highest concentrations of any department in the nation. more

Singh, Young Receive NC State's Highest Faculty Honors

Congratulations to Drs. Munindar Singh and R. Michael Young, professors in the NC State Computer Science Department, on being named Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award recipients for 2014-2015. Twelve exceptional faculty were nominated this year, and four winners were selected. This is one of the highest honors that a faculty member can receive at NC State. Further, Young is the only known professor in NC State history to win university-level Outstanding Faculty Awards in all three areas they are given: Research, Extension and Outreach, and Teaching! more

Heil Appointed Director of CSC Senior Design Center

Margaret HeilCongratulations to Ms. Margaret Heil, who has officially been appointed Director of the Senior Design Center, after serving as interim head of the center since 2011. Heil was inducted into the NC State Academy of Outstanding Teachers in 2010. She is a pioneer in exploring communication techniques with computer science students, working with them to refine their communication skills both as individuals and members of a team. She has been invited to speak about the SDC and to conduct workshops related to her work at both the national and international level. more

Enron Becomes Unlikely Data Source For Computer Science Researchers

Computer science researchers have turned to unlikely sources – including Enron – for assembling huge collections of spreadsheets that can be used to study how people use this software. The goal is for the data to facilitate research to make spreadsheets more useful. “We study spreadsheets because spreadsheet software is used to track everything from corporate earnings to employee benefits, and even simple errors can cost organizations millions of dollars,” says Emerson Murphy-Hill, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of two new papers on the work. more

Researchers Roll Out Science Video Game With Demonstrated Results

Researchers are rolling out a science video game and educational curriculum, making them freely available to educators. The educational game has already been tested in 14 middle-schools and led to major improvements in literacy and science among eighth graders. The game, “Crystal Island: Lost Investigation,” and supporting materials can be downloaded for free at http://go.ncsu.edu/crystalisland. The game was developed by researchers from North Carolina State University’s Center for Educational Informatics, led by Dr. James Lester, and East Carolina University. more

Alumni Association Presents Annual Faculty Awards

Alumni Association Award WinnersEvery year, the Alumni Association honors faculty who excel in the classroom, laboratory and in the field. This year, 26 faculty members received recognition during an awards ceremony designed to celebrate faculty dedication to NC State’s core values—teaching, research and extension. Congratulations to Drs. Munindar Singh and R. Michael Young on being recognized as Alumni Association Outstanding Researchers, and to Dr. Sarah Heckman for being recognized as an Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher. more

Top Ten US Finish

On Friday, April 10, a team of students from NC State participated in the International Capture the Flag competition hosted by University of California at Santa Barbara, finishing in 9th place out of 32 US-based teams. The team of Ethan Warwick, Meaghan Johnson, Spencer Hitchins, Rebecca Schloe, and Rebecca Register, was advised by adjunct professor, Sammie Carter. They 44th out of 88 international collegiate teams.

Heckman Uses Google Award to Keep Students Engaged

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Heckman, teaching assistant professor in the NC State Computer Science Department, on receiving a Google CS Engagement Small Award valued at $5,000. The award will be used towards the development and integration of instructional materials for increasing student engagement and retention in introductory computer science classes. The title of Heckman’s project is “Incorporation of Software Engineering Best Practices in CSC216.” more

What Science Looks Like at NC State

Monique MorrowCSC Ph.D. student Sean Mealin is one of two students featured in the latest edition of this popular Abstract series. Mealin is completely blind and is researching ways to use technology to enhance communication between dogs and their handlers. more

StateView Hotel Breaks Ground

Calling it the next step in the Centennial Campus “neighborhood of hospitality,” NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson joined several private industry partners on Tuesday, April 22nd to break ground for the StateView Hotel, a 164-room Marriott Autograph Collection hotel and conference center. Nestled next to the Park Alumni Center, across from the Lonnie Poole Golf Course and just down the road from The Point, the chancellor’s residence, the hotel is expected to be a welcome gathering place in that neighborhood when it opens its doors in the fall of 2016. more

Departmental Gifts & Research

Humana has donated $7,500 in support of the department’s ePartners Program and the Senior Design Center.

Allied Telesis has donated $5,000 in support of the department’s Senior Design Center.

Bandwidth has donated $5,000 in support of the department’s Senior Design Center.

Bronto has donated $5,000 in support of the department’s Senior Design Center.

Infusion has donated $5,000 in support of the department’s Senior Design Center.

Ipreo has donated $5,000 in support of the department’s Senior Design Center.

RTP Chapter of SIM has donated $1,818 in support of the NC SIM Scholarship Endowment.

Merck has made a gift in the amount of $18,000 to support Dr. Laurie Williams and a graduate student’s work during the summer months.

Google has made an unrestricted gift to the in the amount of $58,110 to support the research of Dr. Xipeng Shen, and his proposal “PORPLE: Enabling Portable Optimizations of Data Placement on Memory”.

David and Karen Whitley Engineering Scholarship (new planned gift, funding in progress) - This planned gift by NC State EE alum, David Whitley and his wife, Karen, honors David’s father, David H. Whitley, and the profound impact he had on David’s life and career. While an EE graduate, David’s career has been in the software industry and this needs-based scholarship is intended to support a student pursuing a degree in computer science. The award, when fully funded, will be renewable if the recipient maintains satisfactory academic progress toward their degree.

CSC Wolf Bytes

Congratulations to CSC alum, Scott Crenshaw, who has recently been named Senior Vice President, Strategy and Product by Rackspace. more

On April 16, adjunct professor Sammie Carter served on a panel at the TBJ’s Cyber Security Symposium. more

Follow the Department on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter!

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 follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Personalized Job Search Agent in ePack

If you are a CSC student or recent graduate (within 12 months post-graduation) and would like to receive email notifications when new jobs are posted on ePack matching your profile, you can set up your own customized job search agent to receive just the postings you desire (intern vs. full time, etc). For a short video tutorial on how to create your own personalized job agent, click here.

The Alumni Association has partnered with the University Career Development Center to make ePACK available to NC State alumni. If you are a current Alumni Association member, update your online profile by visiting the Wolfpack Connect (alumni directory) and click on the ‘Update My Info’ tab on the upper right side of the page. Select the ‘Career Connections’ tab and then choose ‘yes’ beside the question, ‘Do you want access to ePACK?’

To access ePACK you must be a member of the Alumni Association and you must be an alumnus/alumnae of NC State. If you are not a member of the Alumni Association, you can join online. Once you have received an email confirming your membership, you will be able to register for access to ePACK.

Questions: Contact Career Services Counselor Catherine Tuttle at catherine_tuttle@ncsu.edu