Computer Science eNewsletter

For the First Time, Department Holds Two Diploma Ceremonies

Dr. Annie AntónNearly 260 undergraduates and graduates celebrated their graduation during the Computer Science Department’s Spring Diploma Ceremonies held Friday, May 6 at Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh. Because of the large number of graduating students, the department held two diploma ceremonies for the first time ever – one for graduate students in the morning and another for undergraduates in the afternoon. This arrangement allowed for comfortable accommodations for the more than 1,500 relatives, friends, and guests who were on hand to celebrate with the graduates. Hundreds more from around the globe joined via online live streaming. The top employers for this semester’s graduates included Amazon, VMware, Microsoft, SAS, IBM, Cisco, NetApp, LexisNexis and Fidelity Investments. more

Another 'Top 10' Ranking for NC State’s Online Master’s Degree in Computer Science

NC State University was recently recognized by Affordable Colleges Online, a leading education and industry resource for online education information, for having one of the best online computer science programs in the nation. more

IBM Opens Collaboration Center on Centennial Campus

IBM CenterIBM has opened a Collaboration Center on Centennial Campus to foster joint projects between IBM experts, faculty and students using IBM products. Faculty and students will be encouraged to bring forward project proposals, some of which may be startup ideas. IBM and NC State have a long history of collaboration. The company has provided the university with about $30 million in sponsored research, gifts, equipment donations and other in-kind contributions over a number of years and has been the source of a number of jobs for NC State graduates. The Center is located in the Research IV building.

Singh Wins 2016 IFAAMAS Influential Paper Award

Congratulations to Dr. Munindar Singh, professor,in the NC State Computer Science Department for winning the 2016 International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems (IFAAMAS) Influential Paper Award. Singh’s paper was recognized at the Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems International Conference (AAMAS) on May 9-13 in Singapore. more

Rhee’s Paper Wins 2016 William R. Bennett Prize

Congratulations to Dr. Injong Rhee, Professor of Computer Science at NC State University, on having his paper selected to receive the 2016 IEEE Communications Society William R. Bennett Prize in the Field of Communications Networking. more

Goodrich Receives NDSEG and NASA/NC Space Grant Fellowships

Timothy GoodrichCongratulations to Timothy Goodrich, a PhD student in the NC State Computer Science Department, on receiving the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship. The Fellowship is a highly competitive, portable fellowship that is awarded to students pursuing a doctoral degree in one of fifteen supported disciplines. In addition, Goodrich was also recently awarded a NASA/NC Space Grant Graduate Research Fellowship for the summer of 2016. The combined value of the awards is aprox. $109,000. more

Gardner Nominee for CoE Award for Excellence

Todd Gardner, director of operations in the NC State Computer Science Department, was recently recognized as the Department’s nominee for the College of Engineering 2016 Awards for Excellence. The awards were announced at a ceremony held April 18. Dr. Louis Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering, presented the winners with plaques and $250 gift checks. The winners also received eight hours of paid time off and are now nominees for the NC State University Award for Excellence. more

New Tech Uses Hardware, Software to Train Dogs More Efficiently

North Carolina State University researchers have developed and used a customized suite of technologies that allows a computer to train a dog autonomously, with the computer effectively responding to the dog based on the dog’s body language. “Our approach can be used to train dogs efficiently and effectively,” says David Roberts, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work. “We use sensors in custom dog harnesses to monitor a dog’s posture, and the computer reinforces the correct behavior quickly and with near-perfect consistency.” more

Harrelson’s Final Stand

Harrelson HallWhen students come back for the fall semester in August, the most-used, least-loved building in the UNC system will be gone, returned to the muddy terrain from which it famously sprung in the early 1960s. The iconic monstrosity opened to much acclaim in the fall of 1961, as the first circular building ever constructed on a college campus. The deconstruction of the building includes a goal of reclaiming 90 percent of the salvageable material in the building, so in a way Harrelson will live on in projects across campus. more

Hail, New Weather Station

If you’re interested in a truly local weather report, check out the real-time data available from a new weather station installed atop Engineering Building 2. NC State’s WeatherSTEM provides up-to-the-minute readings on temperature, wind, humidity, ozone, ultraviolet radiation, barometric pressure and other key metrics. more

Departmental Gifts & Research

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

Fujitsu America has donated $5,000 in support of the Senior Design Center.

Blackbaud has donated $5,000 in support of the ePartners Program.

Optum Services Inc. has donated $2,500 in support of the DiamondHacks event hosted by WiCS.

Creative Allies has donated $2,500 in support of the Diversity in CSC Endowment.

iCiDigital has donated $1,500 in support of the Diversity in CSC Endowment.

O3 Strategies has donated $1,000 in support of the Diversity in CSC Endowment.

SIM-RTP has donated $7,850 to help grow the NC-SIM Scholarship Endowment.

Dr. Tiffany Barnes has been awarded a $5,000 NCWIT 2016 Undergraduate Research Mentoring (URM) Award.

Ken Tate and Dr. Michael Kowolenko have each been awarded 2016 IBM Faculty Awards, valued at $40,000 and $30,000 respectively

Dr. Ranga Vatsavai has been awarded $25,000 by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to support his research proposal entitled “Mini-Apps for Data-Intensive Discovery on Big Data Architectures.” more

Dr. Xipeng Shen has been awarded $134,737 by the National Science Foundation to support his research proposal entitled “EAGER/Cybermanufacturing: Just-in-Time Compilation of Product Manufacturing Data to Machine Instructions via an Industrial Machine Operating System.” more

Dr. Nagiza Samatova has been awarded $45,000 by Duke University to support her research proposal entitled “Gender Differences in the Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease in ADNI-1 MCI.” more

Dr. Ranga Vatsavai has been awarded $49,500 in supplemental funding by Oak Ridge National Laboratory via US Dept. of Energy to support his research proposal entitled “Architecture Driven Optimization Approaches for Pattern Discovery from Big Data.” The award will support the work of Vatsavai’s graduate student, Seokyong Hong. This $49,500 supplement brings the total funding for this project to $98,521. more

Dr. Timothy Menzies has been awarded $17,500 by Carnegie Mellon University via USAF to support his research proposal entitled “Enabling Evidence-Based Modernization.” more

CSC Wolf Bytes

Congrats to ToniAnn Marini, Undergraduate Lab Coordinator & Lecturer and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Advising, who recently completed her M.Ed. and got married! Congrats ToniAnn and Kyle!

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