Welcome New ePartner - Epic Games (2/28/2003)
We are extremely happy to welcome our newest ePartner, Epic Games, Inc., a developer of cutting-edge computer and video games. Based in Raleigh, NC and established in 1991, Epic Games is best known as the creator of hit PC 3D action games Unreal and Unreal Tournament, both award-winning blockbuster hits having each sold more than 1 million copies. Unreal Tournament has been recognized as the Game of the Year by many leading gaming media outlets including Computer Gaming World, the #1 PC games magazine, and has appeared on PC, Macintosh™ and Linux™ operating systems, Sony™ PlayStation 2 and Sega™ Dreamcast®. Epic's Unreal engine has been licensed to several top game developers for games in a variety of genres on multiple platforms including the PC, Macintosh, Linux, Microsoft® Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2. Eidos'® Deus Ex, which was PC Gamer magazine's 2000 Game of the Year, and Electronic Arts’ critically acclaimed Undying® are among the many shipping titles built using the Unreal engine. Prior to their 3D success, Epic Games was well known for the hit shareware games Jill of the Jungle, Jazz Jackrabbit® and Epic Pinball. Additional information can be obtained through Epic's Web site at www.epicgames.com.

Departmental Research Grants, Gifts, and Support (2/28/2003)
GlaxoSmithKline recently provided $44,044 in funding to support a graduate student and industrial trainee to engage in consulting, collaboration, research, and training related solutions with GSK. We welcome new Corporate Friend, Southpoint Partners which has donated two Bluetooth Network Nodes to the department. This equipment is valued at $1,300 and is targeted for integration in Sr Design Center applications. Borland Software, which recently acquired Corporate Friend TogetherSoft, has made a significant donation of approximately 350 Java related books including titles: Java Modeling Color with UML, Java Design; Building Better Applications, and Object Models, Strategies and Patterns. The books, written by TogetherSoft founder Peter Coad, have a value of over $20,000 and will be made available to our faculty for classroom use and targeted distribution to students. Congratulations to Dr. Frank Mueller for obtaining an NSF CAREER Development Award for his proposal Exploiting Binary Rewriting to Analyze and Alleviate Memory Bottlenecks for Scientific Applications. The total amount of the award is $400,000 for five years beginning June 1st of this year. Dr. Mueller is the 13th NCSU CSC faculty member to have earned a NSF Career Award! Dr. Rudra Dutta recently received funding on two proposals; one entitled "Remote OPNET Simulation Lab Access" funded by DELTA for $10,000, and a FRPD proposal entitled "Traffic Grooming in Wavelength Routed Networks with Novel Topologies" funded for $8,000. Dr. George Rouskas' proposal entitled "Engineering Online Student Access to Internet Lab" has been funded by DELTA for $10,000. Dr. Rada Chirkova's FRPD proposal entitled "Self-Organizing Databases: Near-Optimal Query Performance at all Times Using Flexible Views" has been funded for $8,000.

Dr. KC Tai Memorial Fund Update(2/28/2003)
The “Dr. KC Tai Memorial Fund” continues to grow, and we want to thank everyone who has contributed. Through the generous contributions of relatives, friends, colleagues, and former students, the fund has now grown to approximately $10,650. A minimum of $15,000 is required to establish a permanent "named" scholarship endowment. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please make your check payable to the “NC State Engineering Foundation Inc.” and send it to Ken Tate, NCSU Department of Computer Science, Campus Box 8206, Raleigh, NC 27695.

Industrial Advisory Council now the Strategic Advisory Board(2/28/2003)
For many years, the department has received valuable direction and guidance from executives comprising our Industrial Advisory Council. In a bold effort to recognize the strategic nature of their work and to provide the flexibility for new membership options, the group recently approved the change of its name to the Strategic Advisory Board. When the group met in Raleigh in October 2002, members expressed a strong desire to work with the department throughout the year. Subsequently, several SAB committees are in the works including a membership committee, a corporate & alumni development committee, and a departmental branding & positioning committee. Keith Collins, CTO for SAS Institute, has been appointed the chairperson for the board. Their next group meeting is planned for October 16, 2003 here in Raleigh

TechEngage Conference (2/28/2003)
The ePartners Program is proud to be a among the many corporate and educational sponsors of the inaugural TechEngage Conference planned for Mach 10-14 here on the campus of NC State University. TechEngage is a community-based non-profit organization founded to provide unemployed and under-employed technical professionals with an affordable opportunity to obtain the high quality training they need to be competitive in today's tough job market. The TechEngage Conference is a five-day multi-track training event featuring top-flight volunteer instructors, and is designed to help participants develop their skills, learn cutting-edge technologies, and prepare for the job-hunting process. Participants contribute a nominal fee of $95 and volunteer 40 hours of technical services to a local charity or make a $150 tax-deductible contribution to the TechEngage Foundation. If successful, the group intends to conduct similar conferences in other hard-hit technology markets across the country. If you know someone who is unemployed, who has two or more years of high-tech industry experience, and who is a resident of the state of North Carolina, they qualify to attend the TechEngage conference. Please help us by passing along this information to your HR group or anyone impacted by the economic downturn.

Dr. Anton in the News (2/28/2003)
Congratulations to Dr. Annie Anton for being named to the Microsoft Research University Relations Faculty Advisory Board. Other schools with representation on the board include the University of California, Berkeley, University of Utah, University of Maryland, Indiana University, Arizona State, Yale, Columbia, and Carnegie Mellon. We are very proud and honored to have Dr. Anton representing NCSU on this prestigious board. In addition, Dr. Anton was featured as a "privacy expert" on two news reports aired recently on local ABC affiliate, WTVD Channel 11. Summaries of the news features are available at http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/news_articles/anton.02.html and http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/news_articles/anton.03.html.

New Leader of the Pack - Dr. Lennie Barton (2/28/2003)
Dr. Lennie Barton has been named as Associate Vice Chancellor for Alumni Relations and Executive Director of the NC State Alumni Association. Lennie has three degrees from NCSU and has served the university and the College of Textiles for over 25 years. He brings a keen understanding of NCSU's advancement activities and priorities to his new position and an impressive network of alumni and friends to call upon. Lennie will begin his new job on March 1. For more information, visit http://www.ncsu.edu/news/press_releases/03_02/49.htm.

Raif Onvural Named President & CEO of LCI (1/31/2003)
Yet another alum recently featured in an Alumni Spotlight article, Raif Onvural, has recently been appointed President & CEO of Litchfield Communications Inc. (LCI) in Watertown, CT. Prior to joining LCI, Onvural founded Orologic and eventually sold it to Vitesse Semiconductor in RTP, NC, where he remained as an executive until last year. Onvural graduated from NCSU with an MS in Computer Studies ('85) and a PhD in Operations Research ('87). Click here to access LCI's news release on Onvural's appointment.

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