Please see the department’s Fall 2016 registration newsletter for information on courses offered, CS options, and the course schedule. You can also find links to the department’s advising webpage, registration wait-list, and the four-year planner.
Newsletters are additionally posted in all computer labs and classrooms on Forcina’s 4th floor.
Article written by Dr. Deborah Knox
Computer Science junior Joie Murphy (Class of 2017) has been awarded a prestigious research fellowship for an 11-week summer program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Through a national and highly competitive application process, Joie was selected to participate in the NIST Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. The SURF program is sponsored by NIST and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
During her fellowship during Summer 2016, Joie will be working in the area of user interface design under the guidance of Dr. Spencer Breiner and Dr. Eswaran Subrahmanian. Joie’s project, User Interface Design for Terminology Generation, will focus on the design and implementation of both curator and end-user interfaces for a domain specific system that employs rule- and root-based generation of terminology. Dr. Breiner is a member of the Software and Systems Division, Cyber-infrastructure research group, serving in a post-doctoral position. Dr. Subrahmanian is a Fellow of the American Association of Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is also a member of the Cyber-infrastructure research group.
Joie shares her thoughts about the SURF opportunity: “I am really looking forward to being a part of the NIST SURF Program for this upcoming summer. I was interested in applying to NIST because of the hands on nature of the work and the great number of applications of computer science to topics that they offer projects in. I believe that this program will allow me to improve my abilities as a computer science student and as a researcher by allowing me to be amongst likeminded peers. I plan to continue on to graduate school so I am hopeful that this will be a rewarding experience with the potential to shape my future research interests.”
Joie will be working in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at NIST. The fellowship program is designed to provide hands-on research experiences in a number of areas, including computer security, information access, software testing, networking, and communications technologies. ITL has the broad mission to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology through research and development in information technology, mathematics, and statistics.
Congratulations to Joie for being awarded a NIST SURF fellowship! We look forward to hearing more about her summer experiences and her first-hand knowledge after working in a government lab.
The TCNJ Rideshare app, developed by mentored research students Ben Meyer (senior CS and IMM double major) and Michael McNally (CS class of 2015) under the direction of Dr. Deborah Knox – is now live. Members of the campus community can use the free app to find people with whom to share rides, thus reducing the carbon footprint of campus.
Dr. Knox was contacted by Dr. Brian Potter, Associate Professor Department Chair of Political Science, in January 2015 as part of the President’s Climate Commitment Committee (PC3) initiative for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from TCNJ’s campus. Dr. Knox’s research lab has previously developed and produced a number of TCNJ mobile applications, including the TCNJ Campus Tour (iOS version released in 2012, now decommissioned and currently undergoing revision), TCNJ Library (iOS version released in 2012 and revised in 2013), and TCNJ Connect (both iOS 2014 and Android 2015).
The team reviewed existing carpooling software during the spring semester and, through meetings with Dr. Potter and the PC3 members, the group identified the program requirements for the new Rideshare app. Making an easy to use, mobile app was key, according to the PC3 members. Meyer and McNally were each heavily involved in developing storyboards and contributing to code development, and the team reviewed the modules on a weekly basis, with Dr. Knox serving as their campus liaison for privacy and legal logistics, as well as IT needs. The Rideshare app was developed using the Ionic framework and integrated the Google Maps API and an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard in order to calculate the CO2 emissions saved. McNally developed an extensive vehicle efficiency database with a custom API to support back-end needs. Meyer made additional contributions through the development of an administrator’s portal, which serves the PC3 members, allowing them to recognize overall reduction in greenhouse gases and to report the number of completed shared rides.
After stakeholder testing was conducted with students, faculty, and staff during the fall semester, the app was submitted and published on the Apple Store (iOS) and the Google Play Store (Android) in Fall 2015. The President’s Climate Commitment Committee announced and encouraged use of the TCNJ Rideshare mobile app in February 2016. For more information on how to download and use the app, please see the Rideshare webpage: www.tcnj.edu/rideshare
You can find the Signal’s article on TCNJ Rideshare app’s release online at:
http://www.tcnjsignal.net/2016/02/23/rideshare-app-aims-to-create-greener-campus/
Article written by Kyle Davis (Class of 2016)
Five CS Department faculty members and three CS majors – Matthew Steuerer, Andrew Miller, and Nathan Gould – will be attending this year’s SIGCSE conference in Memphis, Tennessee from Tuesday, March 2 through Saturday, March 5.
Each of the attending students will present research papers alongside students from all over the country, some for the first time. Andrew Miller and Nathan Gould will present their poster “Advances in Phylogenetic-based Stemma Construction”, completed under the supervision of Dr. Dimitris Papamichail. Matthew Steuerer will present his poster “Implementing K-Means Clustering and Collaborative Filtering to Enhance Sustainability of Project Repositories”, done in collaboration with Dr. Monisha Pulimood.
Not only CS students will be discussing their research, however. Both Dr. Deborah Knox and Dr. Pulimood will each present research related to their respective courses. Dr. Knox will present a poster on how students can develop career skills prior to their capstone experiences; her presentation is based on her experience in teaching CSC 199, the department’s sophomore professional development seminar, for three years. Dr. Pulimood will present her paper on the multi-disciplinary collaboration of CS and Journalism students in CSC 415 and CSC 315.
In addition being a conference where attendees from around the world can share perspectives on the field of computer and present individual research, SIGCSE also provides attendees with many opportunities to learn new concepts in computer science. Many of the department’s professors are excited to find new teaching techniques to incorporate into their own courses. Dr. Papamichail is especially excited to learn effective and proven methods for teaching algorithms and other theoretical CS concepts which can often be difficulty for students to grasp.
“Computer science advances rapidly,” Papamichail stated, “and conferences of the magnitude and diversity of SIGCSE are contributing vastly in moving the CS education field forward.”
SIGCSE also provides an effective way of making connection in the CS world. Dr. Pulimood believes the conference to be “very energizing” and feels that SIGCSE is “a wonderful venue to meet new colleagues and connect with people [she] know[s]”.
The department would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Osborn, Dean of the School of Science, for supporting faculty and student travel, and for making it possible for nearly all of the CS faculty to attend SIGCSE this year.
The Computer Science Department will be holding two informational sessions about internships in Spring 2016.
Dates and times for the Spring 2016 sessions are as follows:
Thursday, 2/25: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Tuesday, 3/22: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Both sessions will be held in Forcina 407.
If you plan on applying for an internship at some point in your curriculum, you must attend one informational session prior to submitting your application. Additional info sessions will be planned in future semesters. (If you don’t plan to do an internship as a capstone experience, you do not need to attend a session.)
Article written by Kylie Gorman (Class of 2016)
On Wednesday January 27th, the Computer Science Department was proud to host Front Rush, a local startup dedicated to creating user friendly Recruiter software and staunch supporter of HackTCNJ. Paul Nathan (TCNJ ’15) and Mike Walters (TCNJ ’14), two Front Rush employees and TCNJ alumni, led a presentation that incorporated a quick tutorial of Ruby on Rails through the exploration of a simple website. The presenters continued with an introduction to the model-view-controller paradigm as well as advice on further investigation into the language/framework.
The talk was followed by a Q and A for the TCNJ students regarding any questions about the presentation or any items related to post-graduation. Front Rush then continued with a two-day internal hackathon on January 27th and 28th. The hackathon was an excellent networking opportunity for TCNJ students to meet with the local company and to ask several alumni about their post-graduation experience.
Attention students: The Spring 2016 wait list is now closed. We will be working through the list of students who have already signed up on the wait list and will be signing students into seats where possible. Once we have finished, we will release any available seats.
If you have signed up for the wait list, please continue to check your email this week in case we need to contact your regarding your submission.
The registration period for Spring 2016 courses is November 3 – 13, 2015. Some seats have been reserved for CS majors in all of the courses. Please check the registration newsletter for additional information on options courses offered in Spring 2016. After your registration windows open, if the class you need is closed, put yourself on the waiting list using the form here:
Registration Wait List: https://tcnj.qualtrics.com//SE/?SID=SV_9KSbNRPvR3ZJSnP
Be sure read all directions and to enter all the information requested.
Starting Monday November 16, after the registration window closes, we will enroll students, in order based on their registration times and time they registered on the wait list, into any unfilled seats.
Please be sure that your intended course does not conflict with a course in your schedule and that you are willing to drop conflicting courses to make the change. We will not automatically drop a course unless you include the course number in the “Drop” field of the wait list.
Email cs [at] tcnj [dot] edu if you have further questions.
The Computer Science Department will be holding two informational sessions about internships in Fall 2015.
Dates and times for the Fall 2015 sessions are as follows:
Thursday, 10/29: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Wednesday, 11/4: 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Both sessions will be held in Forcina 410..
If you plan on applying for an internship at some point in your curriculum, you must attend one informational session prior to submitting your application. Additional info sessions will be planned in future semesters. (If you don’t plan to do an internship as a capstone experience, you do not need to attend a session.)
On Friday, November 6 the Computer Science Department will host its final colloquium of the Fall 2015 semester. Dr. Mark Russo, an adjunct professor with the department, will give a talk entitled “Big Data in the Chem Lab”. An abstract of his talk can be found below.
Please join CS faculty and students in Forcina 408 from 12:30 – 1:30 PM for this talk.
Pizza and refreshments will be provided.
Abstract:
With the introduction of robotics and other forms of automation into the industrial chemistry laboratory it has become possible to monitor laboratory activities at a level of detail that previously has not been possible. In this lecture I will describe the information technology used to retrofit several analysis and purification laboratories at multiple geographic locations to capture, store, digest, and generate revealing real-time visualizations of chemist activities. The architecture of the system necessary to ensure reliable delivery of event data will be described in detail. Resulting visualizations of activities are collected into a chemist’s dashboard that is accessible through a web browser. This dashboard has become a tool that chemists rely upon to carry out their daily activities and that managers use to make just-in-time resource and staffing decisions to ensure that their laboratories run in a highly efficient manner.
Bio:
Mark Russo is an Associate Director in Computational Genomics at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he has worked on a broad range of information technology and automation projects that span the scientific disciplines found in pharmaceutical and biotechnology research. Mark earned his PhD in Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University where he studied the artificial intelligence in high performance computing. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mark worked at several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies where he led groups with the mission of applying diverse technologies to solving problems in research. He has also served as the Executive Editor for the Journal of Laboratory Automation and taught professional short courses in laboratory robotics, computer programming and image processing. Mark has held adjunct teaching positions in the computer science departments of Drexel University, Bryn Mawr College, Rowan University, and The College of New Jersey.
On Tuesday, October 20, the Computer Science Department will welcome Dr. Gregory Abowd as the ACM Distinguished Speaker for 2015-16. Dr. Abowd, a Regents’ and Distinguished Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech., will give a talk entitled “Beyond Ubiquitous Computing: Technology Advances and Applications”. An abstract of his talk can be found below.
Please join CS faculty and students in Education Building Room 113 from 12:30 – 1:30 PM for this talk. Pizza and refreshments will be provided.
Abstract:
In the late 1980’s, Mark Weiser defined ubiquitous computing as the third generation of computing, and much of his vision of computing technology has been realized. Nearly three decades later, it is appropriate to reflect on Weiser’s definition of the third generation and ask what the next generation of computing might be. Interestingly, a fourth generation of computing technologies has already arrived and has been with us for nearly a decade. This fourth generation of computing is marked by the emergence of three important technologies —the cloud, the crowd, and the shroud of devices that envelop the physical world and connect it to the digital world. This new era, which I currently refer to as “collective computing” represents a more seamless amalgamation of machine-run algorithms and the collective intelligence of humans. I will provide an example of an application of collective computing with the cloud/crowd/shroud technologies. This application represents a template for 4th generation applications, and I will end by reflecting on how some of those might be new ways to think about harnessing social interaction. I will end with a speculation on what the 5th generation of computing will entail.
Bio:
Gregory D. Abowd is a Regents’ and Distinguished Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, where he has been on the faculty since 1994. His research interests concern how the advanced information technologies of ubiquitous computing (or ubicomp) impact our everyday lives when they are seamlessly integrated into our living spaces. Dr. Abowd’s work has involved schools (Classroom 2000) and homes (The Aware Home), with a recent focus on health and particularly autism. Dr. Abowd received the degree of B.S. in Honors Mathematics in 1986 from the University of Notre Dame. He then attended the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom as a Rhodes Scholar, earning the degrees of M.Sc. (1987) and D.Phil. (1991) in Computation. From 1989-1992 he was a Research Associate/Postdoc with the Human-Computer Interaction Group in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York in England. From 1992-1994, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Software Engineering Institute and the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. He has graduated 23 PhD students who have gone on to a variety of successful careers in academia and industry. He is an ACM Fellow, a member of the CHI Academy and recipient of the SIGCHI Social Impact Award and ACM Eugene Lawler Humanitarian Award. He is also the founding President of the Atlanta Autism Consortium, a non-profit dedicated to enhancing communication and understanding across the varied stakeholder communities connected to autism.