Summer Travel

I just thought I'd catch you up on some of the things the faculty are doing this summer.

Dr. Mao is just returning from a tour of Asia. He presented research papers in Korea and China. Those papers were co-authored with Dr. Lee and Shannon Kelly who was one of our graduate students who graduated this May.

Professor Briggs continues to work on his dissertation and is making good progress. In addition, he has done some consulting with a company in Chambersburg helping them configure their e-commerce web server with the latest server software.

I attended a three day workshop on Program Assessment at the University of Delaware. It was run by Middle States (who accredits the University) and I learned that our assessment is pretty strong. I picked up a few pointers, but mostly I confirmed the direction we took as part of our ABET accreditation. Later this summer, I'll be attending Agile 2007 in Washington, D.C. to present a paper on the changes we've made to Computer Science I as we have introduced test-driven development into the curriculum. I, too, have spent some time consulting and, as a result, have gained some insights that will be valuable in my Metrics and Process Management course this fall. I'm really looking to that class!

I hope everyone's summer is going well. The logs I've read on your internships sound really interesting - keep up the good work!

Graduation

As I finish up my grading (no, I have not finished grading the 210 papers!), graduation is already complete. This year, 23 seniors and 10 Masters students graduated. As I look at the lists, there are people there of which I'm very proud. Students who have completed their degrees after interruptions for serving in Iraq, students who have overcome personal challenges, and, students that have posed interesting questions in my classes.

I love going to graduation because it's a good time to stop and think about what we've done (good and bad) and where we're headed. While these students have been here, we've changed our curriculum, gotten our accreditation and begun to create an undergraduate research program. As I look forward, we're working on ways to grow that undergraduate research program and to improve our M.S. degree.

Summer is generally quiet, but keep an eye - I'll try to post some news about our interns as I receive it. Besides, summer's too quiet if I don't hear from any of you!

Enjoy!

New and funny WiCS podcast episode

The WiCS team has been filming episodes of their podcast so that we could publish them all summer. However, yesterday they finished one that was so cool that they decided to put it out early. It's on the technology that the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency uses to coordinate responses to emergencies. I know, that doesn't sound wildly cool. The cool part is that it's a parody of Dragnet! It was fun to make and I think it's fun to watch. Check in out at the WiCS page. Please leave comments and check out the other episodes, too!

Flex-mania

Check out the snacks in my office! Tina and Sarah had too much flex at the end of the term, so they've stored snacks that'll keep them filled next fall! Thanks to Seth for the help in toting!

Movie Night

Last night we had the first of many department movie nights. We started with the standard pizza and subs:



Then we watched Serenity.


We had so much fun that we decided we should do it every month. We'll start on the first Wednesday of classes with the movie Tron

See you then!

May Pole

Every now and then I walk into a classroom and see something surprising that the students have done. This one took me by surprise:



Up close, you can see that it's a May Pole made out of markers:



I thought the markers had some other purpose . . .

This Year's Academic Awards

Sunday was the day of University's Academic Awards Ceremony. As always, we had a large number of students who earned awards.



From left to rights:

• Andrew Richwine (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average
• James Dibble (Honor Recipient, Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Timothy Sherald (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• John C. Yackovich (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Peter J. Fisher (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Vincent P. Sockalosky (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)

Not Pictured:

• David M. Dahan (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Alexander J. Hoffer (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Wesley J. Holevinski (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Logan H. Kennedy (Freshman Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Dominic J. Luminello (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Kevin C. McCullough (Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Stephen C. Nowell (Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Jonathan P. Oram (Sophomore Outstanding Grade Point Average)
• Cella M. Sum (Honor Recipient, Senior Outstanding Grade Point Average)

Be sure to congratulate them when you see them!