Students attend Carolinas Women in Computing Conference

Seven computing majors and one CofC faculty member attended the Carolinas Women in Computing 2012 conference held at IT-oLogy in Columbia, SC, February 17-18, 2012. Pictured are students Lee Blackwell, Tatiana Taylor, Melissa Wiel, Nadia Rodriguez, Lisa Smith, Joye Nettles, and CS faculty member Dr. Renée McCauley.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program Opportunity

New CSCI Course Offering – Spring 2012

Junior and Senior Computer Science majors — Are you looking for an interesting class for Spring 2012?  Dr. Anderson will be co-teaching a Special Topics course with Dr. Shedlock of the Biology Department.  CSCI 490-02: Vertebrate Genome Lab.  The course is a 3 Credit hour offering on Thursdays from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.  Check out the flier below for more details or email Dr. Anderson if you’re interested andersonp@cs.cofc.edu.

Students Edward Pharr and Chad Freeman make headlines at MUSC

Computer science students Edward Pharr and Chad Freeman make headlines at the Medical University of South Carolina.

http://www.musc.edu/catalyst/archive/2011/co10-7computer.html

Edward is working toward an MS in Computer and Information Sciences. Chad is a senior, completing a BS in Computer Science.

Mark Daniels (left) and Chad Freeman (right) pictured.

Students Create Android Gaming App

Students in our game programming class (CITA 210) have created a new video game for Android phones. Adolfo Rico Motis, Corneliu Illisescu, and Carlos Rodriguez Flick prototyped “Okho” while taking CITA 210 in Fall 2010. They continued development and finally released it to the Android Market in early September 2011.

“Okho,” which means box in Russian, is inspired by Tetris, except squares come to you from four directions. The game is free, but uses paid advertisements for income.

The game can be downloaded here: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.gaidde.okho

The game programming class teaches students how to design, prototype and test computer games using a scripting language. This class is part of our new Computing in the Arts (CITA) major. The CITA major is designed to offer students an interdisciplinary experience in computer science and the arts.

For more information on the “Okho” development experience, see: http://news.cofc.edu/2011/09/20/students-create-android-gaming-app/

A New Undergraduate Research Opportunity: BiRG

Are you interested in an exciting and challenging undergraduate research opportunity? You may want to consider joining the new Bioinformatics Research Group (BiRG). Our research interests include:
• high performance computing,
• pattern recognition,
• data mining, evolutionary
• computation and optimization,
• computational science,
• cloud computing, and
• eScience.

We apply our computational expertise to a variety of problems from fields such as biochemistry and molecular biology. At present, we have multidisciplinary projects underway in metabolomics, human cognition, toxicology, and immunology.

We are looking for 2 – 6 students to join our research team. Students with all of levels of experience are welcome to contact Dr. Paul Anderson. For more information on our research goals and expectations, please see http://birg.cs.cofc.edu/index.php/Opportunities.

If you don’t work on important problems, it’s not likely that you’ll do important work. — Richard Hamming

Vanathi Vignesh Wins Scholarship

Vanathi Vignesh has been awarded a full-ride scholarship to attend the 2011 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Portland, Oregon for five days. She was selected from a competitive pool of applicants.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is a series of conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industrial, academic and government communities. Leading researchers present their current work, while special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering.

Congratulations Vanathi!

Computer Science is the Hottest Major on Campus

What is your major? If you want to work at Facebook, you’ll need to major in computer science.

For several years, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has predicted that computer science and other software-oriented jobs will dominate the top 10 jobs list in the United States. We are now seeing the reality of those predictions and they are even better than expected, even during what is a tough economy for other majors on the College of Charleston campus.

Computer Science at the College of Charleston has 229 majors as of July 2011, up from 68 in 2006. In the last year alone, the enrollment into Computer Programming I is up approximately 25% over Fall 2010.

Senior exit data from computer science majors in May 2011 indicate that job offers and starting salaries have never been hotter in Charleston and around the country. Computer Science majors at the College of Charleston now work at many companies including Blackbaud, Benefit Focus, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Automated Trading Desk, eThority and hundreds of other amazing companies. Many graduates also have excellent career positions in the Department of Defense and other national security agencies.

A recent article in the Software Development Times describes well how software development is a cross-cutting competency applicable to all industries (and governments) and it not pegged to any particular industry. Reference: http://www.sdtimes.com/link/35710

The Computer Science department offers four distinct programs: Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Discovery Informatics and Computing in the Arts.

Computer Science Department Hosts Geek Squad Camp

The Computer Science Department hosted the Best Buy’s Geek Squad Summer Academy on June 23-24, 2011. With 125 girls in attendance, the camp was aimed at igniting their interest and confidence in technology. The curriculum included fun and interactive classes in PC Hardware, Digital Video, Digital Photography, and Digital Music. The success of the event was evident by hearing some of the students explain elements of what they learned during the camp.

The College community provided extraordinary support to the Summer Academy. The event occurred in an atmosphere comparable a “mini campus” with over 10 classrooms and facilities utilized. Bringing extra comfort to the sultry Lowcountry days, the Office of Admissions contributed cool drinks throughout the event. Members of the Library staff provided hands-on support on both days. The Physical Plant, Public Safety, IT, Registrar’s Office, Upward Bound, Student Affairs, Media Relations, and Mail Services are some of the other departments that helped to make the occasion comfortable and welcoming for the 9 to 18 year-old girls. At the end of the sessions, Christine Moore, of Computer Science, expressed words of encouragement to the participants. Debbie Counts, from the Office of Admissions, briefly addressed the girls about preparing for college and invited them to explore opportunities at the College of Charleston.

The Summer Academy was sponsored by Best Buy Geek Squad and Junior Girls Day Out Community Project.

Computer Science Department Hosts First “Biz Apps” Camp

The Computer Science Department hosted the first “Biz Apps” Technology and Entrepreneurship Camp for 14 middle and high school students from June 6-June 23, 2011 in the Software Innovations Lab.

Joshua Wooten and Joshua Moser, Computer Science majors at the College of Charleston, taught the students how to create basic Android mobile applications for their business ventures. During the camp the students learnt how to start their own businesses from Lancie Affonso, the founder of NetGen Consulting, a non-profit that provides entrepreneurship training programs for youth entrepreneurs (and CS students who are interested in starting their own technology ventures:)

The business plan competition was hosted by the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship and the camp was sponsored by Motley Rice LLC and YEScarolina.