Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 22:28:04 GMT Server: NCSA/1.5 Content-type: text/html Last-modified: Tue, 20 Dec 1994 20:35:45 GMT Content-length: 17118 word issue 3ACM DIGEST

Volume 2 Number 1

FIRESIDE CHAT

Owen Mathews '95, Chair of ACM

During the summer, Dr. Treu and I thought about what ACM has been, and what we both would like it to become. Of course, there has always been the aspect of a professional society attached to the club, and that was an important facet of our activities. However, in addition to this, we decided that ACM should function to bring CS majors and prospective majors a little closer together as a group, fostering a sense of community within the department. When Dr. Treu, Randy (my roommate and the ACM treasurer) and I met at the beginning of the Fall term, we set goals to accomplish both of these objectives.

Naturally, the group is engaged in a professional sense. We have had three regular monthly meetings (the first Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM), during which we have business items to discuss and a program which follows. At the first meeting, Dr. Treu demonstrated the World Wide Web on Mosaic. Our local Internet specialist, he extolled the versatility and usefulness of the Web, and charged each CS major with the task of creating his or her own home page. At the second meeting, Dr. Abernethy talked about his summer research at the NASA/JOVE program in Pasadena, CA. Although the slide projector was behaving a little too nondeterministically for his tastes, he pulled off a very interesting and impressive presentation. Because of its proximity to exams, the third meeting had no program.

In addition to the meetings, we planned to have one speaker per term come to give a CS-related talk. This term, Dr. Barret Bryant from the University of Alabama at Birmingham came to enlighten us about object-oriented database programming. The language that he is researching on a grant from IBM is CORAL: Concurrent Object-oriented Relational Access Language. The implications of object-oriented databases are far-reaching, as are those of parallel computing. As you might imagine, combining these two paradigms makes for some interesting possibilities!

In an effort to promote non-computer science related activity, we also planned at least one event per month to be strictly social. In October, we showed the computer-themed movie Sneakers to a captive -- if small -- audience. We also showed the Simpsons' Halloween episodes (all five!) while partaking of candy on the 31st (naturally). We met for doughnuts one night in November to try to break the monotony of studying. In December we presented the classic holiday (and final exam time!) film It's a Wonderful Life for the entire campus as finals crept near. Dr. Treu is importing this tradition from Virginia and is determined to make it "stick" here at Furman.

I have distributed a survey to the current student group in hopes of getting a feel for everyone's interests, likes and dislikes. To some extent it will determine what we will be doing the rest of the year. I'm personally looking forward to the next couple of terms. To all alumni reading this, please feel free to write. Let us know what you're doing at graduate school or in jobs, and pass on any helpful advice. (I know I could use some myself!) Meanwhile, all of us ACM folks here at Furman will continue to work this year toward our goals. Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Merry Christmas!

-- Owen Mathews

UPE CHAPTER GETS OFF THE GROUND

Alan Shealy '95, UPE President

In the spring of 1994, the Furman Computer Science Department was granted a charter to the Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honor Society. Upsilon Pi Epsilon was founded in 1967 to recognize scholarship and professionalism in the Computing Sciences and is officially recognized by both the ACM and IEEE Computer Society.

The honor society is international in scope with over 100 chapters and continues to expand. The Furman chapter of UPE is the 127th in the world and the fourth in South Carolina.

Our chapter was formed on April 18, 1994 when Robert Roggio performed the charter ceremony. Dr. Roggio is a professor at the University of North Florida and a member of the UPE Board. Twelve charter members were subsequently elected to membership. Requirements for student membership include:

* A major in computer science

* A GPA greater than 3.5 in the major

* A cumulative GPA greater than 3.0

* At least 20 hours completed in the major

* At least 64 hours completed overall

This fall we have sought to establish UPE within the department and make all students in the department aware of its existence. We held a drop-in study break/Christmas Party on study day for all of the CS students, faculty and staff to take a break from preparing for finals. These study breaks will be continued throughout the year on study day each term.

Other activities include dinners for UPE members each term. On February 2, 1995, our second annual UPE induction ceremony will be held with an accompanying banquet. Also, we plan to sponsor a department-wide picnic in the spring.

UPE seems well on its way to becoming another part of our ever expanding CS Department at Furman.

FROM THE CHAIR

Dr. Ken Abernethy, Chair, CS Deptartment

Seasons Greetings! The year 1994 has been an exciting one for the CS Department. Of course, the highlight was moving into Riley Hall, but we've had lots of additional exciting news as well. The completion of Riley Hall has energized significant curriculum revision and computing technology funding-raising activities this year.

The university's increasing strength and reputation in computing led the National Science Foundation to provide almost a quarter of a million dollars toward three significant computing initiatives this past year. Last summer, our inaugural National Science Foundation Young Scholars in Computing program brought 30 talented rising high school juniors and seniors to campus for a four week enrichment program. Its success has led to NSF funding for a second summer's program for 1995. Additional support for this program from the Frederick W. Symmes Foundation enabled us to expand its scope and include six Symmes Scholars from the local area.

A second NSF grant has provided state-of-the-art multimedia computing facilities to support significant enhancements to our introductory computing courses. This project also benefited greatly from grants from the Reeves Foundation and the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation.

A third NSF grant, coupled with a donation from Silicon Graphics, Inc., has funded an innovative multidisciplinary course (Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics) in Computational Science. These same three departments are engaged in a curriculum revision and innovation to incorporate multimedia and scientific visualization experiences into their programs. This ambitious project received a major boost with funding for $175,000 from the William M. Keck Foundation in June.

A proposal pending at the Kresge Foundation would provide the resources necessary to complete this project and challenge Furman to provide a one million dollar endowment fund to perpetuate the benefits and achievements gained. Augmenting this project, Furman received its first NASA JOVE program grant to support space related research in September. Dr. Porter and I are participants and the grant will provide scholarship and summer research stipend support for four Furman computing students per year.

All of these efforts will have a tremendous impact on the computing experiences of our students and have provided Furman with a computing environment that is exemplar by national standards. We hope all of you will visit us soon and see some of these changes firsthand. In the meantime, on behalf of all the faculty I wish you and your family a most joyous holiday!

Dr. Abernethy

Check Out Our New, Improved Web Site!

The Furman CS Department presence on the World Wide Web is being continually expanded. Among the recent additions are an electronic version of this newsletter, and an opportunity for "visiting" alums to interactively register with us. We're working on an alumni page through which everyone can keep in touch. This year's Homecoming participants will soon find their information on the page, and we intend to continue expanding it. All alums with access to the Web are invited to tour our pages (http://s9000.furman.edu/). If any of you have pages of your own, or suggestions for improving ours, please don't hesitate to drop us a line!

CS Department News In Brief

Furman Hosts Small College Computing Conference

Over the weekend of November 11 and 12, Furman played host to the Eighth Annual Southeastern Small College Computing Conference, one of the fastest-growing conferences in the field of Computer Science. Approximately 120 academicians and industry professionals gathered in Greenville to present the results of recent work in various areas of CS. Included among the roster of participants was alumnus Mark Aldridge ('94) who presented a paper entitled "Two Viable Options for Parallel Computing in Small Colleges," a result of his work as a Furman Advantage Research Fellow with Dr. Kevin Treu. Included for the first time as part of the conference was a programming contest, which featured five teams in its inaugural implementation. The conference was quite a success, and a fine opportunity to show off our new facilities.

Programming Contest Teams Compete in Macon, GA

The 65-team field of participants in the ACM Southeast Regional Programming Contest for 1994 included two teams from Furman. The contest, held this year at Mercer University on November 19, proved for the second consecutive year to be a frustrating experience. Lack of familiarity with the C++ compiler on the part of both the teams and the contest organizers cost the teams considerable problem-solving time. Still, one Furman team did solve a problem. The students participating were Tim Cannon ('95), Greg Cogdell ('96), Cross Ganaway ('95), Randy Lee ('95), Owen Mathews ('95) and Alan Shealy ('95).

Student Earns Award in Paper Competition

With a paper and a presentation entitled "Static Condensation Applied to Parallel Processing," senior Justin Aaron was honored with the third place prize in the student paper competition at the ACM Mid-South Conference in Gatlinburg, TN. The paper was the result of his Furman Advantage work with Dr. Hayden Porter.

Softball Team Takes the Title (?)

In the spring of 1994 the CS Department fielded its first entrant in the co-rec intramural softball league. The team -- the Run-Time Errors -- also competed in the fall season and came away with the league championship t-shirts! It must be conceded, however, that no games were actually played. The only games that weren't rained out resulted in forfeit victories for the CS Dept. team. So, though we never actually played, we were undefeated! A win is a win is a win...

Faculty News

In addition to their regular business of teaching, the CS Department faculty has been quite active in the past year. Following are some highlights, professional and otherwise. Dr. Ken Abernethy spent 10 weeks in the summer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA conducting research in formal methods for software specification requirements as part of an ongoing NASA Joint Venture (JOVE) grant. He recently published the long-awaited textbook Exploring the Science of Computing with Dr. Tom Allen. The pair also received an NSF grant in excess of $100,000 to equip a lab for projects in multimedia computing, and are working on a new text. Dr. Allen will be taking his first sabbatical during winter and spring terms. He spent two weeks last summer on a golfing pilgrimage to Scotland with three other Furman staff members. Ms. Peggy Batchelor has done significant consulting work for The Transylvania Childrens Center in Brevard, NC. She is officially a full-time member of the faculty for the 1994-95 school year. Dr. Ray Nanney recently completed a manuscript with Dr. Abernethy for a laboratory text on ClarisWorks that is currently being used in CS16. This fall he has served as coordinator for the department's internship and part-time employment opportunities initiative for students. In addition, he has coordinated a university proposal to the Henry Luce Foundation to support a Luce Professorship in Cognitive Science at Furman. Dr. Hayden Porter is the co-director of a $130,000 NSF grant to support the design of a new course in computational science. The grant includes the installation of four SGI Indigo 2 Extreme high-performance graphics computers. He also received a research grant from the NASA JOVE program for a proposal entitled "Using Massively Parallel Computers to Model Global Circulation of the Earth's Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere," and presented an invited paper at the American Geophysical Union entitled "Electron Transport Models, Past, Present and Future." He is greatly enjoying his newly-constructed home on Paris Mountain. Dr. Kevin Treu was awarded the New Faculty Award for 1993-94 by the Association of Furman Students. He was the local arrangements chair for the Southeastern Small College Computing Conference (at which he also published a paper on parallel computing), and joined Drs. Abernethy and Allen in directing the NSF Young Scholars Program over the summer. He and his wife Julie are expecting their third child any day now.

Class Notes

Let your old friends, the current students and faculty know what you've been up to! Send in your class note today to ACM Digest Class Notes, Department of Computer Science, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613 (e-mail: treu@furman.edu). Include your electronic mail address if you have one, and please include your graduation year and maiden name (if applicable).

1976

Steve Deese is an Electronic Data Interchange consultant for Duke Power, and is Vice-Chair of the Utility Industry Group committee. He and his wife Ophie have three boys, Jamie, Randy and Jonathon. [Rte. 2, Box 272, Pageland, SC, 29728; e-mail: jsd9509@prdc.prdc.dukepower.com]

1982

Alan Boda is a Principal Systems Specialist with the Digital Equipment Corp. [573 Windgrove Road, Marietta, GA 30067; e-mail: boda@zydeco.enet.dec.com]

Kevan Miller is in software technology at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center and is attending Columbia University part-time. His daughter Hanna was born on June 17, 1992. [3 Kilian Dr., Danbury, CT 06811; e-mail: klm@watson.ibm.com]

Sandy Morgan received her MBA from Georgia State University in 1989, and presently is a Systems and Programming Manager at Mid-State Bank, supervising a staff of programmers and microcomputer specialists. [754 South Seventh St., Grover Beach, CA 93433; e-mail: sandym3327@aol.com]

1983

Pamela Blalock works for Kodak as a Principal Software Engineer in the Color Management Group. She recently cycled 3,400 miles from Seattle to Williamsburg in 24 days. [1541 Middlesex St., Apt. 19, Lowell, MA 01851; e-mail: pamela@keps.com]

Alicia Sautter-Truman is employed as a Systems Administrator at General Electric Medical Systems in Florence, SC. She was married in 1988 and has a daughter, Samantha, born on April 22, 1992. [GE Medical Systems, 3001 West Radio Dr., Florence, SC 29501; e-mail: truman@odin.med.ge.com]

1984

Karen Boda is a Support Team Manager with Hewlett-Packard. [573 Windgrove Road, Marietta, GA 30067]

1985

Cindy (Hinchman) Lyons is a Team Manager at Microsoft Corporation in Charlotte, NC. She is a member of the database support group which provides all levels of support for the FoxPro database products. [11068 Deep Cove Dr., Tega Cay, SC 29715; e-mail: cindyly@microsoft.com]

1988

Craig Wilbanks took a leave of absence from SDI in the past year to serve as campaign manager for Liz Patterson's lieutenant governor effort. [317 E. Hillcrest Dr., Greenville, SC 29609; e-mail: craig998@aol.com]

1990

Eric Bax is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science at CalTech after a stint in the Peace Corps. [e-mail: eric@csvax.cs.caltech.edu]

Charlie Poag is a Systems Programmer for Coleman Research under an FM contract with MUSC, where his wife Lisbeth Wylie ('92) is a dental student. They have an 8-month old part cat/part raptor named Gabriella. [1983 Greenpark Ave., Charleston, SC 29414; e-mail: poagcp@musc.edu]