The Debugger Fall 1997
Table of Contents
EDITOR'S NOTES
This issue is a little short; and it has no pictures. I had
hoped to remedy both of those problems as I was putting the final
touches on everything; but things just didn't work out. The
picture I was looking for was something to draw your attention to
our up-coming 25th anniversary celebration. We really want all of
you to be involved in this event, especially the virtual party.
Bill Oblitey gives you some hints of what is to come in "From the
Chair." By the time I start putting together the Spring issue, we
should be organized enough to include something that will get you
in the mood for a party.
Returning as a standard contributor to The Debugger in this
issue is the TSC (Technology Services Center), formerly ISCC. Sam
Puleio, Interim Director of TSC and an alumnus from May 1987, gives
us an overview of the reorganization of the computer center
personnel and some information about the new systems that are being
acquired for administrative computing on campus.
Mark (Doc) Rogaski, who graduated in December 1995, sent us
all a long e-mail report about what he has been up to since he left
IUP. He consented to let me use it as an article. You should find
his adventures with Unix and AT&T interesting; he also gives some
good tips about job interviewing.
Tia Watts contributes a different kind of faculty article.
For several years, she has been the coach of our programming teams
- they compete in ACM contests and contests within the SSHE. Tia's
article is based on an e-mail interview with the various members of
the teams. The team's responses are occasionally a little rowdy,
but reflect their enthusiasm for participating as team members.
The team must be doing something right, as evidenced by their
recent performance at the Mid-Atlantic Region ACM contest - see the
article.
Jim Wolfe, Editor
Back to the Contents
From the Chair
Bill Oblitey
Hello all,
I have bitter-sweet news to share with you. It is that Dr. Kathy
McKelvey and Dr. John Sweeney are going on retirement, effective
the end of this semester. We will miss them; but we are sure that
when we plan interesting things we can get them to attend. Like
you, they are a part of us; and, again like you, they will remain
a part of us forever. I'm very sure that you'll like to join me in
wishing them individually, a very happy retirement life.
The other news is that our freshman enrollment for the past two
years has been good; and we thank those of you who joined in the
recruitment efforts. I am counting on you to continue with the
efforts; and I am also looking forward to teaching your children
before I also retire.
Next year will be the 25th. anniversary of the department; and it
is time to make plans for the celebrations. The department was
formed in the Fall of the 1972/73 academic year and the program was
approved in the Spring of 1973. We do have a few ideas about plans
to celebrate the anniversary and I want to share them with you. My
intention is that you will write to me and let me know how
wonderful these plans are or perhaps tell me which ones you do not
think are all that wonderful and give me some suggestions of
alternatives to one you may not like. It is my intention also that
as I share the plans with you, you will be so enthusiastic about
them that you will make time to be a part of the celebrations. I
would also like to encourage you to start getting in touch with
your alumni friends to make this celebration year successful.
We will have a big cake in the Oak Grove to celebrate the
anniversary and to recruit some undecided students at the same
time. We plan to use as many of our current students and alumni
who will happen to be around to help with giving out the cake. The
cake will be well designed spelling out the name of the department;
and we will accompany the portions of it that we give out with
little chocolate candies in the shape of a microcomputer.
We are going to get made-to-order "IUP Computer Science"
bookmarks, buttons and magnetized stickers that we will sell to
ourselves at prices only sufficient to break even on the orders and
the shipping. We are still in the process of designing the look
and feel of the buttons etc. but I feel that you will all want to
wear the buttons to show how proud you are of your program. If you
feel strongly that you are artistically endowed and would like to
be a part of the design team, let me know. If you want to go solo
also, send me your design and if it is exceptionally nice, we will
use it in placing the orders, and of course, you will get credit
for your work. Let me however, remind you that whatever design you
come up with will have to go through the IUP logo police for
approval before we can do anything with it. We are also in the
process of planning an anniversary letterhead to be used for the
academic year during the celebration. Again, your design will be
welcomed.
We have agreed, as a department, to coordinate colloquia across
the entire University during our year of celebration with the title
"Computing in the Disciplines." This idea is to focus the entire
campus' attention on computing and with the hope that departments
that do not yet include computing in their disciplines will obtain
ideas on how to involve computing in their respective curricula.
We also plan to have some formal sit-down dinners in locations
that we hope are close to you and so will attract your attendance
and support. We plan to have one in Pittsburgh, one in
Philadelphia, and one in Washington DC. For those of you who are
not close to these areas, we want you to plan your own satellite
parties (or dinners) and let me or Dr. Buterbaugh know of your
plans; and we will attempt to send some faculty to the event. In
addition to these, we are further thinking of a virtual party. We
are thinking of a party on the net; and we are still developing our
ideas about this. I am also soliciting ideas about this and about
other celebration ideas that you may have. It has been a very long
time since most of us met and I think it will be very exciting for
us all to meet again.
Before I end, I want to let this year's Century Club members know
that I have not forgotten your gifts. Carol and I are will soon be
out shopping for that wonderful gift that we have promised you.
There has not been a delay, we are only being careful that we not
repeat a gift to anyone who was also a Century Club member last
year. Notice I did not say it's in the mail? It will be in the
mail.
Back to the Contents
Carol's Corner
Carol Miller
Hi Everyone -
It's fall again in good old Indiana and I know all of you who
have moved south (that's anywhere below the PA border) have been
missing this weather. The only comment I'm going to make about it
is the leaves are pretty (although they haven't really changed yet
here in Indiana). Oh, and, I like the fresh apple cider.
Big news here in the Computer Science Department. Two
retirements - Kathy McKelvey and John Sweeney are both retiring
effective January 2. Can you believe that!! I think they did that
just so they won't have to drive in the snow this winter. But, at
any rate, we'll miss them.
The Corporate Advisory Board met the middle of October and
several of our alumni were here, Dave Currence (5/79) from WESCO in
Pittsburgh, Al Remis (5/84) who is a new member from
Shared Medical
Systems inMalvern (Philadelphia area), and Steve Brehm (5/76) from
PHICO Insurance in Mechanicsburg were here and we ..had a chance to
say hi. It really is nice to see people when they come back.
The other big news is that I am now a grandmother (well, kinda,
sorta, a little bit). Last time (and probably the time before
that) I told you Janie (Pike) Kustaborder (5/92) and Ron were
expecting their first in October and I told you Lisa Dillon (12/93)
and I were having a baby shower for her. Remember?? Well, Janie
and Ron are letting me be surrogate grandmother. AND, Amber Nicole
arrived on September 26 (just a bit early) at 4:46 p.m. She
weighed 6 lb. 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long, and she is just
adorable I got to hold her and hold her and feed her and burp her
and hold her. I didn't change her, though, I let her mother do
that. I'm really afraid that if I don't help, she isn't going to be
totally and completely spoiled (although I think they may be doing
a pretty good job themselves). At any rate, she's a real keeper
and I have the impression they're going to do just that.
My condolences go out to Lisa Dillon who lost two of her pets in
one week. Gibby, her guinea pig and Fred her cockatiel. I visited
with Lisa in September when we hosted the baby shower for Janie,
except Lisa never made it cause HRB sent her to Denver and she
didn't get back in time. Guess HRB didn't understand how important
that baby shower was. But, I did get to visit with Lisa for a bit
in the evening after she got home. Janie and I drove over to say
hi.
I heard from Joe Ondrejik (5/84) (can it be that long?) Joe is
now living in Colorado Springs, CO and, in his words, since he left
IUP, a bunch has happened. He spent ten years in the Army Signal
Corps doing various computer and communications things. He got out
in August of 1993, but is currently a Major in the Army Reserves.
He is employed by Schafer Corporation of Washington DC and is
assigned to Colorado Springs where he is the Technical Director of
the Battle Management Command, Control & Communications (BMC3)
Element Support Center (BESC). They are building the BMC3 System
for the National Missile Defense program They are responsible for
Simulations, User Assessments and Testing associated with the
development and fielding of the NMD BMC3 System. He got married in
1992 to Leisa Pulliam of Augusta Georgia. Leisa is in her senior
year at Beth-El College of Nursing at the University of Colorado in
Colorado Springs. Joe completed his Masters in Computer Science &
Artificial Intelligence from the University of Pittsburgh in
December, 1992 and completed his Doctorate in Computer Science from
Colorado Technical University in December 1996. He specialized in
Computer Systems Engineering. His thesis was titled "Data Sharing
Infrastructures to Support Legacy Systems Integration & Reuse".
And, he was planning on starting his first semester of Law School
at the University of Denver night school until the president of his
company changed the rules and decided not to pay his tuition and
not to give him time off, so he is deferring that for a year.
After law school, he plans to be a computer lawyer. WOW!!!!! Joe,
can you do any more!!! Thanks for the update. Let me know how law
school goes! And, do stop in if you're ever in the neighborhood.
Donnie Wishard (5/95) has decided to stay in California for a
while. He got an apartment in San Ramon. Actually he got two
apartments. He got one and when he tried to move in, he was told
the apartment was still occupied, so he had to find another one.
I'd be a bit hot under the collar if that happened to me, but I'm
sure Donnie took it all in stride. Donnie is an independent
consultant at Pacific Bell Mobile Services in Pleasanton CA which
is a suburb of San Francisco. He's been there for a year and a
half. As you probably know, Donnie went with Sprint in Atlanta
right after graduation, then to LHS Communications in Atlanta. Now
with Bell, he's working with Global Systems for Mobile
Communications in the Customer Care Billing Systems area. He is
developing in JAVA, Centura, ORACLE, SUPTA, C++, UNIX and VB. He
thinks when this contract ends he will go into the international
side. He's also been doing some SCUBA diving, skiing and relaxing
at the beach. And, if anyone is interested in getting in touch
with him, his e-mail address is dwishard@pacbell.mobile.com and his
phone number is 510 305-1686.
And, since Donnie Wishard is staying in California, Zack Howe
(12/96) had to find a new roommate (those two were roomies in
Atlanta, you may remember). And he did. Poor Zack wasn't getting
his copy of The Debugger; so he hadn't heard that he'd become
famous overnight as a result of stopping to see me on my birthday.
Hopefully, we've taken care of that.
Shades of look out Pittsburgh. Sloan Seaman (8/96) and Justin
Streiner (5/97) got an apartment together in Shadyside. I guess
Pittsburgh will never be the same. Justin was here one day to
visit. He's looking right good and prosperous. He's working at
Stargate Industries in Belle Vernon doing network operations. He's
coming back to give a colloquium before too much longer. It's
always exciting when one of our alumni comes back under such
circumstances. Sloan is working downtown Pittsburgh doing Web Site
designing. I got the low down on the Saab he bought, too. Seems
he had a bit of an accident on the Southside of Pittsburgh (maybe
it was the wild side) on his motorcycle and did some fairly major
damage to his leg and heavy major damage to the motorcycle so he
decided he might be a bit safer in the car. Sloan is coming back
to IUP too, but I think he's recruiting not giving a colloquium.
I talked with Jeff Michna (12/93). Jeff is no longer working
for AMS in VA. He's now working for Price Waterhouse in Fairfax
VA. However, he is going to be (and probably by now is) working
in Toronto for eleven months. He was really looking forward to
being a Canadian for a bit and to be able to take some trips and
see some sights. Let me know how it's going, Jeff. I know he
won't be too lonely because Mitzi McCreary who worked with him at
AMS is now working for EDS and is in Ottawa; and I'm sure they'll
be in touch, right?
Bill Capone (8/91) called not long ago. I know I've mentioned
several times that he is living here in Indiana and never stops to
say hello. Well, I hadn't realized that he is no longer working in
Indiana. In fact, he hasn't worked in Indiana for a long time. He
worked at Adtram in Pittsburgh and then moved on to Servistar in
Butler where he is programming in C. He is still living in
Indiana, though and he's also involved in the local hockey league.
Like I said on the phone, Bill, stop in and see us some day.
Several people stopped in during Homecoming weekend in October.
One was Elaine (Rearick) Holly (5/87) who not only was here for
Homecoming but came to talk with the CO480 class. She also
happened to be here when the Corporate Advisory Board was meeting
so we strong-armed her into being on the board (and then rewarded
her by inviting her to lunch with them). Her big news is she got
married last June. As many of you may remember, Elaine and her
brother Alvin (12/88) were both working in the DC area and had
bought a condo down there. Well, since her marriage, Elaine has
moved out and is living a couple miles away. Their brother, Lou,
was also a computer science grad. Elaine is working for SRA
International in Fairfax VA; and she also is recruiting for them.
It was really nice to see you, Elaine, and it's nice to know we'll
be seeing more of you. Bring the rest of the family up some time!
Lance Tost (12/95) stopped in for a bit. He actually wasn't here
for Homecoming. He was on his way to DuBois to visit his parents
and stopped on the way. Fortunately he'd sent me a big warning of
his potential visit, so I wasn't knocked completely off my pins.
Lance hasn't changed a bit. He's still working at Systems
Automation in Silver Spring, MD, still doing Oracle stuff. He's
also had some Power Builder training. Hey Lance, stop in again
when you're in the area! Dugout is still here. They still have
lunch specials!!
Colleen Brawdy (12/95) also stopped in. Surprising news from her!
She changed jobs. She had been working for Lockheed Martin in King
of Prussia, but has now changed to Hughes Aircraft in the Training
section in Herndon VA. She is doing flight simulation. (I hope
she's not working on the Spruce Goose.) She's also in the process
of moving to Leesburg VA. I guess they made her an offer she
couldn't refuse.
Nicole Koger (5/96) is working at the US Court of Appeals in
Philadelphia as a systems specialist. She is doing programming and
training and sounds like she's enjoying it.
In the last issue, I told you that Dave Smith had stopped in when
I wasn't here so I didn't get to talk with him. Well, he stopped
in again and this time I did get to talk with him. He is living in
the Creekside area (where he inherited a farm) and is developing
his own software company called System Software. He came here from
XDB Systems where they develop DB programs compatible with DB2 on
a mainframe. When he graduated from IUP, he went to Allegheny
Power Systems in Greensburg where he stayed for three years. As a
student, he had done an internship at Allegheny Power. Then he
went to Orlando University of Central Florida to work on a master's
degree. From there to California for 2 years working in Sacramento
and Santa Barbara. He's married and has two children, ages 14 and
10.
Sherry Vranko (5/91) called after she got the last Debugger to
give me the latest news in her life. She was getting (and has now
gotten) married on September 20 to Richard Crafton who works with
her at the Savannah River's Westinghouse facility. My very best to
Sherry and Richard. Sherry also told me that her daughter, Mindy,
had gotten married a year ago in August. It seems like yesterday
that she was just a bitty thing! Thanks for the update, Sherry, I
really appreciate it.
Carl Morgan (12/96) stopped in one day to say hi. Carl is
working for Computer Task Group at IBM in Mechanicsburg. He likes
his job real well and likes the area, but stay turned for further
developments. Nice to see you Carl. Keep me posted!
Han Zou (5/88) brought her husband and daughter in one afternoon.
It was really nice to see them. Han is working for
Rhone Ploure-Rorer near Philadelphia. She is in clinical support in their
research and development area. LeeAnne is just adorable. She's
thirteen months old and as cute as a button. Han also got her
masters degree at the University of Delaware. Please (all 3 of
you) stop again and keep in touch!
Dom Glavich (12/93) called the other day. He's still with
Concurrent Technologies Corporation in Johnstown. They are looking
for some Unix System Administrators. So, if anyone is interested,
send e-mail to Dom at glavich@ctc.com.
Enrique Rodriquez (5/85) walked in the door one day. He looked
so familiar, but I couldn't put his name with him. He's really
looking fit and happy. He worked in Washington DC for NCR after
graduation. Then about three years ago he moved back to Venezuela
and is working as an Application Maintenance Manager for CAN TV
which is owned by GTE and located in Caracas. He's been married
since 1984 to Diane who was a Marketing Manager here at IUP. They
have two daughters, Marla 8 and Elisa 5. Diane is originally from
Erie and they were back visiting her family and decided on a side
trip to Indiana.
Karen (Lang) Gdaniec (5/83) has called a couple times to say
hello and to get various tidbits of information. We didn't talk
long so I didn't get all the info from her that I should have, so
Karen, make sure you send me all the pertinent details of your life
(and Joe's (5/82)).
Derek Ochs (12/93) also called one day. He's still with Shared
Medical. At the time he called, he said he'd be here recruiting in
October and, sure enough, he came up. And, he stopped in to see me
and we had a nice little chat, didn't we Derek? Stop in any time.
It's always nice to see you. Bring cheesecake!
George Altenbaugh (5/87) sent me e-mail to let me know how old
he's feeling. He's working in Austin, Texas for Trilogy
Development Group which Forbes Magazine calls one of the top 25
coolest companies. There are 375 people working there and the
average age is 24. George says he's really old. The owner is 29.
They had their staff meeting in Hawaii. Doesn't it make you
sick!!! Their Web site is www.trilogy.com for anyone who wants to
take a look at what they're doing (or apply for a job). Thanks,
George, for the info. It was really nice hearing from you.
Julie (Paserba) Lampe (12/87) sent me a red alert when her
picture was in the National Inquirer - no, I'm kidding - it was in
the Philadelphia Inquirer on September 11. She was with Governor
Ridge and the CEO of IKON Office Solutions. They moved into a new
building in June and Governor Ridge was invited for the
dedication. Julie gave a presentation on the technology in their
Corporate Conference Center and showed Governor Ridge how to set up
a video conference from a touch panel. Then, they conferenced with
high school students who are interested in technology. WE WERE
VERY PROUD!!! However, I ran out and bought the paper so we could
flash the picture all over IUP and, guess what???? It was a
different picture in the edition we got. So, Julie sent us one and
we were proud and we posted it and then we flashed it all over
IUP. Way to go, Julie!!!! Congratulations!!
Vickie Pearce (12/94) is doing well after her horrible bout of
illness. She's finally medicine free - and, she's taken up
jogging. Last I heard, she was up to four miles. Now, she says
her heart loves her and her knees hate her. She also got a new
Grand Prix. And, she's been promoted to Programmer Analyst! So
glad to hear things are going right for you, Vickie. You deserve
it!
Pamm Gindlesberger (12/94) just "got over" her sister's wedding
(anyone who has been in the planning stages of a wedding knows what
I mean). I understand it was a beautiful wedding. I also
understand her prince has gotten another job so, I guess now her
prints will no longer be coming (you thought that was missprint
before, didn't you? It wasn't, he developed film.) So, let me
know how it goes Pamm.
Had a strange e-mail from Brian Pearson (12/93). Then I had
another e-mail from Brian Pearson to the effect that I should
ignore the previous e-mail. At any rate, Brian is still at
Princeton Financial Systems and, he's buying a house. Closing was
in mid-October so by now, he probably bought a house. We'll all be
out to visit, Brian!!! Thanks for getting in touch (even if it was
just explain yourself).
Valerie Bonito (12/93) wrote to tell me CBIS would be on campus
recruiting the end of October and wanted me to get the word out to
anyone who is interested in relocating to Cincinnati. I also took
a look at her and Roger Hughes (12/93) homepage and let me tell
you, there is an iguana on there that is sooooo big!!! I asked her
if it was the real Philo (their iguana). I'll let you know what
she tells me. You have to see this bugger. It's at
www.cinternet.net/~philo. Take a look!! I could never have
something like that around my house - it would eat the cats for
lunch. And speaking of which, Val and Roger adopted a kitten
recently - an orange tabby they named Scotch. I hope they still
have him cause she said they had to keep the two separated.
I had e-mail from Andy Weiss (5/93). Congratulations are in
order for Andy. He got married on October 26!! At the time of his
e-mail, he was really looking forward to marriage. Hope you still
feel the same, Andy. (Just Kidding!) I know why he's excited,
though. His fiance has three cats and he can hardly wait to become
a real live cat person. Am I not correct? It was great hearing
from you, Andy! Hope all went well with the wedding. Let me know.
Send pictures!
Andy also sent a birth announcement my way (not his - yet!).
Stacey (Hinkle) Wilkinson (5/92) and Randy had a baby boy, Andrew,
in June. Andy (is the baby named after you?) didn't know any of
the details, so, Stacey, you'll have to let me know.
I talked with Wendy Liskey (5/94) one day. I told you previously
that Wendy is now working at PHICO in Mechanicsburg. Well, she's
still there. I can't believe Ashley is six years old now. These
kids grow a bit too fast if you ask me. Wendy is looking for Bill
Smith (12/93) and Eric Hohman (12/93) since I haven't heard from
either of them, I wasn't able to help her. SO, Bill and Eric, if
you're out there, please send Wendy e-mail at WMLISKEY@phico.com.
Sally Winiarczyk (12/84) also gave me a run down on what she's
been up to. After graduation, and for the next ten years, she was
with Shared Medical and Wilmington Trust. After that she went to
MidLantic Bank (since bought out by PNC). She stayed there for ten
months where she met some wonderful contacts that introduced her to
the world of consulting, first with ADS in Boston, then Becker
Project Resources in Portland Oregon and, now, for herself where
presently she is subcontracted to Shaw Systems Associates Inc. in
Richmond VA. She's working with one of their clients in
Minneapolis MN. In the last year, she's worked in PA, NY, MN, and
CO. AND, she still has time for romance (with an Egyptian man who
is living in California). WOW. This is really exciting!! Her
advice to all current computer science majors is: Work hard, play
harder and polish up those people skills. Thanks, Sally - that's
good advice for all of us. Please let me know how things go for
you!
I had an e-mail exchange with Julie Roxby (5/92). They were
closing on their house mid-September, so by now, I'm sure she's
busy arranging, putting away and all that happy stuff. Let me know
Julie.
Jimmy Maple (5/86) recently had back surgery and, last I heard,
was recuperating nicely. I hope you're taking time off to heal.
Owning your own company does have its drawbacks, doesn't it? Let
me know how you're doing!! Your parents were in not long ago and
we had a nice visit.
Also heard from Dave Faczan (5/86). He recently started work
permanently with Roadway Express in Akron Ohio as a Senior
Technical Analyst. He had been with them as a consultant since
August 96. Prior to that, he spent nine and a half years working
as a contractor at Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg PA.
While there, he developed some major weapon system management tools
which was used throughout the Army and the Pentagon. In fact, his
division won the Technical Excellence Award (given to the best IS
system on a government wide basis) in 1995. Unfortunately, the
realignments and closures caught up to them and his contracting
position went to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. So, now
he's a Roadway employee and they're looking for some people, so if
anyone is interested, contact Dave at madgyar@bright.net or call
him at 330 836-2037. Roadway's website is www.roadway.com.
I heard from Dave Fish (5/92). And, as Dave said, " Long time no
see". Boy, that's for sure, Dave. We aren't that far away. Dave
is working at Marriott International with Dave Murphy (12/92). He
had previously worked for Host Marriott Services for 9 years and
changed jobs about a month ago. I'll answer Dave's question for
everyone (and for those of you who don't know what I'm talking
about, it's time for you to stop and say hello). YES, I still have
the Chippendale guy in my office. Although, right now, I'm sorry
to say, he's doing a bit of cross dressing. And, girls, Dave's
still single, so give me a call and I'll give you his phone number.
Don't ever say I'm not good for anything. Hey, Dave, keep in
touch!! I put in your address change so let me know if you don't
get this.
Heard good news from Skip Benamati (5/84). He finished his Ph.D.
this past summer and is now a faculty member in the Decision
Science and MIS department in the Richard T. Farmer School of
Business Administration at Miami University in Oxford Ohio. That's
wonderful news, Skip!!! We look forward to seeing you the next
time you're in the neighborhood. Thanksgiving?
Mark Carrier is still with Texas Instruments in Monroeville. He
says there has been a great deal of organizational restructuring
there and he is hopeful of getting them into the internship
program. That would be terrific - then eventually maybe TI would
hire our interns in other states; and whoever is doing the
internship supervision might be able to go south for the winter.
Meanwhile, TI will be hiring 20 new people this fall and 20 new
people next quarter - most of the positions will be located in
Houston. Mark really likes the company, so if anyone is
interested, you may want to look into it. Thanks Mark. Keep in
touch.
Bill Oblitey received e-mail from Tin Yaw Mak (8/91) which he
passed along to me. Tin Yaw is now settled down in Pittsburgh
area. He works for Whitaker Corporation. He got married two years
ago and is now the proud father of a baby girl. He didn't give any
particulars on name, etc. They are living in Lower Burrell. At
Whitaker he's a Systems Analyst, DBA, & network administrator.
Whitaker is a Christian books publisher & distributor and are using
a Client/Server system using Oracle7 database.
George Soares (12/94) called the other day and I wasn't able to
talk with him (I think I was on the other line). He said he'd get
back to me. I hope so, George. I have to wonder if he wasn't here
with Shared Medical. They were recruiting here on campus. Let me
know, George!! Call back.
I had a nice thank you from Tammy Smith for sponsoring her AIDS
ride in the summer (I told you about that previously). There were
1400 riders and they raised for $3.7 million for HIV/AIDS related
services. Congratulations, Tammy!!! Thanks for the note and the
button!
Jim and Chris (Goda) Huston (5/88) told me they had a kajillion
hits on their home page since I told everyone to take a look at
J.C. And, I finally got to look at J.C., too. He is really cute.
He looks just like Chris (I only said that cause Jim says he looks
just like him). And, I like the new house. But, I like the old
house, too. I have one other question - is that giraffe in your
house? I also understand better about the computer science/alumni
link since I checked out your homepage. That really is a good
idea. I'm going to see if I can spark a little interest around
here. And, to those of you who have no idea what I'm talking
about, dig out your last issue of the Debugger, get Chris and Jim's
homepage address and check it out. You'll see they have a link to
IUP. We could have an alumni link to our homepage and everyone
could go to our page and look up alumni.
I bumped into Melanie Stewart (5/96) at the Ground Round in
Johnstown the other day. Melanie has left National Mine and is
working for Gorell Industries here in town. She is going to have
a big annoucement for me probably around Valentine's Day. I'll be
looking forward to it Melanie! In case you out there are
wondering, there's a very special man in her life. It was nice to
see you, Melanie. Keep in touch.
Our condolescences to Terry Glasser (8/96) on the recent death of
his mother.
And, now, all good things must come to an end. Please keep me
posted on everything that happens over the holidays and I hope you
all have a wonderful holiday season!!
Back to the Contents
News from Tompkins Lab
Nadine Tatarko
We are well into the Fall semester and things have been moving
along pretty well. Last time, I believe I reported on the public
lab project. Well, all I can say is that it was a very long and
hectic summer; which ran well into September. Raj Murthy (College
of Business Support Rep), Brad Smith (College of Education Support
Rep) and I worked literally around the clock to finalize
everything for the start of Fall.
As mentioned previously, the central labs were re-wired with
twisted pair cabling and new, faster network cards. New Compaq
servers were purchased and Novell's IntraNetWare was installed as
the network operating system.
Each system is configured with a dual boot offering a choice
between Windows 95 and the older Windows 3.1/DOS applications;
which were available under Pathworks. Just as any major
conversion project goes, there were a few bugs in the beginning;
but I believe that the majority of students have taken a liking to
the Windows 95 setup.
In support of the Computer Science courses, Microsoft's Visual
C++ has been installed in the Mack Data Center; as well as various
other departmental specialty programs in all three central
facilities.
Okay, enough about that...moving on to the Tompkins lab. We
never did hear anything from Campus police on the stolen computer
parts from the Spring lab break-in. CO faculty are continuing to
heavily use the Win95 setup in the Classroom of the Future (Stright
220). And the department has finally decided on how they will
spend their ESF funds this year.
The lab will be getting two new systems for use with Unix/Linux,
and possibly 1 to 2 new lab machines as funds allow. Two faculty
will be getting new and improved systems and one cart unit will
also be upgraded. Then the PC-shuffle will begin - the lab most
likely will get the older equipment that is being replaced. This
is always good for the lab; as we try and weed out the remaining
lab dinosaurs that still exist (yes, we still have some 386's
left!).
The department will be upgrading some software based on the
Microsoft lab grant that we received last year. They will be going
from Visual C++ 4.0 to version 5.0 and from Visual Basic 4.0 to
version 5. Both of these products are used in the curriculum. The
department is also working on a lab grant from Borland for some of
their software products.
Oh, last time I also mentioned that the ISCC was in the midst of
yet another reorganization; but the details still weren't known at
that time. Well, you haven't missed much. The details still
haven't really been worked out; at least not on the Academic side
of the house. All that has changed is many names and a few
positions shuffled around. So far, my job is still the same (I
think). Oh, and it's not called "ISCC" anymore; the new and
improved name is: TSC - Technology Services Center. Generically,
this is how things are now arranged:
SysComm and Operations were combined into Technical Services with
Paul Grieggs as the Interim Coordinator.
Administrative Computing was renamed Applications Development
with Bill Balint as its Interim Coordinator.
A new subgroup was formed called Research and Development with
Dan Yuhas as its leader.
And lastly, all of the folks formerly known as Academic Computing
and the former EDP technicians were thrown into a subgroup now
called User Services with Ed Zimmerman in the lead.
For a detailed list of all TSC personnel, you will have to visit
the basement of Stright to view the new assignments in the display
showcase that is on the wall across from G2.
Back to the Contents
Interviews, Frame Relays, and Edison, NJ
Mark (Doc) Rogaski (12/95)
Howdy! Since most of you haven't heard from me for almost 2
years, it's about time for an update. In February of 1996, I got a
job as a system admin with an Internet Service Provider in
Morristown, NJ. It was a very interesting (to say the least) job.
The head sysadmin was a Penn State graduate whose knowledge of UNIX
was (and still is) completely unbelievable. It was the ultimate
position for entry into the industry. The compensation wasn't too
hot, but I had a chance to get my hands on EVERY aspect of system
administration. Unfortunately, the president of the company
wasn't even qualified enough to be considered incompetent. The
head admin effectively left in the summer of 1996; and I was left
to handle a system with ~1500 users. I finally left in October of
'96.
With a decent working knowledge of Solaris/SunOS administration,
but very little experience, I hooked up with a consulting firm [1]
and found a position with a little company called AT&T.
Originally, I interviewed for a sysadmin position in AT&T's
Interspan Frame Relay Service (part of AT&T Labs). However, the
tech manager I interviewed with told me, "You're definitely
qualified for any of the positions we have here; but I think you'd
get bored very quickly ... what do you know about Frame Relay?"
I'd like to think of myself as an honest person, and so I answered,
"Not that much." He informed me that as long as I understood the
OSI 7-layer model, they could teach me everything else. Chalk one
up for Mr. Cunningham's Data Comm class.
He felt that I had the capacity to learn; so after 2 more
interviews, I found a position testing the software, firmware, and
hardware for AT&T's domestic frame relay network. He also informed
me that it was very rare that they were hiring someone without at
least a Masters. Echoes of the discussion about my future plans
that we had, Mr. Wolfe.
The job has involved quite a bit of travelling, out to the Cisco
WANBU offices in San Jose, CA. And while I was out there, for the
entire month of May ... performing a joint network stability test,
I was hired as a regular employee. So now I have business cards
that bear the likeness of the Deathstar from Star Wars.
Last month, I helped to upgrade one of the largest digital
networks ever, a very interesting network, indeed. Frame relay is
only an interface specification. The backbone is all ATM. I
should be dealing with SONET technology in the near future, too.
I have now moved over to Tier 3 support for Interspan Frame Relay,
which is the last level of escalation for nasty network problems.
Most of the work I do involves tracking down root causes of
instability in the network, and developing solutions or workarounds
when I find them. Lots of scripting in PERL and Expect, so I'm
still programming.
I figure I'll spend a year or so doing this and then return to
academia. I'm torn between having AT&T cover the bill or leaving
AT&T and going full time. I don't know how I'd do without full
immersion. I'm now living in Highland Park, NJ ... very close to
the High Speed Data Services NOC in Piscataway. It's a nice little
border colony between New Brunswick (home of Rutgers) and Edison
(the town that exploded).
------------------------
[1] The consulting firm, Systems Methodologies, Inc. (Red Bank,
NJ), gave me a VERY useful tactic for interviews that got me 2
offers from AT&T and one from NCR in a one week. Begin the
interview by asking the interviewer what skills, knowledge, and
experience THEY are looking for. With that knowledge, the rest of
the interview is pretty easy. You just have to tell them how you
meet their needs. It sounds relatively simplistic; but one
interviewer was looking for two skills that I might not have even
mentioned (and were glossed over on my resume). It actually
helped to create a good rapport; every interviewer has a fear about
hiring you (how do they know you have the skills, knowledge, and
experience for the position?); and this tactic knocks those fears
and doubts right down. Also, they taught me to ALWAYS explicity
state that I was interested in the position ... make it clear.
Back to the Contents
Changing IUP's Systems
Sam Puleio, TSC
The IUP computer center currently provides a variety of
information systems to support the administrative processes of the
university. We currently have a mix of packaged and in-house
developed products for student, institutional advancement, and
financial information systems. The in-house systems are written
primarily in Software AG's Natural 4GL language and ADABAS
database. The packaged products utilize COBOL, Datatreive, and
indexed files. All of the systems run on our Digital OpenVMS
cluster.
Like many institutions, we were encountering a number of problem
areas with our legacy systems including year 2000 issues, ever
increasing requests to add functionality and interface systems, and
significant needs to increase the ease of use and accessibility of
the systems using PC tools and the Internet. These problems were
magnified by the fact that we had a small application development
staff available to address the problems.
We began to research a comprehensive, integrated administrative
information system for the university. We started by evaluating
some 30 possible solution providers in the higher education
software package market and identifying those vendors that were
technically capable of serving an institution the size and scope of
IUP. Our technical review, which basically evaluated each vendor's
ability to provide a comprehensive solution (i.e. integrated
student, institutional advancement, financial, and human resource
systems) utilizing modern, mainstream technology, reduced the field
to several major vendors. Presentations were made to various
groups at IUP and, near the end of the Spring semester, an
oversight committee coordinated campus visits that allowed five
vendors to demonstrate their products to various members of the
university community. The on-campus visits confirmed that there
were viable packaged solutions available to address the problems we
were encountering with our legacy systems.
After the on-campus demonstrations, an oversight committee
coordinated the development of Request For Proposal (RFP) for a
comprehensive administrative software package. The RFP contained
specifications for all of the key processes and functions of the
university along with a set of technical requirements. The RFP was
distributed August 1st and finalists were brought to campus in
October. We are currently near the end of the RFP selection
process. Pending the completion of negotiations and the approval
of Senior Staff, we will be moving immediately to start
implementation of the first module in the new package.
Back to the Contents
Chatting with the IUP Programming Team
Tia Watts
Over the past few years, our department's programming team has
been growing rapidly and is beginning to make their presence known
- especially at the yearly PACISE contests. This year we have nine
members; seniors Tim Jamison, Jason McCombie, Tony Matous, and Tim
Ferro; junior Dennis Hall; sophomore Brian Ziman; and freshmen
Geoff Humphreys, Jason Cooper, and Jason Barto. The team recently
participated in the ACM regional competition on November 15 and
will participate in the PACISE competition in March. Via the magic
of e-mail, I asked them about their experiences as part of the
team.
Why did you join the programming team?
Dennis: I wanted to learn how to better work in a group and to
improve my critical thinking skills. Most of our classes are
geared to see how well we can do as individuals, but from what I
hear by talking to people who have graduated from IUP, team play is
a big part of the real world.
Brian: Because I enjoy programming, and I wanted to surround myself
with others who also enjoyed programming, so that we could share
ideas and learn from one another, which will inevitably make us
better programmers.
Jason B.: I thought it would be fun as well as educational. The
experience in both language use and problem solving is an
incredible help as well.
Tim F.: Everyone knows chicks dig programmers.
Geoff: I thought it would be fun and that it would be a good way
to hone my programming skills.
Tim J.: I joined the programming team because I enjoy contests.
It is fun to challenge others at programming.
What has being a member of the programming team taught you?
Brian: How to better work together in groups, how to divide up a
task amongst the group, and how to identify methods for solving
problems.
Jason B.: I'm only a new member; but so far I have learned 'C'
instead of just 'C++' and my problem solving and logic skills are
also tested at every session.
Tim F.: Turns out chicks don't necessarily dig programmers.
Geoff: Recursion rules!
Tim J.: I learned many things about teamwork. Being able to
communicate effectively with others help with generating a group of
working solutions quickly. This is the real goal of these
contests.
How do you use your programming team experiences in your classes?
Dennis: In most of our classes our professors give us tasks and go
over techniques used to solve them. Most of the time we are even
given a set of test data to apply to our solutions. The
Programming Team has taught me how to find my own techniques and
data sets that MAY blow up my programs, and then find ways to
eliminate them before they blow up. Figuring out all the
eventualities of possible data has taught me to look deeper into my
programs than what I did in the past.
Tim F.: I don't. As far as the competition rules are concerned,
form is not an issue. Maintainability is not an issue. Results
are the only concern.
How do you expect to use your programming team experiences when you
graduate and move out into the "Real World"?
Dennis: Thinking on your toes and in a group is great real world
experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in
working at a company where you are part of a programming team.
Brian: In the "real world", no one does anything alone. If you
program in the real world, you are in effect part of a corporate
programming team. The ability to work together with a group is of
paramount importance with projects in computer science.
Jason B.: I think that if an employer looking for a programmer
reads my resume and sees that I did well maybe even excelled on the
programming team then he/she will know that I am a competent
programmer with terrific problem solving skills and that I can
handle anything he/she throws at me.
Tim F.: It certainly takes the fear out of working with a team.
I wouldn't want to program on an entirely self-reliant basis after
having this experience. It also teaches one to not take comments
personally such as 'I don't think that's right'. Almost always,
the person uttering these words is right, and fighting it only
wastes time. I may look awful smart if I can do something all by
myself, but it will take MUCH longer than doing it as a team, even
if it means sharing the credit.
What do you enjoy the most about participating in programming
contests?
Dennis: The thrill of competing against other people who share my
desire to solve something just because it needs to be solved.
Tim F.: Belittling the other teams as we crush them mercilessly.
Tim J.: I enjoy several things. Going to other universities and
seeing their sites, and also seeing the computer lab setup is real
interesting. The thrill of submitting an answer and finding out
that the solution is correct is great.
What do you enjoy the least about participating in programming
contests?
Dennis: The hours that the competitions have. Be real, what
programmer starts work at 7:30 in the morning. In our world, the
world of the baud and bit, we do some of our best work hunched over
a cold pizza, a warm Jolt or Josta, and a humming monochromatic
screen at 4:00 am.
Tim F.: Being belittled by other teams, especially when they are
crushing us mercilessly.
Do you have any other comments you would like to share?
Dennis: I would like to see more people come to our meetings. It
is great resume material. It is also great to get away for a
weekend, see our professors in the real world, and meet other
people in our profession. We've also been to some interesting
seminars at Notre Dame, Clarion, and California.
Tim F.: I would recommend this to any student with the time to
devote to it. It is a terrific confidence builder, and goes a long
way to promote team experience and cooperation, if you do it right.
And this stuff always seems to perk up the interest of
interviewers.
Geoff: Yes. COBOL is the scourge of mankind. And, anyone who
would use vi when any decent editor is available is insane.
Back to the Contents
Mid-Atlantic Regional ACM Contest
The IUP Programming Teams performed exceptionally well at this
contest, held on November 15. One team (consisting of Geoff
Humphreys, Jason Cooper, and Brian Ziman) placed 5th, solving four
of the eight problems; the other team (consisting of Tim Jamison,
Tim Ferro, and Dennis Hall) placed 53rd, solving one of the
problems.
One hundred fifteen teams from colleges and universities in PA,
MD, NJ, WV, VA, and NC competed at five sites; IUP went to Bucknell
for the competition. Our team's showing may have been the best
ever for the IUP programming teams.