The Debugger Spring 1998
Table of Contents
EDITOR'S NOTES
This issue contains follow-up articles to two stories that
appeared in the Fall. In the Fall issue, Ralph Grove told you a
little about the new Computer Science Floor, a specialty living
option available to Computer Science majors. In this issue, Drew
Dormann writes about the experience from a student's point of view.
I had hoped to get a freshman's perspective on the new living
arrangement too; but that fell through. However, Melissa Luckey
does provide a freshman's perspective on other issues in her
article.
In the Fall issue, I noted in a short story that the IUP
programming team had placed 5th at the ACM Mid-Atlantic Regional
Programming Contest. Much bigger things have happened to the
programming teams since then. An update article appears in this
issue.
Once again, this issue contains no article from anyone in
university-wide Academic Computing. At the moment, there does not
appear to be any one person in charge of Academic Computing on
campus, nor is there any obvious hierarchy of responsibility which
would make it possible to determine whom to ask for an article.
This situation has had much more far-reaching effects than just
inconveniencing production of The Debugger. Once we better
understand what the changing face of Academic Computing will look
like, I will bring you an article about the reorganization.
Carol does her usual fine job of reporting on alumni contacts.
Bill gives you the chair's point of view; and Nadine, despite
having whom she reports to changed, brings you up to date on
developments in the lab.
Jim Wolfe
Back to the Contents
From the Chair
Bill Oblitey
Hello again,
This semester has been rather hectic for the faculty. Since
the retirement of Dr. Kathy McKelvey and Dr. John Sweeney, I have
not as yet hired their replacements and that means that we have a
few more adjunct faculty to help and some faculty have been
overloaded against their wishes. The adjunct faculty who are
helping us to cope with our teaching are Ms. Therese D. O'Neil, Mr.
Eli Shaheen, and Dr. Paul Hogan. Ms. O'Neil and Mr. Shaheen have
been helping us for some time now; but Dr. Hogan is a new arrival.
We appreciate the help they are giving to us. Another semester is
approaching; and we will still need help, so if you, or someone you
know, have the credentials of an effective and knowledgeable
teacher/professor, just get in touch with me and I'll see how best
we can work things out.
The last time I wrote to you in my column of The Debugger, I
shared with you some ideas about the plans we are making for the
celebration of the 25th. anniversary of the department. I then
requested that you write to me and let me know how wonderful my
plans were or to tell me which ones were not that wonderful and
give me alternatives to those plans. Since I did not hear from
anyone, I have difficulty deciding whether my plans are still
wonderful or whether you do not have alternatives to my plans. In
any case, the celebration plans are still being worked out, the
celebration will take place, and the entire faculty and I are
counting on your willing participation.
I have some interesting news to report to you. The first of
them is that professor Watts has completed her doctorate in
Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh and so she is now
Dr. Watts. We know what she has been through; and we congratulate
her.
Other good news to report this time is that our programming
team took part in the IBM sponsored ACM International Programming
Contest and although they did not win, they obtained honorable
mention for solving at least one problem. Actually, they submitted
one problem on time and their solution was judged to be correct.
They had three other problems solved but they did not submit those
on time. They waited until it was about five minutes to time to
submit them and because the judges were deeply involved with
responding to other teams' questions and grading other submitted
solutions, theirs did not get graded. We are, however, very proud
of them, we congratulate them and we appreciate the efforts of
their coach, Dr. Tia Watts. The members of the team that went to
the ACM International Contest at Atlanta, GA are Jason Cooper,
Geoff Humphreys, and Brian Ziman, with Tim Jamison as the
alternate.
Yet another worthy news item to report to you is that we have
a good number of highly qualified and very competent students
(fifteen of them) to place on internship and our participating
companies have so far accepted eight of them. We have seven more
to place, and we are working diligently with the companies to place
all of them. This tells us that we are on an upward trend with
good students to place on internships in the coming semesters. So,
if your company can use well trained and well mannered students in
the very near future, don't hesitate to call me so we can include
you in our pool of participating companies. Also, I extend my
thanks to those of you who have been talking to parents and
prospective students. Our enrollment count is still very good and
the quality of students is also good. Please keep up the good
work.
Computing on the campus is changing very fast. The Computer
Center, as you know it, has been reshuffled and we have hints from
the Provost that the VAX mainframe will not be here for long.
Supports for our courses is shifting heavily from the mainframe to
microcomputers and we are also beginning to emphasize aspects of
client/server computing in some courses. We, however, do not want
to lose totally the feel of batch processing, cpu cycle sharing,
and some other multi-user features in our courses. We are,
therefore, looking for support for those of our courses which need
medium size platforms that will help maintain these concepts in our
courses. If your company has some kind of a grant program that you
think we can benefit from, please let me know so that we can apply
for it to help keep our courses as strong as they have been.
This semester's awards go to Daniel Gabor and Suzanne
Brumbaugh. Daniel Gabor received the PPG Data Base Management
Award for outstanding student in CO 441 and Suzanne Brumbaugh
received the Raytheon Software Engineering Award for outstanding
student in CO 319. Congratulations to these two students and
thanks to PPG and Raytheon for making it possible for us to donate
the awards. I encourage all student to work towards being future
recipients of awards.
If you were a Century Club member last year, you should have
received your gift. If we missed you through some kind of an
oversight, kindly let me know and I'll see what I can do to rectify
things.
Back to the Contents
Carol's Corner
Carol Miller
Happy Spring Time -
We got a very nice and very welcome touch of spring the end of
March. For those of you who have moved out of the area - it was in
the 80's over the last weekend in March and gave most of us a new
lease on life. Although we had a very mild winter, we rarely saw
the sun (I mean even less than when you were here). We really
needed a little kick of sun.
I don't have a lot of department news to report, but it is
exciting - Ms. Tia Watts is now Dr. Tia Watts. Tia got her Ph.D.
in December. We haven't celebrated properly yet, but we have
plans. We did celebrate the retirements of Kathy McKelvey and
John Sweeney in December with a nice dinner.
I talked with T. J. Hall (5/88) the other day. T. J. is now
working for the Saber Group but is still at the US AIR
headquarters. The Saber Group does data processing for travel
groups (including US AIR), and T. J. has been changing the
applications from US AIR to the Saber Applications. He and Patty
moved into their new house the first of the year and are very happy
with it. Patty will be getting her Masters in May and is looking
forward to that. They just came back from an eight day trip to
Germany which they really enjoyed; and they even sampled some of
that German beer. Nice talking with you T.J. Keep in Touch. Hope
everything works out well with the Saber Group.
I had a call the otherday from Wendy Liskey (5/94).
Wendy is
still working for PHICO in Mechanicsburg, She has a big
announcement though. She is getting married June 12 in Hershey
Gardens. Ashley is going to be the flower girl and she is VERY
excited. Best wishes to you Wendy. Like I said on the phone -
send pictures!!
Gary Buterbaugh talked with Mike Csuy (5/85) the
other day.
Mike has his own contracting firm and now has 18 employees and he's
presently working on a SAP project. He has a seven week old baby
boy and is building his dream house in Kennett Square PA. Great
news, Mike!! Keep in touch.
Yong You (8/93) stopped in one day. Yong just got his
Master's from Penn State and going to work for AMS in Virginia.
He's been working in Johnstown until now. It was really nice
seeing you, Yong!
Taufiq Shamim (8/93) stopped in one afternoon in February.
Taufiq is still working at PPG in Pittsburgh and is in his last
semester of graduate school at Pitt. His biggest news is that he
got married in December to Michelle Watson who was an education
major here at IUP and graduated in 92. They haven't had time for
a Honeymoon yet, but plan one for the summer. It was really nice
to see you Taufiq!!
Josh Gould (5/88) sent me an update of his current status and
to say hello. And, I want to bring the rest of you up to date -
upon graduation, he went to work for General Electric Aerospace.
GE Aerospace was sold to Martin Marietta, which then merged with
Lockheed to become Lockheed Martin. He has worked on software
engineering, system integration, and system analysis. He got a
Masters in Systems Engineering from Penn and is currently the
manager for a group of 25 engineers doing system engineering for
telecommunications and information systems providers. He says it's
very interesting stuff! In September, 1993, he got married, had a
daughter in November. 1994, and they just had a son in October
1997. Life is good! If anyone wants to get in touch, his e-mail
address is JoshinSu@aol.com. Thanks a bunch, Josh, it was really
nice to hear how well you're doing!
Heard from Lance Tost (12/95). He's still working in Silver
Spring MD for Systems Automation. Poor Lance didn't get any snow
down there and he's going into withdrawal. Can you believe that?
I'd give my eye teeth to have a snowless winter. And, get this, he
says people are weird down there because he's the only person in a
100 mile radius that *likes* snow. So, I'll tell you what I'll
do, Lance - I'll save all the job opportunities in/near this area
and I'll send them to you and you can move back to the snow. How
about that?? I was sorry to hear that Lance's mother was sick over
the holidays. Hope things are improving for her and your family.
Maybe we'll see your smiling face pop in here one day.
Don Rosenberger (5/80) and his wife,
Donna (Reed) (12/81), are
the parents of a new baby girl, Danielle Jean, who was born on
December 29, 1997. Danielle weighed 6 lbs. and 13 oz. and was 18
1/2 inches long. She visited me the end of March and she is a real
dollbaby. You probably remember that Don works here on campus.
Stop in again, Donna, and let me play!!
Jeff Senley (5/94) sent holiday wishes. Jeff spent his
holiday with his family and had a nice relaxing break. He also
wanted to let me know that Support Services at SMS is recruiting
some quality people. If anyone is interested, I'll put Jeff's
number at the end and you can contact him and/or send him a resume.
Thanks for keeping in touch, Jeff! Jeff Senley, Shared Medical
Systems, 51 Valley Stream Parkway, Mail Code B06, Malvern, PA
19355. (610) 219-3179 Jeffrey.Senley@smed.com
Scott Ritchie (5/89) dropped me a line with the run down of
his life. (And this really is the run down.) Following graduation,
he moved to the eastern part of PA where he got a job with General
Electric developing software for a large satellite tracking station
to be built in New Mexico for NASA, got married (Nancy Burkhart -
Psychology dept '88), bought a house, got a dog, did a year of
on-site software installation/test in New Mexico, became an
employee of Martin Marietta following a merger with GE, sold his
house, relocated his family to New Mexico, bought a new house,
worked multi-level test and site installation for the tracking
station, founded a K-9 Search and Rescue team in NM, got another
dog (for SAR training), became an employee of Lockheed Martin
following a merger, sold his house, relocated his family back to
eastern PA, bought another house, had a baby (Matthew - 9 pound 23
inches born on 4/1/97), and now works as a test director for one of
Lockheed's core government programs. Like I said, it really was
the run down!! He wasn't able to discuss anything about the
program he's working on due to it's classified nature but was able
to mention a few things outside the realm of his current
assignment. For instance, the large satellite
tracking/communications station in Las Cruces New Mexico was a
multi-year effort to develop the Second Tracking Data Relay
Satellite System Ground Terminal which provides communications/data
links to a variety of vehicles such as Landsat, HST (Hubble
telescope), Space Shuttle, GRO (gamma ray observatory), and others.
(It was one of their TDRS satellites that was in the cargo bay of
the Challenger when the accident occurred). Once they had the new
site (STGT) up and running, they transferred all operations to it
and shut down the old site (WSGT) to bring it up to the current
technology. To relieve the boredom out there in the middle of the
desert, he got involved with a local search and rescue team that
had a small K-9 unit. Since there was only one other K-9
organization in the state (way up north), they decided to create a
corporation specializing in the training and use of dogs in the
search for lost and missing persons and working very closely with
the Boarder Patrol, State Police and other agencies. When he came
back to PA, he retired his dogs from SAR work, but when things
settle down a little bit, they're going to get them involved in
Therapy Dogs International where dogs are used as therapy at local
hospitals and nursing homes. Scott said Matthew (about a year old
now) keeps the dogs (Sasha and Casey) on the go, as well as his
parents. If you want to take a look at Matthew, he's at
[www.geocities.com/Heartland/ Ranch/1446 ]. He's really cute,
Scott!! But, where are the dogs in that picture? Thanks so much
for the update, Scott! I really enjoyed reading about your life
since IUP. I'm sure everyone else will, too. By the way, Scott,
I don't know if you ever got my e-mail message. I sent two or
three and they kept coming back, so if you didn't get something
from me, I want you to know I tried.
I got an update (as well as a Christmas card) on the Gutzat's
life. Mike (5/87) is one of those people who keeps my days sane by
sending me jokes when he gets them. Others are Janie Kustaborder,
Colleen Brawdy, Matt Yonkoske.
Anyway, Mike says not much has happened with them that is
news worthy. The kids are doing great. Ryan is about to (probably
has by the time you get this) turn 4 and recently measured in at
42.5 inches so he's growing like a weed. Rachel has started
running after her brother and playing chase games. Mike says the
first thing that will need to be replaced in the house will be the
dining room carpet since they do laps around the table. Mary is
doing well and enjoys her job; but she's now working only 4 days,
taking Fridays off to do things with the kids. Mike e-mailed me a
picture of the kids, they are really cute!! Ryan looks like his
dad. Thanks Mike. I'm not sure I ever did properly thank you for
that. I really enjoyed it.
I did finally hear from Julie Roxby (5/92). She admitted that
she disappeared for a while, but even I had no idea. She moved on
September 27 into the new house. She really loves it! Then, two
weeks after the move, she had arthroscopic surgery on her knee.
She tore the cartilage behind her knee cap. She was completely
down and out for a week and then had to rely on others for another
week. Whoa, Julie, this is not good!! Let me know how you're
doing. Julie also changed job sites. She was at Alltel and is now
at Key Services Corporation in downtown Cleveland. She's working
on their Fixed Assets system as a project lead for the new
Nationwide Banking conversion. She has an open ended contract and
they're planning on giving her the whole system to manage. The
other big event is Julie's upcoming wedding in May. How much
longer now, Julie???? I know Julie will send pictures.
I've heard several times from Zack Howe (12/96), not only by
e-mail, phone, but in person. Zack has changed jobs since the last
issue. He's now employed by Alpha Software Consulting, Inc, and on
a project site in Atlanta. His new e-mail addres is zhowe@usa for
anyone who wants to contact him. Zack has also stopped in a couple
times when he's been in town. We also contacted him when Tia Watts
and Bill Oblitey took the Programming Team to Atlanta (where they
received Honorable Mention, by the way) to compete in the ACM
Programming Contest. I'm sure I'll be "talking" with you soon,
Zack.
Had e-mail from Kurt Manecke (5/90). I hadn't heard from Kurt
probably since he graduated. I'm glad you sent us an update, Kurt.
After graduating, he moved to Columbus to work for Nationwide
Insurance where he developed financial applications using Oracle
and Unix for about 3 years. Then he went with Honda R&D North
America in Marysville, Ohio, where he also did Oracle and Unix
development, as well as Unix and TCP/IP system and network
administration. He later took a job with ABB Industrial Systems in
Columbus developing manufacturing software for the pulp and paper
industry and has been with them for the past three years and enjoys
it very much (still using Unix and Oracle). He was in Johnsonburg,
PA for a site installation in early December. (He didn't even stop
to say Hi, although I do have to admit, Indiana would have been a
bit out of the way.) His big news, too, is that he got married
right after graduating (to Kathy Ridenour IUP 88 grad who now works
as a technical support manager for Sterling Software), and they
have two children, Emily (4) and Ben (2) who keep them very busy.
Thanks for the update, Kurt, and thanks to for the tips on
improving our program which I passed along to those who can do
something about it. And, I guess at this point, I should tell
everyone that when you send me tips for improving the program or
the classes that helped you most, I DO pass them along (unless you
say the department needs a new secretary - I keep those to myself.)
Also heard from Jim Huston, husband of Chris (Goda) Huston
(5/88) who gave me some pertinent details on my musings from the
last Debugger. So, here they are: Chris is expecting in July.
They just moved into their second house. Jim says "new house, new
baby". We'll have to keep track of that. But, he also says their
Bouvier des Flandres needed a bigger house, so, this could get
interesting. Chris, I was talking about you the other day - with
Ron Maxin - just thought I'd mention it.
And, finally, I heard from Brent Cramer (5/95). It had been
quite a while. I probably mentioned that Brent had left DuPont and
was back in the Pittsburgh area. He says he's finally getting
settled. He's really enjoying his work and is happy to be back in
Pittsburgh. He's working with NT and the BackOffice Products as
well as some UNIX and Database. He moved into an apartment in the
North Hills. He hasn't dropped in to see us yet, but I'm sure he
will in the next few months (hint, hint). Hey Brent, thanks for
letting me know where you are. It's always nice to hear from you.
Brent also told me that Bo Gohn (12/94) got married; and
Brent, Chris Clair (12/94), Dewey Miller (12/94)
were all there to
bear witness to this event. I haven't gotten any pictures (yet)
from Bo, but, just as I'm sure Brent will visit, I'm sure Bo will
send pictures.
I think last time I told you about running into Melanie
Stewart (5/96) at the Galeria in Johnstown and that she would be
giving me some news soon. Well, Melanie stopped in one day to show
me her engagement ring. WOW, was it a nice one!! She got engaged
over Christmas to Frank Ackerson who is a sales rep. They're
getting married on June 26, 1999. Melanie still works at Gorell
and had taken a day off to shop with her sister and her niece and
nephew, Amber and R.J., who are 9 months old. I'm sure they had a
great day. Thanks for stopping Melanie. Please keep me posted.
Also, Melanie, thanks for the Christmas card.
Han Zou (5/92) sent me e-mail to correct a couple mistakes in
the last Debugger! She graduated in May '92 and got her masters
from Penn State. She is living in Delaware and is working for
Merck (Research Laboratories devision) since October as a senior
statistical programmer in Blue Bell. She is working on a vaccine
project using SAS and really loves her job. Thanks, Han, for
letting me know. I'll try to do better!
Heard from Bob Lackey (5/92). He's been living in Fairfax,
VA for about 5 years and is currently working for SAIC (Science
Applications International Corp). They were on a recent cover of
Forbe's. I am suitably impressed!!! He is currently a Network
Engineer working toward his MCSE - 2 tests down and 4 to go. He
does a lot of NT and Unix/Solaris work and has been working on some
intranet Web/Database development and is presently working on a
project for the intellignece community. Since the company has
work all over the country and internationally, Bob may get to do
some traveling (maybe to Europe) in the spring. As of this date,
Bob is not married and he has no kids, but he said he'd let me know
if that changed. I'll be waiting!! Thanks, Bob, for staying in
touch!
Andy Weiss (5/93) e-mailed me a picture of him and his wife.
It was their engagement picture and I have to tell you, folks, they
make a VERY attractive couple. They have three cats, too, so you
know they're good people. Hey, Andy, thanks so much for the
picture. I enjoyed talking with you, too.
Linda (Kielarowski) Zatlin (5/88) sent me an update. Last
time I heard from Linda she and her husband, Dennis were
expecting their first child; and they have had a beautiful little
boy, Garrett, in December of 1995. He is now a happy, healthy 2
year old now and they are enjoying him immensely. Linda is still
working as a Senior Analyst at Shared Medical Systems in Malvern,
PA. She works 3 days a week so she can spend time with Garrett.
She recently started taking piano lessons and enjoys having that
time to myself. Linda would eventually like to move back to the
Pittsburgh area (which is home to her) but she says it looks as
though they will continue to be in the Philadelphia area for now.
We'll look forward to the day when you are living closer and can
come visit once in a while, Linda. Thanks for the update!!
Our condolences to Joe Poerschke (12/90) on the death of his
wife, Jennifer. Jennifer passed away on December 17. We're very
sorry to hear of your loss, Joe!
The mother of my granddaughter, Janie (Pike) Kustaborder
(5/92), didn't take very good care of her in February. Amber went
into the hospital for a weekend mainly as a safeguard against
penumonia. She was a very sick little girl, but she made it
through it. This means I better go up there, pack her in a
suitcase and bring her home with me, right? I must get up there to
see her soon! Everything else in Ron and Janie's life is going
well, and they are enjoying Amber.
Heard from Doug Blystone (8/95). Doug is still with Shared
Medical in Malvern and has just assumed a new position in Software
Management. He's doing a lot of client/server work and is learning
about Database Connectivity. He's using ODBC in his applications.
He's also just moved to Exton PA.
Another reason Doug was writing was to request the most
current copy of the resume book, so I'll take this opporutnity to
tell everyone that we haven't been doing a resume book for the last
couple years. The seniors dwindled to the point that it was
starting to be very expensive for each of them to get it out to all
the companies plus they started putting their resumes on the
Internet. For a bit we had an address on the Internet where they
could put their resumes in a bunch so to speak, but that isn't
current any more.
Chris Eberly (5/81) sent me his most recent news. It's really
interesting, too. After completing his M.S. in 1996, he worked on
a project with the Biological Resources Division of USGS (formerly
the Fish and Wildlife Service) which served as a sort of
"internship" for his new career. Then he got a job as the Program
Manager for the Department of Defense Partners in Flight which is
a cooperative effort between government agencies, non-government
organizations (NGOs), academia, industry, and individual citizens
which works toward conservation of birds in the Western Hemisphere.
He is coordinating activities on 25 million acres of land
belonging to the Department of Defense (DOD). He works with
military personnel and surrounding communities educating them on
the importance of birds and their habitats, and how everyone can
work together to achieve effective conservation without diminishing
the overall mission of the military installation or surrounding
land use (farming, forestry, etc.). He also will be creating a GIS
layer to be added to the existing DOD ArcInfo GIS database and will
be traveling to various military bases around the country to work
with the natural resources staff, and maybe take a trip to Panama
and/or Cuba to work with bird conservation issues there. Debbie
(his wife) and Alex (their son who is just about 2 years old now)
are living in Warrenton, Virginia (45 miles west of Washington,
DC). This is the first time in long while Chris has been in this
area; and they're very happy to be back..
I had a Christmas card from Jennifer and Jason Livingston
(12/95). Everything is going well for them and they seem to be
enjoying married life. They are still in Harrisburg.
Also had a card from Becky Salter (12/94). Big news from
Becky. She has moved back to PA. She's living in Smithport. I
guess she just couldn't stand all that sun in her eyes all the
time, right, Becky? Anyway Becky is working part time and is
looking for something full time in the banking world. She'll let
us know when she finds something. Thanks, Becky.
Becky heard from Ken Lowe (12/94). She didn't have all the
details for me cause she said his letter is packed in a box from
her move and couldn't lay her hands on it, but Ken has been working
with a company since July 96 and has done some traveling to Germany
and Cancun. Give me some specifics, Ken.
Justin Streiner (5/97) was up one day in January; and we had
lunch. He's been up several other times, also, since his company
(Stargate) has just gotten the contract for the Internet connection
here at IUP. Justin got a new car, an Isusu Ranger, after having
a bit of a mishap with his previous means of transportation. He's
doing a colloquium for us on April 22, so we'll see him then, too.
Sloan Seaman (8/96) is now part owner of the Walnut Street Pub
in Shadyside. That must mean we all get free drinks when we go
there, right Sloan? He wrote to tell me our Web Page needed to be
updated. I did pass that along to those who are responsible.
Thanks, Sloan!
I talked with Mike Everett ( 5/97) (who was also here for
Homecoming and I forgot to mention him - actually he had said he'd
stop in the office on Monday and didn't, so . . . ). Anyway, he
really likes Poughkeepsie and his job with IBM. Anne really likes
her job and Kerian is doing well in day care. Their big news is
they are having another baby in April. The doctors think it's a
girl and, if so, their family will be complete. Mike will let me
know when and what and I'll pass that along to you.
And, as I told you last time, George Soares (12/94) called and
he did call back. George is in Fairfax, Virginia and is still
working for Shared Medical but with Healthcare Data Exchange where
he is in the accounts management/marketing end. He is doing much
traveling. His territory runs from Maryland to Florida. George
got married in September and his wife, Ily, was an accounting major
here at IUP. She is an auditor for the government. It was nice
talking with you George. Please call again.
You could have knocked me over with a feather the day I was
sitting at my desk talking with someone and looked over and there
stood Marty Speranza (12/92). You'll remember me telling you I had
heard Marty was on the run. I was impressed the day I actually got
a postcard from him from Singapore more or less confirming that.
But, gang, I was really impressed when I discovered he's back. Not
only that, he's back at IUP and working on a masters in education.
If I have Marty figured out, he will probably find a job teaching
a minority group - maybe Native Americans (or Alaskans maybe?).
Dan O'Donnell (12/87) called one day in the Fall. He was
looking for some people to come work for them at Wilmington Trust.
He also said he might stop and see us over Thanksgiving if they go
back on Monday but they didn't stop so I guess they went home on
Sunday. He was also telling me about an interesting software
convention he attended in Salt Lake City. He ran into Chris Munson
(5/87) and they were reminising about IUP and T.J. Hall's name came
up. Later Dan was attending one of the social events of the
conference bumped into T.J. So now I guess, since those three
spent some time there, Salt Lake City will have to change it's
image.
Also heard I reported incorrect news about Fred Bauer (5/87).
He hasn't moved to Atlanta, he formed his own company called Bauer
Computing and was working for a client in Atlanta. He's living in
the Irwin area. Freddie, you need to send me some e-mail, there
are people looking for you. Read on!
And, along with the news about Fred, I heard that Todd Schick
(5/85) has also formed his own company called Signature Solutions
and I guess Todd and Fred do some work for one another on occasion.
So, I'm glad I got some news about those two, but first hand would
be nice.
Colleen Brawdy (12/95), (I think it was the last issue when I
told you she had just changed jobs) has just found out Raytheon
decided to close down the facility in Virginia and move all the
work to Texas. She doesn't think she'll make a good Texan and is
considering other opportunities. Right now she's thinking about
moving back to the Philadelphia area and finishing her masters.
She has several different directions to move in and has had some
offers, so now she has to make a decision. I should be hearing any
day now what that decision was. Let me know, Colleen!
I had e-mail from Jennifer (Yalich) Keatings (5/85). I was
really happy to hear from her. She's now a wife and mom with 2
children ages 3 and 5 and is living in Monroeville, PA. She's only
working part-time (20 hours per week) so can she spend more time
with the kids while they're growing up. In her spare (?) time,
she's her daughter's Girl Scout Troop leader and also teaches
Children's Liturgy for their church. She started working for
Westinghouse right after graduation and has been there ever since.
She works for a division that serves the corporate center and will
be losing her job soon because of the demise of Westinghouse, but
she's had a wonderful work experience and has no regrets. Her
assignments have ranged from support analyst on IMS applications to
project leader roles in Oracle-based applications. The last 2
years have been spent doing application development using
Object-oriented analysis and design methodologies with code
construction in Powerbuilder. So, if anyone out there is looking
for someone with those qualifacations, let me know. And, thanks,
Jennifer, for sending me the update. Don't wait so long next time.
In fact, it seems to me that if you're only working half days, you
can throw those kids in the car and take a ride up here, right?
I had Christmas cards from several other people as well:
Mark (5/85) and Bev (Green) (5/85) Landry sent me a card,
along with a picture of Justin (who looks like his mother, by the
way). He's a real sweetie! And, the big news on their front, is
that Justin is going to be a big brother in late April or early May
(which isn't far off, so let me know when it happens!). Justin
wants a sister. By now they either know or don't know if it is a
sister (depending on whether Mark was able to persuade Justin to
vote on his side (he wants to know, Bev wants to be surprised).
Mark is still with USX. He is the acting lead of Traffic Systems,
Purchasing Systems and Networking. In addition, he completed a 12
week Dale Carnegie course. Bev is still with Westinghouse
Communications three days per week. They officially report under
CBS and are up for sale; but Bev says they aren't that large so
there is no big hurry to get them sold; they may even stay under
CBS. Let us know Bev! Their other news is they bought a Ford
Explorer and now feel they are true yuppies. You guys probably
didn't even get to try out the four-wheel drive this winter!
Thanks for the letter, card, and most particularly for the picture
of Justin. I posted them for faculty to see, by the way. Send a
picture of the baby after you have her.
I just heard from Michelle (Emery) Davis (5/87). She didn't
give me a lot of news, but said she would give me a full run down
later on. She's living in Florida (on the beach) and is now an
employee of Merrill Lynch working with commissions on mutual funds.
She's glad to be a permanant employee as opposed to contracting.
She asked me for some e-mail addresses and one of them was Freddie
Bauer and, Freddie, I know you read this, so would you please get
in touch with me and give me your e-mail address!! Michelle,
please, when you get time, give me the complete low down on how
things are going for you (on the beach - I'm just so jealous).
And a card from Dave (5/88) and Judy (Lipnicki) (5/87) Diehl
with a picture of Nicolette who is 4 and Brett who is about 18
months by now. They are living in Northern Virginia (about 40
minutes west of DC). Dave has, for the past 2 years, been working
for a small consulting firm in Reston. Judy quit her job with AT&T
when they were expecting Brett so she could be a full time mommy.
You should see these kids, they are adorable!! Thanks so much for
sending the card and picture. Keep in touch!
Here's the news (as I know it) on where the December 97
graduates have gone:
Steve Stoner is working for LSI in Pittsburgh.
Dan Gabor is with HRB/Raytheon in St. College.
Jason Agostoni is at PPG in Pittsburgh.
Kevin Higgs is with PPG in Pittsburgh.
Kris Seigworth is with IBM in Poughkeepsie and I'm going to
see her soon at a bridal shower for Kari Robson who will be an
alumnus after May and you'll be reading more about Kari.
I had e-mail from Kim Phillips. Kim is working for Shared
Medical Systems as a programmer in one of their support
departments. She had just started when I heard from her and
everything was going well, except the rush hour traffic. Kim said
she went to lunch with a group from SMS and five out of six people
had attended IUP. Deja vu all over again, right, Kim?
Laura Wojciechowski is in Charlotte, NC. She got a job
working for First Union Bank. So far, she likes it, but, like
everyone else, she's finding the training boring. Glad to know you
got something down there, Laura. Let me know how it goes.
Tim Ferro says things are levelling out for him. He's working
for HRB/Raytheon in State College. He found a house with about 2
acres of land for a great rent. It's exactly what he was looking
for, but the problem was the lease didn't start until March 1, so
he and the kids had been living at a motel until then. Then, he
wrecked his parents' car driving up and he had to find a car that
will last until he has a few paychecks under his belt. The kids
are also doing well. I think they are getting spoiled at the
motel, though, with an indoor pool and hot tub. You'll have to let
us kow how they feel about the house when they have to move.
They're at a day care/preschool where they can be together for a
couple hours in the morning which has helped them adjust to their
new surroundings.
And, I think that's all the news I have that's fit to print
this time. I'll be talking to you again in a few months.
Don't forget to keep in touch - you guys keep me in business,
you know.
Back to the Contents
News from Tompkins Lab
Nadine Tatarko
The Spring semester has been very busy. I spent most of
Christmas break on the phone fighting with purchasing to track down
DPR's and PO#'s for all the new stuff that was ordered with the
department's ESF monies in October and November (1997). It wasn't
hard to spend our ESF allotment ($18,000). Dr. Oblitey and
Professor Cunnigham got new Pentium II 266Mhz systems and one
departmental cart system was also replaced. The Tompkins Lab
received the "hand-me-downs".
Two other Pentium systems were also purchased to support the
department's Linux/Unix efforts. These two systems will eventually
replace the existing Linux server. One system will be used as the
primary system and the other for user's to log into and provide
much needed user space; among other things.
Parts were purchased to replace memory stolen from one of the
lab machines (during the Spring 1997 lab break in). This machine
(which was originally purchased with gift money from PPG - Spring
1996) has now been set up with Microsoft NT Server 4.0 and SQL
Server 6.5 and is being used by Dr. Charley Shubra in CO 441.
Various new software was also purchased; one a new Case Tool
called System Architect to replace the dreaded Excelerator! Dr.
Ralph Grove is using this product in CO 319.
The last big item that was bought was a new Serial Line
printer to replace the old broken one in the STR322 closet. This
printer is connected to the VMS system and is used by faculty to
print from the VMS system (grades, email, etc...).
Oh, one more very exciting thing finally happened in the
Tompkins lab. The Spring 97 decision of the Gift Money committee
to purchase a new lab printer finally got implemented. (It took
until Fall 97 for the entire department to finalized this decision,
and then the printer was on backorder forever.) However, we
finally got a brand new Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4000N with 12MB
RAM and a built in Jet Direct Network Interface! This baby really
hums! Now, when students click on File, then print, by the time
they walk from their seat over to the printer, their job is waiting
for them! With the old HP LaserJet II's that we had, it would
literally take up to 30 minutes or more for students to get their
print jobs. We also purchased a duplex unit to try to conserve
paper by defaulting users to print on both sides of the paper (an
option which can be changed).
The rest of the semester will be spent finalizing the two new
Linux systems and transferring users' accounts and home directories
from the old system. Also, time will be spent cleaning up the lab
and making a few improvements to the way the applications are
handled in preparation for the Summer Sessions.
Last time, I mentioned the ISCC's reorganization. Well, it is
still going on! One big thing that has changed from what I
reported last time is now all of Academic Computing is no longer
part of the old ISCC (now called TSC). We are completely
distributed; with each College Manager reporting directly to their
respective Dean.
Back to the Contents
The Computer Science Floor A Great Idea Long Overdue
Drew Dormann
President, Computer Science Club
As president of the Computer Science Club here at IUP, it
seemed appropriate to be one of the guinea pigs to test out the new
Computer Science Floor , which is the third floor of Mack Hall.
I can say without a doubt that this floor was a brilliant idea and
would benefit any Computer Science major at IUP.
You can always count on getting help when you live on the
floor. Programming projects have been much easier to work on,
since you can almost always find someone in the hall that is
knowledgeable of what you re doing. In fact, every CompSci class
that I m taking this semester has other students from the floor.
The floor has tutoring and group homework sessions, so all the
students have the opportunity to get any special help they need,
without trying to reserve time to speak with the Professor.
There is also a sense of community on the floor, to an extent
never even approached when I was living on other floors. I know
around 90% of the residents, many of them quite well. This is a
vital component of a successful collegiate career. The environment
that you live, study, and socialize in has a big effect on a
student s attitude and motivation. There are also floor-sponsored
activities, such as trips to computer shows, picnics, and dinners
with the Profs.
The freshmen seem to benefit the most, and I strongly
recommend the floor to any new students. They can easily get
assistance with their work, and also get advice on which Professors
would most benefit them, which track to take, and how to make
themselves most appealing to future employers.
College can be a confusing and difficult time for many
students, and I can observe how the floor helps to produce more
successful, confident, and focused Computer Science students. I
only wish that this floor had existed earlier, so my prior
semesters would have been as easy and enjoyable as this semester.
Back to the Contents
A Freshman Experience at IUP
Melissa Luckey
When I came to Indiana University of Pennsylvania as a
freshman, the experience was quite intimidating yet very memorable.
The new obstacles of college life brought many hardships, however
it was a momentous occasion. I had to learn to deal with the new
freedoms that I had acquired, while trying to study and maintain my
grades. The hardest part of this change dealt with my major, and
had to be made by myself. Being a woman Computer Science major has
brought on many of its own learning experiences. The men outnumber
the women in Computer Science, and I feel that this could be very
intimidating for some women. This possible disadvantage has not
changed my mind on my major or my liking for computers.
There were several reasons why I became interested in Computer
Science as a major. When I was first introduced to the history and
working parts of the computer in Junior High school, I took a
liking to working with them. As time went on and changes were being
made to computers, an even bigger excitement of working with
computers grew within me. In high school, I was able to work with
programming and decided to take a couple of Computer Science
courses. I then decided that working with computers was something
I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That is when I chose to
join with the faculty and students of the Computer Science
Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
I must admit that at first the experience was quite
overwhelming. The curriculum for Computer Science is very
challenging, but I have also found this major to be fun. The
professors and advisors that I have met with have been very helpful
in making the transition to IUP a smooth one. For this reason, I
have enjoyed my freshman year as a computer science major very
much. The faculty and students in this major are willing to share
their knowledge of computers to assist me with any problems that I
encounter. Recently I was asked to give an evaluation of the
department, and was very pleased to be able to express my feelings
on the likes and dislikes of Computer Science. Coming to IUP and
selecting Computer Science as my major was one of the best
decisions of my life. I hope I have influenced others to take the
challenges that Computer Science offers.
Back to the Contents
Programming Teams
A lot has happened to the IUP programming teams since we
reported their 5th place finish at the ACM regionals. Normally,
only the first three teams from the regional contests are invited
to the International ACM Programming Contest, held at the annual
conference. However, through circumstances that were not
explained, the IUP team became one of the invited teams from the
Mid-Atlantic region. The team consisting of Brian Ziman, Geoff
Humphreys, and Jason Cooper (with Tim Jamison) made a
most-expenses-paid-by-ACM trip to Atlanta for this year's International
Contest in early March. ACM covered conference costs and lodging;
some of the gift money you give the deparment covered
transportation costs.
As Bill Oblitey mentioned, the IUP did not win; but they did
do well enough to achieve an honorable mention. There were several
write-ups about the programming team in the local paper and in the
Pittsburgh paper. We tried to get some commentary from the
contestants themselves for this issue; but we were unsuccessful.
On Saturday, 28 March, the annual PACISE (Pennsylvania
Association of Computer and Information Educators) programming
contest was held at Shippensburg University. Three teams of
students from IUP participated in the contest and all three teams
placed in the top half of the field. The team consisting of Tim
Jamison, Dennis Hall, and Brian Ziman placed 2nd, solving 3 of 6
problems. First time competitors Drew Dormann and Shonket
Chakribarti placed 5th and the team of Geoff Humphreys, Jason
Cooper, and Jason Barto placed 8th. Shippensburg took first place
and Edinboro finished third. There were 17 teams in all.
Back to the Contents
December Graduates
The five December 1997
graduates who came to the Computer
Science Departments graduation get-together are shown here. The graduates are (left to right): Tim Ferro, Kim Phillips,
Dan Gabor, Kris Seigworth, and Kevin Higgs. Jason Agostoni also
was there but left before we got to the picture taking.
A picture taken of most of the
faculty present is also shown.
You may recognize some of the faces, despite the picture quality.
See the Web page for a better image. The faculty (left to right)
are Bill Oblitey, Ralph Grove, Mary Micco, Tia Watts, John Cross
(face partly hidden, sorry), and Gary Buterbaugh. Jim Wolfe was
also present; he took the picture.