The Debugger                   Summer 2001

Carol's Corner - Carol Miller

From the Chair - Gary Buterbaugh

News From Tompkins Lab - Joseph Shyrock

Quarter-Million-Dollar Grant Enables IUP To Be First in Nation to Join Computer Science and Criminology in Cybersecurity Center, Workshops - Michelle Fryling

Staffing Concerns - Gary Buterbaugh

Alumni Visits - Gary Buterbaugh

The New Debugger - Gary Buterbaugh

Computer Science Faculty

EDITOR'S NOTES

Please note that this is the "Summer 2001" issue of "The Debugger". While for all practical purposes summer is over on Labor Day, I'd remind you that summer is not official over until September 20! When I found out that Jim Wolfe would be on sabbatical for the Fall 2001 semester, I told him that I would be willing to do the Summer and Fall 2001 issues for him. My intent was to have the Summer issue done by mid-July when I was scheduled to take a trip to Costa Rica (see below). Well it did not get done and I spent the early weeks of July lining up people to write articles for the Summer Debugger. They were to be ready for me when I came back in early August. Well, except for Carol's, none were waiting for me - it would have made no difference as I was swamped with the Cyber Security Conference we were hosting and other problems. So I left for another week, this time to Guadalajara Mexico (to visit the family of one of the high school exchange students I hosted two years ago). When I got back, still no more articles waiting, but once again it would have made no difference because there were six days till classes started and we were still short faculty to teach several sections of courses. Well, we have the classes covered with some excellent adjunct faculty (including the bother of one of our alums, Alan Remis - his name is Steve) and five of our faculty teaching overloads and the semester is settling in! So, I've finally gotten around to getting to The Debugger with still no articles besides Carol's and mine. Hopefully you will get this in time to make reservations for Homecoming 2001!

This will be the last issue of The Debugger in its present form! The cost of putting it out has become great enough for us to really not be able to afford to put it out. So we have decided to give companies and alumni the chance to put material in The Debugger in exchange for monetary donations. With this we will be "upgrading" the format. We hope this might give you and your companies a chance to get the good news about what you are during out to all our students (about 400) and a growing number of alumni (over 1,100). Information about the new Debugger and how you might put information in it is on Page 27.

Gary Buterbaugh, Acting Editor

Hey!
We Want You!

To Join Us For

Homecoming Breakfast

Saturday
October 6,2001
8:00 am - 9:30 am
Third Floor Stright

Parade - 10:00 am
Football Game - 2:00 pm


Good Food

A Chance To See Fellow Alums

A Chance To See Faculty & Carol

To Make Reservations:

Email Carol at
camiller@grove.iup.edu
or
Call Carol at 724-357-2524

By October 3, 2001

Back to the Contents

Hope you're having as nice a summer as I am. This weather is superb. But, It sure seemed to take a long time to get here. We've been having cooler temperatures this summer in Indiana and surrounding areas and it's a bit of a relief, particularly at night. I'm sure the temperatures have shown similar changes where you are.

No big vacation plans for me, but hopefully you'll let me know what you did this summer.

We had a couple visits from Tia Watts this summer. She was in Pennsylvania to get her car and the pets she left behind since, due to possible bad traveling weather, she flew to California in January when she started her new job and couldn't take all her furry kids with her. I think she's decided to stay out there for a while, though, folks, she bought a house in Forestville - right in the heart of wine country. She invited visitors and I'm sure she meant all of you guys, too.

I just talked with Kathy McKelvey. Her son was getting married the weekend of July 28. Can you believe that? How many of you remember when he was just a little guy coming in with her?

Gary Buterbaugh is in Costa Rica as I write this. He's scouting the area as a possible retirement Mecca.

Jim Wolfe is going on sabbatical in the fall. Good grief - what's going to happen to the Debugger????.

I had several nice visitors this summer. One was Doug Blystone (8/95). Doug was here visiting his family (he's a Townie). He's still with Catholic Health Initiatives doing client/server programming and SQL Server Administration. His big news is he is now a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer and a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator. He's working on his masters in IS at Widener University in Chester PA. He's playing volleyball on the Widener team and he's still coaching basketball. He also had a bit of a setback in January with infected tonsils and a subsequent tonsillectomy. Doug annually attends the Microsoft Tech Conference, so be on the lookout for him if you're there. Thanks for stopping, Doug, it was really nice to see you!! (Notice I didn't tell everybody you'd shaved your head?)

And Quinn Yost (12/96) stopped in the same day in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk with Quinn cause just as he got here, I had to leave for an eye appointment and I apologize to you, Quinn, for running out like I did. I really wanted to visit with you. His wife, Rhonda, was with him and one thing I was really surprised to discover - they've been married FOUR years. I couldn't believe it's been that long. Remember when I told you he got married? Does that seem like four years?? Quinn was going to try to stop in the next day, but he didn't and I'm sure it's only because he got swamped with other things and couldn't make it. Right, Quinn??? But, I did have time to find out that Quinn is still with Endeavor Corporation in Chicago, but that's about all the information I got. It sure was nice to see you, Quinn, and to meet Rhonda. Please try to stop again soon. (If I remember correctly Rhonda is from somewhere like Franklin or Erie maybe, so you should get this way every once in awhile.)

We also had a visit from Sean VanScoyoc (12/90), along with Julie and, of course, Adam. Adam is walking and talking now and plays ball and all kinds of things. We had so much fun!! Sean started his new job at Mt. Pleasant School District, and they've sold their house here in Indiana and are pretty close to buying another one nearer to work. In fact it's about 5 minutes from work for Sean and he can come home for lunch! Right now he doesn't get home until about 5:30 and Adam goes to bed at 7:00 so he doesn't get much Adam time. Julie is a stay-at-home mom right now and she's enjoying every second of it! I know I wouldn't want to miss that time with Adam. Julie is finished with her internship at Latrobe Hospital that is how she's able to be home. I'm really glad you guys stopped in. I was in need of an Adam fix. And, of course, I'm always happy to see you, too.

Milf Hazlet (5/75) was at IUP attending the Cyber Security workshop that Mary Micco and Bill Oblitey held in August. Milf was another of those people who graduated before I started here and it was really nice to meet him. I didn't really get a chance to talk much to him since he dropped in during a break in the workshop. Thanks for stopping, Milf!

Dan Yuhas (5/88) stopped in to say hi and chat for a bit one day. Dan is doing very well. He's still living in what used to be Barnesboro (I think), but is now Northern Cambria. He was teaching me about Nintendo and Game Boy and those sorts of things. Dan, it's always nice to see you, please stop up any time. In case any of you have forgotten, Dan works for the Technical Services Center (formerly ISCC, formerly the Computer Center)

I mentioned last time that Mary (Singer) Mosholder ((5/99) was coming by with Guy. Well, she and Guy and Terry stopped in right before Easter and I missed them. I had just left for lunch when they came. I did get a picture, though, of Guy. I just can't believe how cute he is!! And, as I've said numerous times, he is so big! I was really sorry I missed. But, I did see Mary later and she said they maybe up this summer for a Picnic in the Oak Grove and I'll get to see him then. Thanks Mary, I'm really sorry I missed you!

Another baby I missed by not being here was Gage Handwork. Matt (12/00) brought him by one day after I had run out to pick up some supplies at the bookstore. But I have been able to see Gage every once in awhile since they live close by and they shop in Wal-Mart just like I do and we've bumped into one another. Gage is just so cute and he laughs all the time. Matt passed up an opportunity to be transferred by Aeptec to Maui for a couple years because he felt he needed a little more experience. Can you believe that?? If I had a chance to live in Maui for a couple years, I'd find a way to fake the experience! But not Matt! Hopefully the chance will come along again. Aeptec is in Blairsville and it 's a division of Lockheed Martin. Several of our recent grads are now working there and it's getting some real important recognition within the industry. It's always nice to see you Matt. Please stop in any time!! Jacqui, too

In fact, Blairsville is becoming a little industrial hub. It's been a wonderful thing for those people who want to stay in the area. The pay is good for Indiana, but you still have the small town atmosphere. I think more than one of the companies is a spin-off from a big corporation.

Tim Ferro (12/97) stopped in one day in June. He was here visiting his parents. The kids, Haley and Reed, were with him. They're really nice kids! Tim is still living in Aurora Illinois and doing in-house programming for Citadel Investment Group in the loop in Chicago. Haley and Reed are growing like weeds and smart as whips. It looks to me like they're healthy, happy and prosperous and what more could anyone ask for. Tim, it's always nice to see you and see that you're doing well. Thanks for stopping and please drop in any time you're in the area.

What a nice surprise I got one day in May. Skip Benamati (5/84) stopped in. As some of you may remember, Skip is a local boy (man?) and was here visiting his father who is having some health concerns. Skip got his Ph.D. a couple years ago at the University of Kentucky(?) and is teaching at Miami University in Ohio. Skip's big news at the time of his visit was that he was getting married on May 19 to Mandy Campbell. Skip met her in Kentucky while he was still living there and traveled back and forth until she recently moved to Ohio. Mandy has a B.S. in Photography and does free lance work. Since Skip isn't teaching this summer and Mandy can pretty much plans her own time, they're planning on doing a lot of fun things all summer and maybe get serious about work again in the fall. Congratulations to Skip and Mandy. Skip, you're always welcome, drop in anytime. Bring Mandy.

I got a generic e-mail from Rick Joslin (5/85) announcing that he has started a new chapter in his life. His e-mail says he has left ServiceWare after successfully rebuilding their support organization, improving their service levels, and increasing their customer satisfaction. His five years leading the development of the Knowledge-Pak business and the RightAnswers.com product line has been a tremendous experience. The best part of the entire experience has been the many people he has met through business relationships and close involvement with the industry. He plans to take a couple of months to focus on his family; you can expect to continue to run into him at industry conferences and events. I'll be hearing more from Rick when he gets settled and, of course, I'll let you know where he is. Thanks Rick, for the update.

And, I heard from Kari (Robson) Behune (5/98). Kari has been very busy for the last couple months. But, she's thinking about going to graduate school and starting work on an MBA. Good for you, Kari!! Kari did take time for a trip to Florida to visit her grandparents. Her grandmother had a fall and broke her shoulder and Kari went down to help cheer her a bit. At home, her wildlife is thriving. (I think Greg is included in that.) The dogs are doing well and so are the birds. Kari also got an aquarium, so the official animal count at her house is 2 dogs, 3 birds, 2 frogs, 10 fish, and a gazillion snails in the aquarium. The next thing she's getting are a pair of rabbits. (Just kidding!!!!) Thanks for letting me know you're alive and well, Kari! Keep in touch!!

I got a Fact Sheet from one of our interns one day and the contact person was listed as Toni Marano. Well, I kept wondering if it was THE Toni Marano (5/87) so I sent e-mail. Sure enough, that's who it was. Toni is now working at Allegheny Energy in Greensburg. That's about all the info I got, but I'm sure she'll be in touch more often, right, Toni? So, let that be a lesson to you, if you don't keep in touch with me, I'll track you down!

Vivek Ajmani (5/90) is currently working at Intel in Chandler Arizona, not far from Phoenix. He's working as a Senior Statistician in Fab22 that is a brand new fab. At the time of his e-mail, he was about to close on a house. Hopefully, that has happened now and congratulations are in order on his becoming a homeowner. Keep in touch, Vivek!!

Jane (Cunningham) Harnagy (5/87) keeps me updated. She sent me an e-mail with Olivia saying her ABC's. She's good, didn't miss a letter. She's also just as cute as can be. You won't get to hear her say her ABC's, you can take a look at Oli (that's what she calls herself) at www.harnagy.com. Jane also sends me updates on jobs at Raytheon. These are for both experienced people and recent grads. If you're interested, take at look at www.rayjobs.com . They have a lot of jobs nationwide, and for those requiring more experience, they sometimes have Relocation. She said Tucson, AZ is where they assemble missiles (and its' hot). (Republican Administration, and that successful test a few weeks ago have won them a lot of business.) And St. Petersburg, FL is where they make controls.

Janie (Pike) Kustaborder (5/92) and Ron had a bit of a scare with new baby, Ryan. The Friday before Memorial Day Janie had him to the doctor to have his eye checked after Heather poked him and they wanted to be sure it hadn't injured the cornea. Well, while they were there, the doctor said he was a little wheezy, and to start giving him breathing treatments. He seemed to be improving, actually was much better, but when he was still congested the following Thursday, the doctor wanted to see him, and he had had bacterial pneumonia and put him on amoxicillin and told them to keep the breathing treatments going every three hours, around the clock. That night, he stopped breathing for just a few seconds, but Janie said they were a very long few seconds as I can imagine! Friday it was back to the doctor and more medicine. Sunday his fever went to 105 and wouldn't come down. So back to the doctor and more medicine and steroids in addition. On Monday, he was still worsening so into the hospital he went. He'd caught some kind of viral bug, and started vomiting and diarrhea, and broke out head to toe in an itchy rash. So, he was put on a third antibiotic, plus inhaled steroids along with the previous meds and all the IV meds they have you on. He was discharged Tuesday night when he started showing improvement. After he got home, he got worse and worse and was put on a fourth antibiotic and more steroids and there was some fear of him having a super bug. They gave him 8 hours to improve or back to hospital. He made it, but barely. Then, the rash got worse, to the point that parts of him we totally covered in rash and he was given more injected steroids. Friday he was taken off the injected steroids, but still on everything else. Janie said since then, he has been slowly weaned off of most meds. They think that through the summer, he will probably be on medication and she said he probably won't pass the drug test to play Little League now. (I don't think I'd worry about that until he learns to walk - that will give him another year at least.) Janie said it's a good thing he's their third, or they might be over the edge by now. I'm happy to report he's doing much better, he's only on inhaled steroids and he'll be going to the pulminologist and gastrologist the end of this month for evaluation. Janie said he's basically a happy baby who is quick to laugh and quicker to smile and he's getting huge. The rest of the group is all doing well. Amber had her hair cut off and Janie said it's really cute but she looks so much younger! Heather is still the little instigator and will look you in the eye, say "me no touch" and touch it anyways. Janie said it's fortunate she's so cute; otherwise she'd never get out of time out.

Drax Felton (5/99) is getting married in September. He's marrying Laura Meckley, a December 2000, IUP Psychology major. Congratulations Drax and Laura!! We wish you the best. Keep us posted on how the wedding goes.

And, speaking at the colloquium in March was Mark Russell (5/85) from PNC Technology Processing Services. I didn't really get to talk with Mark, so maybe he'll e-mail me with more details.

As Mark Lacy (5/89) recently told me, he's on the move again. Not too long ago, I reported he had left Mariott for State College. Well, now he's up to something very interesting. A friend of his who is living in Atlanta and running an internet consulting firm asked him to come work for him. Mark said he'd work for him but only if he could live wherever he wished. His friend agreed and Mark is now back in his hometown of Erie. He just bought a house and is in the process of getting the paperwork cleaned up for that and he'll be moving in! Way to go. Mark!! Keep me posted.

Exciting news from Amy (Slovik) Grossman (5/99). She and Jonathon are going to be parents the end of October. At the time of Amy's e-mail she was almost 4 months pregnant and everything was going smoothly. At the end of May, they were to find out if they were having a boy or a girl. Everything is also going great for Amy at IBM. She's now doing work with Java System Test for the Z/OS platform (formerly OS/390) and Amy is one of the primary people testing Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) on their platform. Amy also passed along some news of other alums. For instance, her sister, Bonnie (5/96), is hard at work over in R/6000 doing benchmarking. And, Ami Walker (5/00) recently got married and is now Ami Ehlenberger. She sees Mike Everett (5/97) around and she says he seems to be doing well. Unfortunately, Amy won't be able to come for Homecoming this year because of her pregnancy. She'll be in her last month by then and her doctor isn't going to let her travel. But, hopefully, she, Jonathan and baby will be at the next one. Thanks so much for all the information, Amy, and congratulations on your pregnancy. Please let me know when the big event takes place.

Speaking of Mike Everett (5/97), he sent me pictures of Spencer and Kerian. Oh, my gosh, are they cute. I think Spencer looks like her mother. Kerian hasn't changed since Mike was bringing him in to visit. Thanks so much Mike for sending them.

We heard from Rich Keslar (5/00). Rich has been working in downtown Pittsburgh as a Programmer/Analyst for the largest law firm in Pittsburgh, Kirkpatrick and Lockhart, LLP. He really likes the company and works with the latest technologies - he does a lot of programming with Active Server Pages and Visual Basic, against a SQL Server Database. Rich says they don't use any VAX Assembly Language (I know he feels really bad about that). He said most of the applications they create are for the company's Intranet and he's learned a lot of really cool things in the last year. He's also thinking about going back to graduate school for a Master's Degree in Software Engineering in Fall 2002, but hasn't made any definite plans yet. Nice hearing from you, Rich. Keep in touch.

Heard from Beth (Green) Harris (5/83). (I love it when I hear from someone from long ago - I didn't use the word "old" - although reading about everything Beth has been doing made me feel really old.) Beth said she's been reading the Debugger for many years now and never got around to writing. (I think a lot of people are like that, Beth, so don't feel alone.) And, of course, I'm going to rat you out, Beth - she said she doesn't remember much about her years as a student cause she attended too many parties. So, now I need to hear from some of you people who partied with her! She probably doesn't do too much partying right now, though. Wait until you read her life story. Wow! She's had 2 marriages, 3 kids, 4 homes, ONE employer. She started working for EDS at Packard Electric, currently Delphi Packard, in June of '83. She began in the operations & scheduling areas. She got married (for the first time) in the Spring of '84. At work, in late '85 she moved on to supporting a purchasing system, then led the design/development of a couple small systems; office supply ordering and sequential shipping. Somewhere in between these projects, in 1987, she got a divorce. In 1989, she got the opportunity to do an internal CASE tool (KnowledgeWare) pilot. In August of 1989, she got married again to Jim and she says it's been wonderful ever since. However, the CASE project was very short lived as they needed her help on a large Field Expansion project where she led a team to expand many key fields on IMS tables and make all the associated program changes; the impact spanned 15 different mainframe systems, and 2 UNIX systems. She said it was a tough project. And she got pregnant during the project. Heath was born one week after they implemented on June 18, 1991. She said her co-workers call him the 'field expansion' baby and Beth said he's a stressed child to this day! When she returned to work from maternity leave, she had an opportunity to work on a Data and Process Modeling project, modeling Delphi Packard's product delivery cycle. This was a global endeavor and, in addition to all the workshops held in the US, they also traveled to Germany and Mexico to conduct facilitated sessions. This project, in turn, led to several functional area Data Warehouse implementations. The modeling effort work ended in December of 1993, just in time for the arrival of their second child, a girl, named Kristen. When Beth came back from the second maternity leave, she went to IEF CASE (currently known as CoolGen by Computer Associates) tool training in Canada and became part of a 'Technical Guidance' team where she headed up several different IF standardization and procedures committees at the GM level, did some start up planning work for Y2K and then got involved in leading an infrastructure project to support the implementation the Data Warehouses mentioned earlier. Beth had a great experience where she coordinated tool selections, from a data extraction tool to the DB and UNIX box, did the cost model, got involved with the vendors, learned UNIX, and coordinated many different standards and procedures for the various new tools and environments (up until this point, the majority of the systems were mainframe). After this the first Warehouse (for marketing data) was implemented. While all this was going on, she and Jim decided to build a home and do their own contracting. They bought land and designed and drew their own house plans. Then, if building a house wasn't enough stress, they sold the house they were living in much faster than expected and moved into a two-bedroom apartment. This was July of 1994. Beth said contracting was a huge learning experience, but Jim had some past experience helping his dad build and Beth had project planning experience and all went pretty smoothly. They planned on doing much of the work themselves; electrical, painting, tile work, siding, roofing. But, Beth found out she was pregnant again soon after moving into the apartment, so Jim ended up doing most of what the two of them planned on doing. In April, Eric was born, and the house wasn't quite done, so there they were living in a 2-bedroom apartment with Heath in the second bedroom, Kirsten sleeping in a crib in the kitchen and Eric in the living room in a basinet. They moved into the new house in late May. When Beth returned to work after this maternity leave, she led another new project for Delphi Packard, called Supplier Pull, where they used IF, EDI, etc. In May of 1997, she started with a new client, LAW. Steel. EDS got to write new Payroll & Benefit systems for them. Four years later, a couple years of 60-hour workweeks, and 160 people, what was supposed to be a twenty-month project is still not in. Beth said she won't get into the hundreds of reasons why, but UGLY sums it up pretty good. LAV. filed for Chapter 11 in late Dec. 27, 2000, and things went downhill. Beth was one of the last 12 people to leave. Now, she's moving on to work in the insurance industry, writing major enhancements to an existing system. On the home front, life is great. The kids are close to completing Kindergarten (Eric), 1st Grade (Kirsten) and 4th Grade (Heath). Jim worked for many different companies during their 11 1/2 years of marriage working in the hardware side of IT. Last August, he also began working for EDS in the networking area. In their spare time, they run races, bike, swim, do triathlons, and decathlons. They try to fit in at least one scuba diving trip a year, and stay involved with the kids school things. The kids participate in most of these with them and also play soccer (Jim coaches too), and are involved in swimming and gymnastics. Thanks, Beth!!! I don't know about the rest of you, but I needed a nap after I read about all the things in which Beth and Jim are involved. . It sounds like you enjoy each other, your family and life in general! Congratulations. Please keep in touch!

Todd Campbell (5/98) is on the move again. This time to Devon PA. He's now 3 miles from work at Cingular Wireless (he's still there) and the King of Prussia Mall. Poor Tood, don't you pity him having to live so close to one of the biggest malls in the US? I hope your next move isn't into the poor house, Todd, but if it is we'll still send you the Debugger. Thanks for writing; I really appreciate you keeping in touch.

Kathy Scott (12/98) has had a really busy year. She's still working for Target Software in Allentown. She really likes her job and the people she works with (not to mention the paycheck isn't too shabby either). She now has her A license for skydiving and has her own rig so when the weather is nice she's always at the drop zone. She's also still quilting too and enjoying being near family. Thanks for keeping in touch, Kathy!!

Also heard from John Scott (12/85) - another oldie (his words, not mine). I think by now everyone knows how excited I get when I hear from someone who hasn't written before. After graduation, John moved to Silver Spring, Maryland and absolutely loves it. He worked for Litton Amecom in College Park, Maryland for three years before moving to a company in Rockville, Maryland. He's now at his third place, Northrop Grumman Inc., where he's been since April 17, 1995. The projects he's been part of all consist of radar systems. Some are ground-based radar while others are airborne. He mostly works with the embedded C/C++ languages executing with the VxWorks operating system (O/S). In his free time, he and his friend, Jay, travel extensively outside the United States - mostly to Europe and the neighboring countries. They've actually made fourteen trips outside the United States. John says one of these days, they'll have to make plans to travel around America, and they've never made it west of the Mississippi. (Obviously they haven't made it to Indiana PA either, hint, hint!) He and Jay met at IUP in the fall semester of 1982 when they were both taking a German Conversation & Literature class from Frau Ready. They started studying together and are still together eighteen years later and they still try to keep up on their German. Jay works for the University of Maryland, College Park as a Director to the Adult Education Center. Thanks so much for writing, John, it was so nice to hear from you. And, if anyone out there is interested in working for Northrop Grumman in Baltimore, Maryland, John thinks they are hiring. Check out their web page: http://www.northgrum.com.

Donnie Wishard (5/95) sent me e-mail. We have heard from Donnie from time to time, but this time he gave me a nice long run down on what he's been doing. He went to work for Sprint in Atlanta right after graduation. He left Sprint in late 1995 after being relocated to Kansas City and went back to Atlanta and a job with LHS Communications Systems, writing wireless customer care and billing software. When he realized they were making 20 times more than what they were paying him by billing him out as a contractor, he decided to start his own consulting company with a good friend. He was in San Francisco on contract at Pacific Bell Wireless when he made this decision and in 1997, Dynamic Solutions Inc was born, initially having an office in California and later another in Atlanta. Zack Howe (12/96) was one of their first employees. You may remember that Zack also lives in Atlanta and the two of them remain good friends. So, in February of 1999, while vacationing in Lake Tahoe, Donnie got a desperate call from a friend who worked for a new dot com start up called PeoplePC. He met with them, and ended up sending eight contractors there to help them out. After a few months PeoplePC realized it would be better to take over Donnie's company and made them an excellent offer and Donnie took an Information Technology Director position with them, and began commuting to San Francisco from Atlanta. About 6 months into it, they opened up European operations, and he was sent to London and Paris to assist the effort. He worked in Paris for 6 months and now has returned to the USA. He and Zack can telecommute from home in Atlanta. Donnie was around the 30th employee there, went through a dot com IPO, survived a dot com layoff, and also watched dot.com stock turn into nothing. But he says they now have a sound plan and are certain it will rebound (if he has time to wait). He's been very fortunate to have been able to visit Poland, Hungary, Tunisia, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and the UK. And, now he's really glad that we made him take a foreign language since French is something that had SO much value when he was in Tunisia and they only spoke Arabic and French, and many had never seen an American before. And he even spoke French in France most of the time. Donnie passed along a funny story that I will pass on to you. He bought a house in Roswell Georgia about a year ago and was talking with his neighbor and the neighbor asked where he went to school. He told him IUP and the neighbor said his roommate from college, IUP, is at IUP in the Computer Science Department. - it was Gary Buterbaugh. Another example of what a small world it is. Thanks, Donnie for the run down. Congratulations on all your good fortune. Please keep in touch and if you see Zack, tell him it's now his turn. I haven't heard from him for several years (and he's from Indiana).

Speaking of another Indianian, Kris Seigworth (12/97) was recently promoted to Staff Engineer at IBM. She was also received an "Outstanding Technical Achievement Award" in appreciation for z/Series Software Development for the work she did on OS/390 Release 10 for 64-bit Real Storage Management. She was really surprised to get this award since all the other people who have gotten awards are have been there forever and have a much higher rank. We send our congratulations, Kris!!! On the personal side, Kris and her partner Leona just closed on a three-bedroom condo, and they're impatiently waiting for the contractor to get done with the painting and some other small things so they can move. They would have liked a house but now they won't have to spend weekends mowing and can concentrate on the perennial garden or lounging by the pool. (I hear you on that one, Kris!) They still have two cats, Callie and Jim. Kris is hoping to make a trip back to Indiana soon - sometime after they get moved and hopefully she'll be here during the week and will stop in and say hi. Thanks for writing Kris!!! I hope to see you sometime!

Geffrey Caruso (12/00) has been working in Old Town Alexandria, VA. (Just across the river from DC). He isn't very far from the capitol and can actually see it from the roof of his building. He's working for a relatively small company doing Web Application Development. He said the hours are long sometimes but it's been worth it so far since he's learning a lot. He also got lucky finding an apartment only four miles from his job and doesn't have to get on the beltway to get to work. Geff was actually looking for Mike Toth, so, Mike, if you read this; you need to get in touch with Geff.

Dave Bell (5/00) is working for a consulting firm in Harrisburg (Skelly and Loy, Inc.) Where he is Senior Systems Administrator. He has control of the systems in their six offices located across the east coast. He is developing databases in Access and SQL and is now certified with his MCSE 4.0 and MCSE 2000, as well as his CCNA certification. He likes what he's doing very much and hopes to stay there for a while. He's playing golf once or twice a week (with the owner of the company no less!).

Leslie (Gatto) Smith (8/83) has given up the corporate world for the world of motherhood and I don't think she regrets it one bit. While she was a student here, she did an internship with Gulf Oil in Harmarville, Pa, after which they hired her and she was with them for about ten years, and which took her to Texas. In 1990, she quit her job with Chevron to become a full time mother. She has three wonderful children (she didn't send any details, gang, but maybe she will - Leslie?). Leslie would like to hear from more of you who graduated in the early 80's - so please do that.

And, now a little from those I've heard from who graduated in May and what they're doing:

Rene' Morozowich is working for PPG, right now in Pittsburgh, but soon will be in Harmarville. She found a really nice apartment in Monroeville and since she likes the Monroeville area, she doesn't think the commute will be too bad. Its pretty much turnpike all the way. Rene' is hoping to get to Indiana for a visit in the fall. Hope to see you then, Rene', and e-mail in between!

Yiming Sun is working for Bombardier Transportation, Inc. in Pittsburgh. Bombardier makes trains and people movers. Yiming troubleshoots the software when problems occur. The system is a combination of Double-E and Computer Science and the primary language is C, plus some Assembly. They're keeping him pretty busy, too, I think. Yiming is living is West Mifflin. Thanks Yiming!! Keep in touch.

Randy Johnson moved to Ocean Isle Beach and is a partner in a web business called Ecommerce Exchange. In fact, he's the web programmer and gets to do all kinds of fun things. He was actually looking for help and sent along a posting for his classmates who might be looking for something in that area.

And, for now, that's all the news that's fit to print. Please send me more!! I hope you all have a wonderful fall and winter and I hope to see you all on Homecoming.

JOIN US FOR HOMECOMING!
October 6, 2001
Breakfast 8:00-9:30
- Third Floor Stright

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Well after a serious of events, I decided I might want to take a look at Costa Rica. I made arrangements to spend two weeks there and left on July 22. The first week I was involved in a Spanish Language Program that included a home stay. I thoroughly enjoyed the language classes and learned enough that I was able to get around on my own for the second week and am now able to write awkward letters to my friends in Costa Rica. The second week I rented a car and drove around the entire country.

Costa Rica is a beautiful country. San Jose, the capital, and the central valley east and south of it, lie on a plane at a fairly high altitude. This combined with its closeness to the equator make the climate year around GREAT (60's at night and high 70's in the day). High mountains enclose San Jose and the central plan and go almost into the Pacific Ocean on the West and onto a fertile plane and the Caribbean on the east. These areas are HOT and humid but have beautiful beaches.

Because of its latitude, the entire country is, in a sense, tropical. The best words I can use to describe the scenery is "verdant". The roads are HORRIBLE, but what you se is "WOW"!

The people, called Ticos. are friendly, the food is good (I loved the fruit) and I got along fine with the language. So stay turned. Maybe you will be able to visit me in Costa Rica!

Hey!
We Want You!

To Join Us For

Homecoming Breakfast

Saturday
October 6,2001
8:00 am - 9:30 am
Third Floor Stright

Parade - 10:00 am
Football Game - 2:00 pm


Good Food

A Chance To See Fellow Alums

A Chance To See Faculty & Carol

To Make Reservations:

Email Carol at
camiller@grove.iup.edu
or
Call Carol at 724-357-2524

By October 3, 2001

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In the meantime, we are using three individuals as half-time adjunct faculty. Two of them we have used before: Larry Ruby, a teacher who teaches Math at DuBois Area High School and lives in Punxsutawney is teaching two sections of COSC 101, Microbased Computer Literacy. Eli Sheehan, who is the Chair of the Math Department at Plum High School (near Monroeville), is teaching two sections of our new course (we hope it will be COSC 210), Object Oriented Programming and GUI Interface. Finally we welcome Dr. Steve Remis (Alan Remis' brother), who has a PhD in an engineering discipline and has a great computer background, is teaching two sections of COSC 201, Multimedia and the Internet. We are fortunate to have three such fine adjunct faculty and welcome then to our department.

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In 5 to 10 years, the staff in the department will be much different than it was in the late 70's, the 80's and into the 90's. Computer science alumni are young, the oldest being in their early forties. Although many of them have done well, they are not at a stage in life where they are able to afford or are of a mind to give significant gifts to their university or department. The faculty decided that it was therefore necessary to involve them in the life of the depart-ment and provide opportunity for them to give and be involved now.

The Department and Institutional Advancement each provided funds for Gary Buterbaugh to travel this summer to visit alumni. To date, 14 alumni in Ohio, suburban DC and Pittsburgh have been visited. Others will be visited as money is made available for travel. See more below on " Involvement Opportunities and Financial Opportunities"!

Involvement Opportunities

Attending the Alumni Breakfast at Homecoming (October 6, 2001) Bring your family! Meet with your friends and fellow alumni. Meet with current and retired faculty and, of course, Carol! Enjoy the Homecoming Parade, football game, and other Homecoming activities. See how IUP and Indiana have changed. Call or email Carol (724-357-2524 or camiller@grove.iup.edu) to make reservations.

Advertising or getting your company to advertise in the Debugger. The Debugger will undergo a facelift and will have a new look and format. We will seek advertising sponsorships to recoup the $1,000 cost per issue. You or your company may want to advertise your products or job opportunities. Contact Dr. Gary Buterbaugh (724-357-3000 or glbuter@grove.iup.edu).

Writing articles for the Debugger. We are always looking for alumni to write articles for the Debugger - Note, we have none this time! Tell us about your work, something special you have learned, or insights you have gained. Contact Dr. Gary Buterbaugh (724-357-3000 or glbuter@grove.iup.edu).

Becoming an Alumni Reviewer for papers in COSC 319, Software Engineering Concepts. COSC 319, Software Engineering Concepts is our department's Writing Intensive course (students must take two Writing Intensive courses, at least one in their major). Students must write three papers that are critiqued by another student, the instructor and one of our alumni before being submitted for final grading. We need at least 30 alumni readers each semester. Contact Dr. Gary Buterbaugh (724-357-3000 or glbuter@grove.iup.edu).

Financial Opportunities

The Computer Science Department receives about $45,000 a year in operating money. We spend about 50% for student help, 15% for printing and phones, 13% for supplies, 10% for travel (including internship visits), and the other 12% for other items. We receive about $30,000 in Educational Service Funds from which we must maintain over 75 computers (15 office, 30 in the Tompkins' Lab and 30 in our teaching lab) and 3 carts with computers and projectors for use in our classrooms. We are strapped financially. In 99-00 we over-spent our budget by about $6,000. We need help in order to continue to offer our students the quality education and services you received.

Funding a Marketing Plan: The Computer Science Department is forced to "compete" with the Eberly College of Business and Technology for recognition from the corporate world, for external funding, and for opportunities to do innovative things. The Eberly College of Business and Technology is well organized with an aggressive Dean, who works full-time as an administrator, and a Marketing Department with special expertise that is able to promote the College - needless to say, competing is difficult without adequate resources and personnel. We estimate that it would take about 30,000 for us to hire a professional marketing firm to develop an appropriate marketing plan for us. We think companies would be impressed if this were funded by our alumni.

Equipping the Alumni Teaching Classroom: It costs about $30,000 every three years for us to upgrade the 30 student stations, teacher station and projector unit in our Teaching Classroom. We would like to find alumni who would provide on the average of $10,000 per year so we might be assured of having up-to-date computers for instructional use. We would name this the Alumni Teaching Classroom and have an appropriate recognition plaque developed for this room to thank you for your support. We think it would set an example and demonstrate our alumni's commitment to their department and gratitude for the education they received.

Funding Freshman Recruiting Scholarships: We were able to provide four $1,000 scholarships to outstanding incoming freshmen for the fall of 2001. We would like to continue this in the coming years to assure that other young men and women have the opportunities to follow in your footsteps and enjoy a career in Computer Science. We think it would make an impression on students we are recruiting if they know these scholarships are provided by alumni. (You might want to consider establishing a scholarship in your own name or in honor of your family, a favorite faculty member or classmate.) We have our first such scholarship - Thanks, Tom Campbell!

JOIN US FOR HOMECOMING!
October 6, 2001

Breakfast 8:00-9:30 -
Third Floor Stright

Parade - 10:00 am
Football Game - 2:00 pm

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PLAN: We want to give the Debugger a new look and include advertising. We will still have Carol's article, an article from the Chair, one from a faculty member, something from the Tompkins' Lab, and something from a student or an alumnus. We do hope that we will have more alumni articles and hope that we can begin to have some articles from some of our intern companies and companies who recruit here. We also hope to reformat it. And we are hoping that we can have enough gifts through companies and alumni sharing information to pay for the cost of it. We have many requests to "post" notices for jobs for both our graduating students and for our alumni. We have never had a way to let companies tell our alumni about positions they may have. This would provide a means to do that and help us out besides.

GIFTS: There will be two levels of suggested giving: Regular and IUP Connection. The IUP Connection suggested gift will be half of the Regular suggested gift and will apply to all alumni and to companies who have donated $1,000 with in the past year. Here is what we are thinking about asking as gifts:

                     Suggested Contribution
 Size             Regular	   IUP Connection

Full Page          $500		    $250
(7"x8.5")

Half Page          $300		    $150
(7"x4.25")

Quarter Page       $200		    $100
(3.5"x4.25")
 

HOMECOMING BREAKFAST

Saturday, October 6, 2001
8:00 am - 9:30 am
Third Floor Stright

Parade - 10:00 am
Football Game - 2:00 pmv
Email Carol - camiller@grove.iup.edu

Or Call - 724-357-2524