From kblessing at brynmawr.edu Fri Sep 5 00:20:56 2008 From: kblessing at brynmawr.edu (Kimberly Blessing) Date: Fri Sep 5 00:21:06 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Interested in the Grace Hopper Celebration? In-Reply-To: <69325608.2922931220588012594.JavaMail.root@ganesh.brynmawr.edu> Message-ID: <971411718.2923651220588456945.JavaMail.root@ganesh.brynmawr.edu> Hi everyone, The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing [1] is an annual conference like no other. Named in honor of Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper [2], an early programmer and inventor of the compiler, this conference is truly a celebration of those bold women who paved the way for the rest of us extraordinary ladies who follow in their footsteps -- as well as forge our own paths. The conference was started by Anita Borg [3], the founder of Systers [4], who envisioned "50/50 by 2020" -- that half of all people in computing in the year 2020 would be women. This year's conference will be held October 1-3 at Keystone Resort outside Denver, Colorado. Some of your classmates applied for and have received scholarships to attend! You may also want to attend to proudly represent Bryn Mawr, as well as to get a jump start on grad school research, applying for jobs, networking with other smart women like yourselves, or just generally be inspired by the strength in numbers! (Something which, coming from Bryn Mawr, you'll all be much more familiar with than many others.) And, as if all of the above weren't enough, Fran Allen, recipient of the 2006 A.M. Turing Award [5], is giving the keynote speech this year! Because the conference is fast approaching, I'd like to hold an informational session next week to figure out (a) who's already planning to go, (b) who'd like to go but needs help working out the details, and (c) what we need to be prepared (t-shirts, at the very least!). Plus I can tell you plenty more about the conference format, the typical activities, what to wear and bring, etc. Be sure to check out the photo gallery from last year! [6] Can all interested parties meet on Monday afternoon? Please send me your availability and I'll try to coordinate the best time for everyone. Best, Kimberly [1] http://www.gracehopper.org/ [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper, and be sure to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57bfxsiVTd4 [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Borg [4] http://www.systers.org/ [5] http://awards.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1012327&srt=all&aw=140&ao=AMTURING [6] http://www.flickr.com/groups/ghc2007/pool/ From dblank at brynmawr.edu Mon Sep 8 16:44:48 2008 From: dblank at brynmawr.edu (Douglas S. Blank) Date: Mon Sep 8 16:44:57 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Welcome back! Message-ID: <48C58EC0.4040409@brynmawr.edu> Greetings, computer science-minded earthlings! I'm writing, as chair, to let you know of a few exciting bits: * Kimberly Blessing and Ananya Misra are our new faculty for the semester. Stop by Park 249 and say "Hi!" Kimberly is teaching the Web Design and Development course, and Ananya is teaching one section of the intro course, specializing on Music and Robots. * CS seniors doing research get their own room, computers, and a place to keep your stuff. All seniors should see Ann Klingensmith for a key to your new space. * All CS students now will have access to the CS conference room 24/7. This is a place for you to meet, study, etc. See Ann for a key. * All majors, double-majors, and minors will have a mailbox. Coming soon to the conference room. * CS110 is looking for a few TAs to help with the introductory students. The course is again being taught with robots. There are 50 students registered! If you would like to be a TA please let me know ASAP. * Wanted: CS Reps. Would you like to help CS? We're looking for two students in each 2009 and 2010. If you are a junior or senior and would like to assist as a CS Rep, please let me know. * Going to the Grace Hopper Celebration? See http://gracehopper.org/2008/ and let Kimberly know! kblessing@brynmawr.edu * Interested in joining a group of women interested in exploring CS ideas outside of the classroom? See the Athena Tech group, and let Rebecca Rebhuhn-Glanz know that you are interested. * Other ideas, comments, questions? Feel free to email me, or the entire group right here on this list. This is your list. Welcome back, and I hope that this year is the best yet! -Doug From dblank at brynmawr.edu Wed Sep 10 13:58:50 2008 From: dblank at brynmawr.edu (Douglas S. Blank) Date: Wed Sep 10 13:58:57 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Fridays: Wear your Geek Chic Garb Message-ID: <48C80ADA.20600@brynmawr.edu> Geek Chic: oxymoron? Nah! We invite you (wherever you may be---NYC, Seattle, DC, Bryn Mawr) to wear your best (or worst) geek clothing on Fridays. Henceforth, Fridays shall forever be known as Geek Chic Day! (Interesting follow-up stories on Mondays :) -Doug From dblank at cs.brynmawr.edu Mon Sep 15 10:47:40 2008 From: dblank at cs.brynmawr.edu (Douglas S. Blank) Date: Mon Sep 15 10:47:49 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Biostatistics event: Oct 18 at Johns Hopkins, Maryland Message-ID: <44347.71.59.123.159.1221490060.squirrel@cs.brynmawr.edu> [FYI. Feel free to pass on to others who might be interested. -Doug] On Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 10AM to 3PM the faculty and students of the Department of Biostatistics (www.biostat.jhsph.edu) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (www.jhsph.edu) in Baltimore, Maryland are hosting an event for college juniors and seniors from the Mid-Atlantic area (lunch provided). This event is for students who are considering graduate school and possess strong analytic, mathematical and computational skills and a genuine interest in applying these skills to challenging problems in biology, medicine or public health. During this half-day, students will obtain in-depth information about what we believe is a particularly exciting career option. If interested, please respond to Mary Joy Argo (margo@jhsph.edu) by October 9, 2008 as space is limited. For students traveling from outside the immediate Baltimore area, limited transportation funds will be made available to help defray transportation expenses (prior approval required). Biostatistics develops and applies methods for quantitative research in the health sciences. Our faculty members conduct research across the spectrum of statistical science from foundations of inference to the discovery of new methodology to health applications. Our designs and analytic methods enable health scientists and professionals in academia, government, pharmaceutical companies, medical research organizations and elsewhere to efficiently acquire knowledge and draw valid conclusions from their ever-expanding sources of information. Our Department is a world leader in Biostatistics and our faculty and students have been directly involved in groundbreaking scientific research. Examples of research conducted in our Department include: studying the effect of smoking and environmental exposures on health; evaluating treatments for AIDS; quantifying gene-environment interactions for complex diseases; studying brain matter loss associated with environmental exposures using MRI data; defining the complex biological processes associated with aging; studying infectivity and dynamics of rapidly spreading diseases, etc. Our academic program emphasizes creative and analytic thinking and formal statistical training. Each year, four to eight outstanding students matriculate into our PhD program, drawn from a pool of 150+ applicants. PhD students receive five full years of financial support, including tuition, health insurance and a stipend of over $20K per year. Our PhD graduates obtain positions at leading academic institutions (starting salary~$85-90K), government (starting salary ~ $70-80K), or industry (starting salary~$90-100K). A similar number of students matriculate into our master's program each year which takes one to two years to complete. While there is no direct funding for this program, we do offer a program whereby students can receive wages and staged reimbursement of their tuition outlays by working in our consulting center and committing to employment at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions after graduation (starting salary ~$60K). We encourage you to join us on Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 10AM - 3PM to find out more about this exciting career path. We look forward to your response. Best regards, Daniel Scharfstein Director, Graduate Program Mary Joy Argo Academic Administrator Johns Hopkins Department of Biostatistics 615 North Wolfe Street, Room E3523 Baltimore, MD 21205-2179 USA Phone: 410-614-4454 FAX: 410-955-0958 email: margo@jhsph.edu http://www.biostat.jhsph.edu From dblank at brynmawr.edu Mon Sep 15 11:10:06 2008 From: dblank at brynmawr.edu (Douglas Blank) Date: Mon Sep 15 11:10:13 2008 Subject: [Compsci] TA's for CS110: Schedule and Advice Message-ID: <421965363.5619611221491406691.JavaMail.root@ganesh.brynmawr.edu> [This is really for the TAs, but I thought some of you "old timers" might have some additional advice. -Doug] Attention TAs for CS110: Please add your semester schedule to the page: http://wiki.roboteducation.org/TA_Schedule Let's try to get a good coverage of the hours that students would most likely need help. This could include Sunday evenings, for example. Rules for being an effective TA: 1) Make yourself obvious --- make sure that the students know you are there for their assistance. 2) Never touch their keyboard --- instruct them, but make sure that they can do it themselves. 3) Give them help and hints, not solutions --- get familiar with the textbook and assignments. 4) Keep your hours regular --- so that they know when they can find you. 5) If you don't know an answer, let them know that you don't know --- don't try to fake it, just be honest and get back to them. Feel free to email me. 6) Be patient and encouraging with them --- remember what it was like? Take your time, and they'll get it. 7) If you see common errors that some hints might help a large group, please make a note on the wiki page. I'll direct the students to the TA_Schedule page with your comments. Any one else have other helpful hints? TAs, thank you so much for your help! -Doug From neilbert at brynmawr.edu Mon Sep 15 15:10:56 2008 From: neilbert at brynmawr.edu (Natasha Eilbert) Date: Mon Sep 15 15:11:03 2008 Subject: [Compsci] TA's for CS110: Schedule and Advice In-Reply-To: <421965363.5619611221491406691.JavaMail.root@ganesh.brynmawr.edu> Message-ID: <1354154666.5753601221505856998.JavaMail.root@ganesh.brynmawr.edu> Yes, that advice is really really good. Some more: -Help them, yes, but also let them figure things out on their own. You might want to ask them questions to help lead them in the right direction, and then go away for awhile and let them try to work it out on their own. -Believe in them. They're smart, capable Bryn Mawr women. They can do it! If you believe in them, that will help them to believe in themselves, and make them feel more confident - and actually _be_ better - in CS (and in general). Peace, Natasha ----- Original Message ----- From: "Douglas Blank" To: compsci@emergent.brynmawr.edu Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 11:10:06 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [Compsci] TA's for CS110: Schedule and Advice [This is really for the TAs, but I thought some of you "old timers" might have some additional advice. -Doug] Attention TAs for CS110: Please add your semester schedule to the page: http://wiki.roboteducation.org/TA_Schedule Let's try to get a good coverage of the hours that students would most likely need help. This could include Sunday evenings, for example. Rules for being an effective TA: 1) Make yourself obvious --- make sure that the students know you are there for their assistance. 2) Never touch their keyboard --- instruct them, but make sure that they can do it themselves. 3) Give them help and hints, not solutions --- get familiar with the textbook and assignments. 4) Keep your hours regular --- so that they know when they can find you. 5) If you don't know an answer, let them know that you don't know --- don't try to fake it, just be honest and get back to them. Feel free to email me. 6) Be patient and encouraging with them --- remember what it was like? Take your time, and they'll get it. 7) If you see common errors that some hints might help a large group, please make a note on the wiki page. I'll direct the students to the TA_Schedule page with your comments. Any one else have other helpful hints? TAs, thank you so much for your help! -Doug _______________________________________________ CompSci mailing list CompSci@emergent.brynmawr.edu http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/mailman/listinfo/compsci From rrebhuhngl at brynmawr.edu Mon Sep 15 16:18:35 2008 From: rrebhuhngl at brynmawr.edu (Rebecca Rebhuhn-Glanz) Date: Mon Sep 15 16:18:42 2008 Subject: [Compsci] TA's for CS110: Schedule and Advice In-Reply-To: <421965363.5619611221491406691.JavaMail.root@ganesh.brynmawr.edu> References: <421965363.5619611221491406691.JavaMail.root@ganesh.brynmawr.edu> Message-ID: <788b0da90809151318p1627b85dp26694c274b98519e@mail.gmail.com> I figured I could do Mondays, 7:30-9:30pm, and Wednesdays, 2-4pm. Is this about the right number/spacing of hours? I can add Friday afternoon if I need to, and Monday afternoon after fall break. On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 11:10 AM, Douglas Blank wrote: > [This is really for the TAs, but I thought some of you "old timers" might > have some additional advice. -Doug] > > Attention TAs for CS110: Please add your semester schedule to the page: > > http://wiki.roboteducation.org/TA_Schedule > > Let's try to get a good coverage of the hours that students would most > likely need help. This could include Sunday evenings, for example. > > Rules for being an effective TA: > > 1) Make yourself obvious --- make sure that the students know you are there > for their assistance. > 2) Never touch their keyboard --- instruct them, but make sure that they > can do it themselves. > 3) Give them help and hints, not solutions --- get familiar with the > textbook and assignments. > 4) Keep your hours regular --- so that they know when they can find you. > 5) If you don't know an answer, let them know that you don't know --- don't > try to fake it, just be honest and get back to them. Feel free to email me. > 6) Be patient and encouraging with them --- remember what it was like? Take > your time, and they'll get it. > 7) If you see common errors that some hints might help a large group, > please make a note on the wiki page. I'll direct the students to the > TA_Schedule page with your comments. > > Any one else have other helpful hints? > > TAs, thank you so much for your help! > > -Doug > _______________________________________________ > CompSci mailing list > CompSci@emergent.brynmawr.edu > http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/mailman/listinfo/compsci > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/pipermail/compsci/attachments/20080915/281625fe/attachment.htm From dblank at cs.brynmawr.edu Mon Sep 22 11:17:03 2008 From: dblank at cs.brynmawr.edu (Douglas S. Blank) Date: Mon Sep 22 11:17:09 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Shoestring Software Engineering: Lessons from a Part-time Startup Message-ID: <48D7B6EF.3030303@cs.brynmawr.edu> Villanova University Department of Computing Sciences presents a Colloquium by David Cassel, Lockheed Martin Title: Shoestring Software Engineering: Lessons from a Part-time Startup Abstract: For about a year now, I've been running a startup part time while working at a much larger company as my full time job. In that time, I've learned some good lessons about software engineering, in terms of both process and technology. This talk will describe the impact design debt had on the development of our system and how applying the model-view-controller pattern helped us pay back the debt. I'll also introduce Scrum, an Agile methodology for project management, and discuss how I've applied it to a small team of distributed, part time colleagues. Biography: David Cassel graduated from Villanova in 1994, before getting a Master's degree in Computer Science from Northeastern University in Boston. Since 1996, his career as a software developer includes working for three companies in three different industries, and using several programming languages. In 2007, he dropped out of the Computer Science PhD program at Drexel University to found Community Trove, LLC, to begin work on http://www.trovz.com. David wears several hats for his own company while continuing to work full time at Lockheed Martin. Date: September 29, 2008 Time: 4:30 p.m. Location: Mendel Science Center 102 Refreshments and conversation will be shared immediately after the Colloquium in MSC 159. See http://csc.villanova.edu/events/colloquia for more information. From dblank at cs.brynmawr.edu Thu Sep 25 18:09:12 2008 From: dblank at cs.brynmawr.edu (Douglas S. Blank) Date: Thu Sep 25 18:09:21 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Install party, Friday (tomorrow) 4 - 6pm Message-ID: <42943.71.59.123.159.1222380552.squirrel@cs.brynmawr.edu> Techno Mawters, Stop by Park 231 tomorrow between 4 and 6 if you are having any issues installing Myro on your laptop (or want to install an "alternative operating system"). Pizza at 5pm. Perhaps some Conchords, Arrested Development, or Firefly? Bring your DVDs! The humans are dead: binary solo... -dsb From kblessing at brynmawr.edu Thu Sep 25 23:52:08 2008 From: kblessing at brynmawr.edu (Kimberly Blessing) Date: Thu Sep 25 23:52:14 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Install party, Friday (tomorrow) 4 - 6pm In-Reply-To: <42943.71.59.123.159.1222380552.squirrel@cs.brynmawr.edu> Message-ID: <2072292389.8836841222401128090.JavaMail.root@ganesh.brynmawr.edu> And if you're swinging by Park 231, check out the 25 year old computer in the far corner! It works, so turn it on and give it a try! -k ----- Original Message ----- From: "Douglas S. Blank" To: compsci@emergent.brynmawr.edu Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:09:12 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [Compsci] Install party, Friday (tomorrow) 4 - 6pm Techno Mawters, Stop by Park 231 tomorrow between 4 and 6 if you are having any issues installing Myro on your laptop (or want to install an "alternative operating system"). Pizza at 5pm. Perhaps some Conchords, Arrested Development, or Firefly? Bring your DVDs! The humans are dead: binary solo... -dsb _______________________________________________ CompSci mailing list CompSci@emergent.brynmawr.edu http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/mailman/listinfo/compsci From dxu at cs.brynmawr.edu Fri Sep 26 18:16:44 2008 From: dxu at cs.brynmawr.edu (Dianna Xu) Date: Fri Sep 26 19:03:19 2008 Subject: [Compsci] ACM international programming contest Message-ID: Code monkeys, The annual ACM programming contest is hosting its regional on Oct 25. It's a hectic but fun experience that you should experience! The general website is here: http://cm2prod.baylor.edu/login.jsf And the regional website: http://www.radford.edu/~acm/midatl/ Teams are made up of 3 students, but we will support multiple teams. It will probably take all day on the 25th, with travelling. If you are interested, please contact me ASAP. The registration deadline for teams is Oct 1. Dianna -- Dianna Xu Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science Bryn Mawr College 101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 (610) 526-6502 www.cs.brynmawr.edu/~dxu From dblank at cs.brynmawr.edu Mon Sep 29 19:55:13 2008 From: dblank at cs.brynmawr.edu (Douglas S. Blank) Date: Mon Sep 29 19:55:21 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Open Source Software: The Who, What, Where, When and Why Message-ID: <40699.71.59.123.159.1222732513.squirrel@cs.brynmawr.edu> Villanova University Department of Computing Sciences presents a Colloquium by Jason Dobies, Red Hat Title: Open Source Software: The Who, What, Where, When and Why Abstract: The software industry is experiencing a major shift in mentality. A landscape that was once dominated by closed, proprietary systems is now rapidly being populated by software supporting open APIs and extensibility. Free, open source software components are being used in all domains, ranging from students to start up businesses to large scale enterprises. The typical stereotype is that open source software is written by an average geek in a garage. However, as developers begin to adopt the open source mentality, companies such as Red Hat and MySQL are achieving success in basing their revenue on an open source model. Even outside of these companies and their employees, many open source projects develop a vibrant community of voluntary contributors. This talk will focus on describing the open source movement and its beliefs. Included will be a look at both one established revenue model as well as first hand experience on migrating a closed source project into an open source community, using the JBoss Operations Network and its open source platform RHQ. Biography: Jason Dobies graduated from Villanova in 2001, receiving the Blaise Pascal Medallion in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics. He went on to get a Master's in Software Engineering from Drexel University in 2007 with a concentration in User Interfaces. He is currently a full-time employee of Red Hat as a Senior Software Engineer on the Red Hat Network Satellite project along with its open source counterpart Spacewalk. Additionally, Jason is employed as an adjunct professor at Villanova, currently teaching Algorithms and Data Structures II. Date: October 7, 2008 Time: 4:30 p.m. Location: Mendel Science Center 154 Refreshments and conversation will be shared immediately after the Colloquium in MSC 159. See http://csc.villanova.edu/events/colloquia for more information. From sprashad at brynmawr.edu Tue Sep 30 02:44:12 2008 From: sprashad at brynmawr.edu (Shikha Prashad) Date: Tue Sep 30 02:44:19 2008 Subject: [Compsci] Robots Byte In presentation Message-ID: <1547ec8a0809292344u74937ae6l99e54fe5c8f390c8@mail.gmail.com> Ever wondered why there were so many children running around Park 231 on Friday afternoons last semester? Come find out. *What*: Last year we were involved in a project to teach computing to middle school students. We are presenting our research at prestigious Grace Hopper Conference for women in computing this week. Come hear it first! We will be practicing our presentation before our final one on Thursday and we would love to get feedback. *When*: Tuesday, September 30 at 4:15pm. No Bryn Mawr time, please! *Where*: Park 231 (CS 110 lab) *Why*: To support us! It should only be about 30mins. We will be practicing keeping our time limits in mind. Come. Learn. Question. - Marwa '09 & Shikha '09 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/pipermail/compsci/attachments/20080930/9c8cb639/attachment.htm