Department of Computer Science

A new introductory computer science class will be offered in Fall 2012. The new class, CSC 100: The Beauty and Joy of Computing, is designed for beginning computer science majors and for non-majors who want to learn about the fundamentals of computing, with a focus on student creativity and a high-level view of the breadth of computer science. The class will include programming in a visual animation-based programming environment, discussions of the impact of computing in changing the world, and includes topics as varied as graphics, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and more. More information, including a detailed syllabus, can be viewed at the class information page.

The UNCG Department of Computer Science and the UNCG ACM Student Chapter will be hosting a programming contest for area high school students on Saturday, April 21. Students may compete in teams of two or three, with one computer per team. During the contest, teams will be given a set of five or six problems that are to be solved by writing a program (in Java or C++) — the team that correctly solves the most problems in the least amount of time will be the winner. For more information about the contest, including sample problems and instructions for registering a team, email Prof. Tate at srtate@uncg.edu.

UNCG has proposed establishment the AToMS (Achieving Together in Mathematics and Science) "learning community" specifically for first-year students interested in majoring in Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics. Students in these majors take many of the same classes during their freshman year, and a learning community groups students together into a "cohort" so that they build a peer support group for these courses, establish a sense of community with like-minded students, and participate in activities that connect classes and learning across the different disciplines. If you are starting at UNCG in Fall 2012 as a Computer Science major, this is a great opportunity — you can find more information about this learning community, including how and when to apply, at the AToMS web site.

The UNCG STARS Leadership Corps is organizing a "Computing Day" event to be held at UNCG on December 3, 2011, with generous sponsorship from the Greensboro Jaycees. Area high school students are invited to come out for fun computing activities using SCRATCH and WebStarts for Web Design. Following these activities will be two competitive rounds to showcase your awesome skills using these programs, with prizes for the winners! There will also be lunch provided and a keynote speaker who will talk about opportunities in the tech world, and how to find a good path to meet your own interests. High school teachers are also invited to come join other area teachers in activities organized by the CSTA (Computer Science Teacher's Association) to share tips on teaching computing and programming topics, and to learn what's new in computing education. For more information and to register for the student events, visit the STARS Leadership Corps event page, and if you are a teacher that would like to register for teacher events please visit the CSTA event page to register. (See also the UNCG Press Release.)

Three new courses have been added to the Computer Science class schedule for Spring 2012. Visiting faculty member Mike Wilson will be offering CSC 539 - Introduction to Compiler Design - a course listed in our catalog that we have not been able to offer in many years, and will also be offering a special topics class (CSC 495/663) on "Overlay Networks and Network Innovation". Another special topics class, CSC 495 - Problem Solving and Programming, will be offered by Prof. Tate. For more information about these classes, please see the descriptions on our Spring 2012 Special Classes page.

On Saturday, March 17, 2012, computer science students Lance Everhart, Luke Eldridge, and Dayyan Borhanian took first place in the Triad Regional Programming Contest hosted by NC A&T University. Thirteen teams from 8 schools competed at the contest, and this UNCG team was the only one to complete all nine problems during the 4 hour competition. They narrowly defeated the second place team from High Point University, who completed 8 of the 9 problems. Everhart and Borhanian were also on the team that took first place at the 2011 competition, and this year's win extends UNCG's 1st-place winning streak at the Triad Programming Contest to three years.

Computer Science Master's student Tejaswi Panchagnula presented his project "Evaluation of intrusion detection datasets for accuracy with respect to relevance feature selection," supervised by Dr. Suthaharan, at the Sigma Xi 2011 Annual Meeting and International Research Conference at the Raleigh Convention Center. The event was well-attended, and Tejaswi had the opportunity to describe his work to many interested attendees.

Dr. Shan Suthaharan has been elected to the membership of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. For over 120 years, scientists and engineers from a wide range of disciplines – including over 200 Nobel Laureates – have united under the auspices of Sigma Xi as companions in zealous research. All members of Sigma Xi pledge "to encourage original investigation in science, to foster companionship and cooperation among scientists, and to maintain honor, integrity and honest in all scientific activities."

Dr. Jing Deng visited Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden June 2-14, 2011. In his research visit to the School of Electrical Engineering hosted by Dr. Panos Papadimitratos, Dr. Deng gave two seminars on subjects of wireless security and wireless networks, titled "Balancing Transmission Redundancy and Robustness in the Wireless Network Key Establishment Process" and "Analyzing Multi-Channel MAC Schemes in Wireless Networks," respectively. Dr. Deng also interacted with several faculty members and graduate students on research problems related to wireless network, information assurance, and secure social networks.

A reception was held May 6, 2011 honoring Computer Science Graduates, and we saw our largest graduating class in several years. In total for the 2010-2011 academic year, 31 students earned computer science degrees (18 earning a Bachelor of Science, and 13 earning a Master of Science). The reception was a great time, bringing together faculty, students, family, and friends. Two students were recognized with awards: Ben Wyatt received the "Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award," and Xiaocheng Zou received the "Outstanding Graduate Student Award." For more pictures from the graduation reception, see the PicasaWeb photo album. We know all of our graduates will go far and wish them the best for the future!