ENROLLMENT
On January 7, we started our spring semester, and CSE again saw a significant increase in its
enrollments. We have more than 1,500 students in CSE (or 25.8% of the total enrollment
at SPSU), up from just under 1,300 last spring, or 23.5% of SPSU enrollment. Obviously,
this increase in enrollment has forced us to be more flexible in finding instructors
for our various classes, and I wanted to express my deep appreciation to the full-time
faculty for their willingness to take on higher teaching loads, to the department
chairs for their tireless work to find adjunct faculty and to our new and returning
adjunct faculty for their contribution to our programs.
MSIT AGAIN NATIONALLY RANKED
We received news that the MSIT program has again been ranked among the top 20 best
online programs, this time in two separate rankings.
The Best Schools (http://www.thebestschools.org/blog/2012/10/29/20-online-master-degree-programs/) ranked our program 13th in the nation, based on the quality of the program, the
types of courses offered, the faculty, and reputation, including the school’s reputation
for effectively providing online degree programs.
US News and World Report ranked our online MSIT program even higher, at number 11
in the nation (http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education). US News and World Report bases its ranking on student engagement (how well a program
gives students the opportunity to interact with faculty and other students, and how
well a program creates experiences that are rewarding enough for students to stay
enrolled and complete their degree), faculty credentials and training, student services,
and admissions selectivity.
Interestingly, only four programs appear in the top 20 in both rankings and only one,
namely the Master of Professional Studies in Information Sciences offered at Penn
State World Campus, is ranked higher than our MSIT in both.
SPSU TO HOST GLOBAL GAME JAM
SPSU will again be the Georgia host of the Global Game Jam. The Global Game Jam is
a worldwide event in which groups of people gather all around the world to spend 48
hours creating computer and board games. The event will be held from Friday, January 25 to Sunday, January 27, and we are expecting 200+ people to attend.
Students in this year's jam will also be able to collaborate with audio specialist
from across the United States. In addition to students from Berklee College of Music
in Boston, who participated in previous local game jams and who will now also participate
in the global game jam to compose musical scores and design the overall audio experience,
we will also welcome students of Ellen McClain (the voice of GLaDOS in the Portal
series). They will contribute their voice talents.
We have already secured sponsorship from GreenWave Technology (www.GreenWaveControl.com), Area 41 Customs (www.Area41Customs.com) and the Mozilla Foundation (http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/), and I want to thank our sponsors for their support.
More details about the event are available at http://games.spsu.edu/gamejam.
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS PART I
Despite the high teaching load, CSE faculty have published a significant number of
papers over the last six or seven months. Since there is insufficient space to include
all in this month’s Dean’s Update, I include about half of the list in this month’s
Dean’s Update, and the other half in next month’s:
Barham, W., Preston, J., and Werner, J., “Using a Virtual Gaming Environment in Strength
of Materials Laboratory”, Proceedings of the 2012 ASCE International Workshop on Computing
in Civil Engineering, Clearwater, FL, June 2012.
Barham, W., Preston, J., and Werner, J., “Web-Based Virtual Strength of Materials
Laboratory”, Proceedings of the 2012 Polytech Summit, Marietta, GA, June 2012.
Casper, E., Hung, C-C., Jung, E. and Yang, M., “A Quantum-Modeled K-Means Clustering
Algorithm for Multi-band Image Segmentation,” Proceedings of ACM Research in Applied
Computation Symposium (ACM RACS 2012), San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 2012.
Choi, S., Eom, H. and Jung, E., “Securing Wireless Sensor Networks Against Broadcast
Service Attacks,” International Journal of Computers and Applications, pp. 185-191,
Vol., 34, No. 3, 2012.
Guo, M., Bhattacharya, P., Yang, M., and Qian, K., and L. Yang, L. “Work in Progress:
Real World Relevant Security Labware for Mobile Threat Analysis and Protection Experience”,
2012 IEEE International Conference on Frontiers in Education (FIE 2012), Oct. 3 – 6, 2012, Seattle, WA.
Halstead-Nussloch, R., “Embedding Ergonomics Education: A Case Study from Information
Technology”. Poster presentation to the IIE Applied Ergonomics Conference, Nashville,
TN, March 26-29, 2012.
Halstead-Nussloch, R., “Electronic Citizenship at Southern Polytechnic – An Update”.
Presentation to the Annual Meeting of the American Democracy Project, San Antonio,
TX, June 7-9, 2012.
Halstead-Nussloch, R.,“Electronic Citizenship: The Luster and the Tarnish”. Presentation
to the Georgia Governor’s Teaching Fellows, University of Georgia,May 16, 2012.
Halstead-Nussloch, R., Carpenter, W. and Szafran, Z., “Good Design is Good Citizenship”.
Presentation to the 4th Annual Polytechnic Summit, Southern Polytechnic State University, June 6-8, 2012.
Halstead-Nussloch, R., Carpenter, W. and Szafran, Z., “Good Design is Good Citizenship”.
Presentation to the Annual Meeting of the American Democracy Project, San Antonio,
TX, June 7-9, 2012.
Halstead-Nussloch, R, and Karam. O., “Funding Computing Instruction from Water: Combining
Sweat Equity with Open Source and Other Free Tools.” Journal of Computing Sciences
in Colleges 27.2 (2011): 224-27. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.
Horowitz, D. and Zhang, C. (2012), “Streamlining Electronic Health Records and Healthcare
Information Systems Implementation for General Practice: One Clinic's Experience”,
Southern Association for Information Systems Conference, SAIS 2012, Atlanta, GA.
Hung, C-C., Jung, E., Li, Z., Kuo, B. and Liu, W., “An Algorithm Based Artificial
Immune Systems for Pattern and Image Classification”, Proceedings of IEEE International
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), poster, Munich, Germany, July 2012.
Jung, E., Hung, C-C., Choi S. and Yang M., “An Efficient Locking and Unlocking Method
of Sequential Systems,” Proceedings of ACM Research in Applied Computation Symposium
(ACM RACS 2012), San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 2012.
Karam, O. “Linux on ARM and the Raspberry Pi”, Presentation at Atlanta Linux Enthusiast,
Central on Sep 20 2012.
Peltsverger S., and Zheng G. "Defining a Framework for Teaching Privacy in Information
Assurance Curriculum", In Proceedings of 16th National Colloquium for Information
Systems Security Education, Lake Buena Vista, FL, June 11-13 2012.
Pournaghshband, H., “Merits of 'Good' Homework Assignments", Proceedings of International
Conference on Learning and Administration in Higher Education, May 2012.
Pournaghshband, Collins, Hojjati, Chan, and Movafaghi, “Impact of Virtualization Technology
in the IT Classroom", Proceedings of the International Conference on Frontiers in
Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering, July 2012.
TRAVEL TO CAMEROON AND GHANA
I will be traveling to Cameroon to resolve some issues that have arisen in the joint
program that we offer with the P.K. Fokam Institute of Excellence in Yaoundé. Under
this program, students take the first three years of our Bachelor of Science in Computer
Science in Yaoundé before completing their last year in Marietta.
I will also visit Ghana in order to make it possible for Ghanaian students to complete
the MSIT online. Since we cannot assume that students in Ghana have the required
Internet speed at their home, we are partnering with local companies and a local university
to set up facilities at their locations. Dr Patrick Bobbie from the Department of
Computer Science and Software Engineering did most of the groundwork for this initiative,
and I wanted to express my appreciation to him. I will obviously keep you apprised
of any developments.