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Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 22:28:04 GMTServer: NCSA/1.5Content-type: text/htmlLast-modified: Tue, 20 Dec 1994 20:35:45 GMTContent-length: 17118<html><head><!-- This document was created from RTF source by rtftohtml version2.5 --><title>word issue 3</title></head><body>ACM DIGEST<p> Volume 2 Number 1<u><p> </u><p><b><p>FIRESIDE CHAT</b><p>Owen Mathews '95, Chair of ACM<p><p> During the summer, Dr. Treu and I thought about what ACM has been, and what weboth would like it to become. Of course, there has always been the aspect of aprofessional society attached to the club, and that was an important facet ofour activities. However, in addition to this, we decided that ACM shouldfunction to bring CS majors and prospective majors a little closer together asa group, fostering a sense of community within the department. When Dr. Treu,Randy (my roommate and the ACM treasurer) and I met at the beginning of theFall term, we set goals to accomplish both of these objectives. <p> Naturally, the group is engaged in a professional sense. We have had threeregular monthly meetings (the first Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM), duringwhich we have business items to discuss and a program which follows. At thefirst meeting, Dr. Treu demonstrated the World Wide Web on Mosaic. Our localInternet specialist, he extolled the versatility and usefulness of the Web, andcharged each CS major with the task of creating his or her own home page. Atthe second meeting, Dr. Abernethy talked about his summer research at theNASA/JOVE program in Pasadena, CA. Although the slide projector was behaving alittle too nondeterministically for his tastes, he pulled off a veryinteresting and impressive presentation. Because of its proximity to exams, thethird meeting had no program. <p> In addition to the meetings, we planned to have one speaker per term come togive a CS-related talk. This term, Dr. Barret Bryant from the University ofAlabama at Birmingham came to enlighten us about object-oriented databaseprogramming. The language that he is researching on a grant from IBM is CORAL:Concurrent Object-oriented Relational Access Language. The implications ofobject-oriented databases are far-reaching, as are those of parallel computing.As you might imagine, combining these two paradigms makes for some interestingpossibilities! <p> In an effort to promote non-computer science related activity, we also plannedat least one event per month to be strictly social. In October, we showed thecomputer-themed movie <i>Sneakers</i> to a captive -- if small -- audience. Wealso showed the Simpsons' Halloween episodes (all five!) while partaking ofcandy on the 31st (naturally). We met for doughnuts one night in November totry to break the monotony of studying. In December we presented the classicholiday (and final exam time!) film <i>It's a Wonderful Life</i> for the entirecampus as finals crept near. Dr. Treu is importing this tradition fromVirginia and is determined to make it "stick" here at Furman. <p> I have distributed a survey to the current student group in hopes of getting afeel for everyone's interests, likes and dislikes. To some extent it willdetermine what we will be doing the rest of the year. I'm personally lookingforward to the next couple of terms. To all alumni reading this, please feelfree to write. Let us know what you're doing at graduate school or in jobs,and pass on any helpful advice. (I know I could use some myself!) Meanwhile,all of us ACM folks here at Furman will continue to work this year toward ourgoals. Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Merry Christmas! <p> -- Owen Mathews<b><p><p>UPE CHAPTER GETS OFF THE GROUND</b><p>Alan Shealy '95, UPE President<p><p> In the spring of 1994, the Furman Computer Science Department was granted acharter to the Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honor Society. Upsilon Pi Epsilon wasfounded in 1967 to recognize scholarship and professionalism in the ComputingSciences and is officially recognized by both the ACM and IEEE ComputerSociety.<p> The honor society is international in scope with over 100 chapters andcontinues to expand. The Furman chapter of UPE is the 127th in the world andthe fourth in South Carolina.<p> Our chapter was formed on April 18, 1994 when Robert Roggio performed thecharter ceremony. Dr. Roggio is a professor at the University of North Floridaand a member of the UPE Board. Twelve charter members were subsequentlyelected to membership. Requirements for student membership include:<p>* A major in computer science<p>* A GPA greater than 3.5 in the major<p>* A cumulative GPA greater than 3.0<p>* At least 20 hours completed in the major<p>* At least 64 hours completed overall<p> This fall we have sought to establish UPE within the department and make allstudents in the department aware of its existence. We held a drop-in studybreak/Christmas Party on study day for all of the CS students, faculty andstaff to take a break from preparing for finals. These study breaks will becontinued throughout the year on study day each term. <p> Other activities include dinners for UPE members each term. On February 2,1995, our second annual UPE induction ceremony will be held with anaccompanying banquet. Also, we plan to sponsor a department-wide picnic in thespring.<p> UPE seems well on its way to becoming another part of our ever expanding CSDepartment at Furman.<p><b><p>FROM THE CHAIR</b><p>Dr. Ken Abernethy, Chair, CS Deptartment<p><p> Seasons Greetings! The year 1994 has been an exciting one for the CSDepartment. Of course, the highlight was moving into Riley Hall, but we've hadlots of additional exciting news as well. The completion of Riley Hall hasenergized significant curriculum revision and computing technologyfunding-raising activities this year.<p> The university's increasing strength and reputation in computing led theNational Science Foundation to provide almost a quarter of a million dollarstoward three significant computing initiatives this past year. Last summer,our inaugural National Science Foundation Young Scholars in Computing programbrought 30 talented rising high school juniors and seniors to campus for a fourweek enrichment program. Its success has led to NSF funding for a secondsummer's program for 1995. Additional support for this program from theFrederick W. Symmes Foundation enabled us to expand its scope and include sixSymmes Scholars from the local area.<p> A second NSF grant has provided state-of-the-art multimedia computingfacilities to support significant enhancements to our introductory computingcourses. This project also benefited greatly from grants from the ReevesFoundation and the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation.<p> A third NSF grant, coupled with a donation from Silicon Graphics, Inc., hasfunded an innovative multidisciplinary course (Computer Science, Mathematics,and Physics) in Computational Science. These same three departments areengaged in a curriculum revision and innovation to incorporate multimedia andscientific visualization experiences into their programs. This ambitiousproject received a major boost with funding for $175,000 from the William M.Keck Foundation in June.<p> A proposal pending at the Kresge Foundation would provide the resourcesnecessary to complete this project and challenge Furman to provide a onemillion dollar endowment fund to perpetuate the benefits and achievementsgained. Augmenting this project, Furman received its first NASA JOVE programgrant to support space related research in September. Dr. Porter and I areparticipants and the grant will provide scholarship and summer research stipendsupport for four Furman computing students per year.<p> All of these efforts will have a tremendous impact on the computingexperiences of our students and have provided Furman with a computingenvironment that is exemplar by national standards. We hope all of you willvisit us soon and see some of these changes firsthand. In the meantime, onbehalf of all the faculty I wish you and your family a most joyous holiday!<p> Dr. Abernethy<u><p> </u><p><b><p>Check Out Our New, Improved Web Site!</b><p><b><p> </b>The Furman CS Department presence on the World Wide Web is beingcontinually expanded. Among the recent additions are an electronic version ofthis newsletter, and an opportunity for "visiting" alums to interactivelyregister with us. We're working on an alumni page through which everyone cankeep in touch. This year's Homecoming participants will soon find theirinformation on the page, and we intend to continue expanding it. All alumswith access to the Web are invited to tour our pages(http://s9000.furman.edu/). If any of you have pages of your own, or⌨️ 快捷键说明
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