Jeff Coffin embeds knowledge in embedded systems talk at Pace University

The Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University welcomed a guest to the Tech Leadership Series for a discussion with Seidenberg students.

On Thursday, October 25, the Software and Systems Engineer at AJA Video Systems, Inc., Jeff Coffin, spoke on the New York City campus for a discussion on the topic, “Embedded Linux: What the Heck is it?” Students had the opportunity to dive into what an embedded system is all about with Jeff. The talk took the form of an interview, where Jeff was posed questions by a very special Seidenberg student – Charlotte Coffin, aka his daughter!

Jeff, current AJA Software and Systems Engineer as well as former American Airlines Software and Systems Engineer, specializes in the operating system known as Linux. The operating system runs most devices that people use every day along with running most of the internet. With an industry professional who has vast knowledge of such an integrative piece of technology, it gave students an opportunity to use critical and creative thinking skills.

Students also received the opportunity to speak with Jeff about his many years of experience in the technology industry. Networking also occurred at this event located in the Seidenberg lounge.

Jeff Coffin and daughter Charlotte Coffin – a Seidenberg student superstar – talk tech

If you missed out on this event, no worries! We have many more speakers lined up for the rest of the Leadership in Technology series.

November 14 – Peggy Yao

Goldstein Academic Center, 12:00pm

Tech Collective Lunch & Learn: Mindfulness for Professional & Personal Success

Wednesday, Nov. 14, the Westchester campus is hosting another segment of the leadership series starting at 12:00pm at the Seidenberg Lounge in Goldstein Academic Center. Special guest, Peggy Yao, will be a speaker at Seidenberg Tech Collective’s lunch and learn. Her speech will be dedicated to the topic, “Mindfulness for Professional & Personal Success,” a topic not often associated with the technology industry. Students will be able to learn tips for a more mindful outlook, network with Yao, and free lunch is, as always, provided. RSVP here to attend.

November 28—Merin Joseph

Goldstein Academic Center, 12:00pm

The Seidenberg Tech Leadership Series

The next event in the series will be on Nov. 28 at the Westchester campus at the Seidenberg Lounge at 12:00pm. Merin Joseph will be giving insider experience from her position as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at WESTMED Practice Partners and WESTMED Medical Group. Students can attend this event to get networking experience and tips on how to succeed in their chosen fields. RSVP here to attend.

December 12 –Daniel Barchi

163 William St., 12:00pm

The Seidenberg Tech Leadership Series

The last event in the series will be on Dec. 12 on the New York City campus at the Seidenberg lounge at 12:00pm. The last series speaker, Daniel Barchi, will be giving the inside scoop on his career goals and experiences as Chief Information Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian. Students can join in on this final event to get networking experience and tips on how to succeed in their chosen fields. RSVP here to attend.

We hope to see you at these events for the Seidenberg Technology Leadership series!

Messy, fun, and rewarding: CIS 102Y Design Thinking and Innovation

A new course is coming to Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems for students who want to be in the room where design and innovation happen.

In Spring 2019, Pace students have the opportunity to take the new course Design Thinking and Innovation. This project-based learning course is offered on both the Westchester and NYC campuses. According to Professor Andreea Cotoranu, who teaches the course on the Westchester Campus, “innovation is something everyone seems to strive for these days. Through this course, students will learn the tools that can help unlock and fuel their creative problem-solving potential, all while working together on problems that matter to them. Just like the creative process, this course experience will be messy, fun, and rewarding.”

Course Description

This project-based learning course introduces students to innovation and problem solving using the design-thinking framework. The course emphasizes complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, communication and teamwork.  The course is a corner stone experience for students in their first or second year at Pace University and is open to all undergraduate majors.

As part of this project-based learning course, students engage in a series of exercises that build upon each other to gain an understanding of the design thinking process including:

  • Gaining empathy to define a problem;
  • Brainstorming to generate creative solutions;
  • Prototyping as a way to represent one or more solutions to show to others;
  • Testing prototypes with the user for feedback.

Students apply the knowledge acquired through these exercises to a team-based project. Projects are based on problems posed by industry clients. Industry clients may include not-for-profit or for-profit organizations. Project deliverables include a mid and end of semester presentation, an electronic or physical product prototype, and written project reflection reports.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • recognize the value of creative thinking;
  • give examples of innovative ideas;
  • apply human-centered design techniques to define a problem;
  • employ ideation techniques to generate creative solutions;
  • recognize the benefits of engaging with students of diverse backgrounds and experiences in the formation of ideas for project solutions;
  • use data synthesis and idea generation to refine problems;
  • prototype, test and iterate a solution with user feedback;
  • use prototyping and storytelling to pitch a solution;
  • demonstrate teamwork in interdisciplinary and self-directed teams

Professor of Information Technology, Dr. Jim Lawler, who teaches the course on the NYC campus, described the course as “an exciting and fun opportunity for students to learn a highly marketable methodology prevalent in entrepreneurial innovative organizations.”

Through this course students will learn about project-based experiences, in particular those offered through the NYC Design Factory.

About NYC Design Factory

The NYC Design Factory is a hub for innovation and creative problem solving housed within the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University. The NYC Design Factory welcomes students of all majors. The most popular courses include Product Development Project (PDP),  Product Innovation Project (PIP), and Challenge Based Innovation (CBI). As part of these courses, students travel to Helsinki (Finland), Graz (Austria) and Geneva (Switzerland) to develop solutions for challenges posed by industry clients. These courses link technology, production, and marketing  Check out the NYC Design Factory website to learn more about our offerings. Are you looking for an exciting course to register for in Spring ’19?  Look no further – register for CIS 102Y Design Thinking and Innovation today!

Peggy Yao inspires mindfulness through a discussion and lunch at Pace University on November 14

The Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University is welcoming another guest to the Leadership in Technology Series, so get excited.

On Wednesday, November 14, Peggy Yao, the first Mandarin-speaking Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher in the Tri-State area, is coming to the Westchester campus for a Tech Collective Lunch and Learn on “Mindfulness for Professional and Personal Success.” Peggy will be on campus to meet students and impact our School’s community in a positive way.

Yao, an alumna of the Pace University, attended several classes in Pace University’s Lubin School of Business Masters of Business Administration program from 1979 to 1981. She used her learning experiences to grow a lifelong dedication to community service and charity. As an MSBR teacher in Chinese schools and senior centers, local libraries, and the Tzu-Chi Foundation—of which she is an active member—Yao has served the community with her approach on growing stronger personal physical and mental health.

This event comes at a perfect time as the stressful season of midterms has just finished up. Students will have the opportunity to dive into a conversation about mindfulness and mental health with Yao over food provided by the School.

The event will take place at 12:00pm on the third floor at the Goldstein Academic Center. Students will have the opportunity to network and chat with Yao in the Seidenberg lounge.

RSVP here to confirm your attendance.

Pace University concludes sixth successful year of STEM Camp

The sixth annual STEM Collaboratory NYC’s STEM Camp at Pace has concluded after two weeks of intensive summer tech-related fun. Hosted and run at the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, the camp introduced participants to tailored coding programs, field trips to top tech companies, and much more.

From Monday, July 2 through Friday, July 13, 2018, high school students from the tri-state area descended upon the Seidenberg School to learn how to code Python, data science, data visualization, design thinking – to name just a few. Workshops run by Seidenberg faculty Christelle Scharff and Frank Parisi offered an in depth exploration of hot tech areas, while Seidenberg student mentors led NYC Design Factory soft skills development events.

Getting to know you, getting to learn all about you… one of our icebreaker exercises that totally worked the way we meant it to and didn’t end up with twine everywhere.

Students weren’t restricted to the four walls of One Pace Plaza, however – several organized field trips included visits to Google for a tour and panel discussion, as well as a trip to local startup AppFigures. As is STEM Camp tradition, the cohort also enjoyed a boat ride to Governor’s Island to visit Billion Oyster Project (during an intense summer heatwave, so ice cream may have been involved).

Science takes safety seriously! STEM Camp visited Governor’s Island to work with Billion Oyster Project.

The Seidenberg School runs STEM Camp in partnership with the School of Education via a grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). As part of our initiative to bring technology education to the high school classroom as well as our established college experience, STEM Camp was created to bring gifted high school students to Pace University for an unforgettable summer experience that encourages participants to pursue STEM degrees.

The camp closed out with project presentations from the students, which we streamed live on Facebook.

We’d like to thank Dr. Lauren Birney from the School of Ed, Dean Jonathan Hill, and our amazing team at Seidenberg who made STEM Camp possible: professors Christelle Scharff and Frank Parisi, students Vivian Ng, Allan Krasner, Sven Nussgruber, Jackson Bynes, Guillermo Schneider, Aditee Verma, Anna Marinina, Milind Ikke, and Seidenberg staff lead, Melanie Madera.

Student mentors Sven Nussgruber, Jackson Bynes, Allan Krasner, Guillermo Schneider, Anna Marinina, and Aditee Verma, making it happen! Not pictured: Vivian Ng.

Stay tuned for a video highlighting the best moments from this year’s camp!

Read about previous STEM camps.

Fifth STEM Camp kicks off at Pace University’s Seidenberg School

On Friday, July 7th, 2017, the 5th annual STEM Collaboratory NYC’s STEM Camp kicked off as a cohort of bright and ambitious high school students walked through the Seidenberg School’s doors.

The 26 students, who were carefully selected from 109 applications, will spend the next two weeks with us for an intensive summer experience that will include delving into programming with python, understanding data science, using design thinking approaches for projects, and having massive amounts of fun!

On Day 1, the day began with a brief intro to camp and the Seidenberg School. Program manager Olga Bogomolova got everyone acquainted with an opening presentation and the infamous name game, where everybody cements one another’s names in their heads through a creative repetition game. It works!

Dr. Lauren Birney welcomes our STEM Campers for 2017!
Dr. Lauren Birney welcomes our STEM Campers for 2017!

Dr. Lauren Birney of Pace University’s School of Education (a partner in STEM Camp!) greeted the students. “You are the cream that rises to the top,” she told them, adding that they should be proud they were selected for the program. Dr. Birney added that the program would be challenging, however “every challenge we get is another opportunity to get further in our careers.”

Students spent the afternoon getting an introduction to python programming language with Dr. Christelle Scharff, chair of the computer science department.

STEM camp is organized and managed by Olga Bogomolova and offers Seidenberg and fellow Pace students the opportunity to mentor campers individually and in groups. The following two weeks will include more coding, project-based learning, a trip to the Billion Oyster Project on Governor’s Island to learn data analytics, museum visits, and more. Stay tuned to hear all about it and check out Seidenberg social media for pics!

NSF Billion Oyster Project video features Pace!

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a cool new video featuring the Billion Oyster Project (BOP) and Pace University! The Billion Oyster Project is a community of students, teachers, scientists, volunteers, businesses, and schools. Its goal? Getting down and dirty to conduct research and restore the New York Harbor back to its oyster-inhabited glory. With a $5 million grant from the NSF, the project leaders hope to inspire students, specifically middle school students, to help drive the restoration.

At Pace University, the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (CCERS) and BOP Fellowship trains teachers and educators how to engage students in environmental science and restoration ecology. In 2016, our annual STEM Collaboratory camp teamed up with BOP for an exciting two weeks of research, problem solving, and design thinking. We taught campers HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Google Charts to create a helpful solution.

The NSF video features our very own professor Lauren Birney, the director of Pace University’s STEM Collaboratory. “We’re creating this smart and connected community here in New York City, but then allowing that to grow into other communities,” Birney said. She hopes to build the Billion Oyster Project by continuing to target local middle schools in low-income neighborhoods where students are underrepresented in STEM fields.

Participants aren’t just making new friends, they’re also engaging in STEM activities while restoring the ecosystem in their own backyard! Hands on work teaches students how to measure oysters, test water samples, and other cool activities that keep them active and constantly contributing. The Billion Oyster Project’s website keeps track of teachers, students and volunteers’ work with an interactive map.

Learn more about the 2016 STEM Collaboratory NYC experience, or go further back and check out our Summer Scholars program’s awesome experience with the Billion Oyster Project in 2015!

Skip to toolbar