students – Page 9 – Seidenberg School News

Peta Clarke on the Frontier for Change

Peta Clarke, a Seidenberg graduate student halfway through her MS in Information Systems, also heavily involved in the program Black Girls CODE (BGC – pictured on the right at Google HQ), is also a Senior I.T. Analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In this role, she works as Web Developer, Database Programmer, Software Tester, as well as Business Analyst or Project Manager if need be. Her main responsibility is assuring the quality of Fedwire, the premier electronic payments and securities transfer services that banks, businesses, and government agencies rely on for mission-critical, same-day transactions.

Black Girls CODE, the organization that has worked with Pace on many occasions, was founded in 2011 and has already:

Held classes and workshops for over 2,000 girls in mobile app development, game design, Web development, robotics, and other computer programming topics
Scaled rapidly, building chapters in seven different states in the US and one chapter in Johannesburg, South Africa
Has received requests from more than 80 cities worldwide to bring this innovative program to their communities.

BGC works towards empowering girls of color from ages 7 to 17. The early exposure to S.T.E.M. fields, programming languages, technology mentors, and leadership activities will give the girls tools they need to create their own futures, while providing a network of like-minded peers.

Clarke’s work at her bank and her work at BGC have both come together for February, in celebration of Black History Month. The Bank has selected BGC as its service project for February, meaning that 25 students from BGC were invited to the Bank and given an overview of the NY Fed and how the Bank uses technology for daily operation. Bank employees then gave valuable career advice to the students. The event was a success, leaving the students with all kinds of ideas and newfound interests in technological careers of banking.

We asked Peta how Pace has helped her in her goals and she brought up Dr. Jonathan Hill’s support. She was working on launching the NY Chapter of BGC, and through Dr. Hill, Pace played host to BGC’s first Game Design workshop this past August. Since then, four other workshops have been held, and more are scheduled to happen.

As we segue from Black History Month into Women’s History Month — we felt the need to ask Peta about her thoughts on gender in the technological field. She responded with the idea that “any imbalance places limits on the potential of a community.” She praises the unique perspectives women bring to a group that would be absent among only men. Then, gender aside, Peta states that “we need more people in tech, period!” Computing-related jobs are on a steep incline, and the computing graduates of the U.S. aren’t even filling a third of those jobs.

The Vision of Spring ’14: The View from Week 1

The first week of Spring semester 2014 has now come and gone, and we all have a better picture of what to expect in the upcoming months of the semester. Around Seidenberg HQ, there is a buzz from students who eagerly anticipate an exciting semester ahead of them.

For example, senior Seidenberg student Valerie Cayo has mentioned her enthusiasm towards her honors thesis, which she is working on alongside of Professor Dwyer, Seidenberg’s Information Technology department chair. Her thesis revolves around game design, and Cayo states she’s just getting started and looks forward to where the project will take her, come May.

(L to R) Derek Li, Josué Vicioso, Valerie Cayo, and Aldous Castello hang out at Seidenberg HQ to work and relax between classes.

Another senior, Aldous Castelo talked about his goals for the semester: finishing stronger than ever, which he thinks is possible with a great first week. He specifically mentioned his goals of working hard in his most challenging, yet most interesting, class, Software Engineering with Prof. Scharff. Derek Li, a senior as well, also spoke of his intent to work hard this semester. He points out that he enjoys the rigor of his classes and the brain work required for each. Li also looks forward to his independent study with Prof Benjamin, who will work with Derek to learn more about artificial intelligence. Adding to the hard working student body, second semester freshman Artem Karapetyan is already putting effort into finding an internship by signing up for the career center‘s workshops that will whip him into shape for interviews and opportunities.

We also took a moment to talk to Dr. Kline about what he’s looking forward to. Kline eagerly brought up his involvement in the Hudson Valley First Tech Challenge, “an accessible, challenging robotics competition for students of high school age,” (FTC). The Hudson Valley Regional Championship will be held on fast-approaching February 16th, the winners of which will advance through levels, leading to the World Championship to be held in St. Louis, Missouri come April.

Student Creates Mobile App at Developer’s Conference in South Korea

Every now and then, students from the Seidenberg get to head off on an adventure across the globe. Recently, we had an update about a team of students traveling to Finland (read about it here)– today’s post is about one student’s recent trip to South Korea.

Alexander Gazarov (right), a graduate student studying computer science, is the latest of many Pace students to experience the international tech world. He has just returned from a developer’s conference in Seoul, South Korea, where he built an app with developers from all around the world. Gazarov found out about the conference – the Tizen Developer’s Summit – through another conference he attended here in the United States, the Samsung Developer’s Conference in San Francisco.

The app Gazarov worked on in Seoul is currently known as Benefit Society. It can be used to determine how much each person in a group should pay at a bar. For those of us who have experienced how difficult it can be to work out the tab during a night out, as well as the arguments that can come with it, the app does all the hard work for you and ensures the night remains fun and confusion-free. Its simple interface means even the hardest of partiers can benefit. Working alongside developers from Russia and South Korea, Gazarov used the language C++ to develop the Benefit Society app. At Seidenberg, we are extremely proud to have a student like Alexander Gazarov representing Pace internationally and creating apps that will help make life a little bit easier – at least at the bar.

Where in the World Is Seidenberg?

Within the past 2 months, Seidenberg has been all around the world. We’ve sent faculty members and even students to the far corners of the Earth to increase our global presence. So where have we been going and what are we doing there? And, more importantly, how can you get involved?Well, the first trip was exclusively for top members, meaning Jonathan Hill, the Associate Dean and Director of Special Programs and Projects here at Seidenberg. Dr. Hill attended conferences in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as well as in Singapore. These conferences focused on STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – a topic that the Seidenberg school emphasizes in the classroom and study environments. Attending these conferences allowed Dr. Hill to experience what kinds of STEM initiatives are occurring around the globe in academia and commercially.

PDP students at the airport in October on their way to Finland.

Soon after Dr. Hill’s return from KL and Singapore, six students set off for Helsinki, Finland, as part of Seidenberg’s annual participation in Product Development Project (PDP). This is a project we collaborate on with our good friends at Aalto University’s Design Factory. It’s an 8-month long project that allows students involved to travel to Finland twice: once during Fall to meet their Aalto team mates and to kickstart the project, and once again in May for the final presentations of said project. It’s a great way for students to gain real world experience in product development, which can often be programming heavy. This year, the six students from Pace have been put onto two different PDP teams. One team (Julie Gauthier, Olga Bogomolova, and Daniel Rings) has been joined with 11 other team mates in Finland and they will be working on a project funded by one of Finland’s largest casino companies to create new types of gambling machines that enhance the culture (of gambling and Finland) rather than detract from it. The other team (Shane Kirk, Nicole Semple, and Anya Rosentreter) has also joined with 11 others to design a test space for a children’s hospital that will be used in the plans for a new hospital to be built in 2016.

The day after the students returned, Jonathan Hill, Professor Richard Kline, and Wilfredo Peña, Seidenberg’s Community Manager, left for Shanghai. They visited the Aalto Tongji Design Factory, a portion of Aalto DF that has been around since 2010, for a “meeting [that] allowed for partners of the Global Design Factory Network to come together and share ideas about their respective Design Factories,” says Peña. Our Helsinki-based friends Peter Tapio and Andy Clutterbuck also joined up with Hill, Kline, and Peña to participate in the International Design Factory Week of 2013. This multifaceted partnership has grown strong enough that Pace University has now become one of only 6 international universities to be an official part of the Design Factory. This means big things for Seidenberg! More info, once the details are sorted, will be available in due time!

Participants in the Design Factory International Week 2013 at Alto-Tongji

About.com’s Matthew Knell Gives Seidenberg His Executive Advice

About.com‘s Social Media Executive and Pace alumnus (BS/IS ’00) Matthew Knell stopped by last week to explain a thing or two about his work experiences. He has been employed at a number of positions at a number of companies, including JetBlue, AOL, and About.com. If you recall the blog post from June, Knell was also the moderator for the AOL Social Media Salon. The students who stayed at Seidenberg last Tuesday for the free food ended up staying for the free advice Knell dished out. Not only was he highly informative about Social Media, but he covered a multitude of topics within the world of computing.

To begin with Knell’s forte, Social Media (hereby shortened to SM), a few things he was adamant about. In SM, Branding, or Website appearance, Knell stressed the importance of choosing the right font and having consistent graphics. Specifically, he said to avoid Arial and Verdana (and everyone knows that Comic Sans is the butt of all font-related jokes) and suggested trying out different fonts from Type Kit. As far as consistent graphics go, Knell used the example of the slide show banner that many websites use on their home pages; he explained that it’s visually enticing when the changing graphics have an underlying similarity to them whether it be color schemes, text placement, font, or all three.

For the students who aren’t as concerned with SM, and cared more about the programming and software related positions Knell had experienced, Knell had a few things to say. One student expressed his concern in starting a project, but having it become invalid before it is complete. He asked how Knell would deal with such a sense of failure, to which Knell’s simple reply was, “Drink.”

Everyone got a laugh out of his response before he elaborated with an anecdote. He told the group of a project he had been working on at JetBlue that had failed miserably. The airline had been trying to create it’s own reservation system, but once they were deep into the process, they realized it was necessary to use the system Sabre, which was less restrictive than an exclusive system. Knell’s advice to dealing with the failure was to learn from it and notice the signs before things go sour, and later, when a recruiter asks about it, let it be known where the faults were and they were not your own mishaps.

Everyone thanked Knell for dropping by and giving us his advice. He even looked over Seidenberg’s SM sites to give them a quick review and offered a few constructive points. We have already began implementing them into our posts! So, thank you, Matthew. It was a pleasure having you around and we hope to collaborate on similar events throughout the years.

Two STEM Camp Participants Talk About Their Experience

With this week being the third leg of 2013’s STEM Camp, we decided to ask a few students to share their thoughts about the experience so far. Below, we have answers from Jad Seligman and Deaja Clarke, both of whom are rising juniors in high schools around NYC.

Jad Seligman (left) shows off a drawing.

What brought you to STEM camp?

Jad: I was interested in STEM camp because I have a love for programming but I also really enjoy math and science as well.
Deaja: My Aunt told me about the camp and she said that it was about science and technology, which interested me. I was also interested in how technology was incorporated into science.

Deaja Clarke prepares to extract DNA from a banana.

What are some things you have learned from your time at STEM camp?

Jad: Since being at STEM camp, I have learned how to make a mobile app and how to make a website. I have also learned more about object-oriented programming.
Deaja: I have learned about the basics of coding, which I never knew before.

What has been your favorite part of STEM camp?

Jad: My favorite part of camp so far has been the people- the students and the mentors. The students are very smart and they exude intelligence and good spirit. The mentors are incredibly helpful as well.
Deaja: I like the people and the overall experience.

Would you consider pursuing a major in the STEM field during college?

Jad: Absolutely! Ideally, I would like to major in computer science.
Deaja: I am interested mostly in science, but I plan to study a little bit of technology too and incorporate it into science.

What do you want to do in the future?

Jad: I would like to have a career in cyber security.

Deaja: I want to be a doctor who incorporates technology into the medical field. I know I want to help people and using technology is very beneficial for doctors.

From their responses, it seems that the camp has been right down their ally; Jad and Deaja, as well as the other campers who share their enthusiasm, will indubitably walk away from this experience with a new foundation of knowledge to build upon in their higher education.