Brianna Adkins – Page 5 – Seidenberg School News

The Seidenberg School wishes Katie Todd a Happy Birthday!

By Jai Dengle and Brianna Adkins

The Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems is here to wish the happiest of birthdays to Katie Todd! The Pace University alumna and current Assistant Director of Communications and Strategic Operations has been with us since she began her Master of Science degree in Publishing in 2013. Upon graduating in 2015, Katie became the Communications Manager for the Seidenberg School. The Seidenberg School has so much radiance and hilarity with Katie around, which creates an environment everyone wants to be in.

As the Assistant Director of Communications and Strategic Operations at Seidenberg, Katie manages the activities and functions of the office whilst also instilling a culture of communication among everyone within the Seidenberg School. She’s a major contributor to the welcoming energy that’s contained within the Seidenberg Lounge and beyond.

In honor of her birthday, we asked the Dean of Seidenberg, Dr. Jonathan Hill, and student employees to express how they feel about Katie. Their quotes perfectly capture what Katie means to the Seidenberg community.

“She’s wonderfully perfect in every way, but don’t tell her I said that,” Dr. Hill explained with a whisper.

Jai Dengle, a student obtaining her masters in Information Systems, explained just what makes Katie a “boss.”

“The one who is beautiful at heart, obliging to everyone, sincere with work, and strict for perfection. That’s my boss, Katie Todd,” Jai exclaimed!

Christopher “Topher” Cherestal, a senior Information Systems major at Pace University, stated: “not only does Katie have a smashing accent but she also has this ability to make you feel like you’re on top of the world while also grounding you and bringing you back to earth, she’s amazing”

We want to express our gratitude to Katie for all that she does for Seidenberg! Katie, happiest of birthdays to you!

Become a Mentor

As a freshman, it’s nerve-wracking to explore the Seidenberg community, but there’s a way to help with those nerves. As an upperclassman, you have the opportunity to assist with a freshman student’s transition into the community through the NYC Peer Mentor Program! One of the best ways to get integrated into the Seidenberg community is through the Peer Mentor Program and upperclassmen have the opportunity to help out with that integration. The peer-to-peer communication between mentee and mentor creates a starting foundation for all students who join.

The program, run by Seidenberg advisors Matt Brown and Stephanie Elson, is a newer program at the Seidenberg School. They started it as a way to use the leadership skills of upperclassmen to lead incoming students to success.

Will McNeese, a senior Information Technology major, is one of these peer mentors! He joined the program to help others. Will took the time to talk about who the program is for as well as what being a mentor is all about.

“[The] program is a resource for new students who might need extra guidance in their transition to college,” he explains. “[The program] is also great for second years or higher who like helping people and want to help incoming freshmen with that first-semester anxiety.”

Over the course of the first semester, the freshman mentee and the upperclassman mentor pairs meet and compete in challenges. They also take the time to get to know one another and learn to check in with each other throughout the semester.

Will has gained a great deal from the program, but he explains that the joy of helping others and using his time to make someone else’s life easier are the best parts of being a mentor.

“I’m sure there are lots of students who [are] terrified of being in college and [have] a ton of questions and concerns without any clear place to ask them,” Will explains. “This program is a way for those same students to help make sure somebody else doesn’t go through that [anxiety] (or at least not as badly).”

As for why others should join the program, he notes that prizes can be won by those who complete challenges in the first semester. The prizes Will and his mentee won included a fifty-dollar gift card for Amazon last semester. All members of the program also receive a free t-shirt! According to Will, though, the best part isn’t about the prizes—it’s the networking.

“You…get to meet and connect with a lot of students, and there [are] a lot of industries—especially [within] the tech world—that are based on connections,” he explains.

All in all, the Peer Mentor program is perfect for all NYC Seidenberg students who wish to engage in the Seidenberg community and help others. If you would like to learn more about the program, stop by the information session on April 3rd at 12:15pm during common hour in the Seidenberg Lounge!

Melanie Madera is the Glue of the Seidenberg Community

Pace University alumna, Melanie Madera recently took on the new role of Community Manager of the Seidenberg community (aka, the glue of Seidenberg). Last year in May, Melanie began her new position at the Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems. Her journey from university student to community manager is full of hard work and determination!

She began her college journey at Pace University on the downtown New York City campus in 2002. As a commuter, she worked numerous part-time jobs in order to pay for her education, gaining experience at Nintendo as a Marketing/Sales Associate and at a non-profit assisting children in the foster care system. She went on to earn her BBA in Marketing with a concentration in Advertising and Promotions.

“I will always remember my time at Pace with fond memories,” Melanie notes. “I still get a pang of nostalgia whenever I walk the halls at One Pace Plaza. They were some of the best years of my life!”

Now, as the Community Manager at Seidenberg, Melanie has the opportunity to make the Pace experience better for new students. Asked what her role entails, she quips, “what doesn’t it?”

She handles all of Seidenberg’s New York City campus events and clubs, as well as managing the student assistants at the front desk. She also assists Dean Hill in organizing his schedule and calendar to improve his time management. Overall, she makes the Seidenberg community better by listening to and observing the dynamics of the office.

Melanie explains, “in general, I keep the office going, make sure the faculty is supported and, most importantly, I always make sure that we have coffee stocked in the kitchen. Gotta keep Seidenberg caffeinated!”

As for what she brings to the office—besides coffee and an overall sense of community—Melanie believes that she has brought both a sense of organization and transparency.

“My work experience here in the Seidenberg School has been one of the most productive and positive community environments that I have had the pleasure of being a part of,” she explains. “I have to say that the culture here at Seidenberg is unlike any other place I have worked at. I have experience in many work environments: start-ups, small businesses, non-profits, large corporations; but the sense of community and comradery here is really refreshing.”

While she notes marketing as her true passion, she is also “passionate about treating the [Seidenberg] space with respect and to value what [the community has], because [she] feels that it starts with one person; once people see how much care and time you take in making it a great place to work, they tend to follow suit.”

She uses the skills that she learned at Pace to better the community of Seidenberg. “When I have the opportunity to flex my creative muscle and take someone’s vision and make it a reality, it really is a wonderful feeling,” she admits.

As long as Melanie flexes her creative muscles as the Community Manager for Seidenberg, the lounge will always be a safe space for students and faculty. We’re thankful for all that she does for our community and cannot wait for all that she has in store for the future.

“I feel like I was destined to be a part of this team and it feels like I just fit right in; everyone accepted me and is thankful for my hard work and dedication,” Melanie notes. “Everyone here takes pride in their work and in helping students and it shows! I’m really proud to be here and definitely have Seidenberg pride!”

The Design Factory is the hub of innovation for students at Seidenberg

Pace University’s Design Factory students are always working on global problems that need innovative solutions. The students are teamed up, then have the opportunity to brainstorm and use “design thinking” methodology to take an idea from the drawing board to a working prototype. These students aren’t just dreaming of being the next wave of innovators, they already are.

Laina Posner—a Pace University junior majoring in computer science—has been a summer intern at UPS, a Grace Hopper Conference attendee, and a Pace University Nexus Maximus team member. She is also a design factory student who had the opportunity to go to Helsinki, Finland in October at the Aalto University Design Factory.

“I’ve been working with [the Design Factory] for the past two years, because that’s when [it] officially launched,” Laina states.

Of the Design Factory process overall, she explains: “It’s a big collaboration between different schools all over the country and also the world, but then also different majors as well. So each time I was assigned a project with a different team and I was always given a different task, so it was a great opportunity to become experienced in lots of different things.”

Last semester, Laina had the chance to start working on the PdP team with a start-up company. When she traveled to Finland, she had the opportunity to hear about what her team would be doing for the rest of her junior year.

“When I met them in September, we got a demo, met the team, and met the company. When we go back in May, we will be able to present our product. We’ll be able to see [the process] from start to finish. I’m working on the application part of it where I’ll be designing software to improve the already existing product that they have. Our other teammates will be working on the prototype,” she explains. “Right now I’m assigned on a permanent project where I’ll be working over the year, I’ll be working with a team from Finland with also NYC students. Our project is to work to create a prototype for a company. Our company is Pexray Tech, and they’re looking for a new innovation.”

Pexray Tech is a company that builds portable X-ray systems. The company is looking for a new project, so Laina and the rest of the team are at the forefront of that. The team has completed the beginning stages of the project where planning, research, and getting acquainted with one another is essential.

“It was really cool to have a connection with people that I had really never met over a product for a company that I was just introduced to. We’ve been able to work together since we met for the project, and building connections with other people was really cool,” she states.

Over the past few months, Laina and the rest of the team focused on using “design thinking” to build a working prototype for Pexray Tech. Currently, the team has two months left to create a product for Pexray Tech.

“We are current prototyping our project and in the developmental phase,” Laina explains.

Over the next two months, the team will finalize their product and have the chance to present it to the company. It will be a showcase of their hard work and innovation on a real-world solution.

Now, Laina just wants others to know about the opportunities one can gain through the Design Factory experience. While some students have been working with the Design Factory team for years, they’re always looking to recruit more students. They want more innovators and dreamers who can create solutions to real-world problems with real clients.

“It was very selective, so a lot of people didn’t know about it,” Laina stated of the application process. “I think a lot of students after I told them about it are very interested in it. I wish more people knew about it and more people could experience it, too. It is an amazing experience. Students are able to use their own personal knowledge of the field and implement their work into a project that they have worked on from start to finish.”

We’re hoping to get the word out about Pace University’s Design Factory and to get more students aware of this opportunity to innovate! If you’re interested in applying to be a design factory student, sign up for the mailing list!

Battle of the Bots at Pace University

If watching robots compete to complete tasks entices you, then you should’ve been at Pace University on February 10th. The 10th annual Hudson Valley NY FIRST Tech Challenge championship robotics tournament was held on Pace University’s Westchester campus. The day was full of challenges and innovation for middle and high school students from the Hudson Valley. Only one goal stayed in each of the students’ minds throughout the tournament: getting to the world championship.

The event, run by Dr. Richard Kline and Jill Olimpieri, hosted 27 high school-level teams. The competition brought together the region’s top qualifying teams and their robots to compete in a task-based challenge. Pace University has hosted the regional championship for several years. Pace University, Pace University Athletics, and IBM sponsored the event.

According to the Hudson Valley NY FIRST Tech Challenge site, “Students in FTC design and build a robot using aluminum, polycarbonate, motors and servos, sensors, and a variety of other materials. They program and control it using Android Smartphones with Java or a Blocks-based graphical language.”

With exclusive scholarships open to competing students totaling more than $80 million, the stakes were high. The challenge to beat this year was “Rover Ruckus,” and teams battled to take the top spots.

According to Dr. Kline, “More than 40 current Pace students and about a dozen alumni, staff, and faculty participated in the event, comprising half of the 100 or so volunteers who banded together to run the competition under the guidance of volunteer coordinator and Seidenberg School staff member Jill Olimpieri. Students contributed in all areas of the competition, from setup and logistics to referees, judges, inspectors, and robot technical advisors.”

Pace students and faculty Sukun Li and Leanne Keeley volunteered as judges for the event. Students Jeana Cosenza, Kyle Hanson, Joel Thomas, and Zach Demeglio, among others, volunteered in various supporting roles. Dean Hill even made a special appearance to cheer on the teams and robots!

Fios 1 News covered the event, giving the young students the chance to feature their efforts on the local news. The coverage inspired and motivated the students to share their experiences and do their best.

At the end of the day, three teams came out on top and will move on to the world championship. Congratulations to Team 6567 – Roboraiders from Red Hook High School, Team 7486 – Suffern Robotics from Suffern Senior High School, and Team 8397 – Beta, from CCE Clinton County 4-H. We wish the best of luck to them at the world championship!

The new and improved Pace Computing Society

The largest computing organization on Pace University’s NYC campus has its home in the heart of the Seidenberg lounge. The Pace Computing Society (PCS) is a club for all, but especially for those within the Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems. The president of the organization, Allan Krasner, spilled some details on what he’s doing to make the society a better place for students.

Allan, who was elected as president of PCS at the end of his freshman year, has led the society for the past two years. He believes he is president because of his efforts to better the club. His record of achievement agrees with him.

“I tried to take the club from what it was at the time and tried to amp it up. I wanted to make it a little bit more special and unique,” Allan states.He did indeed make it more special and unique. Instead of just gathering during the club’s meeting times for discussions and lectures, Allan added workshops. By offering tutorials in numerous programming languages, hosting technical workshops, and inviting all students to join in, he made the club an inclusive space that others wanted to join. He also worked towards being able to “introduce people to new things they may not have seen before or even worked with.”

The club only continues to grow under Allan’s presidency. With introductory activities that challenge members to grow their skills, PCS is teaching its members that hard work never goes unnoticed.

“This year we’re trying to restructure it so that [there are] more consecutive events,” starts Allan. “[It’s] more hands-on, and a lot more fun for people. I think so far we’re getting better results.”

Allan continues to advocate for the club, going above and beyond in his duties to ensure that club members enjoy themselves. He’s even planning to bring new workshops on Raspberry Pi next semester—something that many PCS members are ecstatic about.

If you’re interested in checking out the group, stop by the lounge on a Wednesday during the noon common hour. Head on up to 163 William Street for some interesting discussions, workshops, and free pizza!