Ilana Levinson – Page 3 – Seidenberg School News

Faculty Spotlight, Dr. Sung-Hyuk Cha

Computer science has had an enormous impact on the forensic science field, ranging from court case information retrieval to Fingerprint, Handwriting, Speaker detection, Lie detection, etc. Among many sub-fields of computer science, artificial intelligence, computer vision, pattern recognition, and robotics have received great attention in Forensic Science. These interests gave a birth to a new emerging interdisciplinary field in Computational Forensics. Professor Sung-Hyuk Cha at Seidenberg has been a faculty member of Computer Science department at Pace University since 2001. His main interests include computer vision, data mining, pattern matching & recognition. Prof Cha was involved in a challenging project, “Handwriting Verification and Identification”, which was granted a U.S. Patent in 2009. He is teaching in both graduate and undergraduate levels in fields of computational mathematics, Data structure, programming languages.

Professor Cha is currently pursuing research in face recognition and identification systems. He is working closely with NYPD and FBI to improve systems in crime scene investigation that capture evidence. This is done with the help of robotics and support from students for NYPD. Pace University has fully equipped facilities for forensic chemistry and biology, including a new state-of-the-art DNA sequencing lab, specialized laboratories for virtual crime scene reconstruction and forensic microscopy.

Forensic science is a rapidly growing discipline and the tools available to forensic researchers are also evolving quickly. The proliferation of crime involving computers has led to a need for specialists trained in the field of computer forensics, the scientific analysis of communications and data on computer storage devices. Specialists in computer forensics unite technical expertise with investigative skills and legal knowledge, a combination, which is essential for computer crime investigations. Students can turn into investigators. The trends in forensic careers are growing in vast fields of investigation. Pace University has fully equipped facilities for forensic chemistry and biology, including a new state-of-the-art DNA sequencing lab and specialized laboratories for virtual crime scene reconstruction and forensic microscopy.

Students interested in computer science fields of forensic science can explore their studies with professor Cha. He is also looking forward for students to work for him both at graduate and undergraduate levels.

Fell free to contact him: http://csis.pace.edu/~scha/index.html

Helsinki Again! Seidenberg School Launches Year Two of the Product Design Project Research Initiative

Extending last year’s acclaimed partnership with Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, the Seidenberg School is collaborating for a second year in the Product Design Project (PDP) Based at Aalto University, PDP brings together students from more than a dozen universities around the globe to develop real products for companies including Ericsson, UNICEF, ABB and ExerBlast who are searching for innovative cooperation with the next generation of IT experts. At the start, much attention is directed to the formation of highly motivated interdisciplinary teams.

Led by Associate Dean Jonathan Hill and Program Manager Wilfredo Pena, Seidenberg Students Drew Cimino (CS ’13), Prachaya Sinsuwan (MS CS ’14), Julie Gauthier (CS ‘15), Michael Cornell (CS ’15), Bryn Haffey (MS CS ’14) and Keith McPherson (CS ’13) were joined by Lubin student Shervin Browne (MBA ’14) and Dyson Communications major Jessie Mishavsky (BA ’13)

Utilizing lessons learned from the concept of distributed teams, the project goes through the phases of requirements gathering, product design, manufacture, assembly, and testing to create a unique and valuable learning experience. As the sun rises in Australia, students at Swinburne University in Melbourne begin iteration of their specified part of the project, as the day continues at Tianjin University in Shanghai, students continue the process and pass the results to the next stop, the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur. The project is then picked up and further developed by students at Aalto University and as the sun moves from Helsinki to New York, Pace University students contribute their day’s work and then conclude their day by passing the baton back to their Australian colleagues. Team meetings are held weekly, via Skype, where students learn to negotiate differences in time, culture and project flow. After a full academic year of designing, coding and building, the international teams gather for a final ‘gala’ presentation in Helsinki where the students celebrate their accomplishments.

“This is truly one of the best educational experiences that I can imagine” said Jonathan Hill. “The students work as a distributed team on a very complex, but ultimately deeply satisfying projects with other top students from around the world. The experiences they have replicate what they will be asked to do as professional developers: ask questions, solve problems, create, get feedback, react to their clients changing needs and learn to negotiate time zones, different cultures and different learning styles”.

“I love my team” said Julie Gauthier, a sophomore computer science major from Connecticut. “I am the developer among mechanical and electrical engineers, designers, and MBA’s. They have been so welcoming and so helpful and I can’t wait to see what we build”.

This year’s collaboration includes the addition of a New York City based start-up which will bring four Aalto students to Pace for a week of on-site research, activities and workshops that support co-creation. Pace University and Exerblast, a digitally enhanced youth exercise and gaming concept, are working together to build new interactive experiences on their website and play space located in Tribeca. This project will give the students an opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary ideas at the cross point of computer science, engineering production and communications. Besides working on the project it will also be an opportunity to reciprocate the hospitality they’ve received during their visit to Aalto. Our visitors will arrive in time to attend a New York Tech Meetup (NYTM) monthly gathering among other events that showcase the thriving tech scene in New York.

If you would like to participate in helping us make this a great experience for our Aalto U guests, stay tuned for information on their arrival.

Dr. Lawler’s AOK CIS 102W Completes Another Consecutive Semester

Dr. Jim Lawler of the Seidenberg School completed another consecutive semester of the AHRC New York City – Pace University Catching a Dream Program in which undergraduate students of the university are engaged in mentoring high school students of the AHRC New York City Middle / High School in Brooklyn, New York, on multimedia person-centered planning projects of visual storytelling. The undergraduate students performed earlier community service with this non-profit organization in Dr. Lawler’s AOK CIS 102W courses in the Seidenberg School. This program will be continuing in the spring semester 2013.

Pictured in the photograph (left to right): Dr. Lawler, Karina Moscoso, Tali Altholz, Pema Choki, Angela Martin, Melina Jovani, Abigale Anderson and Lorela Myftiu.

Seidenberg Student Wins Mobile App Contest

On Thursday, December 6th, an interdisciplinary group of Pace University students gathered together at the new Lubin Entrepreneurship Lab. The occasion? To design innovative mobile apps at the Mobile App Design Contest—an open exhibition in which the finalists were decided by a public vote. Participants included students from computer science, marketing, art, business, and more

On Thursday, December 6^th, an interdisciplinary group of Pace University students gathered together at the new Lubin Entrepreneurship Lab. The occasion? To design innovative mobile apps at the Mobile App Design Contest—an open exhibition in which the finalists were decided by a public vote. Participants included students from computer science, marketing, art, business, and more. It was an exciting exhibition, showing off the variety of issues students are able to tackle from a mobile perspective. The ideas ranged from a Pace-based textbook exchange app to an at-your-fingertips concession stand app. Apps were judged based on aesthetic appeal, innovative features, complexity of problem space and ease of use. The winner, Julie Gauthier, designed an app called “We Go Together.” The main goal of “We Go Together” is to act as a socially enhanced scheduling app, allowing the users to share calendars, see what their friends are up to, and to keep up with upcoming local events. She said that, “I worked extremely hard to have a great presentation, because I didn’t know what kind of format it would be, or who would be there. It was a fantastic opportunity for me to gain experience pitching my ideas.” For further descriptions of the apps presented at the Mobile App Design Contest, please visit this page.

Four Seidenberg Students are Finalists in Mobile App Contest

Four Seidenberg students are finalists in the Lubin Mobile App Contest.

The Pace Mobile App Design Contest – Open Exhibition & Vote will be held on Thursday, December 6th 2012, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Pace Entrepreneurship Lab, 163 William Street 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10038.

Four Seidenberg students are finalists in the Lubin Mobile App Contest.

The Pace Mobile App Design Contest – Open Exhibition & Vote will be held on Thursday, December 6^th 2012, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Pace Entrepreneurship Lab, 163 William Street 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10038.

Congratulations to our Newest Information Assurance Scholars

This fall, three outstanding Seidenberg undergraduates were awarded highly coveted scholarships to prepare for careers in the evolving field of cybersecurity.

Douglas Kandl (BS/ Information Technology ’14) joined the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program (IASP). Current IASP scholars also include John “Vinnie” Monaco (MS/Computer Science’14), Max Wagner (MS/Computer Science ’14) and Christopher Kibble (MS/Information Systems’13).

Marc Kowtko and Luke Babak (BS/ Information Technology ’14) joined the CyberCorps^©: Scholarship for Service (SFS), a program funded by the National Science Foundation. Current SFS scholars also include Christopher White, Chris Holowiak (BS/Information Technology ’13) and Allison Llewelyn (BS/Computer Science’13).

These awards are given to highly qualified students interested in pursuing fields of study related to information assurance. In addition to covering tuition, fees and books, the scholarships provide a generous stipend for living expenses, and opportunities for internships and full-time employment. For program information and eligibility visit: http://seidenberg.pace.edu/ia