The Seidenberg School opened its doors to the 14th edition of the Michael L. Gargano Research Day Conference on Friday, May 6th.
This student-faculty conference provides the Seidenberg community with an opportunity to share research. This year’s event set a participation record: 42 papers published in the conference proceedings, including 60 doctoral, 84 masters, and 10 undergraduate student authors. Of these papers, over 25 were presented at the conference. From biometrics and security to knowledge representation and optimization, big data and the internet-of-things, the presentations covered problems in diverse domains including security, education and healthcare.
This signature Seidenberg School academic event could not be possible without the commitment and enthusiasm of computer science professor, and conference chair, Charles Tappert, PhD.
Dr. Tappert serves as research advisor to many doctoral students, and also runs undergraduate and graduate capstone courses on the Pleasantville campus.
Since this is an annual Seidenberg event, why not take part yourself next year? We will be looking for submissions in Spring ’17, so now is a good time to start!
The Michael L. Gargano Research Day is named after the late Seidenberg computer science professor, Michael L. Gargano, a passionate researcher and valued research advisor, particularly to students in the doctoral program.
The Seidenberg School is pleased to announce that we now have an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Student Branch at Pace University!
IEEE’s website puts it well: “IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its highly-cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities.”
By creating a student branch, Seidenberg students have access to numerous resources available to the IEEE community, like the upcoming 2016 IEEE MIT Undergraduate Research Technology Conference Have you done some work in machine learning, cloud computing, wearable technology or security? If so, use the upcoming summer to put together a paper – the submission deadline is September 3rd.
Seidenberg will host tech events under the aegis of IEEE starting fall 2016. We look forward your ideas and participation and hope this partnership will benefit your academic and professional pursuits!
We are grateful to Ronal Geiger, Lawrence Miano, and IEEE Mid-Hudson, and to our Seidenberg founding student members for their support with establishing the IEEE student branch at Pace University!
As a student in the Seidenberg School you have ample opportunities for professional and personal development, and adventure! Along these lines, a Seidenberg team attended the 2016 Women in Cybersecurity Conference (WiCyS) in Dallas, TX last week. The team, comprised of amazing students pursuing degrees with a cybersecurity focus, included Alexa Piccoli (MS/CS’16), Norissa Lamaute (MS/CS’17), Siobhan Kiernan (BS/IT’17) and Adriana Aluia (BS/IT’18). In addition, the team also included Lindsay Peckham (AAS/Cybersecurity’17) and Sara DaCosta (AAS/Cybersecurity’18) from Westchester Community College, a Pace Cybersecurity Academic partner.
Not only are women underrepresented in the IT field, but a report sponsored by ISC2 and Booz Allen Hamilton found that in 2013 women made up just 11 percent of global cybersecurity workforce and only nine percent were in senior leadership roles. It is in this context that WiCyS aims to bring together female students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in cybersecurity for knowledge sharing, networking and mentoring. The conference aims to raise awareness about the importance and nature of cybersecurity careers and to generate interest among students to consider cybersecurity as a viable career option.
From left to right: Lindsay Peckham, Alexa Piccoli, Sara DaCosta, Andrea Wright (Bank of America) Adriana Aluia, Siobhan Kiernan, and Norissa Lamaute
2016 WiCyS had great energy and blended both academic and professional speakers and content. The conference gathered more than 700 attendees! The tech talks included reverse engineering, cyber criminology, perspectives on research, exploit development, cyber-physical system security. Other professional talks covered tools and strategies for education as well as workshops oriented toward specific career tracks in cyber security. A job fair with over 30 prominent employers and numerous “networking socials” provided students with the opportunity to learn specifics about the skills in need in the industry, and in many cases get job offers on the spot.
Here is what the some of the participants had to say about the conference experience:
One take away from the WiCyS conference was the ample opportunity and support for women in cybersecurity. While the statistic showcase the dramatic lack of women in this field, it felt great to be in a place where women in cyber were encouraged to do great things. I really enjoyed the key note speakers from various top companies and felt empowered and driven to one day be at the level they are at. I got to meet many academics and professionals who offered guidance and reassurance that this is what I want to do as a lifelong career. I learned that it is okay to feel confused at times, and that if you keep working hard, you can reach your goals. I was inspired to take on new opportunities and dig deeper into my school work and cyber related topics.
Alexa Piccoli (MS/CS’16)
Lindsay Peckham (AAS/Cybersecurity ‘17, Westchester Community College): There were so many inspiring moments that it’s difficult to choose only one so I would love to share two items that have stuck with me since returning home.
First, the field of cyber security offers everything I desire in a career: technology, cutting-edge ideas, innovations and helping others but there are many specialties within the field that I had to be exposed to and barely understood in the real-world sense. Personally, the conference offered me a way to navigate the many career opportunities in this field. Through anecdotes, insightful speeches, networking opportunities and plentiful resources, I spent nearly 3 days putting myself in the shoes of others and thinking about how that career specialty may suit me in the future.
Second, one of my hopes for attending WiCyS was to learn about what other schools are doing for their cyber security clubs. It’s been one of my passions at WCC to improve and grow our club in meaningful and exciting ways. Attending the “CyberSecurity Club: 101 from Inception to Installment and Beyond” workshop gave me an opportunity to see what other colleges, both community and university, are doing in their clubs. […] I am very excited for 2016-2017 school year because I think some really neat changes are going to be made!
Many thanks to Dr. Li-Chiou Chen and Andreea Cotoranu for making this experience possible!
Are you working on cybersecurity related projects and have an interest in attending the next edition of WiCyS? Submit a research poster or just apply for a scholarship to attend the conference! Contact Andreea Cotoranu for questions related to future participation in this event.
Recently, I had the privilege to interview computer science students from Pace University who have been working relentlessly, in collaboration with architecture students from NYIT, on a project called AppDock. Their main focus is to provide opportunities to developing countries with a way to understand and use mobile apps that can help improve their life quality and standard.
“We focused our research on Senegal where I have been doing my research for seven years now ” says Dr. Christelle Scharff, NYC Chair of the Computer Science Department and Director of Pace Mobile Lab. Dr. Scharff explains how “AppDock creates a trustworthy, physical environment where local developers and end users can connect on a community level.” Exchange of information between developers and users will promote improvements to app quality and relevance. Dr. Scharff notes that AppDock “will also permit users to become educated on the notion of apps, in general”.
Even though mobile subscriptions in Africa are over 650 million, locally developed apps are not being used because either the people are not aware that they exist OR they don’t know how to or why they should use apps. App is not part of the everyday vocabulary in developing markets. In addition, there is a disconnect possibly on what the apps do and what the local needs are. An adjustment is needed to better understand app features that can benefit the general masses in their day-to-day lives.
This sounds interesting! How are you going to get the locals to use it?
AppDock has been designed as a space with mobile carts where locals can explore a variety of mobile apps right in their own neighborhoods. It contains various tablets that showcase local apps. The carts are biked through cities and villages to reach remote areas. The architects and developers attempt to create a convenient space where people can congregate, exchange ideas, and learn about these applications that can improve their lives in general.
The proposed space will fold out into a huge dock, similar to ones that we see in mobile stores such as Verizon and AT&T, and will have phones provided for people to try each of the new apps they see on the screens.
“We want to educate the people of Senegal on how to use a smart phone, download apps and teach them how to use them.”
– Andrew Greenberg, a member of the Pace Mobile Lab group.
But wait….There’s more!
Each of the screens will advertise the top eight apps of the month that are hot and trending. Also, while each person is learning about how each of the apps works, they can charge their own phones on a charging station and access the wifi that will be provided in the dock. This way, they can spend more time learning at the dock!
I know right?! SO COOL!
You said it was a collaborative process, right?
I did! Computer science students from Pace University (pictured above) teamed up with architecture students from NYIT to get this project up and running. They started this idea in the Fall of 2015 while enrolled in a course entitled “Mobile Solutions for Global Challenges” and have been working on it ever since.
The students from Pace University are focusing on the digital aspect of the project while the students from NYIT are working on the physical aspect (the structure). “It’s interesting to work with students from other disciplines because we are working with different mindsets and we can see different approaches to solve problems”, says Andrew.
Next Steps?
The goal is to secure funding, pilot this effort in Senegal and measure the impact of the program and its benefits. If successful the program will gain momentum and it will allow the teams to expand this to other developing countries. Stay tuned…
The first annual New York City Conference for Women Computer Science Students took place at the Microsoft Headquarters in New York City on April 1, 2016. The Seidenberg School, a strong supporter of Women in Technology (WIT@Pace) was represented at this historic event by computer science undergraduates Karishma Saini (BS/CS’18) and Rohana Sosa (BS/CS’19).
I enjoyed the event because it was a great learning experience for me. I learned more the importance of computer science and technology in today’s world. I also received numerous tips and advice for my future career. We were encouraged to combine out interests with computer science and technology. Overall, it was a comfortable atmosphere to be surrounded by other women who had the same dreams of pursuing a career in computer science/technology the same way I do.
Karishma Saini (BS/CS’18)
The all-day conference organized by the NY Technology Council was focused on building community and career support for undergraduate women studying computer science and related fields. The event, co-sponsored by Microsoft and Google, featured keynote presentations from leading computer science experts in industry and academia; panel discussions on topics pertaining to entrepreneurship, career development, and networking; and networking opportunities for students to connect with industry leaders.
Karishma Saini (left) and Rohana Sosa (right)
The most enriching part of visiting Microsoft was listening to the inspiring experiences of the keynote speakers as well as of the other CS students. All sessions served as useful resources for expanding my knowledge and CS network. I loved becoming friends with six CS students and introducing myself to the CEO of the startup called Stowaway Cosmetics!
Friday February 26 was a great day at Pace University as hundreds of high school and college students participated at the second annual Westchester SMART Mobile App Development Bowl.
This year’s kickoff event was bigger than ever, with around 260 contestants from 36 high schools and colleges coming together to design mobile applications for senior citizens.
The challenge was to design an app to help senior citizens deal with a problem they experience in their everyday lives, whether that problem stems from their relationship with technology itself or whether technology can simply be used to solve an unrelated issue.
The event is sponsored by Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino in conjunction with The Seidenberg School.
“The competition showcases the extraordinary talents of our region’s future generation in ways that help benefit our seniors,” said Robert Astorino. “It’s a double win – we’ve created a platform for students to test their technology skills, while our seniors benefit from applications produced by those skills. Last year was a great success, and we’re already building on it this year.”
After an incredible pep rally from The Marching Cobras of Westchester, the teams attended workshops and got to work developing their apps. The resulting apps will be presented to a panel of judges on April 15th – so if you missed the kickoff, come in April to check out what everybody did!
Seidenberg Dean Jonathan Hill said: “It’s great to celebrate like-minded individuals who bring a contagious enthusiasm for creativity and technology. Everyone at Seidenberg and Pace University alike is proud to support the work being done by these students to help those in need in our community.”
Winners will be announced on April 15th at the final presentation, which will be held at Pace University’s Pleasantville campus. Cash prizes, paid internships and publishing apps through app stores all on the table.
The #WestchesterSmart#AppBowl (tweet us!) was organized by Seidenberg faculty, staff, and students. Dr. Jean Coppola is our champion of gerontechnology research and was the Lead Faculty & Advisor. Deth Sao did Development & Partnership Relations and graduate student Adil Hasan was the project manager – well done, folks! See you on April 15th for the final event!
This student-faculty conference provides the Seidenberg community with an opportunity to share research. This year’s event set a participation record: 42 papers published in the conference proceedings, including 60 doctoral, 84 masters, and 10 undergraduate student authors. Of these papers, over 25 were presented at the conference. From biometrics and security to knowledge representation and optimization, big data and the internet-of-things, the presentations covered problems in diverse domains including security, education and healthcare.
Dr. Tappert serves as research advisor to many doctoral students, and also runs undergraduate and graduate capstone courses on the Pleasantville campus.
