Summer 2014 – Seidenberg School News

Pace University’s STEM Collaboratory Camp 2014

Last month twenty high school students from across the five boroughs embarked on a summer STEM adventure as part of Pace University’s STEM Collaboratory Camp, a collaboration of Pace and AT&T. For two weeks they learned and experimented with coding, robotics, Cybersecurity, Design Thinking and scientific research processes, among other skills. Then, they began to put their skills to work.

On August 1^st, 2014 the camp culminated with students formally presenting their very own Cybersecurity mobile apps.

Special guests included Elizabeth Segal from AT&T, Kelli Kedis Ogborn from DARPA Legislative Affairs – Spire Communications, and Brook Gesser from U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Office.

Members of the media were invited to attend the graduation reception.

To view the work done by each team, simply click on the links below.

Team Cybot comprising of Jacob Sadeh, Lary Toyter, Maryia Spirydonava, and Mariah Torcivia presented their app, Cyber Triv — an app that raises awareness about Cybersecurity.

Team FoCS (aka FOX), comprising of Nicholas Austin, Sole Stewart, Loreen Chan, and Christopher Boyce, created WE-FE — an app that allows you to monitor who’s on your Wi-Fi and take appropriate action.

Team Rocket, comprising of Kemar Dudley, David Lebron, Summer Carrio, and Dishan Win, created the app Secure-IT — an app that shows you just how secure you are online.

Team Phisher comprising of Iya Hawkins, Anthony Agbofoati, Anastasiya Malinouskaya, Jeremy End invented Phisher — an app that allows you find all your old posts … and have a good long think!

–For more pictures and videos from STEM Camp, follow us on Facebook.

Suhail Bhandari

Julie’s spending this summer hacking into New York’s real estate market with RentHackr!

1. You work for Renthackr – any tips for incoming Pace students looking to rent in the fall?

USE RENTHACKR! Even just for curiosity’s sake. You can get some insider tips on buildings in the area, see where your Facebook friends live, and get an idea of how expensive rent really is. We also just added a “find by room” feature so you can find a room and skip out on some of the apartment hunting drama.

2. Could you tell us (briefly) what you’re working on this summer?

I’m one of two interns, and we are essentially the engineering team right now. Renthackr is built with Ruby on Rails primarily, and I’m really polishing my Ruby skills. I also have the pleasure of being in charge of the analytics of the site, so I’m getting to take the data from Ruby to D3.js graphs. It’s really fun getting to learn how to work with the full stack through challenges fixing up the existing application.

3. The work you’re doing right now… do you think there’s a particular subject you took last semester that’s helping you? Or a particular Professor who’s teachings deserve a shout out?

Dr. Wolf’s class on Ruby on Rails gave me a good foundation, and showed me what I’d be up against in the web development world. Dr. Scharff’s Programming Languages and Implementations class also has been an amazing help in my process of learning Ruby inside and out. I understand different datatypes better, and know where to look in the language to work out logic problems.

4. How does the co-working space at WeWork differ from the co-working space at Pace, Seidenberg? (Warning: Just checking to see where your loyalties lie)

WeWork is beautiful. So is Seidenberg. But WeWork is really a coworking space to be reckoned with. The design of the whole space is very welcoming and beautiful. The view from my desk couldn’t be better. Seidenberg has a great video game set-up, but so does WeWork to be honest. However, a whole lot more collaboration and teaching goes on at Seidenberg. A lot more work gets done at WeWork.

Julie Gauthier is an undergrad student at the Seidenberg School, majoring in computer science. She’s also the student manger at Seidenberg’s Creative Labs, overseeing tech projects from concept to completion, and happens to be the biggest fan of Dubstep DJ, Skrillex.

Sabiya’s spending her summer interning at IBM, New York.

1. Who are you working with this summer (… and what do they do?)

Securing a paid summer internship is easier said than done. Luckily for me, I landed an exceptional opportunity with one of the largest computer companies in the world, IBM. IBM is a multinational technology and consulting corporation that offers a wide range of products and services.

2. Can you tell us a little about what you are doing? (We might not understand the technicalities, but we’d love details!)

My four-month internship this summer revolves around the Security Intelligence Software Group that focuses on QRadar Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) products. QRadar SIEM provides solutions that give security analysts the visibility they need to protect their networks. In addition, it provides reliable tamper proof log storage for forensic investigations and evidence use. In fact, just recently IBM’s Security QRadar product was recognized as number one by the 2014 Gartner SIEM Quadrant, topping other companies like HP and McAfee!

The really awesome aspect of my internship is that I work remotely, which means I can work from wherever I want, including my own home! My internship is divided into two parts. The first includes learning about QRadar SIEM product by attending QRadar classes online, reviewing manuals, completing labs, and familiarizing myself with information technology concepts and terminology. The second part involves me shadowing my coworkers out in the field as they deploy new systems, upgrade existing systems or do health checks to improve/fix existing systems for our clients. I am scheduled to do my first visit next week. I will shadow one of the senior consultants as he deploys a new system for Harley Davidson in Milwaukee Wisconsin.

3. Is there a particular class or professor at Seidenberg that has helped you prepare specifically for your current internship? (Clearly, we’re all about shout outs this summer!)

My boss was excited to know that I was taking Fundamentals of Unix and C Programming (CS 271).

4. Does your new office have a favorite restaurant/hangout they go to after work? (No! we’re not going to show up like proud parents!)

I work from home. I just moved to East Harlem so I am still exploring the restaurants around my apartment.

5. Does working at IBM live up to the hype? Like Google or Microsoft?

After visiting the offices of IBM, Google and Microsoft, I think they each have different cultures. I work from the comfort of my home (and it does not get any better than that). It’s pretty awesome not having to worry about catching or missing trains and dealing with unpleasant people face to face. I enjoy rolling out of my bed 10 minutes before I start work.

6. Any advice for the Seidenberg community?

This experience will help sharpen my communication and professionalism skills, expose me to the corporate world, and provide me with a wealth of knowledge and new talents.

Before I applied to IBM, I thought I was not good enough for them. However, here I am as their intern. My advice to everyone out there is stop being your worst antagonist. In fact, throw yourself into different situations and work hard to achieve the best possible outcomes. That way you will learn from every opportunity and you will be closer to success.

Working from the comfort of my home, not having to deal with transportation, obtaining a wealth of knowledge and getting paid—-nothing can beat that. IBM is awesome!

Sabiya Bacchus is in the penultimate year of a bachelors in Computer Science degree at the Seidenberg School. She’s also associated with the Pforzheimer Honors College, at Pace University.

Cynthia’s spending her summer tracking down cyber-crime for the US Department of Justice.

1. Who are you working with this summer?

I am working for the US Department of Justice in the Criminal Division. Their purpose is to investigate and prosecute crimes on a federal level.

2. Can you tell us a little about what you are doing?

My title is actually fancier than my job. I am called a high tech intern within the investigative unit. Basically I am working on various projects that involve computer forensics and their role in cyber crimes.

3. Is there a particular class or professor at Seidenberg that has helped you prepare for your current role?

I think my computer forensics class with Professor Watkins was most helpful. He taught us the technical terms I would need to know, the importance of data integrity and even report writing. Each of these aspects play a vital role in my job this summer.

4. Does your new office have a favorite restaurant/hangout they go to after work?

The other interns and I get together with the employees and do some bar trivia at a local spot. It’s a good way to unwind and get to know each other on a different level.

By day, Cynthia Shaw is an undergrad student at the Seidenberg School, majoring in information technology. By night, she’s a super hero that fights cyber-crime! Cynthia currently attends school at Pace University’s rather picturesque Pleasantville campus.

Kalgi’s spending her summer interning at Costco in Seattle!

1. How hectic is your internship at Costco? Are you sleepless in Seattle yet?

Seattle is not New York. But, no, I am not having any sleepless nights, though my internship does take up a lot of my hours from Monday-Friday and some weekends too. I have to stay updated and do a lot of reading with regard to project management.

2. Could you tell us (in brief) what you’re working on this summer?

I am working as a PMO intern with Costco IT. I am placed directly under a program manager, so I assist him with all the projects that fall under him (around 9 projects). In addition, we are developing a new dashboard for project management tools, which I am responsible for. It is in its development phase right now but we will start testing it soon. Also I am responsible for coming up with a training manual for the project managers.

3. The work you’re doing right now… do you think there’s a particular subject you took last semester that’s helping you now? Or a particular Professor who’s teachings deserve a shout out?

Umm, I was always interested in project management. But, the IT Project Management course offered was really helpful in getting to know the basics and helped me with the lingo.

4. What is the fun stuff you’ve done in Seattle? Any explorations, tips?

Seattle has beautiful wineries and a lot of water activities. So yeah, I’ve been pretty involved in all the grape crushing, blueberry and strawberry picking, para-sailing and jet-skiing. And of course, the first-ever Starbucks is worth a visit. There are a lot of hiking places around Seattle as it’s surrounded by mountains, the most beautiful being Mt. Rainer.

Kalgi Shah is a grad student at the Seidenberg School, majoring in information systems. An avid traveler, Kalgi has visited more places in America in the last 8 months, than most people who’ve lived here all their lives!

Siobhan’s spending this summer working on some top secret stuff for Microsoft!

1. Who are you working with this summer? (…and what do they do?)

This summer, I am working at Microsoft Research as a student in the Microsoft Data Science Summer School (DS3). Though I cannot disclose details, Microsoft Research focuses on examining various data sets, especially in the realms of computational social science.

2. Can you tell us a little about what you are doing? (We might not understand the technicalities, but we’d love details!)

In our program, the first few weeks have been lectures and hands-on learning of various programming languages and utilities such as Python, Shell Coding, and R. For the rest of the program, I’ll be working on a team project. After forming prospective research questions, we’ll analyze data sets and develop conclusions to those questions. We’ll then show those results in interesting and coherent visual representations.

3. Is there a particular class or professor at Seidenberg that has helped you prepare specifically for your current internship? (Clearly, we’re all about shout outs this summer!)

I would like to give a special shout out to Dr. Jonathan Hill and Stephanie Elson who have been a tremendous pillars of support to me throughout my time so far at Seidenberg, and who have also recommended me for this program. Thank you!

4. Does your new office have a favorite restaurant/hangout they go to after work? (No! we’re not going to show up like proud parents!)

Since the hours do go a bit late, and we have meals catered to the offices every week, a specific hangout spot has yet to be discovered. However, for those days when food is not provided, there are a variety of places around with good food if you ever need a break from the office.

Siobhan Wilmot-Dunbar is an undergrad student at the Seidenberg School, majoring in computer science. She’s an honors student and a wicked pianist.