Summer 2015 – Page 4 – Seidenberg School News

National Science Foundation awards $2.5 million grant to the Seidenberg School

The Seidenberg School is to receive a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) totaling two and a half million dollars. The grant is in support of the project “A Multiple Pathway Approach to CyberCorps – Renewal,” which is directed by Dr. Li-Chiou Chen, Dr. Joseph Ryan (the Dyson School), Dr. Darren Hayes, and Prof. Andreea Cotoranu.

This project extends the CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program at Pace University. The Pace CyberCorps program received about $1 million from the NSF between 2010 and 2015, and the new NSF award will bring an additional $2.5 million to advance Pace’s program over the next five years between 2015 and 2020.

The Seidenberg School has been awarded the grant in order to support 3-4 cybersecurity scholars every year, assist student research in cybersecurity, and direct several outreach programs – including running the GenCyber cybersecurity teachers’ workshop which concluded recently. The grant will support eligible cybersecurity scholars who are current Pace students, transfer students from community colleges, and new graduate students from other universities. All scholars are required to fulfill core curriculum requirements in both cybersecurity and mathematics, as well as interdisciplinary curriculum requirements in either criminal justice, business administration, or another discipline. The scholars will also be expected to complete research projects and professional development activities. The interdisciplinary academic preparation will allow the graduates to conduct cybersecurity tasks in a specialty area such as information assurance compliance and auditing, network security administration, digital forensics, etc.

Cybersecurity is one of our key initiatives, and we want to encourage students to learn about this field as it’s not only crucial for securing our digital information over the Internet, but it’s an ever-growing area where employment opportunities abound. The National Science Foundation grant will allow Seidenberg and Pace University to continue its efforts as a center for cybersecurity research and education.

We’d like to congratulate Dr. Chen, Dr. Ryan, Dr. Hayes, and Prof. Cotoranu on this fantastic achievement!

Hana is spending her summer interning at Varick Media Management

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

This summer I am working with Varick Media Management. Varick is an adtech company specializing in programmatic advertising.

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

I’m an intern for the Engineering team as well as the Trading team and Data Science team, and I get the best of three worlds! I am given the opportunity to be a part of all aspects of campaign deployment, as well as building on Varick’s campaign management software, Alveo. I’m using a whole variety of languages and tools this summer, including Java, Spring framework, JavaScript, Angular.js, MySQL and R.

Hana and Ethan Garrison striking a pose at Varick MM.

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!)

A fellow Seidenberg student, Ethan Garrison, has introduced me to Varick MM and opened my mind to this industry.

4. What are some of your favorite perks in your new office? (No, we’re not going to show up like proud parents!)

There is delicious food every now and again at the office! Lots and lots of snacks 😀

Hana Stanojkovic is a rising junior in the Seidenberg School, studying Computer Science. She also has a knack for photography and cooking that she loves showing off on her Instagram!

Remembering John Molluzzo

We would like to take a moment to pay tribute to John Molluzzo, who sadly passed away on July 18, 2015. John was a big part of the Seidenberg School community, and was considered a colleague, friend, and mentor by both students and faculty.

After achieving his PhD in Mathematics in 1972 from Yeshiva University, John progressed into computing and joined Pace in 1985, quickly becoming a solid part of our team. His passion and talent for technology came through in his classes, and he taught many introductory classes as well as advanced ones.

Below are some messages from John’s friends at the Seidenberg School:

It is hard to say in words what we have lost with the passing of John Molluzzo. John was a trusted colleague and friend to all in the Seidenberg community. As chair of the IT department in NY from 1994 to 2013 he served as a helpful and supportive mentor. He was a dedicated teacher who worked continuously to update his courses. His leadership and counsel were often sought by colleagues facing a thorny problem. His colleagues will miss his quiet leadership and good natured presence. His students will miss a dedicated and caring teacher.

Dr. Cathy Dwyer

John was a great colleague, scholar, and teacher. He was always gentle, humble, and thoughtful. He has been my mentor since I joined Pace University 16 years ago, and my whole career at Pace as teacher was deeply influenced by him. I always felt blessed to have a colleague like him. Now I am deeply saddened. The loss is simply too big to take. John, my mentor and my colleague, you will be truly missed and will not be forgotten. My deepest condolences to Maria, Charles, and John and their families.

Dr. Namchul Shin

What can I say about John? He and I were hired around the same time, in late 1984/early 1985. I started in January, 1985 and I believe that John started that fall. He was a “rock” – reliable, logical, strong. He was the person I went to for advice. He was a master teacher; I’m sure that every student who ever had him for a class remembered him, regardless of how long ago the class was.

He liked really bad horror movies-I remember being surprised to learn that he knew Plan 9 From Outer Space, a “grade B” horror film that in my house we joke about. He knew the movie, the plot, and all other types of trivia. He was a civil war buff. He knew the lyrics to obscure ’50’s rock and roll songs. And he was also a superb mathematician at heart who became a computer professional. I will miss him, his presence, his perspective and his counsel. I can’t really believe that he’s gone.

Dr. Constance Knapp

Our most heartfelt condolences go to John’s family.

Seidenberg’s Richard Kline appointed as Faculty Fellow

“The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce the NYC Faculty Fellow appointments of Professor Richard Kline, for the 2015-2016 Academic Year, and Professor Andriy Danylenko for the 2016-2017 Academic Year. These appointments became available as Dr. Brian Evans from the School of Education completed his term. Professor Evans has been a valuable team member in helping establish a plan to increase enrollment for Summer 2015 and Brian is the Coordinator of the Pace Path, overseeing the program’s formal implementation.

Dr. Richard “Rick” Kline is an Associate Professor of computer science and program chairperson for Software Engineering in the Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems. He served as an associate dean of Seidenberg from 2009 to 2011.

Dr. Kline’s research and service activities are focused on increasing interest in STEM learning among K-12 students. For the past ten years, he has been a team member of the Seidenberg Scholars Summer Experience program for high school students. He was a faculty advisor, alongside outgoing Faculty Fellow Brian Evans, in the Verizon-funded Pace STEM Collaboratory in 2012-13. Dr. Kline has served as director of the Hudson Valley FIRST Tech Challenge robotics program, which has reached more than 2,000 students in grades 7-12 since 2009. He has taught more than 400 students in the civic engagement course, Problem Solving Using LEGO Robotics. He was awarded the Jefferson Award for Public Service Bronze Medal in 2012.

Dr. Andriy Danylenko is a Professor of Russian and Slavic linguistics in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures in Dyson College of Arts and Sciences.

He is the editor and author of several books on Slavic linguistics and philology as well as dozens of studies on a wide array of topics ranging from Indo-European to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to standard Ukrainian. Among his books are Slavica et Islamica: Ukrainian in Context (Munich, 2006) on aspects of East Slavic and Ukrainian philology, and most recently, Grammaticalization and Lexicalization in Slavic languages (Munich, Berlin, Washington, DC: Otto Sagner; in co-editorship). Dr. Danylenko has been a recipient of several prestigious fellowships, including Fulbright (Harvard University, 1997; Warsaw University, Poland, 2016), Eugene and Daymel Shklar (Harvard University, 2008), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Hokkaido University, 2013). He is an editorial board member of several journals, a reviewer for numerous scholarly publications and programs in North America, Europe, and Japan.

Professors Kline and Danylenko will help facilitate the implementation of several projects aimed at enhancing the academic excellence of Pace University. These projects will involve exploring ideas to further the Pace campus mission foci of teaching, learning, research, scholarship, and civic engagement. Pace Faculty Fellows bring an important faculty perspective to the University-wide planning and implementation process, and we look forward to their partnership.”

This message was originally published in a note to the Pace Community from Uday Sukhatme, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Pace University.

Pace team takes home the prize at VR Hackathon

Tisch Interactive Telecommunications Program — NYU’s Tisch building where the hackathon was held.

Over the weekend of July 10-12, a team of four Pace students competed against 19 other groups in the NYC Virtual Reality Hackathon, a hackathon that took place as part of the LoNyLa/TimeWave Festival. The Pace team won the Best Wow Factor VR category and brought home a $500 prize!

Pace students and alums Taranjyot Singh Multani (MS CS ’15), Dhruvil Gandhi (MS CS ’16), Avery Leider (PhD CS ’18) and Syed Adil Hasan (MBA Financial MGMT and IS ’16) joined up with Zeev Kirsh, a litigation staff attorney at Paul, Weiss, and Guilherme Pena Costa, a Brazilian programmer who works at McCann Advertising Agency, whom they had met at a Sony sponsored Mega-Meetup the night before the hackathon. The diverse team used their individual skills to dominate in their category during the hackathon – just the kind of interdisciplinary focus we love to see!

The theme of the hackathon focused on “Mythos and Moxie,” an idea derived from the way technology changes constantly and rapidly while storytelling fundamentals have remained the same. The teams were challenged to create a VR platform that transcends technology and opens up users to a more human experience of storytelling, exploring the possibilities of VR technology while doing so.

The team decided to create a kind of virtual island that would incorporate musical features, which users could alter according to their own liking using their movements. The island played four different kinds of music in each corner, and users navigated the island using the Oculus Rift. Depending on how they moved, the music would change in volume, intensity or balance. Users could move around the island to figure out which kind of music they most wanted to hear. The team had originally planned to make movement possible through Dhruvil’s Leap Motion, but faced a big challenge in getting the software and hardware to interact seamlessly. Eventually, they had to cut out the Leap Motion and focus just on using the Oculus Rift and game controllers for movement. Even so, their product was a great success with each of the five judges.

After all the groups showed off their projects, the Pace team received high praise from their category’s judge Chaki Ng, who is also General Manager for Viacom Labs. He stated that the team had successfully captured the essence of the hackathon with their project, and that their project was the most developed and complete out of the presentations that weekend. It turns out that music is a great way to provide an emotionally tangible experience for a user in a virtual environment. The team was delighted to hear this, especially considering the setbacks they had faced during their project. Nevertheless, their story and their content was strong enough to earn them their prize, and we hope they can continue to build on this project in the future to include all the cool features with Leap Motion that they originally wanted to use!

Sponsors for the event included: EEVO, Fake Love, Sony, Freedom 360, Leap Motion, Littlstar, Oculus, Unity 3D and VISR.

A note from GE Capital President, Thomas Gentile

Recently, Thomas Gentile was presented with the Leadership and Service in Technology (LST) award here at Pace University. The award aims to recognize those who have made outstanding achievements in technology by demonstrating their commitment to development, innovation, research, and application within the field.

On receiving his award, Mr. Gentile gave a presentation during which he discussed the crucial need for technology professionals, particularly in the field of cybersecurity.

Mr. Gentile had these remarks regarding the award and GE’s partnership with the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems:

“It is an honor for me to accept the Leadership in Service Award from Pace University. And GE Capital is proud to partner with Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems on the important initiative of improving the access of young women to STEMC academic studies and careers.

“Seidenberg has been a leader in promoting STEMC studies, and this partnership will help pave the way for future leaders to enter these important fields. We are also delighted to have the opportunity to work closely with Dean Amar Gupta. Dean Gupta has been a thought leader and innovator in emerging technical areas like tele-medicine and cyber security which are very important to GE’s global strategy to become the one of the world’s leading infrastructure company. His passion and energy have facilitated important collaborations between industry and academia which are taking STEMC studies to the next level.”