Pace professor Miguel Mosteiro wins Best Paper at ICALP 2018 conference

A paper written by Miguel Mosteiro, assistant professor of computer science and algorithms whiz at Pace University, was selected as best paper at ICALP 2018. Known internationally as one of the top theory conferences worldwide, the achievement is significant for Dr. Mosteiro and collaborator Dariusz Kowalski, a computer science expert from the University of Liverpool.

The paper, titled “Polynomial Counting in Anonymous Dynamic Networks with Applications to Anonymous Dynamic Algebraic Computations,” is just one of the results of a series of research that Miguel and collaborators, including Seidenberg students, have worked on over the past few years.

“It was during my research visit to the University of  Bordeaux in 2015 when my host, Alessia Milani, made me aware of the Counting problem in Anonymous Dynamic Networks,” explains Miguel, who is based at Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems’ New York City campus. “At that point, the problem had already attracted a lot of attention because knowing the number of processors is fundamental for Distributed Computing, but the best upper bounds known on the running time were DOUBLY-exponential. Jointly with Alessia Milani, we improved the running time exponentially designing a novel protocol during that visit. Later on, my student Maitri Chakraborty showed experimentally that our protocol completes the computation in polynomial time, but not having a theoretical bound better than exponential we could not guarantee termination in practice. Anyway, this research was a first big step that resulted in three publications and university-wide researcher- and mentor- awards for my student and me.

Dr. Mosteiro, on the right, displays the award certificate. On the left is Paul Spirakis, Chair of the European Association of Theoretical Computer Science.

“The interest on solving Counting in polynomial time continued, and by last year we were three research groups heavily working on it independently. During my 2017 summer visit to the University of Liverpool and the University of Wroclaw, I worked intensively with my host Dariusz Kowalski in designing a new Counting protocol. Our plan was to transform Incremental Counting so that we could apply Markov Chain analysis to bound the running time. There is always a magical moment in these developments and ours was when I was giving a talk to Kowalski’s students. Explaining the challenges of Counting, and what was the core technical difficulty, the key idea for a new protocol became apparent. Seminal ideas are fundamental but one still needs to work a lot on the technical details to realize them in theorems, which we did last Fall.”

Dr. Mosteiro and Dr. Kowalski presented the paper at ICALP 2018, which took place in Prague over summer, where the importance of the problem it addresses and the strength of the contribution will be recognized with the award for best paper.

The Chair of the Computer Science Department, Dr. Christelle Scharff, congratulated Miguel on the achievement, noting that it was a great achievement, mentioning “how prestigious it is!”

Seidenberg School Dean, Dr. Jonathan Hill, also offered his compliments: “We are, indeed, in the presence of greatness! Congratulations, Miguel, on this accomplishment.”

“We are very grateful,” says Miguel about the award, and added: “as I am for the support of Seidenberg School, SRC, and Kenan Fund. Without that support, I would not have been able to visit my colleagues and focus on this research.”

Congratulations Dr. Mosteiro! If the feedback from our students is anything to go by, there is a lot to be proud of!

Celebrating the life and passions of Dr. Jean Coppola

We are deeply saddened to share that our much loved Pace community member, professor of information technology, and friend, Jean Coppola, passed away on Sunday October 29th, 2017.

As an integral part of our community, Jean leaves an incredible legacy behind: the creation and management of the WestchesterSMART Mobile App Development Bowl, which ran for three consecutive years with increasing attendance and success; her outstanding work in her life’s passion of gerontechnology, as a founding member of the Pace University Gerontechnology Program, through the mobile app contest, and through the classes she taught; the passion she instilled in her students; her incredible baking skills; her prowess on the softball field; her choir leadership; as a board member for her alma mater St Francis Prep, and so much more.

One year ago, Jean was recognized by the Westchester County Association for the second time as she received a Women in Tech Award. A month after that, she was honored at Pace for an astounding 30 years of service to the University, our students, and our greater community.

Jean has been a powerhouse in the field of technology, appearing in Westchester Magazine just this summer to discuss the critical issue of cybersecurity, an issue that is “not going to go away.”

Jean in her element wearing her famous red suit.

She has been known around Pace for being one of the sharpest dressed faculty members on campus. As recognizable for her suits as for her intelligence and creativity, Jean always made an impression whether in front of a class of students or interviewing for any one of the international publications that featured her.

And, thanks to Jean’s passion and determination to share her love of technology in the classroom, her teaching, leadership, and memory will live on in the thousands of students and colleagues she met over the years.

Here are some of the unique ways Jean instilled user experience design and empathy in her students:

Jean, you will be greatly missed by all of us at Seidenberg.

 

Pace U recognition awards for Seidenberg faculty and staff

Fran O’Gara receives her award

On Thursday, November 17, 2016, several of our hard-working and dedicated faculty and staff members received Pace University Employee Recognition Awards.

Pace President Stephen J. Friedman was on site at Pace University’s Pleasantville campus to congratulate the recipients, who were being recognized by the University for their years of service. Pace employees typically start to garner recognition for service after 5 years, but these awardees are just a tad past that point!

Susan Feather-Gannon with Stephen Friedman

Lisa Slingerland, the Online Student Services Coordinator for NACTEL, was recognized for 15 years of service.

Associate Dean Susan Feather-Gannon and Administrative Director Fran O’Gara received awards for 20 years of service.

Faculty members Jean Coppola and Ron Frank were recognized for an amazing 30 years of service!

Jean Coppola receives her award

We are proud of the amazing people that work so hard to make Seidenberg great. Thank you to our awardees for your excellent contributions to our school and our students!

The Seidenberg School welcomes James Gabberty as Associate Dean

gabbertyAs of November 1, Dr. James Gabberty has assumed the position of Associate Dean at the Seidenberg School. Dr. Gabberty has a wealth of experience that made him the ideal candidate for the position.

He will be working to drive more sponsored research and internship opportunities to Seidenberg. He will also be focusing on the creation of a cybersecurity certification program with Pace Adult and Continuing Education.

Exciting things are happening at the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Education Systems, and we can’t wait to announce them as they take place!

 

Pace University names Dr. Jonathan Hill as the Interim Dean of the Seidenberg School

10626830_10100548699389017_3518251505382213470_nIt is our greatest pleasure to announce that Pace University has named Dr. Jonathan Hill as the Interim Dean for the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Dr. Hill has been at the roots of this flourishing Seidenberg community for over a decade, and as Dean, we’re sure that his passion and ingenuity in the field of technology will continue to advance the Seidenberg School for many more years to come.

We offer Dr. Hill the most heartfelt of congratulations for the recognition of his success in this school, and we look forward to all that he has to offer as our Dean!

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 KlineDr. 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

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. 

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