staff – Seidenberg School News

Pace Professor Miguel Mosteiro Gets Work Published in the JACM

The Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems is proud to announce that the work of one of our very own community members, Associate Professor Miguel Mosteiro (as seen on the far left), has been accepted by the Journal of ACM for publication. The ACM, or the Association for Computing Machinery, is an organization that “brings together computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field’s challenges.” Through the ACM, members of the computing community are constantly encouraged to expand their knowledge and discover new ways of thinking.

Miguel’s article on “Polynomial Counting in Anonymous Dynamic Networks with Applications to Anonymous Dynamic Algebraic Computations,”, which also won an award for best paper at ICALP in 2018, will soon be added to the ACM’s list of prestigious journal publications. With papers ranging from top research institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and Cornell University, it is an honor to have Miguel be recognized amongst other top educators in this field.

“These results received the Best Paper Award at ICALP 2018, the flagship conference of the European Association of Theoretical Computer Science and top 4 worldwide, and now were accepted for publication at the Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (JACM),” Miguel explains. “To have one’s work published in JACM is an important accomplishment for a CS researcher. The ACM is the top scientific computing society worldwide, and JACM is the top 1 journal venue* in Theoretical Computer Science (TCS). I am honored to have our work on ADNs so recognized by the TCS scientific community, and I look forward to continuing this successful line of work.”

Congratulations to Miguel Mosteiro on his accomplishment. The Seidenberg School is proud of his work on dynamic networks and we’re excited to cheer on his future achievements moving forward!

The Seidenberg School wishes Katie Todd a Happy Birthday!

By Jai Dengle and Brianna Adkins

The Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems is here to wish the happiest of birthdays to Katie Todd! The Pace University alumna and current Assistant Director of Communications and Strategic Operations has been with us since she began her Master of Science degree in Publishing in 2013. Upon graduating in 2015, Katie became the Communications Manager for the Seidenberg School. The Seidenberg School has so much radiance and hilarity with Katie around, which creates an environment everyone wants to be in.

As the Assistant Director of Communications and Strategic Operations at Seidenberg, Katie manages the activities and functions of the office whilst also instilling a culture of communication among everyone within the Seidenberg School. She’s a major contributor to the welcoming energy that’s contained within the Seidenberg Lounge and beyond.

In honor of her birthday, we asked the Dean of Seidenberg, Dr. Jonathan Hill, and student employees to express how they feel about Katie. Their quotes perfectly capture what Katie means to the Seidenberg community.

“She’s wonderfully perfect in every way, but don’t tell her I said that,” Dr. Hill explained with a whisper.

Jai Dengle, a student obtaining her masters in Information Systems, explained just what makes Katie a “boss.”

“The one who is beautiful at heart, obliging to everyone, sincere with work, and strict for perfection. That’s my boss, Katie Todd,” Jai exclaimed!

Christopher “Topher” Cherestal, a senior Information Systems major at Pace University, stated: “not only does Katie have a smashing accent but she also has this ability to make you feel like you’re on top of the world while also grounding you and bringing you back to earth, she’s amazing”

We want to express our gratitude to Katie for all that she does for Seidenberg! Katie, happiest of birthdays to you!

Battle of the Bots at Pace University

If watching robots compete to complete tasks entices you, then you should’ve been at Pace University on February 10th. The 10th annual Hudson Valley NY FIRST Tech Challenge championship robotics tournament was held on Pace University’s Westchester campus. The day was full of challenges and innovation for middle and high school students from the Hudson Valley. Only one goal stayed in each of the students’ minds throughout the tournament: getting to the world championship.

The event, run by Dr. Richard Kline and Jill Olimpieri, hosted 27 high school-level teams. The competition brought together the region’s top qualifying teams and their robots to compete in a task-based challenge. Pace University has hosted the regional championship for several years. Pace University, Pace University Athletics, and IBM sponsored the event.

According to the Hudson Valley NY FIRST Tech Challenge site, “Students in FTC design and build a robot using aluminum, polycarbonate, motors and servos, sensors, and a variety of other materials. They program and control it using Android Smartphones with Java or a Blocks-based graphical language.”

With exclusive scholarships open to competing students totaling more than $80 million, the stakes were high. The challenge to beat this year was “Rover Ruckus,” and teams battled to take the top spots.

According to Dr. Kline, “More than 40 current Pace students and about a dozen alumni, staff, and faculty participated in the event, comprising half of the 100 or so volunteers who banded together to run the competition under the guidance of volunteer coordinator and Seidenberg School staff member Jill Olimpieri. Students contributed in all areas of the competition, from setup and logistics to referees, judges, inspectors, and robot technical advisors.”

Pace students and faculty Sukun Li and Leanne Keeley volunteered as judges for the event. Students Jeana Cosenza, Kyle Hanson, Joel Thomas, and Zach Demeglio, among others, volunteered in various supporting roles. Dean Hill even made a special appearance to cheer on the teams and robots!

Fios 1 News covered the event, giving the young students the chance to feature their efforts on the local news. The coverage inspired and motivated the students to share their experiences and do their best.

At the end of the day, three teams came out on top and will move on to the world championship. Congratulations to Team 6567 – Roboraiders from Red Hook High School, Team 7486 – Suffern Robotics from Suffern Senior High School, and Team 8397 – Beta, from CCE Clinton County 4-H. We wish the best of luck to them at the world championship!

Meet Jill Olimpieri, our new Event and Program Manager

Let’s all get together and shout out a massive welcome to our new event and program manager, Jill Olimpieri, who is already pretty much running the shop at our Pleasantville campus!

Jill may be new to Pace but she has a long history with working at universities… none as good as us, though. That’s evident from the way she considers joining the Seidenberg family one of her best decisions yet (and we agree)!

We asked Jill to kindly give us all of the details of her life, and she kindly obliged. Read on to learn all about our awesome new program manager!

As always – why Seidenberg?

I knew the moment that I took the elevator to the third floor of Goldstein, that Seidenberg was the right place for me. From the close-knit community to the amazing faculty, staff, and students, I knew that I would be able to grow professionally and personally. I enjoy that Pace is established and values tradition but, more specifically, the culture at Seidenberg allows for creativity and growth.

How are you finding it so far?

To be honest, no two days here at Seidenberg have been the same. I’ve learned a lot (I mean A LOT) about Seidenberg and the students. I have had the chance to be involved at both the PLV and NYC campuses, which has been a positive learning experience (or more so feeling like I could be Laina & Ava Posner’s forgotten older sister). Thankfully, everyone here has been extremely welcoming, which has solidified my reasons as to why I chose Seidenberg.

So what exactly does an events and program manager do?

In my new role, I am planning the Mobile App Contest, creating new programs and opportunities for the students, and assisting in recruitment initiatives. I’ll be serving as Advisor for the Seidenberg Tech Collective in PLV, so if you’re reading this blog, make sure you join!! Helping make Seidenberg bigger and better than ever is my top job responsibility, alongside many other talented staff and faculty members.

What are you looking forward to doing?

The most exciting thing I am looking forward to is providing opportunities that will continue making Seidenberg students stand out amongst the rest. Whether that means finding innovative opportunities off campus, or creating new ones, I am looking forward to using my imagination to help the students. Also, I’ll be heading to the Design Factory in April, so that seems like a pretty awesome opportunity, too!

What did you do before Seidenberg?

Before moving back to the Big Apple, I worked at colleges in New Hampshire, including Southern New Hampshire University and my alma mater, Keene State College. I earned my Master’s degree in Higher Ed Leadership, which led me to opportunities in assessment, event planning, and advising. I also was the Director at a Child Care Program for children aged 3-13, but decided I prefer to work with Big Kids, aka Dean Hill. I was then offered this new exciting opportunity as Events & Program Manager, and it has been one of my best decisions yet! I am looking forward to the future of Seidenberg and all it has to offer.

What do you do in your free time?

I spend my weekends traveling to see some of my closest friends. I am always seeking new adventures with my four legged child, Georgia; you can find us somewhere frolicking near a body of water. I also consider myself a Professional Bridesmaid (not kidding…well maybe) and am always interested in making new memories whenever I can. I also really like donuts – anything to do with donuts is a win in my eyes!

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Anything to do with donuts is a win in anybody’s eyes, so Jill is certainly not alone! Some of the programs Jill is working on can be found on our high school outreach page – be sure to get in touch if you’d like to hear more about them!

Welcome to the Seidenberg family, Jill! We are delighted to have you on board!

Meet Matt Brown, our new advisor in NYC!

A big welcome to our newest academic advisor, Matt Brown, who is waiting to meet you at our NYC campus!

Although new to Seidenberg, Matt has been with Pace University for four years. He’s no stranger to advising, though – he was previously an academic advisor for the Challenge to Achievement at Pace (CAP) Program in the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE), where he advised first-year students of all majors and supported them during their transition to the Pace community. In the past, he also instructed University 101, worked with peer leaders, and led CAP’s peer mentoring program.

We caught up with Matt to ask him about how he ended up lucking out and getting a job at the best technology school ever. Here’s what he had to say!

So, why Seidenberg?

I wanted to become an advisor for Seidenberg because of its reputation of being an active community. Not only do I enjoy advising, but I appreciate being a part of a community that collaborates, supports one another, and strives to be the best version of itself. I sensed those qualities here.

How’re you finding it so far?

I’m finding that Seidenberg lives up to its reputation. Everyone I’ve met has been very welcoming and you can always find students in the lounge. There are a lot of events being hosted to educate and connect everyone. Seidenberg also offers awesome resources to our students.

What are you looking forward to doing here?

I’m looking forward to connecting with and learning from the Seidenberg community, especially our students, and supporting them while they try to get the most out of their time at Pace. Also, I heard there’s some cool things happening within the student organizations and on the 10thfloor.

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Matt is correct, there ARE cool things happening with student orgs (like the newly official Pace Women in Tech club) and at the Applied Data and Networking Sciences lab on the 10th floor!

We are so happy to have Matt working with us at Seidenberg and look forward to his work with our students as they navigate their university careers.

Once again, welcome Matt!

Pace U recognition awards for Seidenberg faculty and staff

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!

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!