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New Pre-Conference Workshop: Focus on the Design of Classes in OO Programming Courses


The Association for Computing Machinery

Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

Presents

CCSCNE-2005

The Tenth Annual

Consortium for Computing

Sciences in Colleges

Northeastern Conference

Providence College
April 22 - 23, 2005
Providence, RI 

Papers, Panels, Tutorials,
Pre-Conference Workshops,
Programming Contest, Student Posters

Web Site
/2005/

 

 

 

Statement of Purpose

The CCSCNE brings together faculty, staff, and students from academic institutions throughout the Northeast for exchange of ideas and information concerning undergraduate computing curricula.

 


Greetings from the Chair

 

Welcome to the tenth anniversary conference of the CCSCNE.  This year’s committee has prepared a set of activities that should appeal to students and teachers of Computer Science.  All of us owe a debt to this group which along with the Board of CCSCNE has met twice in Providence to plan this meeting.  When not meeting face to face, the committee and the board exchange countless emails to make sure that every thing is ready for all of us. 

 

We are honored this year to have plenary talks by Matthias Felliesen of Northeastern University and Jim Kurose of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  Perhaps it is good we removed “small” from our name since these two represent the largest private college in Massachusetts and the largest public college in Massachusetts. 

 

As in past years, the CCSCNE accepted only 49% of the papers that were submitted for the conference.  The breakout sessions also include several panels and tutorials.  This program includes descriptions of all the tutorials and short biographies of the tutorial presenters.

 

Again this year, we have two pre-conference workshops- one on security and one on active learning tools.  You can read about them in this program.

 

And, of course, we have our student contests.  Our poster session must be one of the largest at any CCSC conference and the same is true for our programming contest.  Be sure to visit the poster session and listen at the banquet for the winners of both of the student events.

 

Next year, we travel a little north of Providence to hold our conference in Worcester again but this time we will be at Holy Cross.  We would love to have more participation at every stage of the conference.  Send in papers, panel proposals, tutorial and workshop proposals for next year’s conference.  Join the conference committee to plan these events.  Offer to host the conference.  The evaluation form for the conference has a place to volunteer to host or participate on the committee.

 

I hope you enjoy yourself and maybe have some time to see some of the city.  See you next year at Holy Cross.

 

Frank Ford, Providence College

Conference Chair




2005 Conference Committee


Conference Chair

Frank Ford, Providence College

            fpford@providence.edu

 

 

Papers Chairs                                       

Dale Fish, Worcester State College

            dfish1@worcester.edu

Michael Gousie, Wheaton College

            mgousie@wheatonma.edu

Brad Richards,Vassar College

            richards@cs.vassar.edu

 

 

Undergraduate Posters Chairs            

Jim Teresco, Williams College

            terescoj@cs.williams.edu

David Hemmendinger, Union College

            hemmendd@union.edu

 

 

Panels/Tutorials/Workshops Chairs    

Clare Bates Congdon, Colby College

            ccongdon@colby.edu

Lonnie Fairchild, SUNY-Plattsburgh

            Lonnie.fairchild@plattsburgh.edu

 

 

Speakers  Chair                                

Scott Hunter, Siena College

            shunter@siena.edu

 

Publicity  Chair                                 

Frank Ford, Providence College

            fpford@providence.edu

 

Vendors  Chairs 

Hemant Pendharkar,    

            Worcester State College

            hpendharkar@worcester.edu                          

Kris Powers, Tufts University

            Kris.Powers@tufts.edu

  

Programming Contest  Chairs              

Richard Connelly, Providence College

            rconnell@providence.edu

Mary Russell. Providence College

            mrussell@providence.edu

 

Registration Chair

Danny Kopec, Brooklyn College

            kopec@sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu

 

Local Arrangements Chair

Linda Wilkens, Providence College

            lwilkens@providence.edu



Referees - 2005 CCSC Northeastern Conference

 

The conference committee acknowledges with gratitude the work of the reviewers listed here.  All papers were blind-reviewed by several referees independently and the Papers Chairs used this information to select the papers which appear at this conference. Without these reviewers, we would not be able to maintain the selectivity and high paper quality that we consider so important to this conference.

 


Ernest Ackermann 

  University of Mary Washington, VA

Brian Adams 

  Franklin & Marshall College, PA

Elizabeth Adams

  James Madison University, VA

Don Allison 

  SUNY College at Oneonta, NY

John Avitabile

  College of Saint Rose, NY

Pazel Azalov

  Penn State, PA

Norman Bashias

  Manhattanville College, NY

Gordon Bassen

   Kingsborough Comm. College, NY

Jonathan Blake 

   Quinnipiac University, CT

Stephen Bloch

   Adelphi University, NY

Maegan Bos 

   St. Lawrence University, NY

Barbara Bracken 

   Wilkes University, PA

Elena Braynova

   Worcester State College, MA

Loreen Butcher-Powell

   Bloomsburg University, PA

Lawrence D'Antonio

   Ramapo College of New Jersey, NJ

Joan DeBello

   St. John's University, NY

Peter Drexel

   Plymouth State University, NH

Emanuel Emanouilidis

   Kean University, NJ

Lonnie Roth Fairchild 

   SUNY-Plattsburgh, NY

Ed Harcourt

   St. Lawrence University, NY

Stephen Hartley 

   Rowan University, NJ

David Hemmendinger

  Union College, NY

Mark Hoffman

  Quinnipiac University, CT

Donald Hsu

  Dominican College, NY

Scott Hunter

  Siena College, NY

Lubomir Ivanov

  Iona College, NY

Patricia Joseph

   Slippery Rock Univ. of Penn., PA

Yana Kortsarts           

   Widener University, PA

Alina Lazar           

   Youngstown State University, OH

Mark LeBlanc

    Wheaton College, MA

David Levine           

    St. Bonaventure University, NY

Aparna Mahadev           

    Worcester State College, MA

Robert McCloskey       

    University of Scranton, PA

William Meyers           

    Belmont Abbey College, NC

Robert W. Neufeld       

    McPherson College, KS

Robert Noonan           

    College of William and Mary, VA

Edward O'Neill           

     Fairfield University, CT

Eileen Peluso           

     Lycoming College, PA

Kris Powers           

     Tufts University, MA

Stefan Robila           

     Montclair State University, NJ

Ingrid Russell           

     University of Hartford, CT

Rebecca Rutherfoord       

     Southern Polyt. State Univ., GA

Mihaela Sabin           

    Rivier College, NH

Ching-Kuang Shene       

    Michigan Technological Univ., MI

Rose Shumba           

    Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania, PA

Evelyn Stiller           

     Plymouth State University, NH

Joo Tan

   Mansfield University, PA

Goran Trajkovski 

   Towson University, MD

John Vaughn

   Hobart and William Smith Colls., NY

Ellen Walker

   Hiram College, OH

Laurie Werner           

   Miami University, OH

Linda Wilkens

   Providence College, RI

Karl R. Wurst 

   Worcester State College, MA

Fani Zlatarova

   Elizabethtown College, PA



 

Friday, April 22, 2005

REGISTRATION............................................................................... 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Slavin Center Glass Room (112)

      Registration for Programming contest’s participants in Albertus Magnus 137.

      Registration for Pre-Conference Workshop Attendees at Workshop at 8:00 a.m.

PROGRAMMING CONTEST......................................................... 8:00 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

.....

..... Breakfast and Registration of Teams and Team Members..................... 8:00 a.m.-8:45 a.m.

Albertus Magnus 137

..... Computers Available for Teams to Practice.......................................... 8:00 a.m.-8:45 a.m.

Albertus Magnus 102 and Sowa 228

..... Initial Meeting and Presentation of the Problems................................... 8:45 a.m.-9:00 a.m.

Albertus Magnus 137

..... Contest Time.......................................................................................... 9:00 a.m. - Noon

Albertus Magnus 102 and Sowa 228

..... Luncheon for Teams............................................................................... Noon-12:45 p.m.

Albertus Magnus 106

 

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS...................................................... 9:00 a.m.-noon

 

Focus on the Design of Classes in OO Programming Courses

            Viera K. Proulx and Tanya Cashorali, Northeastern University, MA

                        (see description after program)

Slavin Center G01

 

 

A Workshop on Computer Security

             Narayan Murthy and Daniel Farkas, Pace University

                        (see description after program)

Accinno 101

 

VENDOR DISPLAYS........................................................................ 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Slavin Center Glass Room (112)

WELCOME.......................................................................................... 1:00 p.m.-1:15 p.m.

Slavin Center 64 Hall

   Greetings from

            Hugh Lena, Vice-President for Academic Administration

            Frank Ford, Conference Chair, Providence College

 

 

PLENARY SESSION I......................................................................... 1:15 p.m.-2:15 p.m.

The First Year

Matthias Felleisen, Northeastern University

Slavin Center 64 Hall

(See abstract and speaker information after the program.)

 

BREAK................................................................................................ 2:15 p.m.-2:45  p.m.

Slavin Center Glass Room (112)

 

CONCURRENT SESSION 1.............................................................. 2:45 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

 

Session 1a: Papers: Special Topics

Moore Hall I

   Physical Computing and Multimodal Input in Computer-Human Interfaces Interfaces

        Lori Scarlatos, Brooklyn College, NY

        Tony Scarlatos, Stony Brook University, NY

   An Expert System Development Environment for Introductory AI Course Projects

         Cynthia Martincic, Saint Vincent College, PA

         Douglas Metzler, University of Pittsburgh, PA

  Rocktest: A Programming Contest Management System

         Michael Conlon, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

 

Session 1b: Papers: Teaching/Debugging Techniques

Moore Hall II

   A Tutor on Subprogram Implementation

          Amruth Kumar, Ramapo College of New Jersey

          Eric Fernandes, Ramapo College of New Jersey

   Aspect-Oriented Debugging

          John Stamey, Coastal Carolina University, NC

   Back to the Future: A Look at Recursive Binary Trees

          John Beidler, University of Scranton, PA

          Carolyn Smart, University of Scranton, PA

 

Session 1c - Tutorial: Randomized Algorithms

Moore Hall III

    Yana Kortsarts, Widener University, Chester, PA 

    Jeffrey Rufinus, Widener University, Chester, PA 

     (see description after program)

    

BREAK................................................................................................. 4:00 p.m.-4:45 p.m.

Slavin Center Glass Room

CONCURRENT SESSION 2.............................................................. 4:45 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

 

Session 2a: Papers: Assembly Language Issues

Moore Hall I

   Teaching Assembly Language Without Using (As Much) Assembly Language

      Scott Hunter, Siena College, NY

 

   The Effect Of The Harvard Architecture On The Teaching Of Assembly Language

       W. Douglas Maurer, George Washington University, DC

 

Session 2b - Panel: Considerations on Undergraduate CS Research

Moore Hall II

                Stefan A. Robila, Montclair State University, NJ

                Amruth Kumar, Ramapo College of New Jersey

                Doug Baldwin, SUNY-Geneseo, NY

                Clare Congdon, Colby College, ME

 

 

STUDENT POSTERS/SOCIAL HOUR.............................................. 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

Slavin Center 64 Hall

      The list of posters, poster presenters, and their advisors is listed after the program.

 

BANQUET............................................................................................ 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.

Raymond Dining Center

Winners of the Programming Contest and Student Poster Session

will be announced at the banquet

 

 

Saturday, April 23, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST.......................................................... 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m.

Slavin Center Glass Room (112)

REGISTRATION.............................................................................. .8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.

Slavin Center Glass Room (112)

 

VENDOR DISPLAYS........................................................................ 8:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Slavin Center Glass Room (112)

 

CONCURRENT SESSION 3............................................................... 8:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m.

 

Session 3A:  Papers: Introductory Computing

Moore Hall I

   A New Approach To Computer Science in the Liberal Arts

       Brendan Burns, University of Massachusetts Amherst

 

   A Critical Computer Literacy Course

       Mark Hoffman, Quinnipiac University, CT

   Designing and Running a Pre-College Computing Course

       Mihaela Sabin, Rivier College, NH

       Bryan Higgs, Rivier College, NH

       Vladimir Riabov, Rivier College, NH

       Alberto Moreira, Rivier College, NH

 

Session 3b: Papers: Upper-level Curriculum

Moore Hall II

    The Virtual Firefly: An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Project

       Kevin Austin, Fitchburg State College, MA

       Julie Dunlap, Fitchburg State College, MA

       Matthew Glover, Fitchburg State College, MA

       Joshua McKinnon, Fitchburg State College, MA

       Duane Mohney, Fitchburg State College, MA

       Michael Taft, Fitchburg State College, MA

       Brian Vysocky, Fitchburg State College, MA

       Christopher Cratsley, Fitchburg State College, MA

    Real-World Project Management in the Academic Environment

       Joo Tan, Mansfield University, PA

       John Phillips, Mansfield University, MA

    Playing Around in the CS Curriculum:  Reversi as a Teaching Tool

       David Valentine, Slippery Rock University, PA

 

Session 3c - Panel: Innovation in Undergraduate Computer Science Education

Moore Hall III

                Amruth Kumar, Ramapo College of New Jersey

                Homma Farian, SUNY-Geneseo, NY

                Matthew Haas, Corning Community College, NY

                David Kay, University of California, Irvine

                Frank Lee, Drexel University, PA

                Yelena Kushleyeva, Drexel University, PA

 

PLENARY SESSION II................................................................... 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

Reaching Students at a Distance: from Videotape to the Internet

to Online, Interactive Books

Jim Kurose,

Slavin Center 64 Hall

 (See abstract and speaker information after the program.)

BREAK............................................................................................. 11:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.

Slavin Center 64 Hall

 

CONCURRENT SESSION 4.......................................................... 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

 

Session 4a: Papers: Software Development

Moore Hall I

    A Software Development Project: A Student-Written Assessment System

        Sofya Poger, Iona College, NY

        Catherine Ricardo, Iona College, NY

        Robert Schiaffino, Iona College, NY

    Incorporating a Fault Categorization and Analysis Process in the Software Build 

        Cycle

        Carol Masuck, University of Idaho

    Teaching Software Engineering Using a Traceability- based Development

       Methodology

       T.M. Rao,  SUNY Brockport

       Sandeep Mitra, SUNY Brockport

       Thomas Bullinger, Archsynergy, ltd.

 

Session 4b:     Introductory Computer Science

Moore Hall II

     A Student Model for Object-Oriented Design and Programming

        Fang Wei, Lehigh University, PA

        Sally Moritz, Lehigh University, PA

        Shahida Parvez, Lehigh University, PA

        Glenn Blank, Lehigh University, PA

    Student Competitions and Bots in an Introductory Programming Course

         Ed Harcourt, St. Lawrence University, NY

         Brian Ladd, St. Lawrence University, NY

    Student Performance Studying Ethics in the Context of Internet Use

         Barbara Boucher Owens, Southwestern University, TX

 

Session 4c - Tutorial: Including a Web/Database Unit in CS0

Moore Hall III

          Tom Whaley, Washington and Lee University, VA

LUNCH............................................................................................... 12:45 p.m.-2:00 p.m.

Raymond Dining Center

Winner of the best paper award will be announced at the luncheon.

MEMBERSHIP MEETING................................................................ 2:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

Sowa 233

BOARD MEETING............................................................................. 2:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

Sowa 233

 

 

Student Posters, Friday, April 22, 2005
6:00pm-7:00pm


Project Erde

     Emmon Johnson, SUNY Oneonta

     Matthew Becker, SUNY Oneonta

     Chris Spahn, SUNY Oneonta

            Advisor: James Ryder

The 3-D Karnaugh Map

      Michael Reale, SUNY Oneonta

            Advisor Dennis Higgins

A Pacman Java Game

      Aimee Wolons, SUNY Oneonta

            Advisor Dennis Higgins

PERL Algorithm to Calculate and Categorize

      Keeley Wray, Providence College

           Advisor Richard Connelly

Evolutionary Computation: Exploring the Genotype Representation

      Craig Baker, Saint Mary's College of Maryland 

           Advisor Simon Read

Simulation of the California Electric Power Market  

      Eileen Lowry, Union College 

           Advisor David Hemmendinger

Music Education Technology for Older Elementary School Aged Children: “Playing Around with Mini Amadeus Jr.”

     Meghan Bruce, Providence College

     Steven Altieri, Providence College

     Chris Lindo, Providence College

     Tim Miller, Providence College  

           Advisor Linda Wilkens

Error Detection and Visualization in Digital Elevation Models

     Steven Bowe, Wheaton College

           Advisor Michael Gousie

The Most Effective Approach for True Object-Oriented Program Design

     Tanya Cashorali, Northeastern University

           Advisor Viera Proulx

Image Based Search Engine

     Kevin D.  Corace, Pennsylvania State University New Kensington 

     Kenneth T.  Kocon, Pennsylvania State University New Kensington 

           Advisor Harold Smith

Computational Geometric Representation of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) Data

     Yunpeng Li, Middlebury College

           Advisor Matthew Dickerson

Computer Model for the Zebra Fish Brain

     Justin Schneider, Wagner College

     Paul Pederson, Wagner College

           Advisor Adrian Ionescu

Bacterial Identification: Use of a Genetic Algorithm to Find a Sufficient Small Set of Primers 

     Kamun Chan, Bard College

           Advisor Robert McGrail

Evolving Communication to Aid Cooperation in a Multi-Agent System

     Noah Smith, Colby College  

           Advisor Clare Congdon

Flash Card Study Tool Application in C#.Net

      Brenton Sheehan, Providence College

           Advisor Linda Wilkens

Mobile Moods: Generating Emotions on Mobile Devices

      Sara Czyzewicz, Rhode Island College

           Advisor Kathryn Sanders

StingRayCave  Ray-based Volume Rendering for Virtual Reality

      Peter Firth, University of Rhode Island

            Advisor Peter Stephenson, Imedia Academy

Deep Blue Sea - Interactive Game-based Learning for Deep-Sea Environments

      Stephen Lecrenski, Providence College

            Advisor Peter Stephenson, Imedia Academy

Artistic Rendering to Represent Quality of Information in Visualization

      Katharine Wray, Rhode Island School of Design

            Advisor Peter Stephenson, Imedia Academy

Universal Research Interchange

      Michael Carroll, University of Rhode Island

            Advisor Joan Peckham

Robot Colony Power Supply: Controlled Use with PIC Chip

      Richard Zbeda, Connecticut College

            Advisor Gary Parker

Reliablity for Nswap

      Jenny Barry, Swarthmore College

      America Holloway, Swarthmore College

      Heather Jones, Swarthmore College

            Advisor Tia Newhall

Visualization of Relational Filesystems

      James Callender, Bard College

      Brendan Berg, Bard College

            Advisor Robert McGrail

Personalizing the Visitor Experience Using Dynamic Information Systems

      Sara Czyzewicz, Rhode Island College

            Advisor Peter Stephenson, Imedia Academy

The Virtual Firefly, A Research Tool For Biologists

      Matt Glover, Fitchburg State College

      Joshua McKinnon, Fitchburg State College     

      Duane Mohney, Fitchburg State College

      Mike Taft, Fitchburg State College     

      Brian Vysocky, Fitchburg State College     

            Advisor Kevin Austin

Internet Game Network Utilization on College Campuses

      Kevin Green, Stonehill College

            Advisor Robert Dugan

Using Information Visualization to Give Rapid Insight into Information-Intensive Problems

     Joanna Fivelsdal, Bard College

            Advisor Robert McGrail

Bayesian Filtering Implementation for Web Content

      Jonathan Bulava, The College of New Jersey

      Brian Wannwe, The College of New Jersey

           Advisor Peter DePasquale

Modeling Human Subjectivity: Personality Profiles and Impressions

      James M.  Piette III, Trinity College

           Advisor Madalene Spezialetti

3-Dimensional Reconstruction and Visualization of a Rat Brain

      Clifford Manzanillo, University of Rhode Island

           Advisor Jean-Yves Hervé

Behavior-based Pedestrian Simulation

      Elizete Fernandes, University of Rhode Island

           Advisor Jean-Yves Hervé

Computing the Grundy-Sequences for Octal Games

      Jason Catterton, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

           Advisor Matthew Burke

Can neural networks learn cross products?

      Jesse Wrenn, Colby College

      Andreea Olea, Colby College

           Advisor Clare Bates Congdon

A Complex Systems Approach to Researching Behavioral Trends

      Jesse Wrenn, Colby College

           Advisor Clare Congdon

LOLLIO: Side effects in Linear Logic Programming

      Todd Johnson, Bard College

           Advisor Robert McGrail

Automated Identification of Malicious Code Variants

     Christopher Ries, Colby College

           Advisor Daniel Bilar

Pedestrian Evacuation Simulation

     Angel Castro, University of Rhode Island

           Advisor Jean-Yves Hervé

Protein Visualization and Simulation in 3D

     Nathan Burnell, University of Rhode Island  

           Advisor Jean-Yves Hervé

Multilayer Neural Network with Back Propagation: Hardware Solution to learning XOR

     Richard Zbeda, Connecticut College

     Pramod Nathan, Connecticut College

           Advisor Gary Parker

Sub-type Division and Conquer: An Experiment in Divide and Conquer Using Cyclic Genetic Algorithms

     Pramod Nathan, Connecticut College

           Advisor Gary Parker

Evolving Coordination among Predators Using Genetic Algorithms

     Charles Fizer, Colby College

           Advisor Clare Congdon

Active Networks

      Bishal Thapa, SUNY Potsdam

           Advisor Barbara Nostrand

Modeling the Spread of Infectious Disease

      Joseph Glessner, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia

          Advisor James Johnson

Using Machine Learning Techniques and Data Mining Tools for Web Document Classification

      Roberto Scata, University of Hartford

      Rich Truncali, University of Hartford

      Shona Taiwo, University of hartford

      Eric Brown, Yale University

          Advisor Ingrid Russell, University of Hartford

Processor Cycle Usage Profiling on the SPARC

      Goulding, Hamilton College

          Advisor Mark Bailey

Discovering Neighborhoods of Untrustworthy Web Sites

      Meredith Beaton, Wellesley College

          Advisor Panagiotis Metaxas

Java Security Scanner - JSS

      Russell Spitler, Colby College

          Advisor Dale Skrien

 

Information on Plenary Speakers

 

PLENARY SESSION I......................................................................... 1:15 p.m.-2:15 p.m.

The First Year

Matthias Felleisen, Northeastern University

Slavin Center 64 Hall

 

Abstract:

My team and I have spent the last ten years developing an alternative approach to teaching computing and programming in first-year courses. Unlike conventional approaches, ours focuses on program design in a systematic manner. The syntax of the underlying programming language (both Java and Scheme) is only discussed as needed.

Field tests with over 200 high schools and almost a dozen colleges have shown time and again that the approach produces students with a better understanding of computing and object-oriented programming than conventional approaches. In several controlled studies, we could also show that students find our curriculum more appealing than the AP curriculum.

 

In my talk, I will provide an overview of the project, especially its intellectual premises and principles, but I will also present some of the software that we have developed in support of the first-year courses. I will then briefly review our outreach effort and our experiences with field tests. My goal is to encourage all of you to think about the first year in a different way. The old ones have failed, and if we want our beautiful discipline to survive, we must find a good way of teaching it.

 

Biography:

Matthias Felleisen is currently a Trustee Professor at Northeastern University. He joined its College of Computer and Information Science in 2001, after a 14-year career at Rice University in Houston with short and long sabbaticals at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He received his Ph.D. in 1987, from Daniel P. Friedman at Indiana University, his Diplom Wirtschaftsingenieur in 1984 at Universität Karlsruhe, and his M.S. in 1981 at the University of Arizona.

 

Felleisen's research focuses on the design and analysis of programming languages. He and his students also use their knowledge of programming languages to create novel software engineering processes and techniques. Recently, they have spent a large amount of their energy on interactive web programming. Even though Felleisen is primarily a researcher, he is always interested in translating his research into practical ideas for the classroom, and classroom experiences are often his motivation for research projects.

Over the last few years, he has given keynote addresses at the Symposium on the Principles of Programming Languages (POPL 2002), the European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2004), and the Static Analysis Symposium (SAS 2000). During his research career, Felleisen has published over 60 research papers in scientific journals, conferences, and magazines. In addition, he has co-authored five books, including The Little LISPer (now called The Little Schemer), one of the oldest continuously published books in the field, and How to Design Programs, a book for first-semester courses.

 

PLENARY SESSION II................................................................... 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

Reaching Students at a Distance: from Videotape to the Internet

to Online, Interactive Books

Jim Kurose,

Slavin Center 64 Hall

Abstract:

I’m now approaching the 20th year that my semester-long courses have been carried over various distance learning systems to remote students, and the 10th  year that I’ve been experimenting with using the Internet to distribute multimedia classroom material to these students. During this same time, many textbooks have created web sites and/or supplemental materials (such as recorded multimedia) that often overlap with activities that have traditionally taken place in the classroom.   I will reflect on some of the lessons learned over this period, and what this might mean for the future.   As a textbook author and a teacher, I’m also interested in how textbooks and their supplemental materials are continuing to evolve, and what this might mean for us as teachers and for our remote and in-class students.

 

Biography:

 Jim Kurose received a B.A. degree in physics from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. degree in computer science from Columbia University. He is currently a professor (and past chairman) in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts.  His research interests include network protocols and architecture, network measurement, sensor networks, multimedia communication, and modeling and performance evaluation. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Communications and was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. Professor Kurose has won a number of awards for his educational activities, including campus teaching awards, the IEEE Taylor Booth Education Medal, and the Massachusetts Workforce Development Leader of the Year. He is the co-author of the textbook, "Computer Networking, a top down approach featuring the Internet,"  published by Addison-Wesley.. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the ACM.

 

 

Information on Pre-Conference Workshops

 

Focus on the Design of Classes in OO Programming Courses

            Viera K. Proulx and Tanya Cashorali, Northeastern University, MA

 

Description:

This tutorial presents a unique approach to teaching the design of class hierarchies in the context of an introductory object-oriented programming course. Our curriculum, under developement for the past three years, focuses on the structure of data as the key to understanding the design of class hierarchies, the model of computation, and the role of polymorphism in obect-oriented programs. This approach, combined with the pedagogy that supports the student with clearly defined steps of the design process in the form of the Design Recipe, we have increased the retention in our courses and produced students who are much better prepared for the subsequent course on Object Oriented Design.

 

Biographies:

Viera K. Proulx is a Professor at the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University. She has a long-standing interest in computer science education. Currently she is designing the curriculum for introductory object-oriented course that focuses on the design of class hierarchies as the key to understanding the object-oriented paradigm.

Tanya Cashorali is a second year student in the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University and finds the Design Recipes helpful in all her subsequent courses.

 

A Workshop on Computer Security

             Narayan Murthy and Daniel Farkas, Pace University

 

Description:

In the last ten years, the Internet has become an important component of global economy.  Until recently the security issue was not very prominent because people were excited about the things they could do on the Internet that  focused on the vast amount of information freely available.  This same fascination leads some people to misuse the Internet by hacking systems and gathering sensitive information.  Hackers, ranging from bright curious students and seasoned criminals, have made people realize the need to secure the computer systems and networks. 

 

It is clear that universities and colleges must start preparing professionals ready to take on these challenges in the workplace. NSA is actively encouraging universities and colleges to start new courses and programs in information assurance and recently, Pace University was awarded designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by NSA. 

 

 

This hands-on workshop will very briefly overview basic security issues (e.g. security policies and management, firewalls, host security, cryptography, application security, incident and disaster response, social engineering).   And then participants will learn a number of tools which are used in our introductory courses:

  • Steganography tool: Invisible Secrets, 
  • Password recovery tool: John the Ripper, 
  • Network sniffer: Ethereal,
  • Encryption using GnuPG, 
  • Phishing using port 25,
  • Integrity checking tool: Tripwire
  • Network Security Tool: Nessus.

The workshop will cover as many of the tools possible within the constraints of the workshop time.

 

Biography:

Daniel Farkas, Associate Professor, Information Systems, Pace University 

As chair of the Information Systems department, Dan Farkas has been innovative in developing curriculum in Computer Security and Information Assurance.  With Narayan Murthy, he developed and taught the first undergraduate course in Security at Pace University as well as the University’s first concentration in security through the MS/Internet Technology.  Dan has been delivering professional seminars in Unix, Linux System Administration, Network and Network Administration to national audiences for over 20 years. 

Narayan Murthy, Professor, Computer Science, Pace University

Narayan Murthy has been teaching computer science for more than 20 years.  Recently, he has developed interest in Internet technology and computer security.  He has been teaching these topics for the last several years.

Anand Vadul, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Pace University

Anand Vadul has been teaching computer science and technology courses at Pace University for about 6 years. He is a Project Leader for Direct Insite Corp, an online invoicing vendor for Fortune 500 companies. He has worked on designing and implementing invoicing application deployed in 15 languages.

 

 

Information on Tutorials

Session 1c - Tutorial: Randomized Algorithms

    Yana Kortsarts, Widener University, Chester, PA 

    Jeffrey Rufinus, Widener University, Chester, P. 

Description:

This tutorial will illustrate the power of randomization in algorithms. The tutorial will present the specific examples of useful randomized algorithms that are applicable in the basic algorithms course. For many schools, the topic of randomized algorithms will fit nicely within an upper-level algorithms course. The tutorial will emphasize material that would reasonably be covered in the standard course on algorithms. The tutorial will also discuss the usefulness of randomized algorithms in all areas of Computer Science.  Randomization is a general tool that applies in many areas of Computer Science and not just as a subject by itself. The main goal of the tutorial is to familiarize the audience with this tool so they can apply it to various problems in different areas of Computer Science: data structures and algorithms parallel and distributed computing, cryptology, etc. The tutorial will discuss how to integrate the subject into whole Computer Science curriculum.  The tutorial will provide a set of specific useful examples of different types of randomized algorithms (Monte Carlo, Las Vegas) that could be integrated into the curriculum of the wide range of Computer Science core and elective courses

 

Biographies:

Yana Kortsarts: Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department, Widener University, Chester, PA.  Education: Ph. D, Tel- Aviv University, Israel; Research Interests: Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, Approximation Algorithms, Computer Science Education, Mathematical Modeling of Combustion, Numerical Analysis.

Jeffrey Rufinus: Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department, Widener  University, Chester, PA.  Education: Ph. D, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI;  

Research Interests: Parallel Computing, Computational Materials Science, Scientific

Computing.

 

 

 

 

 

Session 4c - Tutorial: Including a Web/Database Unit in CS0

          Tom Whaley, Washington and Lee University, VA

Description:

In this tutorial the participants will learn how to use ASP.NET Visual Web Developer Express to develop web pages that access data stored in a server side database. This material will be presented in terms of four laboratory experiences that could be used in an introductory general education computer science course. The second lab is an introductory database lab using Microsoft Access (or any relational database system). The emphasis in this lab is on writing SQL statements to query the database. The third lab is an introduction to creating web pages with Visual Web Developer Express, a free Microsoft development environment for ASP.NET web pages. It provides drag and drop of web controls such as text boxes, buttons and data grids, language support for “code behind” programming in a variety of languages (C#, Visual Basic, etc.) , code-building tools for many common operations such as building connections to databases, binding data grids to queries, etc., database support for Access and SQL Server databases, and comes with a simple local web server so that students can develop and test database backed web pages on their local machines. The final lab involves developing web pages that use the database of the second lab as a back end. The tutorial will include an overview of all of these labs, but emphasis will be on the last two.

Biography:

Tom Whaley holds the rank of Professor and Department Head in the Department of Computer Science at Washington and Lee University. He has taught undergraduate mathematics and computer science for thirty-five years. He has taught a wide range of theoretical as well as applied courses. This includes teaching advanced undergraduate database management courses on a regular basis for the last twenty years. This course has included a web access to database component for the last six years. He has also taught special courses on web/database programming, XML, and digital libraries. He directs a team of students in developing and maintaining the computer infrastructure for the Alsos Digital Library, an NSF-Funded component of the National Digital Science Library. He holds a B.S. in mathematics from Lincoln Memorial University (1964) and Ph.D. in mathematics from Vanderbilt University (1968).

 

Directions to Providence College

(from the College web site: http://www.providence.edu/Admission/Campus+Visits/Directions+to+Campus.htm)

 

Ground Transportation

            Train: Amtrak (800) 872-7245

            Taxicab:

                        Airport Taxi and Limousine Service (401) 737-2868

                        Corporate Taxi (401) 231-2228 (24 hours, 7 days a week)

                        Checker Taxi (401) 944-2000

            Bus: Bonanza Bus (401) 751-8800

 

From Fall River, New Bedford, and Cape Cod

Take I-195 West to I-95 North, to Rhode Island Exit 23 (State Offices). Turn right onto Orms Street. After the first light, veer right onto Douglas Avenue (Route 7). Proceed 0.7 miles to the third light on Douglas and make a left-hand turn onto Eaton Street. Proceed about 0.6 miles to the second light at the intersection of Eaton Street and River Avenue. The gate of the campus will be on your right.

 

From Boston and Points North using I-95

Follow I-95 South to Rhode Island Exit 23 (Charles Street). Proceed right onto Charles Street and go 0.2 miles to the first light at Admiral Street. Take a left onto Admiral Street and proceed approximately 1.2 miles to the third light at River Avenue. Take a left onto River Avenue to the next light (0.4 miles) at Eaton Street. The gate of the campus will be on your left.

 

From New York, Southern Connecticut,  T. F. Green Airport (PVD), and Points South

Take I-95 North to Rhode Island Exit 23 (State Offices). Turn right onto Orms Street. After the first light, veer right onto Douglas Avenue (Route 7). Proceed 0.7 miles to the third light on Douglas and make a left-hand turn onto Eaton Street. Proceed about 0.6 miles to the second light at the intersection of Eaton Street and River Avenue. The gate of the campus will be on your right.

 

From Albany and Western Massachusetts using I-90

Take I-90 East to Exit 10A (Worcester / Providence, Routes 146/20) which will lead you to Route 146 South (Providence). For almost an hour, follow Route 146 South into Providence, RI, to the Admiral Street exit. Take a right onto Admiral Street and proceed approximately 1.1 miles to the second light at River Avenue. Take a left onto River Avenue to the next light (0.4 miles) at Eaton Street. The gate of the campus will be on your left.

 

From Hartford and Central Connecticut

Take I-84 to Route 2 East. Follow Route 2 East to Norwich, CT and then take I-395 North. Proceed along I-395 North to Route 6 East. Take Route 6 East into Johnston, RI. Proceed along Route 6 East to Route 10 North. Take I-95 North to Rhode Island Exit 23 (State Offices). Turn right onto Orms Street. After the first light, veer right onto Douglas Avenue (Route 7). Proceed 0.7 miles to the third light on Douglas and make a left-hand turn onto Eaton Street. Proceed about 0.6 miles to the second light at the intersection of Eaton Street and River Avenue. The gate of the campus will be on your right.

 

Hotel Information

 

 

A block of rooms has been reserved at the

          Comfort Inn
         
2 George Street
         
Pawtucket, RI 02860
-4027
          (401) 723-6700
          (800) 228-5150
          Fax: (401) 726-6380

 

Mention CCSCNE and the room rate will be $79 per night.  The cutoff date for reservations is March 21st, 2005.  Comfort Inn is near I-95 north of the College.

 

If this hotel is full, the providence college web site

            http://www.providence.edu/net/PVD_Hotels.htm

 

has a list of accommodations in the area.  Providence College is in a residential area and no accommodations are within walking distance of the College.

 

Programming Contest (Deadline: March 4, 2005)

A pre-conference Computer Programming Contest for 3-person college teams will be held on Friday morning, April 22nd. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. There is a $50 non-refundable team fee. Each team member must register for the conference. A faculty sponsor is required. The contest languages will be C, C++ and Java. The desktop will be Windows XP with Cygwin (Linux on Windows). The compilers will be Visual Studio for C and C++ and NetBeans (Java 1.4.2) for Java. Cygwin has the usual Linux untilities. Rules will be similar to the ACM International Contest. All judging will be done objectively using sets of data meant to test all cases. Click here for the team reference and author guide and click here for /honor/pgmcontest.html"> previous problems. At 8:45, there will be a briefing on the contest rules and the computer system. The contest will run from 9:00 to 12:00. Winners will be announced at the banquet. See the conference web site for further details. Direct all questions to: pgmcontest@ccscne.org.

Vendors

Vendors are invited to purchase display table(s) at the conference. Direct questions to: vendors@ccscne.org

Registration Fee

$120 regular registration
$40 students
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Click here for Registration Form