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Special Interest
Group on Computer Science Education
Presents
CCSCNE-2005
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
We are honored this year to have plenary talks by
Matthias Felliesen of
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
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,
Conference
Chair
This map is a copy from the College Web Site:
http://www.providence.edu/NR/rdonlyres/322DA469-892B-46C3-BB5B-4707BEC792AD/4108/campusmapfall04.JPG
Conference Chair
Frank Ford,
fpford@providence.edu
Papers Chairs
Dale Fish,
dfish1@worcester.edu
Michael Gousie,
mgousie@wheatonma.edu
Brad Richards,
richards@cs.vassar.edu
Undergraduate Posters Chairs
Jim Teresco,
terescoj@cs.williams.edu
David Hemmendinger,
hemmendd@union.edu
Panels/Tutorials/Workshops Chairs
Clare Bates Congdon,
ccongdon@colby.edu
Lonnie Fairchild,
SUNY-Plattsburgh
Lonnie.fairchild@plattsburgh.edu
Speakers Chair
Scott Hunter,
shunter@siena.edu
Publicity Chair
Frank Ford,
fpford@providence.edu
Vendors Chairs
Hemant Pendharkar,
hpendharkar@worcester.edu
Kris Powers,
Kris.Powers@tufts.edu
Programming Contest Chairs
Richard Connelly,
rconnell@providence.edu
Mary Russell.
mrussell@providence.edu
Registration Chair
Danny Kopec,
kopec@sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu
Local Arrangements Chair
Linda Wilkens,
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
Brian Adams
Elizabeth Adams
Don Allison
John Avitabile
Pazel Azalov
Norman Bashias
Gordon Bassen
Jonathan Blake
Stephen Bloch
Maegan Bos
Barbara Bracken
Elena Braynova
Loreen Butcher-Powell
Ramapo
Joan DeBello
Peter Drexel
Emanuel Emanouilidis
Lonnie Roth Fairchild
Ed Harcourt
Stephen Hartley
David Hemmendinger
Mark Hoffman
Donald Hsu
Scott Hunter
Lubomir Ivanov
Patricia Joseph
Slippery Rock
Alina
Lazar
Mark LeBlanc
David
Levine
Aparna Mahadev
Robert
McCloskey
William
Meyers
Robert W.
Neufeld
Robert
Noonan
Edward
O'Neill
Eileen Peluso
Kris
Powers
Stefan Robila
Ingrid
Russell
Rebecca Rutherfoord
Mihaela Sabin
Ching-Kuang Shene
Rose Shumba
Evelyn
Stiller
Joo Tan
Goran Trajkovski
John Vaughn
Hobart and
William Smith Colls., NY
Ellen Walker
Laurie
Werner
Linda Wilkens
Karl R. Wurst
Fani Zlatarova
REGISTRATION...............................................................................
Slavin
Center Glass Room (112)
Registration for
Programming contest’s participants in Albertus Magnus
137.
Registration for
Pre-Conference Workshop Attendees at Workshop at
PROGRAMMING CONTEST.........................................................
.....
..... Breakfast and
Registration of Teams and Team Members.....................
Albertus Magnus 137
..... Computers
Available for Teams to Practice..........................................
Albertus Magnus 102 and Sowa 228
..... Initial Meeting
and Presentation of the Problems...................................
Albertus Magnus 137
..... Contest Time..........................................................................................
Albertus Magnus 102 and Sowa 228
..... Luncheon for Teams............................................................................... Noon-12:45
p.m.
Albertus Magnus 106
PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS......................................................
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........................................................................
Slavin Center
Glass Room (112)
WELCOME..........................................................................................
Slavin Center 64 Hall
Greetings from
Hugh
Lena, Vice-President for Academic Administration
Frank Ford, Conference Chair,
PLENARY
SESSION I.........................................................................
The First Year
Matthias Felleisen, Northeastern University
Slavin Center 64 Hall
(See abstract and speaker
information after the program.)
BREAK................................................................................................
Slavin Center Glass Room (112)
CONCURRENT SESSION
Session 1a: Papers: Special Topics
Moore Hall I
Physical
Computing and Multimodal Input in Computer-Human Interfaces Interfaces
Lori Scarlatos,
Tony Scarlatos, Stony
An
Expert System Development Environment for Introductory AI Course Projects
Cynthia
Martincic,
Douglas
Metzler,
Rocktest: A Programming Contest Management System
Michael
Conlon, Slippery
Session 1b: Papers: Teaching/Debugging Techniques
A
Tutor on Subprogram Implementation
Amruth Kumar,
Eric
Fernandes,
Aspect-Oriented
Debugging
John
Stamey, Coastal
Back
to the Future: A Look at Recursive Binary Trees
John
Beidler,
Carolyn
Smart,
Session 1c - Tutorial: Randomized Algorithms
Jeffrey
Rufinus,
(see description
after program)
BREAK.................................................................................................
Slavin Center
Glass Room
CONCURRENT
SESSION
Session 2a: Papers: Assembly Language Issues
Moore Hall I
Teaching
Assembly Language Without Using (As Much) Assembly
Language
Scott Hunter,
The
Effect Of The Harvard Architecture On The Teaching Of
Assembly Language
W. Douglas Maurer,
Session 2b - Panel: Considerations on Undergraduate CS
Research
Stefan
A. Robila,
Amruth Kumar,
Doug
Baldwin,
Clare
Congdon,
STUDENT
POSTERS/SOCIAL HOUR..............................................
Slavin Center 64
Hall
The list of
posters, poster presenters, and their advisors is listed after the program.
BANQUET............................................................................................
Raymond Dining Center
Winners of the Programming Contest and Student Poster
Session
will be
announced at the banquet
CONTINENTAL
BREAKFAST..........................................................
Slavin Center
Glass Room (112)
REGISTRATION.............................................................................. .8:00
a.m.-
Slavin Center
Glass Room (112)
VENDOR
DISPLAYS........................................................................
Slavin Center
Glass Room (112)
CONCURRENT
SESSION
Session 3A:
Papers: Introductory Computing
Moore Hall I
A New
Approach To Computer Science in the Liberal Arts
Brendan Burns,
A Critical Computer Literacy Course
Mark Hoffman,
Designing and Running a Pre-College
Computing Course
Mihaela
Sabin,
Bryan Higgs,
Vladimir Riabov,
Alberto Moreira,
Session 3b: Papers: Upper-level Curriculum
The
Virtual Firefly: An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Project
Kevin Austin,
Julie Dunlap,
Matthew Glover,
Joshua McKinnon,
Duane Mohney,
Michael Taft,
Brian Vysocky,
Christopher Cratsley,
Real-World
Project Management in the Academic Environment
Joo Tan,
John
Phillips,
Playing
Around in the CS Curriculum: Reversi as a
Teaching Tool
David
Valentine, Slippery
Session 3c - Panel: Innovation in Undergraduate
Computer Science Education
Amruth Kumar,
Homma
Farian,
Matthew
Haas,
David
Kay,
Frank
Lee,
Yelena Kushleyeva,
PLENARY
SESSION II...................................................................
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.............................................................................................
Slavin Center 64 Hall
CONCURRENT
SESSION
Session 4a: Papers: Software Development
Moore Hall I
A
Software Development Project: A Student-Written Assessment System
Sofya Poger,
Catherine
Ricardo,
Robert
Schiaffino,
Incorporating
a Fault Categorization and Analysis Process in the Software Build
Cycle
Carol
Masuck,
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
A
Student Model for Object-Oriented Design and Programming
Fang Wei,
Sally
Moritz,
Shahida Parvez,
Glenn
Blank,
Student Competitions and Bots in an
Introductory Programming Course
Ed
Harcourt,
Brian
Ladd,
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
Tom
Whaley,
LUNCH...............................................................................................
Raymond Dining Center
Winner of the best paper award will be announced at the luncheon.
MEMBERSHIP
MEETING................................................................
Sowa 233
BOARD
MEETING.............................................................................
Sowa 233
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,
Advisor Richard Connelly
Evolutionary Computation: Exploring the Genotype
Representation
Craig Baker, Saint Mary's
Advisor Simon Read
Simulation of the
Eileen Lowry,
Advisor David Hemmendinger
Music Education Technology for Older Elementary School
Aged Children: “Playing Around with Mini Amadeus Jr.”
Meghan Bruce,
Steven Altieri,
Chris Lindo,
Tim Miller,
Advisor Linda Wilkens
Error Detection and Visualization in Digital Elevation
Models
Steven Bowe,
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,
Kenneth T. Kocon,
Advisor Harold Smith
Computational Geometric Representation of X-Ray
Diffraction (XRD) Data
Yunpeng Li,
Advisor Matthew Dickerson
Computer Model for the Zebra Fish Brain
Justin Schneider,
Paul Pederson,
Advisor Adrian Ionescu
Bacterial Identification: Use of a Genetic Algorithm
to Find a Sufficient Small Set of Primers
Kamun Chan,
Advisor Robert McGrail
Evolving Communication to Aid Cooperation in a
Multi-Agent System
Noah Smith,
Advisor Clare Congdon
Flash Card Study Tool Application in C#.Net
Brenton Sheehan,
Advisor Linda Wilkens
Mobile Moods: Generating Emotions on
Sara Czyzewicz,
Advisor Kathryn Sanders
StingRayCave Ray-based Volume
Rendering for Virtual Reality
Peter Firth,
Advisor Peter Stephenson,
Stephen Lecrenski,
Advisor Peter Stephenson,
Artistic Rendering to Represent Quality of Information
in Visualization
Katharine
Advisor Peter Stephenson,
Universal Research Interchange
Michael Carroll,
Advisor Joan Peckham
Robot Colony Power Supply: Controlled Use with PIC
Chip
Richard Zbeda,
Advisor Gary Parker
Reliablity for Nswap
Jenny Barry,
Heather Jones,
Advisor Tia
Newhall
Visualization of Relational Filesystems
James Callender,
Brendan Berg,
Advisor Robert McGrail
Personalizing the Visitor Experience Using Dynamic
Information Systems
Sara Czyzewicz,
Advisor Peter Stephenson,
The Virtual Firefly, A
Research Tool For Biologists
Matt Glover,
Joshua McKinnon,
Duane Mohney,
Mike Taft,
Brian Vysocky,
Advisor Kevin Austin
Internet Game Network Utilization on College Campuses
Kevin Green,
Advisor Robert Dugan
Using Information Visualization to Give Rapid Insight
into Information-Intensive Problems
Joanna Fivelsdal,
Advisor Robert McGrail
Bayesian Filtering Implementation for Web Content
Jonathan Bulava, The
Brian Wannwe, The
Advisor Peter DePasquale
Modeling Human Subjectivity: Personality Profiles and
Impressions
James M. Piette
III,
Advisor Madalene
Spezialetti
3-Dimensional Reconstruction and Visualization of a
Rat Brain
Clifford Manzanillo,
Advisor Jean-Yves Hervé
Behavior-based Pedestrian Simulation
Elizete Fernandes,
Advisor Jean-Yves Hervé
Computing the Grundy-Sequences for Octal Games
Jason Catterton, St. Mary’s
Advisor Matthew Burke
Can neural networks learn cross products?
Jesse Wrenn,
Andreea Olea,
Advisor Clare Bates Congdon
A Complex Systems Approach to Researching Behavioral
Trends
Jesse Wrenn,
Advisor Clare Congdon
LOLLIO: Side effects in Linear Logic Programming
Todd Johnson,
Advisor Robert McGrail
Automated Identification of Malicious Code Variants
Christopher Ries,
Advisor Daniel Bilar
Pedestrian Evacuation Simulation
Angel Castro,
Advisor Jean-Yves Hervé
Protein Visualization and Simulation in 3D
Nathan Burnell,
Advisor Jean-Yves Hervé
Multilayer Neural Network with Back Propagation:
Hardware Solution to learning XOR
Richard Zbeda,
Advisor Gary Parker
Sub-type Division and Conquer: An Experiment in Divide
and Conquer Using Cyclic Genetic Algorithms
Advisor Gary Parker
Evolving Coordination among Predators Using Genetic
Algorithms
Charles Fizer,
Advisor Clare Congdon
Active Networks
Bishal Thapa, SUNY
Advisor Barbara Nostrand
Modeling the Spread of Infectious Disease
Joseph Glessner,
University of the Sciences in
Advisor James Johnson
Using Machine Learning Techniques and Data Mining
Tools for Web Document Classification
Roberto Scata,
Rich Truncali,
Shona Taiwo,
Eric Brown,
Advisor Ingrid Russell,
Processor Cycle Usage Profiling on the SPARC
Goulding,
Advisor Mark Bailey
Discovering Neighborhoods of Untrustworthy Web Sites
Meredith Beaton,
Advisor Panagiotis
Metaxas
Java Security Scanner - JSS
Russell Spitler,
Advisor Dale Skrien
Information on Plenary Speakers
PLENARY
SESSION I.........................................................................
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
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...................................................................
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
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,
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:
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
Narayan Murthy, Professor, Computer Science,
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,
Anand Vadul has been teaching computer
science and technology courses at
Information on Tutorials
Session 1c - Tutorial: Randomized Algorithms
Jeffrey Rufinus,
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 (
Biographies:
Jeffrey Rufinus: Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department,
Research Interests: Parallel Computing, Computational Materials Science, Scientific
Computing.
Session 4c - Tutorial: Including a Web/Database Unit
in CS0
Tom
Whaley,
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
Directions to
(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
Take I-195
West to I-95 North, to
From
Follow I-95
South to
From
Take I-95
North to
From
Take I-90 East to Exit 10A (
From
Take I-84
to Route 2 East. Follow Route 2 East to
Hotel Information
A block of rooms has been
reserved at the
Comfort Inn
(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
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.