Category: Students of CS

The Computer Science and Software Engineering bachelor of science programs in the Michigan Tech College of Computing have recently been granted ABET accreditations through ABET’s Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) and its Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC), respectively.

ABET accreditation, which is voluntary, provides assurance that a college or university program meets the quality standards of the profession for which that program prepares graduates.

The Computer Science and Software Engineering ABET accreditations join two additional College of Computing ABET-accredited undergraduate programs: Computer Network and System Administration and Electrical Engineering Technology.

The announcement follows an 18-month ABET accreditation process, which included an in-depth self-study and report and an on-site visit from the ABET review team, which occurred in fall 2019. A lengthy readiness review was also prepared by the Computer Science department prior to the start of the accreditation process.

“I am grateful to all the faculty, staff, and students, as well as our alumni and advisory board members, who participated in this process,” says Department Chair Linda Ott, Computer Science. “It is time-consuming, but well worth the effort, to give our students even greater assurance that they are getting the quality education that they deserve and expect from us.”

“Linda, Nilufer Onder, Chuck Wallace, and so many others contributed to this accomplishment,” says College of Computing Dean Adrienne Minerick. “This accreditation status is one of many quality indicators that potential employers can use to assess the breadth and depth of our graduates’ knowledge.”

Associate Professor Nilufer Onder is the undergraduate program director for the Department of Computer Science. Associate Professor Charles Wallace, Computer Science, is the College of Computing’s Associate Dean for Curriculum and Instruction.

“With these accreditations, prospective and current students and their parents know that our programs are rigorous, and that our high quality curricula embrace continuous improvement,” says Minerick. “It reaffirms that as the Computing fields evolve, so do College of Computing academic programs.”

“The self-study process at the heart of accreditation is laborious and no one’s idea of a good time,” shares Wallace. “But the results of that intensive reflection have already led to constructive changes in our Computer Science and Software Engineering curricula. I appreciate the extraordinary efforts of my colleagues Nilufer Onder, Zhenlin Wang, Gorkem Asilioglu, and James Walker in pushing the process through to completion.”

“It is fantastic to see that ABET has recognized what we have known all along: Michigan Tech’s Computer Science and Software Engineering programs meet the highest quality standards and are committed to continuous improvement,” says Leonard Bohmann, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in Michigan Tech’s College of Engineering. “Students, and the companies that hire them when they graduate, can be confident that their Michigan Tech education meets exacting global standards in these high-tech fields.”

“Our graduates have always been in high demand by industry,” Ott confirms. “The ABET focus on continuous quality improvement, core to the accreditation process, further ensures that our graduates’ knowledge and skills will continue to meet industry’s expectations into the future.”

The Computer Science and Software Engineering undergraduate programs were offered through the College of Engineering prior to the establishment of the College of Computing in July 2019.

“ABET accreditation demonstrates the direct involvement of faculty and staff in the self-assessment and continuous quality improvement processes, and validates that the pedagogical practices used in Computer Science and Software Engineering courses–and in all courses in ABET-accredited programs–are based upon learning outcomes, rather than teaching inputs,” Bohmann says.

ABET is considered the gold standard of accreditation in engineering and related programs. ABET accreditation has been granted to exceptional academic programs since 1932. (https://www.abet.org)

The Michigan Tech College of Computing, established July 1, 2019, offers undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs in Computer Network and System Administration, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Electrical Engineering Technology, Health Informatics, Mechatronics, and Software Engineering.

The College of Computing and the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC) are the subjects of an article published today (Sept. 2, 2020) on HostingAdvice.com, a website and blog that educates visitors to the site about the world of web hosting.

The article, for which College of Computing Dean Adrienne Minerick was interviewed, provides a close look at the new College, its well-established Computer Science and Software Engineering degree programs (BS, MS, and Ph.D.), new Cybersecurity and Mechatronics undergraduate programs, as well as faculty research and the ICC.

Special emphasis is placed on the Computer Network and Systems Administration undergraduate degree program, in which students prepare for careers as network and computer systems administrators, commonly referred to as a “sysadmins.”

Read the full article here.

“Our readers know that a lot goes into finding the best providers of shared, dedicated, and virtual private servers,” said Sean Garrity, managing editor at HostingAdvice.com. “The article provides information about how to prepare if you want to to break into the industry as a professional, not just a consumer.”

Greetings College of Computing students. Welcome to the Fall 2020 semester.

College of Computing faculty recorded these 25 videos to introduce themselves to you and the College. We hope you’ll take a look.

Your professors share info about their courses and research, the Computing clubs and Enterprise groups they advise, College outreach and volunteering opportunities, and even a little something about themselves. Enjoy.

View all 25 Fall 2020 faculty videos here.

Play – Meet Your Professors in the Michigan Tech College of Computing

Find contact info for your Computing professors in the Faculty Directory.

A second College of Computing Computing Bits session will take place Wednesday, August 5, at 6:00 p.m. via online Zoom meeting. A link to the event has been emailed to students.

This week’s session will include presentations by two student groups: the cybersecurity RedTeam and the Humane Interface Design Enterprise (HIDE). Following, students are invited to join conversational breakout rooms with College of Computing faculty members, and advisors and representatives from College of Computing student groups. Students may move from room to room according to their interests.

Join the Computing Bits session here.

We really enjoyed visiting with you at the first Computing Bits sessions, so we calibrated content for this next week to emphasize discussion time with faculty. We will also have returning Computing Huskies join in conversations.

New students: This is your chance to ask that question you’ve been wanting to ask–about computing, college, degree programs, careers, snow, pasties — anything!

Dean Adrienne Minerick

At the first Computing Bits session, July 29, 2020, new Assistant Professor Briana Bettin, Computer Science, and Senior Lecturer Todd Arney, Applied Computing discussed introductory Computing courses. Additional presentations included the Copper Country Coders student outreach group and conversations with department chairs Dan Fuhrmann, Applied Computing, and Linda Ott, Computer Science.

Additional Computing Bits sessions will be scheduled in the weeks ahead; topics will be announced in advance. Sessions will include breakout rooms in which faculty members will discuss a unifying topic, such as A.I., cybersecurity, health informatics, or even “what do I need to know about computers before I start?”

Michigan Tech ranks 5th on a list of 13 non-ivy league schools that produce the best software engineers in the U.S., as recently published by DesignRush.

The demand for software developers is steadily increasing, with 21% expected growth from 2018 to 2028. To help industry meet this need, DesignRush has published a list of non-ivy league schools that produce the best software engineers in the U.S.

1. University of California, Irvine
2. Stevens Institute of Technology
3. California Polytechnic State University
4. Iowa State University
5. Michigan Technological University
6. Milwaukee School of Engineering
7. The University of Texas at Dallas
8. Drexel University
9. Auburn University
10. Miami University
11. Grantham University
12. University of Louisiana Lafayette
13. Robert Morris University

DesignRush.com is a B2B marketplace connecting brands with agencies. DesignRush features the top agencies around the world, including the best Digital Agencies, Software Developers, Logo Design, Branding, Digital Marketing, Website Design, eCommerce Web Design Companies and more.

Huskies basketball student-athlete Isaac Appleby, a junior in the Computer Science program at Michigan Tech, was recently named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honor Court.

The accolade highlights the talents and gifts that the men’s basketball players possess on the court, and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom, according to an Athletics department press release.

A total of six Huskies were named to the NABC Honor Court, listed below.

Isaac Appleby, Junior, Computer Science
Trent Bell, Junior, Civil Engineering
Dawson Bilski, Junior, Wildlife and Ecology Management
Tommy Lucca, Senior, Engineering Management
Kyle Clow, Junior, Mechanical Engineering
TeeAaron Powell, Junior, Business Administration

The Huskies men’s basketball team also earned the Team Excellence Award, holding a 3.4 grade-point average as a team. The award recognizes outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better for the 2019-20 season. Ferris State, Northern Michigan, and Wayne State were other schools from the GLIAC recognized.

The recipients must be junior or senior, hold a 3.2 GPA or higher at the conclusion of the 2019-20 academic year, must have matriculated at least one year at their current institution, and have an NABC member coach. More than 1,350 men’s basketball student-athletes across NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA Division I or II were honored. Northern Michigan and Parkside also had six players receive the honor to tie with Michigan Tech for the GLIAC lead.

Michigan Tech was 23-8 overall and 14-6 in the GLIAC in 2019-20, finishing second in the GLIAC North and third overall. The Huskies qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in school history after winning the GLIAC Tournament Championship.

For incoming students next fall, first-year applicants with a cumulative high school GPA of 3.00 or higher will not be required to provide official SAT or ACT scores to receive an admission decision. The domestic application, now available online for spring, summer, and fall 2021 semesters, remains free for all applicants.

The University recognizes that the incoming class of 2021 faced many obstacles, one of which was the postponement or cancellation of spring SAT and ACT examinations, which traditionally trigger the start of the college application process. In Michigan, all high school juniors were scheduled to take the SAT free of charge as part of state assessment testing in April. Due to school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this testing has been postponed until September 23 or October 14—the date of administration to be determined by individual districts.

“Many students wait until they receive their scores before deciding where to apply. The delays in testing would likely push back both the application process and receiving the admission decision until November or December, putting students at a disadvantage for applying for scholarships and federal financial aid,” says Allison Carter, director of admissions operations.

Official SAT or ACT scores will be required for admission purposes for homeschooled students, as well as applicants who have a cumulative high school GPA below 3.00. Additionally, all first-year students who wish to be considered for merit-based scholarships must submit official test scores. Student athletes are required to submit official test scores per NCAA eligibility requirements.

“We’re excited about this change, especially when you consider the access it provides to students who do well academically but may test below their potential due to a variety of factors,” states Carter. “The response from families about this change for 2021 has been very positive. We’ve been able to keep student excitement about Michigan Tech high and the stress associated with the college application process low.”

Applicants will be reviewed individually based on high school academic performance, including courses taken, grades received, and trend in grades relative to their intended major. Test scores will be taken into consideration for those required to submit them or who wish to supplement their application.

Read a July 1, 2020, Tech Today article about this here.

The College of Computing Department of Computer Science invites girls in grades six through 10 to join a virtual workshop in which participants will explore, design, and program web pages and data analysis programs, while tracing how data flows through our daily lives.

The free workshop will take place Monday through Friday, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., July 13 through August 14, via online Zoom meeting. Space is limited, so register by July 7. Prior programming experience is not necessary.

Workshop presenters are third year Computer Science undergraduate Sarah Larkin-Driscoll (pictured above), and second-year Computer Science student Miriam Eikenberry-Ureel (pictured below). Email aspire-l@mtu.edu with questions.

Workshop Description

Why do people collect data? How is data collected? What kinds of things can you learn from data? What is wrong with the chart on this flyer? Join us on Zoom to learn about data collection and privacy while building your own website, designing a poll, analyzing collected data, and learning about cryptography.

In the Code Ninjas workshop participants answer these questions while they:

• Build their own websites
• Explore how to set and remove cookies
• Design a survey and learn how polling agencies choose what questions to ask
• Write a program to analyze a data set and present a summary
• Learn about data privacy laws
• Learn about cryptography and write secret code
• Learn about opportunities and careers in data science, web development, and other computing fields
• Meet other girls interested in computing

Class Schedule

Week 1: Basics of Data, HTML, & Cookies
Week 2: Data Collection
Week 3: Data Analysis
Week 4: Data Storage & Encryption
Week 5: Project Week

Workshop Sponsors

The Code Ninjas Workshop is sponsored by an AspireIT grant from the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), and facilitated by the Michigan Tech Department of Computer Science.

Signature Research Inc. has partnered with Michigan Technological University to accomplish a Phase II STTR project sponsored by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The two-year, $1 Million project is titled, “Algorithms for Look-Down Infrared Target Exploitation-Phase II.” Michigan Tech’s portion of the $1 million contract is $400K.

Principal investigator of the project is Dr. Timothy Havens, director of the Institute of Computing and Cyberystems (ICC) and associate dean of research for the College of Computing. Havens is joined by Signature Research, Inc. (SGR) Program Manager Matt Blanck, who will lead the SGR side of the project.

At Tech, Havens will be assisted in accomplishing the goals of this project by Research Scientist Adam Webb of the Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) and Nicholas Hamilton, a Computer Science Ph.D. candidate.

“This project will identify physics-based novel signatures and data processing techniques to exploit overhead infrared (IR) imagery using machine learning algorithms.”

“The SGR/MTU Team will generate, collect, and label a wide body of data, implement learning algorithms, develop use cases and tests on those data, and perform a comprehensive study to determine ways in which learning algorithms can automate IR imagery recognition tasks.”

Dr. Timothy Havens

And while this effort is focused on overhead IR imagery, Havens says the methods and software developed will have applicability to other sensing modalities, leading to investigations of multi-modal fusion of all-source data.

Signature Research, Inc. (SGR) solutions to DoD and Intelligence Community customers, and specializes in in Signature Phenomenology, Analysis, and Modeling of items of military interest covering the breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency under the United States Department of Defense and a member of the United States Intelligence Community, with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence in support of national security.

The Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC) promotes research and learning experiences in the areas of cyber-physical systems, cybersecurity, data sciences, human-centered computing, and scalable architectures and systems for the benefit of Michigan Tech and society at large.

The Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) is an innovator in building information from data through the marriage of phenomenological understanding and implementation of mathematically rigorous algorithms. Together with University and other national and international collaborators, MTRI researchers and scientists work to solve critical problems in national security, protecting and evaluating critical infrastructure, bioinformatics, Earth sciences, and environmental processes, according to their website.