CS News

June 2009
Dr. Jun Kong and Dr. Weiyi Zhang for each won a very competitive ND EPSCoR Infrastructure Improvement Program -- Collaborative Seed Pilot Program award.

According to the letter(s) of award, thirteen proposals requested $1.1 Million, while three awards totaling $207,400 were funded.

Dr. Jun Kong won a two-year award for $77,600 in collaboration with colleagues at UT-Dallas.

Dr. Weiyi Zhang won a two-year award for $82,600 in collaboration with colleagues at U of Sci & Tech, China.

May 2009
Dr. James Du was awarded the College of Science and Mathematics College Award

2009 Academic Year
It has been a year of minor growth and consolidation for the Computer Science department, with potential for future increases from a number of sources. Meanwhile it has been a 'year of assessment' as the department simultaneously underwent annual assessment, program review, and accreditation self-study, the rare trifecta.

To begin the academic year we were joined by two new faculty. Dr. Juan Li from the University of British Columbia, specializes in Distributed systems, Semantic Web technologies, Information retrieval and knowledge discovery. Dr. Wei Jin from the State University of New York – Buffalo specializes in data mining, information retrieval, machine learning and bioinformtics

In September three graduate students were awarded North Dakota Space Grant Consortium research assistantships. Later that month NDSU was visited by former astronaut Colonel Al Worden from the Apollo 15 moon mission, who met with the students and their advisors to shake hands and pose for photos.
Towards the end of the Fall semester Dr. Yan Gu announced she was leaving for a position at Auburn University starting in January.

In November, Dr. Kendall Nygard traveled to China and met with university officials at several institutions with a view towards forming a new twinning agreement. In January, Dr. Dianxiang Xu also visited China as part of a joint NDSU and Campus Development Group delegation to plan for the Fergus Falls development scheduled for 2010.

Most recently, it has been announced that Dr. Anne Denton, along with Plant Science Professor Shahryar Kianian, has been awarded a $3.1M NSF grant for wheat genome research. This is among the largest grants ever won by a Computer Science faculty member.

NDSU students take second and fourth in computer competition
The NDSU computer science department participated in the Digi-Key Corp.’s Collegiate Computing Contest, “DKC3,” on Oct. 17 in Thief River Falls, Minn. Two teams represented NDSU. Dakodas won second place and Pi Rho placed fourth.

The University of Minnesota, Morris, won first place. The Dakodas won a $150 gift certificate for each team member and $1,800 for the computer science department. Bemidji State University placed third and NDSU’s Pi Rho team came in fourth. A total of 24 teams participated.

Dakodas members include Ryan Carlsrud, a junior from Tower City, N.D.; Nathan Ehresmann, a junior from Staples, Minn.; Robert J. Foertsch, a senior from Wyndmere, N.D.; and Jeong Woo Wee, a junior from South Korea. Pi Rho’s members include Christopher Grahn, a junior from Colby, Wis.; Abram Jackson, a junior from Valley City, N.D.; Dustin Kerber, a senior from Cooperstown, N.D.; and Joel Longanecker, a senior from Waseca, Minn.

Richard Rummelt and Adam Helsene coached the teams.

Du and Nygard receive grant to secure wireless sensor networks
Xiaojiang “James” Du, assistant professor, and Kendall E. Nygard, professor, both in the computer science department, have received a three-year $358,748 grant from the Army Research Office to secure military wireless sensor networks.

In the project, “Designing Robust and Secure Heterogeneous Sensor Networks,” Du and Nygard will design effective and efficient secure protocols and algorithms for military sensor networks. A sensor network consists of a large number of tiny, smart sensor nodes that are deployed in a wide geographical area, and can provide unprecedented opportunities to sense, instrument, manage and control large environments.

In this project, Du and Nygard adopt a new and more realistic network model to study security issues in sensor networks. The model is called a Heterogeneous Sensor Network that consists of different types of sensor nodes with varying capacities. Du also received a research infrastructure grant from the Army Research Office in May 2007. This grant will be used to set up a large sensor network testbed that will be used for performance evaluations for the new project.

Wireless sensor networks have many applications in the military, such as battlefield surveillance, target tracking and security monitoring. Sensor networks are expected to have more and more applications in the military, and will become a critical component of the future digital battlefield.

As part of the project, Du and Nygard will train highly skilled undergraduate and graduate students with expertise of interest to the Department of Defense.

February 20, 2008
It was announced today that the NDSU Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Professor Award Committee has unanimously selected Dr. William "Bill" Perrizo, professor of Computer Science, as the recipient of the 2008 award.

The nomination written by the NDSU Computer Science department nomination committee and unanimously signed by the faculty of the department said, in part "Dr. Perrizo has served as a faculty member for thirty-four years, and throughout that time has consistently excelled and demonstrated leadership in teaching, research, and service."

In a letter to Perrizo, R.S. Krishnan, committee chair and associate vice president for academic affairs, wrote, "The committee was impressed with your distinguished record as an educator, and your long and exemplary service.

Dr. Donald P. Schwert, in a letter of support for the nomination wrote, "Dr. Perrizo's distinguished record of teaching and research, and of service to both NDSU and to the Fargo-Moorhead community, makes him particularly well credentialed for this award."

Dr. Perrizo will receive the recognition at the Chamber of Commerce of Fargo Moorhead Awards Luncheon, scheduled for noon Wednesday, May 21, at the Ramada Plaza Suites and Conference Center, Fargo.

January 2, 2008
Dr. Paul Juell passed away on Saturday, December 29th at Meritcare Hospital after a years-long battle with cancer. Paul's only brother died on December 26th, also of cancer.

Paul had a good Christmas with family, including his adopted son and his wife and children.  Then late on Christmas day he was hospitalized, later suffering seizures, and finally passing away comfortably.

Although we grieve the loss of a good friend and colleague, we must also celebrate his life.  The CS department organized an event at the Alumni Center to recognize Paul in the fall of 2006 while he was able to attend. The Paul Juell Scholarship Fund was set up at that time.

Paul continued coming to the office each day right up until the Christmas break this fall, which demonstrates his courage and dedication to students and those who were part of his life.

The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Paul Juell Scholarship Fund (c/o the NDSU Development Foundation, PO Box 5144, Fargo, ND 58105).

Mon, 5 Nov 2007
The department programming competition teams ‘swept’ the eighth annual Digi-Key Collegiate Computing Competition (DKC³) on Friday, October 19. We were represented by two teams of four students each and both won by a wide margin. This is the first time in the history of the DKC³ that any university has won both first and second place. The department congratulates the students, listed below, and their coach, Richard Rummelt.

The competition included Bemidji State University, St. Cloud State University, University of Minnesota - Duluth, University of Minnesota - Morris, University of North Dakota, Concordia College, and Mayville State University as well as NDSU.

Team ‘Pi Rho’ (First Place) won $200 for each team member, $3000 for the Computer Science Department, and a huge brass trophy.
    Adam Helsene
    Dustin Kerber
    Eric Odegaard
    Evan Braaten

Team ‘Dacodas’ (Second Place) won $150 for each team member and $1800 for the Computer Science Department.
    Aaron Feickert
    Abram Jackson
    Amar Nishant Singh
    Robert Foertsch

The competition was held in Thief River Falls, MN at the Digi-Key corporate headquarters. Representatives of the Digi-Key corporation's Information Technology department then visited NDSU on Friday, November 2 where they presented the trophy / prize money as well as recruited for two permanent positions and student internships.

May 1, 2007
Brian M. Slator, a long time Professor within the Department, has been selected as the first Department Head.  His service will commence on July 1, 2007.  Prior to that date, the Department was directed by a Department Chair.  Unlike Chairs, Heads serve an indefinite term.

The Department has had a very successful, productive two years (2005, 2006) by almost any measure.  When one considers that the Department spent these two years with at least two (often three) vacant positions, the results are even more impressive.

Research
The eleven tenure-track faculty who submitted brag sheets had a total of 136 fully refereed publications during 2005-06.  Particularly gratifying is the split between the six tenured faculty who had 76 refereed publications and the five non-tenured faculty who had 60 refereed publications.  Ten distinct faculty published during 2005-06. The faculty submitted 88 research proposals during these two years (some are counted more than once since more than one Department faculty member participated).  Only 12 proposals were funded, but nine distinct faculty submitted proposals during this two year period.

Service
The Department continues to be very active in service to the College, University, and profession.  Four faculty serve on a total of five University Committees.  Nine faculty served on College Committees for a total of seventeen committees.  Two faculty serve as associate editors of journals.  Six faculty serve as reviewers of grant proposals and/or publications.

Teaching
In 2005-06, the Department taught 19.25 FTE.  In 2006-07, we are should exceed that FTE production.  The Department had the largest graduate program in the University in both years.

In the past two years, forty-three bachelor's level students, four certificate level students, forty-eight M.S. level students, and eight Ph.D. level students were graduated.  At the graduate level, seven faculty advised at least one of these students.

The Department continues to be a leader in distance education.  We offer a Graduate Certificate in Software Engineering entirely through distanced education.  While we have not advertised the program, its numbers slowly are increasing.