Picture of the Month

Robocup 2008

GTCMUnited’08, a joint team from CoC and Carnegie Mellon University, took second place in their division at Robocup 2008. This year's annual international robotic soccer competition was held July 14-20 in Suzhou, China.

Research News

Newly Awarded Contracts for June 2008

Grants/Gifts Received for June 2008

People@CoC

Microsoft Interns Redux

The June/July issue of The Compiler featured a list of students doing summer internships at Microsoft. Unfortunately, we inadvertently left a number of students off the list. The editors would like to thank the faculty who brought the oversight to our attention and offer this updated list. Congratulations to all of you!
Abhimanyu Aditya, Krystian Alberciak, Jiang Bian, Hasaan Butt, Marshini Chetty, Madhav Deshpande, Alejandro Dominguez, Carolina Gomez, Andrea Grimes, Malini Jagannadhan, Mugdha Jamsandekar, Mukil Kesavan, Sana Khan, Raghavendra Thallam Kodandaramaih, Long Lu, Kurt Luther, Chaitanya Prakash Namburi, Peter Pest, Erika Poole, Aninda Ray, Abilash Sekar, Craig Tashman and Kendrick Treadwell.

Large CoC Contingent at Learning Sciences Conference

Several faculty, students and alumni participated in the International Conference of the Learning Sciences in Utrecht, Holland, on June 23-28.
• Andrea Forte and SIC Professor Amy Bruckman led a symposium titled: “Learning and Research in the Web 2 Era: New Opportunities for Research.” The symposium featured four papers focused on the ways in which the pervasiveness of social media for example, Wikis, social networking applications like Facebook and multi-user synchronous environments like Second Life—typically associated with “Web 2.0” represent a new context for the research of learning and instruction.
• Jose Zagal and Amy Bruckman submitted a paper, “The Game Ontology Project: Supporting Learning While Contributing Authentically to Game Studies,” which Forte presented on behalf of Zagal. In their study, Zagal and Bruckman used the Game Ontology Project, a wiki-enabled hierarchy of elements of gameplay used by games studies researchers, in a game design class.
• Jakita Owensby Thomas submitted a paper, “The Rest of the Story: Understanding Small-Group Case Interpretation Performance and Capability in Middle-School Project-Based Inquiry Classrooms.”
•SIC Professor Janet Kolodner led an interactive poster symposium titled, “Implementing What We Know About Learning in a Middle-School Curriculum for Widespread Dissemination: The Project-Based Inquiry Science (PBIS) Story.” PBIS is a comprehensive, technology-enhanced science curriculum for grades 6 through 8 (ages 12-14) whose design is based on foundations in the learning sciences.
• Kolodner also led a workshop to help first-time conference attendees connect with mentors and an early-career workshop on publishing. She received an award from the International Society of the Learning Sciences for her service to the society as editor in chief of the Journal of the Learning Sciences for 19 years.
• Computer science graduate students Christina Gardner and Tammy Clegg participated in the Doctoral Consortium.
• CoC alumni Sadhana Puntambekar, Cindy Hmelo-Silver, Roland Hubscher, Wendy Newstetter and Natalie Rusk presented eight papers, gave talks and led sessions.

Vuduc Co-Organizes Petascale Workshop

Hunter and Italo Present Paper at IPTeleComm 2008

Ph.D. student Italo Dacosta, with GTISC Research Scientist Michael Hunter in attendance, presented a paper titled “Security Analysis of an IP Phone: Cisco 7960G” at IPTComm 2008, held July 2 in Heidelberg, Germany. Italo studies Voice over IP security. About 100 people attended the conference, which featured 16 papers.

Bruckman to Give Keynote at Digitel

SIC Professor Amy Bruckman is the keynote speaker at the Second IEEE International Conference on Digital Game and Intelligent Toy Enhanced Learning, to be held Nov. 17-19 in Banff, Canada. In her talk, titled “Social Support for Creativity and Learning Online,” Bruckman will review the history of peer production of content on the Internet, present current research in the Electronic Learning Communities Lab and discuss how Internet-based environments can be designed to encourage creativity, collaboration and learning.

Papers by SIC Grad Students Appearing at Fall Conferences

Marshini Chetty of the Work2Play lab has a paper appearing in the 10th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing this September in Korea. Andrea Grimes, also affiliated with the Work2Play lab, has a paper appearing in the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work this November in San Diego. Grimes’ paper has been nominated for best paper.

Faculty Promotions and Tenure Decisions

As of July 1, the following faculty promotions and changes have taken effect:
• David Bader of CSE, executive director of High Performance Computing, was promoted to professor.
• Saugata Basu, joint appointment in CS and Mathematics, was promoted to professor.
• Keith Edwards of IC was awarded tenure.
• Irfan Essa of IC was promoted to professor.
• The appointment of Alex Gray of CSE was increased to 100 percent.
• Charles Isbell of IC was promoted to associate professor, awarded tenure and appointed as interim associate dean.
• Alex Orso of CS was promoted to associate professor and awarded tenure.
• David Sherrill, joint appointment in CSE and Chemistry, was promoted to professor.
• Bruce Walker, joint appointment in IC and Psychology, was promoted to associate professor and awarded tenure.

CoC Alumna Named Chair of Computer Science at UGA

Eileen Kraemer, a 1995 Ph.D. graduate of CoC, has been named chair of the Computer Science Department at the University of Georgia effective July 1. Kraemer worked with advisor John Stasko at the GVU Center and did her Ph.D. research on “The manipulation of time and event order in the visualization of parallel and distributed systems.” Her current research interests include visualization and user interfaces for computer science education, the comprehension and management of concurrency and bioinformatics.

Personnel Announcements

Katharine Raczynski has joined CoC as an Academic Advisor I in IC/LCC effective July 1. Her email address is katharine.raczynski@lcc, her phone number is 4-6200 and she is located in Skiles room 342. Welcome Katharine!
James Kriigel has joined CoC as a Computer Services Specialist III in TSO effective July 21. His email address is jkriigel@cc, his phone number is 4-7065 and he is located in CCB 148A. Welcome James!
Annika Kleinwaechter has joined CoC as a Program Coordinator II in Student Services effective July 21. Her email address is akleinwa@cc, her phone number is 4-9646 and she is located in CCB 123A. Welcome Annika!
Morgon Lindskog has joined CoC as a Tech Temp in Student Services effective July 24. Her email address is mlindsko@cc, her phone number is 4-5207 and she is located in CCB 108 (front desk of Student Services). Welcome Morgon!
Lisa Osbeck has joined CoC as a Research Scientist II in IC effective July 1. Her email address is losbeck1@cc, her phone number is 5-6916 and she is located in TSRB 221X. Welcome Lisa!
Brian Poole has joined CoC as a Research Technologist I in IC effective July 1. His email address is bpoole@cc, his phone number is 5-7610 and he is located in TSRB 216. Welcome Brian!
Adam Allred has been hired permanently as a Systems Support Specialist II in TSO effective July 7. His email address is aallred@cc. Congratulations Adam!
David Mercer has been hired permanently as a Systems Support Specialist II in TSO effective July 7. His email address is dmercer@cc. Congratulations David!
Monica Ross has been hired permanently as an Administrative Assistant II in IC effective July 14. Her email address is mross@cc, her phone number is 5-7349 and she is located in TSRB 355X. Congratulations Monica!
Arlene Washington has been reclassified to a Financial Manager II. Congratulations Arlene!
Nikhil Ram is a Tech Temp in IC effective June 26.
Lisa Seegers is a Tech Temp in IC effective June 20.
Thom McLean’s last day at CoC was June 30. Best wishes Thom!
Kevin Tucker’s last day at CoC was July 18. Best wishes Kevin!
Giselle Martin’s last day at CoC is Aug. 1. Best wishes Giselle!
Maureen Biggers’ last day at CoC is Aug. 1. Best wishes Maureen!

General News

New Automated Export System for Outgoing International Shipments

Beginning Oct. 1, the new Foreign Trade Regulations will completely alter the way employees file export shipping information. The paper Shippers Export Declarations (SEDs) currently in use will no longer be accepted, and employees will be required to use the new Electronic Export Information (EEI) filing system to submit Automated Export System (AES) for all shipments leaving the United States. Penalties for failing to file an AES for shipments can be up to $10,000 per violation and late filing fines of $1,100 per day. For more information, contact Mary Beran at the Office of Research Compliance by phone at 404-385-2083 or by email at mary.beran@gtrc.gatech.edu.