NSF Scholarship Program

Results

Number of students who were active in this program in the semesters in which it was available: Fall 2002: 25 Spring 2003: 26 Fall 2003: 22 Spring 2004: 21 Fall 2004: 19 Spring 2005: 18 Fall 2005: 20 Spring 2006: 21 Fall 2006: 9 Spring 2007: 8 Fall 2005 was the last semester to accept new students into this scholarship program, even with the time extension for the grant project. New students can no longer be placed in the program, as the grant project has ended. There have been numerous presentations for the scholarship recipients and others who were interested. Many of these presentations were done by guest speakers. On September 25, 2002, Ms. Karen Sturgeon, Director of Systems and Security for Duquesne University, presented a talk entitled "Information Technology Roles in Today's Environment". She discussed aspects of her position and the skills she looks for in hiring employees. On October 28, 2002, Deborah L. Edwards, Content Specialist for Agnew Moyer Smith, presented a talk entitled "Five Ugly Truths about Developing Content for the World Wide Web". Ms. Edwards discussed the development, maintenance, and costs of web page content development. On November 7, 2002, Mr. David Bowser, Manager of Information Security at Kennametal, spoke about computer security. On March 3, 2003, Dr. Richard A. Thompson, Professor and Director of the Telecom Program at the University of Pittsburgh, spoke about telecommunications and the graduate program which he directs. On March 11, 2003, Donna Morrison from Career Services discussed job search for computing, math, and engineering majors. On April 10, 2003, Verdane Swartz of Allin Consulting spoke on the topic "The IT Marketplace". On October 16, 2003, Mrs. Donna Morrison, Associate Director of Career Services, discussed careers in the fields of computing, enginering, and mathematics. On Novmber 11, 2003, Dr. Richard A. Thompson, Professor and Director of the Telecommunications Program at the University of Pittsburgh, discussed the economy, jobs, and careers in telecommunications. On November 18, 2003, alumnus Brian Eckels, System Administrator at Pitt-Ohio, discussed information security. On March 4, 2004, Dr. Doug Metzler of the Department of Information Science and Telecommunications at the University of Pittsburgh gave a talk entitled Understanding the Reasoning of Intelligent Systems. On March 9, 2004, Mr. David Shaffer of Westminster College spoke about the advantages of the SmallTalk programming language. On both October 12 and 13, 2004, a videotape presentation on time management and study skills was given. On Nov 17, 2004, the CIS Department hosted a talk by Verdane Swartz of Breakaway Technologies. The talk was entitled "Getting Real about Systems Analysis and Design." Mr. Swartz discussed what is needed in system design requirements and how to interact with business owners. He also gave his view on the current technology job market. On Feb 10, 2005, FBI special agent Jim Knights spoke on careers with the FBI (including careers for CS majors). Jeff Jacobson, a Ph.D candidate at the University of Pittsburgh, gave a talk on March 15, 2005, on his research in Virtual Reality and CaveUT. On Thurs, Sept 1, 2005 a videotape on time management was presented. Alumnus Chris Pecoraro spoke about his experience in developing bioinformatics software on Tue, Oct 11, 2005. On Nov 7, 2005, SVC alum Brian LaSitis, MCSD, Senior Consultant, Allin Consulting, Pittsburgh, spoke about career paths in computing. Brian Sava, account executive for the Consulting Services Division of the Pittsburgh office of Robert Half Technology spoke about careers and internships in computing on Feb 21, 2006. Alum Adam Vogini spoke to CIS students about his experiences in the world of computing on Tue, Oct 10, 2006. Courtney Baum, Career Counselor, and David Eber, Associate Director for Admissions, from Carnegie Mellon University spoke about some of CMU's security-related Master's degree programs on Tue, Nov 14, 2007. Adam Vogini returned to speak about the issue of users and security on Tue, Nov 28, 2007. Mentoring activities, both in-person and email-based, were utilized by the scholarship recipients. Upper-class scholarship recipients assisted as mentors and tutors on campus as well as at local schools with their technology needs. The scholarship recipients were very active in doing internships. The advisory board met at least once a year during the course of this grant project to help with planning. Several outreach activities were held for students with an interest in computers, including Computing Day 2002, Computing Day 2003, Computing Day 2004, Computing Day 2005, Computing Day 2006, 2002 Summer Computer Camp for Girls, 2004 Summer Computer Camp for Girls, 2006 Summer Computer Camp for Girls, and the 2007 Summer Computer Camp for Girls. Both Computing Day and the Summer Computer Mini-Camp for Girls are expected to continue in some form. See Computing Day 2007 and 2008 Summer Computer Camp for Girls for more information.

Maintained by: Br. David Carlson
Last updated: August 22, 2007