Conference of the Chairs of NJ Computer Science Departments

Since 2013 an annual meeting has been held, of Chairs of Computer Science Departments in NJ, with involvement of Chairs from NY.

Goals

Our goals are:

  • Increase the Visibility of Computer Science Education in the NJ/NY area.
  • Encourage the exchange of information between Computing Departments.
  • Share best practices.
  • Discuss common problems.
  • Foster high quality education in Computing, from the Associates level to the PhD level.
  • Reward high quality teaching.

Founding Meeting

Host: James Geller

The founding meeting was held at NJIT in Newark on August 30th, 2013.

The main topic of discussion was BYOD: Bring Your Own Device. The dangers of the BYOD trend were discussed.

This issue was also raised in Geller's Letter to the Editor: Beware BYOD of the CACM (September 2013, Vol. 56, No. 9).

Second Meeting

Host: Scott Frees

The second meeting was held at Ramapo College on August 19th, 2014.

The main topic of discussion was the Rise of Distance Learning.

Third Meeting

Host: Nasir Memon

The third meeting was held at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, on July 29th, 2015.

The main discussion topic was Women in Computing.

The meeting also included a visit to the NYU Poly Incubator (see pictures below).

Fourth Meeting

Host: Pat Morreale

The fourth meeting will be held at Kean University on August 17th, 2016.

The meeting will be co-located with MISNC 2016, the Multidisciplinary International Social Networks Conference.

The MISNC Program overview is here.

For the first time, the Conference of Chairs will include an Awards Ceremony.

We are happy to announce that

Prof. Brian Kernighan
will be receiving the
2016 Award for Outstanding Impact on the Profession of Computer Science Education

Attendance at the Award Ceremony only is free, but registration is required at this registration link

Information about paid registration at MISNC is here.

Agenda:

 

P. Morreale

 

Welcome to Kean University and to the MISNC conference

J. Geller

 

Welcome to Chairs' Award Event and introduction of Deputy Secretary of Higher Education of the State of New Jersey, Gregg Edwards

G. Edwards

Deputy Secretary of Higher Education of the State of NJ

(TBA)

J. Geller

Presentation of The 2016 Award for Outstanding Impact on the Profession of Computer Science Education to Brian Kernighan

B. Kernighan

 

Acceptance Speech: Teaching Digital Humanities in Computer Science by exploring an early Social Network

Audience

Questions and Answers

P. Morreale

The 2016 Award for Outstanding Performance in Computer Science Education at a PhD Granting NJ Institution to Junilda Spirollari

J. Spirollari

Acceptance Note

J. Geller

The 2016 Award for Outstanding Performance in Computer Science Education at Undergraduate and MS-Granting NJ Institutions to Deborah Knox

D. Knox

Acceptance Note

J. Geller

Closing remarks

The big day came and went.
Below are the award ceremony pictures.

Brian Kernighan (with Geller)

Junilda Spirollari (with Morreale)

Deborah Knox

Here is the official NJIT report of the Award event.

Other Coverage

Other other Coverage

Even More Coverage

Hard to believe, but we reached YEAR 5 of the Chairs' Meetings

August 8, 2017

This was the SECOND YEAR that we gave out awards, and the first time we gave out cash awards (thanks to Dean Gotsman of NJIT.)

We were hosted by Ocean County College in their beautiful new building that is co-owned by Kean University.

Below I omit titles as almost everybody listed is a "Doctor." Makes my life easier.

We were welcomed by OCC president Jon Larson.

I was too excited to take a picture, but here is a "stock picture."

Many thanks to Gerald Cohen and Dean Paul Silberquit who made the local arrangments.

Many thanks to Laila Khreisat and Monisha Pulimood who served on the Award Committee.

Many thanks to Pat Morreale who greatly improved the agenda and was all around helpful.

Unfortunately, all three award winners were traveling.

Below Manfred Minimair (left) of Seton Hall University accepting the award for Marco Morazan.
Gerald Cohen of Ocean County College presents the award to Manfred.

Below Susan Imberman accepting of CUNY accepting the award for Sarah Zelikovits.

Below Cristian Borcea of NJIT accepting the award for Alex Gerbessiotis.

Below Angel Camillo (left/front) and Eric Antonelli (behind the lectern).
These two biologist put many computer scientists to shame by their creative and effective use of computing technology in biology. They help students learn by labeling microscope samples and botany book figures with QR codes.

We welcomed Deidre Richardson from the NJ State Education Department and James Priestly from Microsoft as speakers.

We also welcome Daryl Detrick of CSTANJ who gave the final talk.

Many people braved a long drive to Ocean County.

2018

6th Annual Conference of Chairs of NJ/NY Computer Science Departments

3rd Annual Outstanding Teaching in Computer Science Award Ceremony

New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark NJ

Wellness and Events Center (WEC) Conference Room 3B.

June 14, 2018

Welcome by Dean Craig Gotsman

Talks (download or link)

Esther Lewars: Compute Science Education In New Jersey

Esther Lewars

Patricia Morreale: 2018 NCWIT Summary

Pat Morreale

Iulian Neamtiu: Improving Software Reliability and Security: Applications to Android

Iulian Neamtiu

Mayra Bachrach: What is happening in Computer Science education in New Jersey?

Mayra Bachrach

Award Winners

Austin Huang of Kean University

Benjamin Fine of Ramapo College

Nikhil Yadav of St. Johns University

 

7th Annual Conference of Chairs of NJ/NY Computer Science Departments

4th Annual Outstanding Teaching in Computer Science Award Ceremony

Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Core Building

June 6, 2019

Group picture 1

From Left:
Weiyi Meng
Daniela Rosca
Jesse Yu
Monisha Pulimood
Kevin Wayne
Pat Morreale
Aslihan Cakmak
Mike Sidara-Tiritto
Jim Geller
Jim Maccariella
Chia Chien
Jack Myers
Constantine (Dino) Coutras
Nancy Amador
Vasil Hnatyshin (V. H.)
(Scott Frees and Farah Bennani
had to leave before we took pictures.)

Group picture 2

At the right end is our gracious host Thu Nguyen.
Nancy Amador took the picture.

Invited Speaker: Fran Trees: K-12 CS Education in NJ

Invited Speaker: Konstantinos Michmizos: Toward less Artificial Intelligence: Brain-inspired Computing

Award Winners

Chia Chien (Rowan University)

Kevin Wayne (Princeton University)

Fran Trees (Rutgers University)

Meimei Gao (Mercer County Community College) could not attend but was represented by
her Chair, Jim Maccariella (left). The award was presented by CCCC President
Mike Sidaras-Tiritto

Virtual Meeting July 14, 2020

Unfortunately I took one single photo during this meeting.
I got too excited. So it's really not a great picture. I am sorry.
Hopefully a year from now we will be back to a physical meeting with lunch,
although I will be happy to provide a zoom hookup for our friends
in Long Island who attended this time. It's a long drive.

I hope even more that two years from now (our 10th meeting),
we will look back at this year and say "remember how crazy that was"
and hopefully we will be back to a more normal life.

 

Contact Information: james.geller *AT* njit.edu