Major Research Project Presentation
Rahul Pradeep Kumar, a Master of Science candidate in the Department of Computer Science, will present his work titled “COrRect : Connection Oriented Resource Matching for Vehicular Clouds” on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. in MC H313.
The examination committee includes Robson De Grande and Sheridan Houghten.
Master of Science thesis defence
Sharnendu Banik, a Master of Science candidate in the Department of Computer Science, will defend his thesis titled “Effect of the Side Effect Machines in Edit Metric Decoding” on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 at 1 p.m. in WH 147.
The examination committee includes Cheryl McCormick, Chair; Sheridan Houghten, Supervisor; Joseph Alexander Brown, External Examiner (Innopolis University, Tatarstan, Russia); and Brian J. Ross and Robson De Grande, , Committee Members.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies will host the 13th annual Mapping the New Knowledges Graduate Student Research Conference on Thursday, April 12.
The day-long event will be the largest in the conference’s history, with more 135 graduate students presenting either an oral or poster presentation. For the second year, the conference will also welcome ten undergraduate thesis students in their final year to present oral presentations.
Kicking off the event will be a keynote address from Brock Professor of Sociology, June Corman. A past winner of the Faculty of Graduate Studies Graduate Mentorship Award, Corman will share stories of her personal mentorship experiences during her time as a graduate student, and how those experiences shape her teaching and supervisory philosophy today.
“MNK gives graduate students the opportunity to present, some of them for the first time, in a friendly, encouraging environment,” says Diane Dupont, Interim Dean of Graduate Studies. “We want students to get comfortable talking about their research, no matter what stage of their project they may be in. While MNK is largely an opportunity for professional development, it is also a chance for students to see how their individual studies are part of a larger community of research at Brock.”
The conference will celebrate the graduate studies community with the FGS awards ceremony from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The ceremony will include the presentation of the Marilyn Rose Graduate Leadership Award and Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Awards, and special recognition of graduate students who have been selected to receive the 2018 Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Awards.
All members of the Brock Community are invited to attend the conference or awards ceremony. For a detailed conference schedule, visit the MNK website.
Are you a Computer Science student?
Interested in networking with industry experts and learning more about potential career paths in this exciting and ever-growing field?
Attend the Exploring Careers in Computer Science event!
DATE: Thursday, March 8
TIME: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Pond Inlet
2018 Computer Science Career Night Poster
Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Categories: Events
Faculty and staff members who have set positive examples for their colleagues were honoured by the Faculty of Mathematics and Science during Wednesday’s Celebration of Excellence. The fourth annual event, held Jan. 24 in Pond Inlet, saw awards of distinction presented for research, teaching, student experience and experiential learning.
“This awards ceremony provides us with an opportunity to gather together and acknowledge the accomplishments of our faculty and staff in front of their Math and Science family, as well as our larger Brock family,” Dean Ejaz Ahmed told the group during his remarks at the Jan. 24 event in Pond Inlet.
“Once again, we have much to celebrate and recognize. From research excellence and distinguished teachers and scholars to those who provide our students with exceptional experiential learning opportunities that further the Faculty’s mission, vision and values. I am proud of your dedication and commitment and I look forward to continuing to celebrate your accomplishments at this great event.”
Following remarks from Gary Comerford, Board of Trustees Chair, and Thomas Dunk, Provost and Vice-President, Academic, the awards portion of the event began with Associate Dean Research and Graduate Studies Cheryl McCormick serving as Master of Ceremonies.
Department of Chemistry Professor Jeffrey Atkinson received this year’s Distinguished Teaching Award – Faculty for his long and successful record of supervising students, mentoring high school seniors through Brock’s Science Mentorship Program, his involvement in the design and implementation of Brock’s first PhD program in Biotechnology as well as his outreach teaching activities through BioTalent Canada.
“During his career at Brock, Dr. Atkinson has earned a reputation for being one of our most gifted teachers,” said McCormick. “His teaching evaluations are outstanding and he routinely receives comments from students calling him an excellent professor, the best professor they’ve ever had and more equally enthusiastic and complimentary praise.”
Atkinson’s dedication to his students and their education has helped create an environment of teaching excellence within the Faculty, she said.
The Distinguished Teaching Award for Staff was captured by full-time instructor Paul Zelisko, also from the Department of Chemistry. Zelisko was recognized for his untiring dedication to education and graduate student recruitment.
McCormick noted that Zelisko has been a consistent representative of the Faculty, organizing Brock representation every year for a number of events including the McMaster University Graduate Fair, undergraduate trips to the east coast and, most notably, last year’s Graduate Studies Open House. This event, created for undergraduate students at Brock thinking of transitioning to graduate research, helped increase student engagement and was well received.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award – Faculty was awarded to professor Jon Radue from the Department of Computer Science, who has earned a reputation for caring deeply about many aspects of teaching and education.
A true innovator, he incorporated technology such as clickers into the classroom to further student engagement long before it was commonplace. He has been actively involved with the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation as a faculty associate and member of the Teaching Council and his work on academic integrity extends beyond the department and throughout the University.
“In the Department of Computer Science, Radue spearheaded the development of the Applied Computing minor along with many of its courses. His knowledge and dedication made him an easy choice for teaching large first-year context courses taken by a wide variety of students from all disciplines,” said McCormick.
“His passion for education, combined with his knowledge and dedication have become part of his legacy at Brock.”
The Distinguished Research Award for Faculty was presented to Henryk Fuks from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for his excellent record of accomplishment in research, focused in the areas of mathematical modelling, complex networks as well as the history of mathematics and numismatics, the study of currency.
Along with serving on editorial boards for several prestigious journals and on scientific program committees for international conferences, Fuks also regularly receives international recognition for his research. Last August, the Royal Canadian Numismatic Society honoured him with the Guy Potter Literary Award, recognizing two of his articles which popularized the history of mathematics in the area of numismatics.
Gaynor Spencer from the Department of Biological Sciences also received the Distinguished Research Award for Faculty. Promoted to Full Professor in July, she is currently supervising three graduate students and two undergraduate thesis students in her lab.
“Gaynor has maintained high quality research productivity while providing great service to the University and research community,” said McCormick. Her longstanding history of research excellence is evidenced in part by her strong record of NSERC Discovery Grant funding, an Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award as well as quality, peer-reviewed publications; 38 papers, five invited reviews and four book chapters.
Additional awards distributed at the Jan. 24 celebration included:
Thanks to the generous financial support of the Department of Computer Science, six female Brock Computer Science students were able to attend the ACM Canadian Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (CAN-CWIC) last month in Montreal.
For Lindsey Tulloch, one of the attendees, the conference was much more than a networking event; it was an opportunity to band together and show support for some in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) based programs. As she looked around the packed room filled with more than 500 women, she felt a sense of inspiration and hope for the future.
“It was inspiring to be around so many women that are interested in the same things I am,” Tulloch said. “There’s only a handful of us (women in Computer Science) at Brock, which could lead one to mistakenly believe that women just aren’t that into tech, math or ‘nerdy’ stuff, but we totally are.”
With significantly less women than men choosing to enrol in university STEM programs, building a strong network is critical. While working in a field dominated by men can be challenging, Tulloch has found support as well as role models and mentors at Brock.
With the backing of her department and opportunities to attend events for women, created by women, the future for women in STEM looks bright for Tulloch and many others.
“Women are doing a lot of interesting things in tech, both in the industry and in academics,” she said.
Read the full story here
Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Categories: News
Stephen Renda didn’t expect to hear his name called at the President’s Holiday Celebration.
“When the President said the recipient designs and builds equipment, I knew it was someone from Tech Services,” he said. “I thought it was another guy in our shop.”
Renda is a machinist who designs and builds teaching and research equipment for Brock’s Faculty of Mathematics and Science. He also services lab equipment like sterilizers, bench top centrifuges, vacuum pumps and liquid nitrogen stations.
He was one of four people honoured with the President’s Distinguished Staff Service Awards.
His nominator, Steve Crumb, boasted in the nomination application that Renda is one of the department’s most valued assets. “Whatever he designs, you know that great thought went into it and it is truly a work of art. He is the person I tell students to see,” Crumb wrote.
“It’s not lost on me that I’m ‘the guy,’” Renda said. “I like being helpful. I don’t do it for bragging rights or any other reason. That’s why I’m here. At the end of the day, it’s gratifying to know that these people come to me to help them.”
Renda was one of 35 faculty and staff who were honoured at the annual holiday event, which saw a record attendance of nearly 350 people.
Quarter Century Club
Several faculty and staff were recognized for their long-standing commitment to Brock University. This year, 22 employees were inducted into the Quarter Century Club, joining 215 others who have worked for Brock for 25 years, including:
35 years of long-standing service
Eight people were recognized for 35 years of service, including:
Nafiseh Motevallibashi, a candidate in the Department of Computer Science, will present her Master of Science thesis defence on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 11:30 a.m. in MCH 313.
Her thesis is titled “Properties and Algorithms of the (n; k)-Arrangement Graphs and Augmented Cubes.”
Her examination committee members are Dr. Michael Bidochka, Chair; Dr. Eddie Cheng, External Examiner, (Oakland University); Dr. Ke Qui, Supervisor; Dr. Michael Winter and Dr. Sheridan Houghten, Committee Members.
When Donna Phelps left her hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in 1977 to start a four-year program in California, she never imagined it would be almost 40 years to the day before she graduated.
The administrative assistant for Brock’s Department of Computer Science dreamed of becoming a photojournalist and set her sights on California after working for a year to finance her schooling. Not long after her freshman year, Phelps was forced to return to her hometown when her program was unexpectedly cut short and the school later closed. It was the first of many setbacks and challenges that Phelps would face while pursuing her degree.
Fast forward to Friday, Oct. 13 when Phelps walked across the stage at Brock’s Fall Convocation, an experience she describes as “very emotional and overwhelming.”
“When they said, ‘you’re all alumni now’ – that moment hit me the hardest,” Phelps said. “I arrived. A weight was lifted off my shoulders. It was quite a journey to get there and it was pretty special.”
Phelps’ path to becoming a Brock alum has not been easy. Despite all odds, her achievement is the result of unwavering dedication and determination. Read the full story here
Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Categories: News
Yosra Kazemi, a candidate in the Department of Computer Science, will present her Master of Science thesis defence on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 9 a.m. in Plaza 600F.
Her thesis is titled A Deep Learning Pipeline for Classifying Different Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease from fMRI Data.
Her examination committee members are Dr. Maureen Reedyk, Chair; Dr. Adil Khan, External Examiner, (Innopolis University); Dr. Sheridan Houghten, Supervisor; Dr. Beatrice Ombuki-Berman and Ke Qiu, Committee Members.
