Alumni News from Drexel's Computer Science Department

Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering, Drexel University

Issue 3 Summer 2010

Welcome to the e-newsletter from Drexel's CS Department. Every quarter we plan to keep in touch with our alumni by sending student, faculty and alumni news and achievements. For more information about alumni events and activities, please visit our new Alumni Website.

Where are they now?

Aparna Nanjappa

Class Year: 2003

Degree: BS/MS in Computer Science

Currently: Aparna is a Client Project Manager at Financial Software Systems, an international financial risk-management software and consulting firm headquartered in Horsham, Pa. Building on her experiences as a Software Engineer and Integration Technology Specialist at the firm, Aparna now represents and leads projects implementing their product, Spectrum, at banks across the globe. Her current projects include Brown Brothers Harriman, New York and Square One Bank, North Carolina.

Dan Stamate

Class Year: 2006

Degrees: Master's in Computer Science

Currently: Dan is a senior developer at Bloomberg in Princeton, N.J., working on a target web crawling system. In 2009, he was selected as the recruiting captain for Drexel University and responsible for conducting interviews on campus, attending career fairs, organizing events and promoting Bloomberg.

Where are you now?

The CS Department wants to hear from you. What have you been up to since graduating from Drexel? Take a few minutes to fill out our questionnaire and tell us about your life. We're interested and so are your fellow graduates.

CS Welcomes New Alumni from Class of 2010

The Class of 2010 graduated in June and the Department of Computer Science is proud to welcome them as new alumni. We awarded 74 Undergraduate degrees, 17 Master's degrees and 2 Doctorates. Among the crowd, four students achieved Top Honors in Computer Science and Software Engineering. With a GPA of 3.98, Jordan Osecki claimed First Honors in Computer Science and Daniel De Sousa received Second Honors with a GPA of 3.97. Andrew Gall graduated with GPA of 3.78, earning him First Honors in Software Engineering, and Melissa Aaron graduated with the second highest cumulative GPA of 3.70, achieving Second Honors in Software Engineering.

Our graduates excelled in classes at Drexel and will continue to do so after graduation, having accepted job offers at companies such as Amazon.com, Microsoft, Bloomberg, and Susquehanna International Group (SIG). Some also decided to continue in higher education and attend graduate school. Congratulations 2010 graduates and best of luck on future endeavors!

Department Planning Alumni Bagged Lunches Every Term

Starting in Fall 2010, the Department of Computer Science will host Alumni Bagged Lunches once a term. This event will expand the relationship between the department, alumni and current students, providing a way for past and current students to meet and discuss experiences after graduation and working within the industry.

We're asking for your help with this event. If you're interested in participating and sharing your journey after graduation, please contact Julie Fisher by email at jmf323@drexel.edu or call 215-895-6275. Our first Alumni Bagged Lunch will feature Chance Pascale (John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab), Tuesday, October 5.

CS Professor chaired ICCM 2010

Drexel University hosted the 10th International Conference on Cognitive Modeling (ICCM), Thursday to Sunday, August 5-8, 2010. Dr. Dario Salvucci, associate professor of computer science, and Glenn Gunzelmann (Air Force Research Laboratory) co-chaired the event. ICCM is the premier conference for research on computational models and computation-based theories of human behavior.

With more than 100 attendees, the main conference included invited talks by Jonathan Gratch (University of Southern California), Bonnie John (Carnegie Mellon University), and Kurt VanLehn (Arizona State University). Thursday's program included a doctoral consortium, workshop, and two half-day tutorials. Visit the ICCM 2010 Website for more information about the conference.

Drexel Ranked 2nd in U.S. News List of "Up-and-Comers"

Drexel tied for 2nd, up from 4th, in the U.S. News list of "Up-and-Comers." These are institutions that college administrators nationwide cite for "the most promising and innovative changes in the areas of academics, faculty, student life, campus or facilities." Drexel has been named to this list in each of the three years it has been compiled. The University also moved up in the latest U.S.News & World Report college rankings, claiming 86th among all national universities in the 2011 "Best Colleges" report. Up two places from last year's rank of 88, Drexel is the 48th-highest ranked private university on the list, and remains one of two Philadelphia schools (along with Penn) in the top 100. Drexel was also noted for having a "strong computer science program" in the Fiske Guide to Colleges, which claimed the University a "Best Buy."

Note from the Department Head

As Drexel welcomes its incoming freshman class in a new academic year, we would like to share our thoughts on our own incoming class. We're excited to announce the addition of 123 Computer Science and Software Engineering students to the Department -- the largest in five years. The increase is partially due to a national trend that shows an increase in computing majors after many years of decline. It's also due to Drexel's and the Department's improved reputation as indicated by Drexel being listed as number two in U.S. News' list of "Up-and-Comers," the number 3 ranking of our gaming program, and the continued success our graduates have in obtaining employment. We hope you all will have a chance to meet the incoming freshman class--as well as our current students--in the upcoming year through more events and activities we're planning.