Drexel Computer Science Alumni News

Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering, Drexel University

Issue 7 Summer 2011

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 Alumni Website.

Where are they now?

Shaw Levin

Class Year: 2010

Degrees: BS in Computer Science

Currently: Shaw began work for The Vanguard Group directly after graduation, originally commuting from Philly but now living in Bryn Mawr. He is a financial software developer focusing mostly on database and application development for internal clients. He is actively involved with his Drexel fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, serving as advisor for the chapter at Lehigh University, President of the Philadelphia Alumni Club and as a presenter for their leadership conferences. His free time usually includes his girlfriend, volunteering or working with his freelance web development group (Greek Solutions) at the Baiada Center.

Ilya Braude

Class Year: 2005

Degrees: BS/MS in Computer Science

Currently: After graduating, Ilya worked at a "real job" before being recruited to work at Drakontas, a technology startup that came out of Drexel's ACIN research lab. While there, he designed and built a messaging server for a real-time mobile collaboration system used by law enforcement agencies and first responders. Most recently, he co-founded CloudMine, a startup that aims to replace the need for developers to create back-end solutions for their applications, allowing them to focus on making their apps awesome. He also continues to train and teach at the Drexel Karate Club and contributes to the Philly tech community.

Suzanne Miller

Class Year: 1986

Degrees: BS in Computer Science

Currently: After graduating from Drexel, Suzanne achieved two master's degrees in Science and Educational Technology from George Mason University (GMU) respectively. She worked at IBM Federal Systems for 25 years as an engineering program manager with emphasis on Space Products and Solutions to serve our national security. Suzanne has been active in the community including membership on the Prince William Chamber of Commerce and Committee of 100. In August 2011, Suzanne ran in the Republican primary for Virginia's Prince William County Board of Supervisors for the Gainesville District, which represents a citizen constituency of 60,000; she received 13 percent of the vote and third out of five candidates. She is currently enrolled in the Executive MBA program at GMU and specializing in National Defense and plans to continue her career transition and work in the public sector.

CS Welcomes New Alumni from Class of 2011, Honors Top Students

During Drexel's 2011 Commencement Ceremony, 53 undergraduates, 41 graduates, and two Ph.D. students graduated from the Department of Computer Science and are proudly welcomed as new alumni. Our graduates excelled at Drexel and will continue to do so after graduation, having accepted job offers at companies such as Probaris, Unisys, Fidelity Investments, John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, U.S. Navy and Amazon.com. View pictures of the Department of Computer Science's graduating class here.

Among the group, five students achieved Top Honors in Computer Science and Software Engineering. Completing with a 3.97 GPA, Jason Economou claimed First Honors in Computer Science, while Andrew Sherman, finishing with a 3.87 GPA, graduated with Second Honors. Gabriel Schwartz received Third Honors in Computer Science with a 3.78 GPA. Joseph Fishetti graduated with a 3.6 GPA, earning him First Honors in Software Engineering, and fellow graduate Boguste Hameyie attained Second Honors with a 3.44 GPA. Read about all five students' plans after graduation here.

Students Graduate from Drexel University Computing Academy

DUCA class picture After weeks of living on campus, completing courses in game design, databases, systems, computer programming, robotics, and information technology, 36 students graduated from Drexel University Computing Academy's 2011 class, Saturday, July 30. Co-sponsored by the iSchool and Department of Computer Science at Drexel, this five-week, residential program provides students with an authentic college experience while taking interdisciplinary classes from faculty and participating in interactive projects, plus exploring Philadelphia. This year marks DUCA's third successful operation. Read more about the program and its students here. To learn about DUCA, visit http://www.ducomputingacademy.org/. Click here to check out pictures from the DUCA activities and trips.

CS Students Continue Collaborative Research Abroad

Linge and Rob researching abroad CS Ph.D. candidates Linge Bai and Rob Lass had the opportunity to conduct research abroad during the 2010-11 academic year. Bai joined her advisor, Dr. David Breen, during his sabbatical and worked at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany. Bai's thesis work is in bio-inspired algorithms and she assisted with two projects focused on imaging living cellular systems, as well as analyzing, quantifying and processing the images through computing.

Lass, who works for ACIN, spent his time collaborating with researchers at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague, Czech Republic. He worked in distributed constraint reasoning and collaborated with a researcher on plan repair. Now back at Drexel, Bai and Lass continue to expand their research from abroad. Read more about the projects Bai and Lass completed, as well as their travel experiences, here.

Drexel's Gaming Team Wins Award at 2011 Philly Game Jam

Gaming Team wins at Game Jam Seven Drexel students and one alumnus went without rest for 48 hours in order to create "Effection," the game that won "Best Use of Theme" at the 2011 Philly Game Jam, May 6-8, 2011. The Game Jam attracts professionals, students and amateurs to participate in a 48-hour game building marathon based on a specific theme, which was "Mothers" this year.

Team Drexel Game Dev, led by Keith Ayers, senior CS major and president of Drexel Game Developers Group (DGDG), joined more than 50 participants and 10 teams. "Effection" is a one-player, side-scrolling platform game that allows the player to switch control between a mother and her child while completing obstacles. Ayers and the rest of the team are excited about the surprise twist at the end, which aptly won them the "Best Use of Theme" award. Learn more about "Effection," the development process and the team's future aspirations. Play the game here.

Drexel Game Dev Group members included:

Keith Ayers (CS) - Team Leader
Matthew Lesnak (CS) - Lead Programmer
Quirmo Tomas Rodriguez (CS) - Programmer
Ayush Sobti (CS) - Programmer
Kevin Sheehan (BUSN) - Lead Designer
Bobby Speck (DM) - Art and models
Nathan Lapinski (DM) - Art and Models
Jordan Stabley (PSY, '10) - Sound design

CS Welcomes Amanda Kennedy, New Graduate Program Coordinator

Amanda Kennedy image The Department of Computer Science is happy to announce that Amanda Kennedy began in August as the new Graduate Program Coordinator. Amanda joins the department after completing an M.A. from Rowan University in Counseling in Educational Settings. She also completed her bachelor's degree from Rowan, graduating Summa Cum Laude, in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication with a minor in psychology. While completing her graduate studies, Amanda worked as graduate coordinator for Rowan's Student Recreation Center. Faculty, staff and students welcome Amanda to the CS Department.

Note from the Department Head

As we welcome a new freshman class and returning CS and SE students , I would like to update alumni on our summer activities and plans for the upcoming year. Last June we welcomed 53 undergraduates and 43 graduate students, including two Ph.D. students, as our newest alumni. This fall we have our largest freshman class in six years. The last four years have shown a steady increase in enrollment after the drop following the dot com crash. You can read more about the latest graduating class in the newsletter below, where we also catch up with three more alumni. Our list of featured alumni continues to grow and we now have representatives from most graduating classes. This year we plan on continuing regular alumni events, such as the UPE dinner, sports outings, happy hours and a department open house during alumni weekend. I look forward to seeing and hearing from as many alumni as possible.