November 27, 2013
NDSU student Zechariah Andersen was among 282 awardees nationwide selected for the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for the 2012-13 academic year.

The scholarship is awarded annually to college sophomores and juniors and covers the cost of tuition, housing, books and fees up to $7,500 per year. Students are nominated by faculty members and selected through an independent review process. Andersen was the sole North Dakota University System student to receive the scholarship in 2012.

“I’m honored to receive this scholar- ship,” Andersen said. “The best feeling was seeing myself on a list of students from top-tier universities like MIT and Stanford.”

Andersen is a native of Velva, N.D., majoring in mathematics and computer science, with plans to pursue a graduate degree. He is vice chair of the NDSU Association for Computing Machinery.

In addition, Andersen participates in the Ronald E. McNair Scholarship Program, which is intended to help undergraduate students achieve academic success and increase the number of professors from traditionally under-represented populations. Established by Congress in 1986, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was created to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering to foster excellence in those fields.

November 27, 2013
Agriculture is continually evolving. In today’s world, farmers are required to do much more than buy seeds, plant them and harvest a crop to stay competitive. Acquiring and analyzing data is becoming a high-tech tool in the industry.

Anne Denton, James A. Meier Junior Professor of computer science, is leading two separate but related projects that use data mining techniques to improve agricultural production in the Red River Valley. Both projects involve sugar beets – one of the area’s biggest cash crops.

For the past three years, researchers have been partnering with American Crystal Sugar Co., John Deere and RDO Equipment Co. to determine and predict the expected sugar beet harvest yield while the crop is still in the ground. The project is part of the Department of Computer Science’s Industry-University Consortium Program.

American Crystal Sugar, the region’s largest sugar beet cooperative, already collects and maintains data from its growers’ several thousand fields. The problem is making the data understandable and functional. Traditionally, Denton said, predicting sugar yield was a statistics regression problem. However, data mining techniques have helped researchers discover and analyze the most important attributes. “That was the key breakthrough,” Denton said. “We’ve been able to analyze information with data mining techniques rather than statistical.”

Denton and two other professors from the computer science department also were awarded a $599,722 National Science Foundation – Partnership for Innovation grant. It marks the first time a North Dakota institution is the lead institution for the this type of grant. Denton is the principal investigator along with David Franzen, Extension soil specialist; John Nowatzki, agricultural machine systems specialist; Kambiz Farahmand, professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering; Phillip Boudjouk, retired vice president for research and creative activity; and Dean Knudson, associate professor.

The Smart Farm project includes a data-driven decision support system incorporating sensor data, satellite images and weather information to allow farmers to respond flexibly to production and environmental needs. In the initial phase, sugar beets are the prototype application thanks largely to the previously established industry-university consortium partnerships.

Techniques and results from either project might one day aid other crops, such as corn and soybeans. It’s an interesting application for Denton, who remains involved in both ongoing projects. Her research is largely comprised of developing data mining techniques for diverse problems, ranging from bioinformatics to optical luminescence.

“I didn’t have an agriculture background,” Denton said. “I jumped into whatever was needed. Data mining holds it all together.”

November 2013
Computer Science Assistant Professor Gursimran WaIia attended the 24th IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering in Pasadena, CA and won two best paper awards!

BEST RESEARCH PAPER AWARD for the paper, Goswami, A., Walia, G. "An Empirical Study of the Effect of Learning Styles on the Faults found During the Software Inspection" Proceedings of the 24th IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering - ISSRE'2013, Research Track. Pasadena, CA, USA.   [Acceptance Rate = 35% (46/131)]

Goswami, A. is a Ph.D student working under the direction of Dr. Gursimran Walia at North Dakota State University

BEST INDUSTRY PAPER AWARD for the paper, Walia, G., Carver, J. "Using Capture-Recapture Models for Make Objective Post-Inspection Decisions" Proceedings of the 24th IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering - ISSRE'2013, Industry Track. Pasadena, CA, USA. [Acceptance Rate = 35% (46/131)]

Dr. Jeffrey C. Carver is a research collaborator and associate professor at the University of Alabama.

Congratulations, Dr Walia!

September 8, 2013
NDSU ACM members went to Madison Elementary School in Fargo to teach PowerPoint to 4th Graders on September 25. It was the first time members of ACM has taught PowerPoint in a school. They will be teaching again the end of October, November, and possibly December.

Computer Science receives the 2013 Advance FORWARD Department Award
The Computer Science department received the 2013 Advance FORWARD Department Award at the annual FORWARD kickoff event held Sept. 4. The $5,000 award is presented annually by the NDSU Commission on the Status of Women Faculty to recognize and reward significant department efforts to improve campus climate and gender equity within the faculty ranks. A review panel evaluated nominations/applications, guided by a weighted rubric reflecting each of FORWARD’s five target areas: climate, recruitment, retention, promotion and leadership.

The review panel noted Computer Science’s exceptional commitment and progress to the recruitment and retention of women within the department. Six of 12 hires since 2004 have been women. The resulting 37.5 percent women faculty in Computer Science is more than double the 17.6% national average and also represents a dramatic increase over the 7.1% proportion in the NDSU computer science department a decade ago.

September 10, 2013
The Department of Computer Science received the 2013 Advance FORWARD Department Award at the annual FORWARD kickoff event held Sept. 4. The award is presented annually by the Commission on the Status of Women Faculty to recognize and reward significant department efforts to improve campus climate and gender equity within the faculty ranks. Read More.

June 2013
A Computing and Games workshop was held as part of the STEM kids summer camp 2013 during June 10-13. The NDSU STARS (Students in Technology, Academics, Research and Service) group introduced 5th-8th graders to computing, problem solving, and games. Scratch and RPG maker were used to build interactive stories and games.

March 2013
Kendall Nygard, professor of computer science and operations research, has been selected as a Jefferson Science Fellow for 2013-14.

Jefferson Science Fellows serve as science advisers on foreign policy issues. Appointees spend one year at the State Department or the U.S Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C., and also may have extended stays at U.S. foreign embassies or missions.

This year, 13 academic scientists, engineers and physicians from institutions of higher education were selected for the important positions.

"There are so many important policy issues for which the U.S. Department of State is responsible that are grounded in scientific and engineering areas in which I have an interest, including such things as energy, environment, security, arms control and the expanding role of communication and social media in shaping societies. I am very enthused about the opportunity and the trust placed in me to serve as a science adviser on such matters," Nygard said. "I officially begin my work on Aug. 19 and will work from Washington, D.C., for one year. Following the upcoming year, I will return to NDSU and be available for an additional five years on a consultant basis."

The fellowship program was initiated in 2003, designed to engage American science, technology, engineering and medical experts from academia in the development and implementation of U.S. foreign policy.

"By any major research university measure, this is an outstanding recognition of Dr. Nygard's nationally respected expertise, and it is a strong acknowledgment of the quality of our NDSU faculty," said NDSU President Dean L. Bresciani. "He will be an outstanding science adviser as our nation sets critical foreign policy."

NDSU Provost Bruce Rafert praised his distinguished record of teaching, research and service. "He is one of NDSU's very best," Rafert said. "His work spans a remarkably broad range of topics, from simulation to logistics, and artificial intelligence to distance education, and Petri Nets to software engineering. He has earned distinction by the breadth of thesis topics he has supervised and the range of graduate students he has seen through to graduation."

Nygard is one of two NDSU faculty members to be selected for the post. He joins Kalidas Shetty, associate vice president for global outreach and professor of plant sciences, who was a fellow in 2004.

"Jefferson Science Fellows provide our diplomats the scientific advice, rationales and tools to nderstand complex issues ranging from telecommunication technologies to food safety to biosecurity," Shetty explained. "It is a great honor for Dr. Nygard and NDSU that he is among the select few chosen to serve as an adviser to help our diplomats navigate complex challenges to make our world better for all its citizens. I am thrilled Ken has been chosen; he fully deserves this honor."

Nygard joined the NDSU faculty in 1977, and served as the computer science department chair from 1996 to 2005. In 1994-95, he was director of the Scientific Computing Center at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. He previously was a visiting scientist at the Air Force Logistics Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and a research fellow at the Air Vehicle Directorate of the Air Force Research Lab.

Nygard's research interests include combinatorial optimization methods involving management of networks and sensor networks, cooperative mission control for unmanned air vehicles, and bioinformatics.

He earned his bachelor's degree at Minnesota State University Moorhead, his master's degree in mathematics from Mankato State University and his doctorate in operations research from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.