The Department of Computer Science held the Spring Annual Banquet on Thursday, April 20th. The event was held at the Briarcrest Country club and every Computer Science student was invited. A meal was followed by presentations of faculty and student awards. It was a fun-filled evening with music, dancing, and great conversations.
Representative from Mays Business School, the Computer Science Graduate School, and the Viz Lab who informed us about the various options available at Texas A&M after graduation. There was a lot of great information provided as well as demos of some Viz Lab projects.
UPE hosted a booth in the Post Oak Mall as a part of the E-week program sponsored by SEC(Student Engineering Council). Volunteers helped with some science experiments to build interest of high-school students present at the mall.
UPE members volunteered to help with Aggieland Saturday. They assisted by answering questions of incoming freshman and gave discussions of A&M's Computer Science program.
UPE held a induction ceremony for new members and those who had never been formally inducted before. A catered anquet was also held for their recognition. The event was sponsored by the Department of Computer Science and UCS.
Inducted Members:
2005-2006
David Roden
Kenneth Viall
David Moyer
Christopher Smith
Marcus Parker
Joseph Tydlacka
Lisa Min-yi Chen Smith
Danel Eng
Nathan Robinson
2004-2005
Shilpa Agarwal
Seth Nielson
Charles Wesley Lively III
Brian Polusek
Norman K. Ma
Christopher Portales
Stephan Cook
Students took an on-site tour of the College Station UCS facilities and learned about what UCS does as a company. Representatives from various departments gave introductions on their groups' roles at UCS.
Free food & music was provided. Xbox 360 consoles were available for open game play, but the main event was the Halo 2 Tournament. Participants won Best Buy gift certificates and tons of free gifts were given to all! The event was open to CS, CE, EE and other software related majors and over 70 people turned out!
Intel gave an insight into their company and the various career opportunities. Intel's history, activities, and current opportunities were discussed.
David S.Moyer '82, the current SSP MER Manager at NASA, talked about his experiences at NASA and some of the future activities NASA will be involved with. He also discussed what NASA is looking for and the most effective way of getting involved with them. He ended the presentation by showing a STS-114 MONTAGE VIDEO and passing out samples of various space foods.
NetQoS delivers products and services that optimize the performance of the world's most demanding enterprise networks. The VP of Customer Care gave a great presentation on what makes NetQoS and its employees unique. Also students got the perspective from a former A&M student on her career as a Performance Engineer with NetQoS.
Members were invited to Movie Night at the MSC. The movie shown was be Wedding Crashers and it was free to members and a guest each.
"How to Succeed at Engineering Interviews." - NI presenters covered topics ranging from resume writing to the interview itself, both behavioral and technical. They also talked about the NI work environment and job opportunities.
All computer science department students, faculty, and staff were invitied to participate in the CS Fall Picnic. There was food, music, games, performances by the Aggie Wranglers, and door prizes from Schlumberger. The event was held at Southwood Athletic Park.
UPE representatives participated in the "Academic Procession" from the Academic building to Rudder Auditorium. The convocation celebrated the beginning of the academic year and featured President Gates' state-of-the-university address.
The picnic was held at Dr. Peterson's house and was catered with barbeque and all the fixings. Students and faculty relaxed and chatted about the past year's events. Prizes were given out courtesy of Hewlett-Packard.
The Spring Banquet and Awards Ceremony was organized by AWICS, CSGSA, TACS, UPE, and the faculty and staff of the Department of Computer Science. Dr. Ronnie Ward '73 and Dr. Gerald Pitts '71 received the first CS Distinguished Former Student Awards. Student, faculty and staff awards were presented for excellence in leadership, teaching, research, and service. The event was held in the Oakwood Room at the Hilton College Station and Conference Center.
UPE visited A&M Consolidated High School in College Station to give a presentation to the second year Programming II class. UPE members discussed what studying computer science involves and what it means to choose computer science as a career.
Members of UPE attended a presentation given by HP in March. Information was given on proper coding conventions and different software development phases. Sample problems were given to students to solve in order to demostrate efficiency techniques. The importance of code testing was discussed as well.
Students convened at Fitzwilly's Grill on Northgate to eat and chat. This gave us a chance to plan and discuss future activities in a relaxed environment. It also provided a nice study break at a much-needed time for many members.
Members represented UPE in an intramural tournament sponsered by the SEC. This was a co-ed competition with a friendly atmosphere and all that attended had a good time.
Many UPE members volunteered to help with both Agglieland Saturday and Parents weekend. Activities included tours of the campus, answering questions of incoming freshman, and discussions of A&M's Computer Science program.
