| May, 2007 |
Vol. 2, No.5
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A Message from the Dean  Best selling author Joel Barker once said, “Vision without Action is just a dream. Action without Vision is simply passing time. Vision with Action is making a positive difference.”
As we bid a fond farewell to our spring graduates, we can take solace knowing these men and women are empowered with tremendous vision and the capabilities to make them a reality. The demand for a high-quality, industrial and technologically driven workforce is as strong as ever. In the coming years, and even decades, that demand will reach a global prominence never seen before. From computer analysts, technicians and programmers to mechanical and architectural designers and beyond, ECU’s College of Technology and Computer Science is preparing students to become business and industry leaders. Though we say goodbye to those launching amazing future endeavors, we must also get excited about the dawning of new horizons. The fall semester begins the march toward ECU’s first ever senior class of engineers. The college as a whole has continued staggering growth in the number of students, graduates, faculty and staff. Additionally, the amount of classes offered, both face-to-face and through distance education, has greatly increased. BSIT partnerships with community colleges have drawn state accolades for our work here at East Carolina University and will very likely attract more and more prospective students to our college. What a great time to be a member of ECU’s College of Technology and Computer Science! But our task here is far from complete. We must press forward providing our students with the best ability to create vision teamed with the expertise to take action. The end result will be a stronger North Carolina workforce capable of competing in a global marketplace. Making Headlines
Students and teachers in various Greene County schools were experiencing problems while using the Internet. The ECU team found many of the school system's more than 3,000 computers suffered from excessive latency, or operated at extremely slow speed, according to a news release, rendering testing programs and in-class assignments no longer usable. Students trying to click from one page to another would experience such a lag in performance that the computers would actually "time out," or shut down. The Greene County Schools external sites were all linked to a technical center in Snow Hill, and from there connected to the internet. Several outside consulting agencies determined that all the components were working, but they weren't communicating. The consultants didn't know why, according to the release. In November, John Pickard and Lee Toderick, ECU Department of Technology Systems faculty, and students Paul Bellamy and Joe Nix started work to find the connectivity problem. The team went from location to location and re-configured the entire system. It also moved or replaced crucial pieces of equipment, such as routers and switches. Pickard and Toderick also identified more than 100 power cords and surge protectors positioned in a manner that would create electromagnetic interference, thus causing Internet problems at all external locations. They also discovered equipment mismatches that contributed to the slowdown and re-configured devices and re-designed the network to open the bottleneck. The team worked with Embarq and CISCO Systems, Inc. to ensure that all of the repaired or relocated equipment was functioning properly and efficiently. Additionally, Wavelength Wireless, the school system’s Internet provider, increased the bandwidth at all sites, including the tech center. On Feb. 23, the site team members presented to Steve Mazingo, Greene County superintendent, its final report, which included all of the corrective measures taken as well as additional suggestions and recommendations for the school system. “Before ECU came on board, there was a bottleneck problem that no one could find,” Mazingo said. “They came in, analyzed the problem and quickly went to work to repair our problems. We are 90 percent better off now than we were before they arrived and we are well on our way to bigger and better things for the students of Greene County.” The collaboration between ECU’s faculty and students on the project was a success, Toderick said. “It shows our students that what we’re teaching is very applicable to what they will see in today’s business world,” he said. “This experience reinforced our curriculum with emphasis placed on the basic understanding of network and logical troubleshooting. Furthermore, these students discovered the necessity for teamwork and how that synergy can result in overwhelming success.”
ECU Partnership with Pitt Community College, Department of Information Systems Technology; Pearson VUE Test Center Saves Students Time and Money
April 5, 2007 East Carolina University becomes First North American School to Join Nortel Technology Solutions Academy GREENVILLE (4/4/2007) – East Carolina University has been given the honor of being selected as the first college or university in North America to join the Nortel Technology Solutions Academy (NTSA). NTSA provides educational institutions worldwide with leading edge learning solutions that educate and certify students in technologies that are shaping the future of business.
“We are excited by the opportunities the Nortel Technology Solutions Academy gives our students,” said Pickard. “With its focus on Voice over IP (VoIP) and convergence technology, this program addresses a critical need within our curriculum.” VoIP services convert your voice into a digital signal that travels over the Internet. If you are calling a regular phone number, the signal is converted to a regular telephone signal before it reaches the destination. VoIP can allow you to make a call directly from a computer, a special VoIP phone, or a traditional phone connected to a special adapter. East Carolina’s VoIP course will be taught through the Distance Education Program, which is where students attend classes via the internet. Pickard added, “Having Nortel as a global technology partner benefits our current students by opening doors to internships and future careers, but it also serves as a major recruiting tool for prospective students.” East Carolina took delivery of all of the necessary equipment to start the NTSA with an expectation of being available to students as soon as May 14. Students will also have the opportunity to take certain Nortel certifications exams, the completion of which is mandatory in many industrial and technology fields after graduation. Nortel has been on the forefront of innovative technology solutions for more than 110 years and conducts business with more than 150 countries worldwide.
April 10, 2007 ECU’s College of Technology and Computer Science Signs Partnership with Wake Tech to Build NC Workforce
The formal agreement will help meet the needs of North Carolina’s workforce by enabling students who earn a two-year Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree to turn it into a bachelor’s degree. For years, an AAS degree was considered to be terminal, meaning it couldn’t be transferred into any other type of degree. So, an AAS graduate had no real options to advance their education to achieve a four-year degree without basically starting completely from scratch.
“North Carolina must be capable of competing in a global economy,” said Dr. Ralph Rogers, dean of ECU’s College of Technology and Computer Science. “The BSIT program creates a pathway to cultivate a strong technology based workforce, through life long learning opportunities.” “
This collaborative effort between East Carolina and Wake Tech has strengthened ECU’s distance education program, which exceeds well over 4,000 students and continues to pave the way for meeting the needs of working professionals in eastern North Carolina and throughout the state. “East Carolina University has been leading the way throughout the state of North Carolina when it comes to distance education,” said Martin Lancaster, president of the North Carolina Community College System. NOTE!!
April 13, 2007
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our students to not only learn about project management, but to gain an understanding about different cultures, different global environments as well as broadening their exposure to new ideas,” said Dr. Dixon. East Carolina conducted the lecture during the first web conference class earlier in the semester and Czech University faculty were the primary speakers in the second meeting. ECU students learned about the Czech Republic’s history, architectural and commercial designs, as well as cultural differences between the two countries. ECU junior Heba Abdel-Rahman added, “This was a pretty interesting experience. It’s all about making us better Project Managers. Participating in an information exchange like this is a great opportunity to broaden our scope of learning.”
“We have hopes of continuing this relationship with Czech University in the future,” said Dixon. “As long as our students are gaining valuable experience about life around the globe, I believe this partnership will only benefit both sides.”
TECS Amy Frank Honored with National Award
“When ECU made the decision to move to a professional advising model, we had a vision on staffing all the schools and colleges with caring and knowledgeable professionals who had an intimate knowledge of developmental needs of our students,” said Joyner. “Amy could be our “poster-advisor” as she has all those qualities plus the technical expertise and creativity necessary to support our distance education students as well as our campus-based students. ECU is very fortunate to have Amy, not only for our students, but because she is a leader among the campus academic advising collaborative.” Though her 14 year ECU career started in teaching, Frank has excelled as an academic advisor particularly in the areas of distance education and the BSIT (Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology) program. Through BSIT, Frank is basically the first person students come in contact with when they wish to complete their degree. However, in many situations they simply don’t know where to start or which steps to follow. Frank ensures that each student pursues the best path for each individual with the same end result, a college degree. “I couldn’t have won this award alone and I thank everyone that’s a part of this great staff for all they do each day,” Frank said at today’s reception. “As advisors, we have to apply ourselves and dedicate our efforts to make every student feel like they are the most important. I am very proud of what we have accomplished and extremely honored to represent East Carolina with this award.” The NACADA national award is open for nominations from four-year colleges and universities throughout the United States, but there is only one winner. Congratulations to Amy Frank for all her hard work and dedication.
SPRING FLING – April 17th
All of the food was prepared and served by members of the faculty and staff from the College of Technology and Computer Science. Students enjoyed hot dogs and hamburgers topped with all the fixings, including chili and relish. The meals were complimented with a variety of chips, brownies and drinks of all kind. “This is just a small token of the appreciation we want to show our students,” said Dr. Ralph Rogers, dean of the College of Technology and Computer Science. “They work so hard all semester long and our faculty and staff is thrilled to serve them for a little while.” I was to send a special thank you to everyone who contributed to making this sensational event a success.
Alumni Round Table Discussion – April 12th
Bobby Jones, an Engineering/Management Supervisor and ECU Design alum Mark Beard, both with Carolina Cabinets, as well as ECU Manufacturing alumnus David Neese with Grady White Boats fielded questions from students and faculty on a variety of topics. We want to thank each of these gentlemen from local business and industry for taking time out of their very busy schedules to come back and share their experiences with the College of Technology and Computer Science as well as our faculty and students.
Sarah, Amy and Jennifer all volunteered several hours of their time to assist with the conference. Sarah and Amy worked in the placement center where more than 12,000 interviews were conducted during a job fair. Jennifer donated her time by communicating valuable information to those attending the conference.
Student designs nationally recognized
The competition, which was sponsored by the American Design Drafting Association, allowed students to demonstrate their skills in the architecture and design field. According to the ADDA Web site, "The purpose of this contest is to encourage excellence in effort and discipline, and to give recognition to outstanding students and design/drafting programs." The participants were able to submit their work in several different categories including residential architecture, commercial architecture, technical illustration and architectural rendering. "The students were given a chance to display their knowledge by solving a problem according to certain criteria that was established for the specific divisions," said Robert Chin from the ECU Department of Technology Systems. "The students designed and documented a structure by following the practices that are used in the industry today." The blueprints were judged on appearance, accuracy, line work, organization, reproducibility, creativity and many other categories. Tim Baier, senior design major with an architectural concentration, took home the top prize at the event. Baier received the Board of Governors Award for his residential design in the AC1 division. "This is what I like to do so it was great to get recognized at the competition," said Baier. "The contest gives you a lot of experience in making blue prints and creating designs which will be really helpful in the future." Two other ECU seniors took home awards at the event as well. Michael Trivette received the second place award in the AC1 division and Daniel Stiling won the Board of Governors award for the commercial architecture division. "The fact that three ECU students won top prizes at a national competition shows that we have a great program," Baier said. "It shows that not only can the students excel academically in this field, but the faculty, such as Chin, is doing a great job as well." Chin said that his students have been participating in this contest for the last five years and he plans to encourage them to enter their work in the future. "It is very beneficial for the students to enter because it gives them an opportunity to get judged by someone other than myself," Chin said. "It helps to validate what we teach them here because there is an outside panel of judges that looks at their work. If they do win, it shows that the students know what they are supposed to know and are doing what they are supposed to do." On April 19, this year's winners will attend the ADDA Annual Conference in Chattanooga, Tenn. Along with receiving framed awards and a cash prize, the students will be able to participate in workshops and listen to speakers at the event. "The conference will be a really good opportunity for people to network and share ideas," Chin said. "They will get to talk with other people in the field, learn from one another and share ideas that will benefit the discipline."
RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT WEEK – GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Congratulations also go out to Rob Miller for being Runner-up in the Social Science Graduate Poster Presentation Session during the Research and Creative Achievement Week. His presentation, based on original thesis research, was designed to determine the need and feasibility of implementing occupational safety education into the public high school vocational/career programs, with a focus on reducing fatalities and injuries in commercial fishing On the undergraduate level, Fred Stancil, David Long, and Vatsal Paramar didn’t win a specific award, however, their presentation for Technology Systems and the Rapid Prototyping drew great attention from observers in other disciplines looking for ways to implement rapid prototyping into their areas of expertise.
East Carolina and Pitt Community College Team wins Founders Award at State Competition
Five of the nine teams advanced from the local competition to the statewide Sustainable Design State Competition in Raleigh on Saturday, April 21. At the state competition, ECU/PCC team “Ecolution” won the prestigious Founders Award and $1,000 for their projects buildability, innovation and originality. The Ecolution team members from ECU are Krestin Barnes, Amy Beaman, Phillip Butler, and Chuck Wade and the PCC member was Diane Alberts. Team “Planteers”, with members Shamekia Jenkins, Cindy Pridgen, Crystal Barber, Keino Williams and Joe Roberts won 1st Honorable Mention and a $200 prize. The individual teams were formed at the end of January and given about eleven weeks to create a design of a small residential structure with certain budget restrictions and size parameters. The completed projects were set up and presented for a panel of judges. Some of the final projects were presented with a physical small scale model, while others included a computerized virtual design.
Among the other colleges and universities participating in the state include, but are not limited to:
The Center for Innovation in Technology and Engineering (CITE) and coordinator David Harrawood have been extremely busy in recent weeks and months. CITE has had multiple projects (Standard Operating Procedures project, Safety project, and Lean project) with APV, a Goldsboro-based company. The SOP project was managed by ECU faculty and executed by ECU students from the Department of Engineering and the proceeds from the Safety Project, with Dr. Michael Behm, were donated to a student fund. CITE has also been good interaction with Wayne Community College.
And in Rocky Mount, we have had multiple projects with Barcalounger Corporation that were funded internally by the company.
CITE also started a PLC training project, with Ranjeet Agarwala as instructor, in late April for Stanadyne in Jacksonville, also through the Community College. Both of these projects were funded through Coastal Carolina C.C.
Birthdays in May New Babies
May 5th - GRADUATION – 2pm at Wright Auditorium
DR. SEUSS EXPLAINS COMPUTERS...
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!
When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk, and the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk, then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM. Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom. |
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A team from East Carolina's College of Technology and Computer Science recently completed repairs to the Greene County school system's Internet equipment used in the classroom.
Pitt Community College's Information Systems Technology Department is partnering with East Carolina University to increase the capacity of PCC's Pearson VUE Test Center.
The collaboration between PCC and ECU has eliminated the need to send ECU students out of the area for certification tests required by their courses.
For a number of years, students and faculty from ECU’s College of Technology and Computer Science have built and maintained a tremendous working relationship with Nortel. In recent months sophomore Kemp Ewing led a team of students, and under the guise of instructor John Pickard the team tested equipment and other components related to NTSA. 
Dr. Ralph Rogers, dean of ECU’s College of Technology and Computer Science and Dr. Stephen Scott, president of Wake Technical Community College signed 23 formal agreements to participate in the BSIT program during a news conference in Raleigh. East Carolina’s BSIT (Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology) degree completion program is the first of its kind in the state of North Carolina and Wake Tech became the first major contributor.
ECU’s College of Technology and Computer Science created a curriculum that allows AAS degree graduates in an industrial or technology-driven field to transfer credit hours and complete a BSIT degree. As partners, faculty and staff from East Carolina and Wake Tech will work with AAS students and graduates to ensure that they are taking the proper general education and technical courses to transfer into the BSIT degree completion program. Additionally, ECU has other partnerships with community colleges across the state such as Pitt, Lenoir, Fayetteville Tech, and Carteret, with the expectation of new partnerships being created in the future. 
One tremendous benefit East Carolina provides students joining the BSIT program is that five of the seven available concentrations are offered online through the Distance Education program. No other college or university in the state offers the capability to turn an AAS degree into a bachelor’s degree online, thus providing unbelievable flexibility to working adults who can take the course at a time and place that is most convenient for their lifestyle. 
This news conference was attended by Martin Lancaster, president on the NC Community College System, Alan Mabe, V-P of Academic Planning for the 16 campus UNC School System, ECU’s Dr. David Batts and Amy Frank, as well as numerous faculty and staff members from Wake Tech. Additionally, the event was covered in the media by WNCT-TV in Greenville as well as WRAL-TV and WTVD-TV in Raleigh/Durham. News coverage included television reports on the three stations previously listed, as well as articles in the Raleigh News & Observer, the Triangle Business Journal and a live guest radio appearance by Dr. Batts on Pirate Radio 1250 and 930’s premier talk show Live@5 with Troy D. and Ellerbe. 
WCTI – TV 12 and WNCT – TV 9 joined Dr. Gene Dixon’s Project Management class on April 13 for the second of two global lectures between East Carolina University and the Czech Technical University of Prague. The lecture entitled “International Projects: Our Experiences” continued a partnership between the two educational institutions that dates back to 1992. While East Carolina is in the midst of 100 years of celebration, Czech University is currently celebrating its 300th anniversary. 
The Project Management class is a part of the undergraduate program in the ECU Department of Engineering. On the other side, those participating from Czech University in Prague are members of the doctoral program.
GREENVILLE (4/26/2007) – The National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) has selected Amy Frank, academic advisor from East Carolina University’s College of Technology and Computer Science for its highest honor -- the 2007 Advising Award in a Primary Role. Don Joyner, ECU associate vice-chancellor for academic services presented Frank with flowers at ECU’s year end Academic Advisors reception at the Mendenhall Student Center. Frank will formally receive the award at the NACADA national conference in October held in Baltimore. 
The 4th Annual TECS Spring Fling was a tremendous success. More than 350 students, faculty and staff enjoyed a cool, but otherwise beautiful day out on the Science and Technology Building walkway.
Two of ECU’s alumni and a successful local business associate graced our campus for a special informative round table discussion in the Global Classroom on April 12. The panel discussion was organized by student members of the National Association of Industrial Technology (NAIT) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).
Samir Khoury of Technology Systems has been conducting certification preparation seminars for students every Tuesday and Thursday in the CISCO lab (SZ231). The hour long sessions, open to all students, serve as a practice for the end of semester CISCO certification exam, which classifies the student as a Certified Network Associate (CNA).
The American Society of Safety Engineers Foundation (ASSE) awarded Dr. Michael Behm of Technology Systems a research grant in the amount of $16,517 for his study entitled “The Relationship between Employee Morale and Occupational Safety and Health Metrics.” When Dr. Behm’s study is complete, he will submit a final paper which will be sent to the ASSE’s Editorial Board for review. If approved, it will be published in Professional Society, the ASSE Journal and will be put on the Foundation website. There is also a possibility that he may be asked to present his study at the 2008 ASSE Professional Development Conference.
Dr. Jason Yao, assistant professor of engineering, was twice invited to serve on NSF (National Science Foundation) proposal review panels. This review experience brought back first-hand understanding about what NSF proposal review criteria are, how proposals are reviewed, and how funding decisions are made. Interactions with NSF program directors and other peer scientists during the service provided an excellent opportunity to introduce them with research activities at ECU. 
On April 20, 2007, Samir Khoury was invited to join the Pitt Community College Information Systems Department Advisory Board for IS programs. Serving as a member will allow him to build relationships with PCC and its faculty and staff. Additionally, he will help PCC design an information technology program that prepares students for future jobs and further education. 
Sarah Eberhart, Amy Miller and Jennifer Slade represented ECU and the TECS Advising Center at the ACPA (American College Personnel Association) and the NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administration) joint conference in Orlando, Florida from March 31-April 4. Nearly 10,000 student affairs professionals from all over the country attended this event. 550 sessions, including the opening session with Al Gore, were presented to those in attendance. 
Last month, three ECU students received national recognition for their architectural work at the 40th Annual Design/Drafting Contest.
Congratulations are in order for Carmen Galeano, Graduate Student in the Distribution and Logistics concentration for the MS in Technology Systems. She was the 1st Place Winner in the Social Science Graduate Oral Presentation Session at the ECU Research and Creative Achievement Week. Carmen presented material from her Thesis work on Health Services Planning and Communication for the Latino/Hispanic Population in Pitt County, a project in association with the Pitt County Health Department.
On April 16, East Carolina University students majoring in architectural technology as well as interior design teamed up with Pitt Community College architectural technology students for the local Sustainable Building Design Competition. Each team is comprised of two ECU architectural technology students, two ECU interior design students and one PCC architecture student. 
The NC Sustainable Building Design Competition is in its seventh year in North Carolina, and this is the fourth year that East Carolina University and Pitt Community College have teamed up. The courses that have been involved in the competition the last four years include ECU’s IDSN 4700 taught by Becky Sweet, PCC’s ARC 213 taught by Bill Hofler, and ECU’s DESN 3038/9 taught by Bob Chin.
In Wilson, with funding by Wilson Technical Community College, CITE worked multiple projects with both Carolina Forge and Standard Motor Products.
At Coastal Carolina Community College, Jimmy Linn in Technology Systems delivered PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers) Training for ConAgra Foods and they have asked us to consider advanced training on the same topic.
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort, and the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.
If the label on the cable on the table at your house, says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel on another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall, and your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss, so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse, then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, 'cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!.gif){kind=spacer}
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Contact Us Science & Technology Building Suite 100 East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858-4353 USA 252.328.9600 |