This year’s Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research winners are:

J. Todd Hastings: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

J. Todd Hastings’ diverse research areas, which span from nano‐fabrication techniques to medical sensor technologies, have made him an outstanding faculty member who demonstrates excellence in his research.

Hastings is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award as well as a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award. He has secured over $4.2 million dollars in funded projects as principal investigator. Hastings has led 13 awards as principal investigator and collaborated on many others. His recent Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant on Development of an Electron‐Beam based Instrument to Study Nanoscale Processes in Liquids has the goal to construct and validate an entirely new instrument that enables imaging and fabrication of nanostructures using electron‐beams in liquids. This $1.2 million research project will permit new investigations into nano-fabrication with new materials that could not be used in previous methods, and the new technique aims for lower cost, more stable and less toxic reactants. The technique has the opportunity to create new devices that will impact energy, communication, computing and medicine.

Hastings’ research also reaches into the medical arena. His research into intraocular pressure sensors for glaucoma patients has developed a simple sensor that can be implanted into the eye, which can be read externally to provide accurate pressure readings. This result of this research will help patients monitor and control their glaucoma, a disease that is the number one cause of irreversible blindness.

J. Zach Hilt: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

Since arriving at the University of Kentucky in 2004, Zach Hilt, William T. Bryan Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, has established a thriving and highly-active research program oriented towards the rational design and development of innovative biomaterials and nanocomposites with applications for remote actuation, drug delivery and as biosensors. A highly valued and energetic collaborator, Hilt has forged substantive interactions with faculty in biomedical engineering, chemistry, medicine and pharmaceutical sciences, and has played a leading role in a number of multi-investigator interdisciplinary research efforts, including the National Science Foundation supported Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs.

The focus of Hilt’s research is the intelligent design and novel application of biomaterials and nanocomposites based on hydrogel systems. He has completed an extensive series of studies focused on the formulation of hydrogel nanocomposites tailored for remote actuation via inclusion of magnetic nanoparticles. These materials can be activated via application of an external magnetic field, leading to controlled outcomes specific to drug delivery, enzymatic activity and microfluidic valve and sensor actuation. Hilt has supported his activities through a diverse base of external funding, including a recent commercialization grant from Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation.

While making important contributions to graduate research at UK, Hilt has also been a leading advocate in the college for undergraduate research. Since joining the UK faculty, he has served as research advisor to 58 undergraduate students on formal research projects.

Ruigang Yang: Department of Computer Science

In just under 10 years since arriving at the University of Kentucky, Ruigang Yang has amassed a sterling record of research productivity and impact and become one of the top young leaders in the field of 3D modeling and sensing.

Professor Yang’s research is concentrated on the acquisition and visualization of real-world objects and events, namely graphics and vision. His recent contributions include a method to separate bounced light and remove inter-reflections in photometric setups, an image-based reconstruction framework to derive models of water streams from real scenes captured by stereoscopic video and a new method for real-time formatting (identification and separation of foreground/background as in the “green screen” used by weather forecasters). Professor Yang’s most recent NSF grant is based on a framework his group developed to estimate body pose configurations from a single depth map, which achieves significantly higher accuracy than previous state-of-the-art methods. He is considered a key contributor to the success of the Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments (Vis Center) and, according to Google Scholar, his work has been cited more than 3,000 times.

In the past three years, Professor Yang has been awarded three new NSF grants as the Primary Investigator for a total of $2.3 million, one of which was a highly competitive Major Research Infrastructure grant of $1 million. He is also a Co-PI on three other grants that total $2.5 million. In the nearly 10 years he has been at UK, Professor Yang has averaged approximately $470,000/year in new funding as PI.

Dibakar Bhattacharyya: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

For nearly half a century, Dibakar “DB” Bhattacharyya, University Alumni Professor of Chemical Engineering, has produced outstanding research achievements in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering. As a result, he is internationally known as a chemical engineering educator and researcher as well as a recognized leader in the field of membrane science.

In his recent work, DB has extended his fundamental membrane research to develop new functionalized membranes and nanostructured materials for enzyme catalysis, ultra-high capacity metal capture and other environmental and bio-based applications. He has focused on the integration of knowledge from the life sciences to create novel membranes with stimuli-responsive properties, and has exploited nanosynthesis approaches for the generation of unique layer-by-layer assemblies for enzyme immobilization in membrane structures. In addition, DB has been a pioneer in the application of green synthesis techniques for membrane functionalization, leading to new membrane supports for a range of water remediation applications. During his fall 2012 sabbatical DB was in residence at Sepro Membranes, Inc. in Oceanside, Calif., leading translational efforts to incorporate his recent discoveries into membrane modules for industrial water treatment.

DB´s high research productivity is evident in a number of core metrics. He has procured approximately $2 million in direct research funding over the last five years, and has been an integral member of a number of important multi-disciplinary efforts. Without question, Dibakar Bhattacharyya has sustained excellence in research that has and will continue to have lasting impact on the field of membrane science.

David Puleo: Center for Biomedical Engineering

David Puleo, director of the University of Kentucky Center for Biomedical Engineering, is an internationally recognized authority in biomedical engineering. He is a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and has served as assistant and associate editor as well as on the editorial boards of several international journals.

Puleo’s research endeavors have made contributions in cutting-edge areas of cell-biomaterial interactions, biomaterials engineering and cellular/molecular engineering. Much of his work involves novel chemical and topographical modification of biomaterial surfaces and controlled release of chemical compounds to induce cell functions pertinent to new tissue formation. Applications of his research include promoting bone formation around orthopedic and dental implants, healing of large, infected bone defects, augmentation of alveolar bone and regeneration of growth plate.

In addition to serving as principal investigator of numerous grants, Puleo has exhibited a high capacity for bringing researchers from a variety of disciplines to win grant awards from funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Whitaker Foundation, Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation and industry partners. He has supervised and co-supervised more than 40 Ph.D. and master’s graduate students, five medical students, five orthopedic surgery residents during their research rotations and more than 30 undergraduate students. In 2010 and 2013 Puleo received the Faculty Teaching Award from the Center for Biomedical Engineering.

Colleagues and collaborators endorse Puleo’s research as of the highest caliber, characterized by innovative approaches, meticulous execution and an ability to recognize key questions and problems, redirect his work and explore new challenging research areas.

This year’s Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service winners are:

Donald Colliver: Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Donald Colliver has dedicated the majority of his career to service roles within the engineering profession as well as within the University of Kentucky College of Engineering.

Colliver currently serves as associate director of the Kentucky Industrial Assessment Center (KIAC) as well as associate director of UK’s Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK). Colliver has been instrumental in arranging and performing industrial energy assessments for KIAC and passes his knowledge on to students working with him. With PEIK, Colliver was solely responsible for developing the Engineering Experiences course in which PEIK interns were exposed to power and energy industries through weekly tours.

Colliver has been a member of the National Engineers Week Steering Committee since 2002 and also contributes service to the Commonwealth as a member of the Technical Working Group for the Kentucky Climate Action Plan Council. Since 2009, he has served as a board member of the Kentucky Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship, to which he was appointed by Governor Steve Beshear as the representative from higher education.

One of Colliver’s most significant service activities occurred in 2008-2010 when he served as faculty advisor for the UK team entry in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. His responsibilities included spearheading the team, writing the application, raising funds, forming the team and overseeing construction. The team’s effort was rewarded with a top 10 finish in the 2009 competition. He has reprised his role as faculty advisor for the 2013 UK Solar Decathlon Team.

David Silverstein: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

David Silverstein joined the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering as an assistant professor at the Paducah Campus in 1999. During his time at Paducah, Silverstein has been a leader in university and professional service; this service, along with his numerous scholarly accomplishments, has been a key factor in establishing the national profile of the Paducah program. In 2012, he was named director of the Paducah Campus.

Upon his arrival, Silverstein was tasked with building an independent student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) for the Paducah Campus. From the beginning, Silverstein established a tradition of professional dedication and outreach among the Paducah students that has led to the chapter receiving an Outstanding Student Chapter Award 11 years in a row—every year since its inception. In recognition of his outstanding achievements as chapter advisor, Silverstein received the national AIChE Outstanding Student Chapter Advisor Award in 2009.

Silverstein’s professional service record encompasses sustained and important contributions to the educational programming activities of the AIChE and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). In AIChE, he has occupied a number of leadership roles that ultimately led to the establishment of the AIChE Education Division in 2009. Starting in 2003, Silverstein served as vice chair and chair of the Undergraduate Education Committee, vice chair and chair of the Education Group, and finally as founding chair of the Education Division (2009-2011). In 2011, he was the recipient of the national Herb Epstein Award for outstanding service in technical programming.

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The following winners were announced during the presentation of awards that followed Mr. Polston’s keynote address:

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Frank Woeste Award: Kaitlyn Braun

Outstanding BAE Junior: Matt Fogle

Outstanding BAE Senior: Zeb Vance

Outstanding BAE Teacher: Czarena Crofcheck

Chemical Engineering

AIChE Outstanding Senior Member: Nick Winquist

AIChE Outstanding Junior Member: Lindsay Gray

Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Senior Member: David Spencer

Outstanding Junior: Brianna Smith

Outstanding Senior: David Spencer

Outstanding Teacher: Doug Kalika

Civil Engineering

Outstanding Junior: Admin Husic

Outstanding Senior: Allie Perkins

Outstanding University Scholar: Davis Huston

Outstanding Graduate Student: Gabe Dadi

Outstanding Faculty: Brad Davis

College of Engineering Awards

Lou Takacs Engineering Cooperative Education Award: Paul Varnado

College of Engineering Alumni Association Awards

Engineering Alumni Association Leadership Scholarship: Alex Wade

Engineering Alumni Association Senior Leadership Award: Kathryn Gardner

Computer Science

Outstanding Academic Performance: Bradley Elliot/Alex Williams

ACM Outstanding Teacher: Judy Goldsmith

ACM Outstanding Teaching Assistant: R. Paul Mihail/Ismail Abumuhfouz

Thaddeus B. Curtz Memorial Scholarship: Ting Gu

Graduate Center for Biomedical Engineering

Outstanding Teacher: David Puleo

Outstanding Graduate Student: Ran Cheng

Electrical and Computer Engineering

H. Alex Romanowitz Memorial Award: Chris Garnick

Outstanding ECE Senior: Matt Davis

Outstanding ECE Teacher: Stephen Gedney

Robert L. Cosgriff Award: Jason Rexroat

Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding ECE Junior: Charlie Miles

Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding ECE Graduate Student Award: Sean Hamlet

Materials Engineering

ASM International Bluegrass Chapter Scholarships: Wilson Rice, Amber Gay

Outstanding Junior: Cory Parker

Outstanding Senior: William Martin

Outstanding Teacher: Fuqian Yang

Mechanical Engineering

ASME Bluegrass Section Outstanding Scholar: Robert Burgess

Pi Tau Sigma Outstanding Mechanical Engineering Sophomore: Andrew Casciato

Outstanding Junior: Andrew Wilder

Outstanding Senior: Tyler Flynn

Outstanding Graduate Student: Xin Hua

ASME Outstanding Faculty Award: Jesse Hoagg

Outstanding Teaching Award – Lecturer Series: Christine Goble

Mining Engineering

Outstanding Junior: Austin Brock

Outstanding Senior: David Norton

Outstanding Teacher: G.T. Lineberry

Henry Mason Lutes Award for Excellence in Engineering Education: Judy Goldsmith

Tau Beta Pi Awards

Most Outstanding Senior: Adrianne Shearer

Most Outstanding Graduate Student: Stacy Schal

Most Outstanding Staff: Robyn Morefield

Most Outstanding Professor: Jimmy Fox

Outstanding Teacher in Paducah: Jeff Seay

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Goldsmith has contributed to the burgeoning area of research known as “comparative decision making” by focusing on computational decision making, which she describes as, “computers making decisions and computers helping people make decisions.” In addition to her theoretical work involving algorithms and computational complexity pertaining to elections and tournaments, Goldsmith is interested in using models for planning under uncertainty to develop decision support systems and decision aids. Currently, she is working on a decision aid for rheumatoid arthritis patients.

In 2012, Ashley received the Henry Mason Lutes Award, which recognizes and rewards outstanding teaching accomplishments in the College of Engineering. Additionally, Ashley has won the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s Outstanding Teacher Award as determined by the student body of the department every year since 2007.

“Dr. Ashley is an outstanding instructor,” said ECE department chair Larry Holloway. “He is demanding, but fair. He conveys energy and enthusiasm to his students and his students feel he really cares about their learning and their success.”

Mihail is currently teaching a course he originally proposed on graphics programming for computer games. He is a Ph.D. student of Goldsmith’s.

The Provost’s Award winners will be recognized at the Provost’s Awards Day ceremony, Thursday, April 25 at 1:00 p.m. in the Lexmark Public Room in the Main Building.

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That is the tag line for a new application named “Crowded,” developed by the Lexington-based mobile application studio Stadionaut. The app challenges fans watching live Major League Baseball games—whether actually attending or watching on television—to predict what will happen next. Users compete against other fans to earn various rewards and prizes. The social aspect of the application combined with real-time action and updates could turn the casual baseball fan into a loyal supporter of the Major League Baseball brand—at least, that is what Stadionaut, which is comprised of several graduates from the University of Kentucky College of Engineering, believes is possible with their first app.

From left to right: Scott Wagner, Evan Leach, Chris Allen, and
Jim Wombles

Stadionaut is led in part by Scott Wagner, who graduated with a B.S. in computer science in May 2012 and Evan Leach, who earned a B.S. in animal science from the College of Agriculture in December 2011. Other graduates from the College of Engineering include Chris Allen (BSCS, 2010) and Wes Walker, who will graduate with a B.S. in computer science on December 14.

Stadionaut was launched in August 2011 after participating in Lexington-based Awesome Inc.’s startup incubator program during the summer. The basis for “Crowded” originated over the three-month program, during which they were mentored through the process of developing the idea and the business model.

“The University of Kentucky introduced us to the startup accelerator program, Awesome Inc., and continues to support us through resources such as the Von Allmen Center, iNet and its ties through Commerce Lexington,” said Stadionaut co-founder Scott Wagner.

With an eye toward making “Crowded” available for Android and iOS for the 2013 MLB season, Stadionaut representatives recently pitched their product to decision-makers at this year’s MLB Trade Show.

“The MLB Trade Show was a great opportunity for ‘Crowded’ as we were among the top baseball executives in the industry,” emphasized Wagner. “We were proud to represent the University of Kentucky and the emerging startup community in Lexington by presenting ‘Crowded’ to a national audience.”

Stadionaut won the grand prize at the inaugural iNet Venture Challenge, a business competition for University of Kentucky student entrepreneurs last March.

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Computer science is a dynamic field where, as Ken Calvert, Ph.D. and chair of the Department of Computer Science, states, “The only way to stay on the leading edge is to invent everything.” Consider that 10 years ago, Facebook, Twitter and iPhones didn’t exist and iPods and digital internet were just coming into play. Ten years from now, what will serve as our technological staples—and have the ideas for those creations even been conceived? Thinking about the future of computer science necessitates a short-term perspective because the industry sheds its skin with increasing frequency. Nonetheless, questions about the opportunities and perils abound: Are innocent, everyday folks who simply want to catch up with high school friends or purchase a cookbook at the mercy of malevolent, identity-thieving hackers? How will sea changes in the industry, such as the advent of cloud computing, affect traditional computer science jobs? And how can anyone hope to keep up with waves of technology hailed as cutting-edge one year and disregarded as antiquated the next? To sort through these questions, we sat down with Calvert and Jim Griffioen, Ph.D., professor of computer science and director of the Laboratory for Advanced Networking.

Q: What are shaping up to be the greatest areas of opportunity in the computer science field over the next few years?

K.C. I think this is an exciting time in computer science. Hardware has become so cheap that both compute cycles and storage bytes have essentially become commoditized. We’re seeing this right now with the cloud computing model. A company can now pay someone a relatively low monthly fee to run their web server instead of shelling out thousands of dollars for hardware, software and maintenance. It’s basically the same transition that happened with electric power 100 years ago. Nicholas Carr’s book, The Big Switch, describes how, back then, factories had to be located next to big streams because that’s where they got the power to run their machines. When electric power grids came along, generation of power became centralized. The same exact centralization is happening with the advent of cloud computing. It makes a lot more sense to have one big centralized data center run by people who know what they’re doing than for every little company to run its own.

J.G. Historically, computer scientists have created technology without fully knowing how it’s going to play out. The internet was built so machines could communicate back and forth and share information. Well, then users came along and said, “I need this to be easy to use. I need a web interface. I need a browser.” None of those uses were part of the original design. Now we have virtualization through cloud computing as well as ubiquitous networking—you can be on the network at all times. In addition, we also have a very mobile society. Devices which can maximize the benefits of the cloud will need to be developed. I think we’re on the edge of some of these things just exploding and once it explodes, we’ll have a whole new set of issues to address—how to secure such a world, etc.

K.C. What virtualization also means is that software is going to be king. Everything is going to be about software because hardware is so cheap. I think the opportunities in software are tremendous. However, as Jim mentioned, we now have to consider questions such as: how do I keep control of my information? How do I know what information people are collecting about me? Businesses already know a lot about us and they are going to try to monetize that any way they can. Why do Facebook and Twitter have such astronomical valuations?  I believe it’s because they know who is talking to whom and what they’re saying. Privacy is a huge issue going forward and it’s not just “old people” who are concerned about it. We need to understand how to maximize the benefits of virtualization without the Big Brother risks.

Q: What does the future look like on the security front?

J.G. When everyday users weigh the prospective gain of a new application against the possible security risks, they almost always accept the tradeoff. It is difficult to keep up with potential threats and understand the risks because the landscape changes so quickly. On the positive side, though, industry has finally recognized that security is not an afterthought. In the past, companies created products and tacked security onto the back end of the development process. Often, that made it hard to add the security because it wasn’t present from the start. Now, computer scientists are asking, “How do I design the architecture so that if it doesn’t have security now, it is amenable to it later?” There are discussions going on right now about the next generation of the Internet. Naturally, security is a central topic.

K.C. As long as we have the Internet architecture we have, we’re not going to solve many of the current problems. The architecture doesn’t have the things we need to solve them, and there’s just too much inertia to counteract. So it’s hard to say what the future is going to look like there. But again, almost as important as security is privacy. When it comes to the leaders in software and social media, people aren’t given a choice to use the product and still maintain their privacy. Those companies say, “Here are our policies, take them or leave them.” And people agree, even though the policies are not in their favor, because they want to use the product. I printed out the iTunes license agreement once. It was 29 pages of 9 point font. No one is going to read that! That’s why I think we really need more collaboration between experts in computer science and experts in psychology. As systems get more and more complex and everyday people have to make decisions about privacy settings on their computer or home router, we need to design systems and educate users so the consequences of each decision they have to make is much clearer. That is certainly not the case right now. Unfortunately, until software providers accept accountability for their products—until they have incentive to change—the situation will remain challenging.

Q. What areas in the field besides security and privacy need attention?

K.C. We need to focus on parallelism. You often hear that Moore’s Law is running out of gas. On the contrary, Moore’s Law is still going strong; but the dividends of Moore’s Law are now being paid in parallelism, not in faster sequential computation. Rather than doing each step of the computation faster, you can do multiple steps at once in the same amount of time.

J.G. As far as teaching parallelism in the classroom, we have to change our approach. We’ve been teaching the students a step-by-step process; basically, that’s how computer scientists have always conceived writing programs. Well, now we have multiple processors running on chips and we have to start thinking, “How do I write a program that does three things at once? Eight things at once?” What happens when the chips allow us to do hundreds of things at once? We need to start changing the mindset of everyone in our program and challenge them to think, “I’m going to do lots of things at once.”

K.C. If you’re only doing one thing at a time, you cannot take advantage of the additional power that Moore’s Law is giving you. So, like Jim said, we have to be able to figure out how to do multiple things at once, like putting meat on the stove to brown and, while that’s happening, mixing other ingredients. That’s the way we need to think about things all the time. It’s not trivial. We want to turn out graduates who can master doing things in parallel because this is the way it’s going to be from now on. Right now, though, the tools we have for taking advantage of Moore’s Law and parallelism aren’t very good, so it’s definitely an area that needs attention.

Q. How much of a challenge is it to stay on the leading edge of an industry where technology changes so rapidly, let alone translate those changes into your curricula?

K.C. It’s almost impossible. We could spend all of our time just trying to keep up. It’s a catch-22: we have to show our students technology and let them get their hands dirty, but the reality is whatever we show them as freshmen will have changed and might even be obsolete by the time they are seniors. Five years ago, everybody was using Perl and CGI scripts on the web. Now those tools have been replaced by a new generation of languages and platforms. So, our task is to teach fundamental principles and I think we do a good job of that. Fortunately, students quickly adapt to the rate of change. They’re fearless and not afraid to pick up new technology and play with it. I consider that a good thing and we need to try to leverage it in the classroom.

J.G. At the same time, we faculty have to make the purpose of learning fundamental concepts and principles clear to them. They have to know that chances are whatever programming language we teach them their freshman year will probably be out of date by the time they graduate. The turnaround times really are that short.

K.C. That actually seems to make it easier to motivate our students to learn the fundamentals, though, because incoming students have seen the short life cycles of various technologies several times already.  It’s pretty obvious to them now that if they don’t focus on the stuff that doesn’t change, they’re not going to be able to adapt when they’re forced to.

J.G. Even though I’m a longstanding faculty member, I often learn from the students. There is so much software out there, so many programs, so many computing languages, that I can’t play with them all. Students will come to me and tell me about a program and I’ll say, “Explain it to me. How does it work? What does it do?” I learn a lot from interacting with them.

K.C. The only way to stay on the leading edge is to invent everything. We have a weekly “Keeping Current” seminar, where students share what they’ve learned or some new technology they’ve discovered. They’re always coming in and telling us about stuff we’ve never heard of. It’s a volunteer thing, very informal, but a lot of fun. There are so many tools around, it’s just unbelievable.

Q. How does the future of computer science look from the perspective of college students choosing it as a career?

K.C. It couldn’t be better. In the early 2000s, people were afraid all the computer science jobs were going to be outsourced overseas. That hasn’t happened. In fact, the Bureau of Labor projects software engineering jobs will grow by 38% over the next ten years—one of the top professions as far as growth. Our students are in demand and will continue to be in demand for a long time. I am constantly being contacted by people wanting to hire our graduates. It’s clear there are more jobs than people to do them, and I don’t see that changing.

J.G. I was contacted by a mid-sized company the other day that decided they were going to get into the mobile world, but didn’t have a clue as to how to go about it and wanted to know if any of our students or graduates could help them figure it out. Companies need people who know how to take advantage of the technology, not just throw around terms. One aspect that will change in light of the switch to cloud computing, however, will be the kinds of jobs available. There won’t be as much need for systems administrator jobs if everything is run through a centralized data center. So what a graduate might do once they’re in the marketplace might change, but the demand is still very high.

K.C. Our goal is to equip students to be able to adapt to change. We teach them how to think and how to learn because that’s the only way they’re going to survive. If they think they’re going to learn C++, graduate and be a C++ programmer all their lives, it’s just not going to happen.

Q. What are some myths and misconceptions about the computer science industry?

J.G. One myth I often hear is that all the exciting stuff is happening in industry. “Companies are where the exciting things are happening,” someone will say, downplaying the need for education in the field. While it’s now true that bright high school kids can get programming jobs with big companies right away, we still believe in the importance of developing a skill set based on the fundamentals that will last a long time.

K.C. I think another myth is that computer science is all about programming. Computing professionals need to have an understanding of programming, but it’s even more important to have a broad understanding of the business you’re in: social networking, data mining, business concepts, etc. The future is about applications and applying computing to problems in biology, medicine, engineering, the environment, business, entertainment and other industries—it’s a great time to be a software entrepeneur! Another myth is that computer science is something only guys would want to do. The stereotypical image of scruffy-haired guys with beards staring at computer screens needs to be replaced by one which illustrates the openness of the field to anyone who wants to get in on the opportunities available.

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“I am grateful to our faculty volunteers and student organizations like Kappa Delta Sorority and Society of Women Engineers (SWE) who work hard to make sure GEMS is a rewarding experience for the girls,” said Vicki Cooper, who coordinated the event. “They generously sacrifice their time to teach and inspire girls who could become future engineers.”

The girls began the day listening to former UK president Lee Todd share his story about developing a childhood interest in engineering as the result of a similar outreach program.  To emphasize his point, Todd displayed the project he created when he was a boy as he recounted his career.

Following the keynote address, the attendees participated in three interactive sessions led by College of Engineering faculty and graduate students. Challenged by event coordinators to present STEM education in ways that compel students to want to know more, faculty members Bruce Walcott, Debby Keen, Kimberly Ward Anderson, Nancy Miller, Chuck May, Christine Trinkle and Czarena Crofcheck engaged students through hands-on demonstrations, games and experiments. Walcott, who is involved with several such outreach programs, is encouraged by how programs like GEMS benefit Kentucky.

“It is critical to the economic future success of the Commonwealth of Kentucky that the UK College of Engineering continues to conduct outreach programs such as our Girls Enjoying Math and Science (GEMS) Day. This program promotes engineering and math and science to young women at a time when our State and Nation needs more women entering the engineering workforce. Our partnership with the Girls Scouts and Susan Miller makes an ideal platform to promote the importance of the STEM education disciplines to young women.”

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Over 150 teams competed at several satellite sites. The Lexington site was organized by UK’s Department of Computer Science, which has hosted the event since 2000, and enlisted the help of many student volunteers and staff members. Twenty-seven teams competed for five hours in the WT Young Library labs, attempting to solve numerous algorithmic problems in an extremely short amount of time.

“The contest was a great success for all the participating teams,” said faculty advisor and satellite site director Jerzy Jaromczyk. “The participants moved their programming skills to the next level and took home new experiences.”

While the competition itself was demanding, creative programming-themed team names offered levity to the experience. “How I Met Your Motherboard” from Austin Peay University was among the most popular entries.

Four teams representing UK competed in the event, finishing in the top seven locally and in the Mid-Central region’s top 10; however, they fell short of advancing to the ACM World Finals in St. Petersburg, Russia. Jaromczyk, who oversaw the UK teams that advanced to the World Finals—most recently in 2010—is optimistic about UK’s future in this event.

“Overall, our teams did very well. We plan to continue practicing for next year and hope to make it back to the World Finals of this most prestigious programming contest.”

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“I was actually determined to get away and see more of the country,” he laughs. “I didn’t even take a tour of the campus.”

Yet there were compelling reasons for Josiah to consider enrolling at UK. First, because of his academic record, he qualified to receive a scholarship that would fully fund his education. For many students, such a financial incentive would all but seal the deal, but Josiah continued to apply due diligence to his university search.

“Money isn’t everything. I figured that I could always make money and pay off debt if another school’s offer made it necessary to take out student loans. But with my whole life ahead of me, I wanted to make sure UK could offer the specific opportunities I was looking for outside of the education itself,” he explains.

What kinds of opportunities and intangibles did Josiah look for when scrutinizing the UK College of Engineering and its Department of Computer Science?

“There were several areas,” Josiah recalls. “First, I wanted to know that UK’s undergraduates were able to get involved in research and extend their learning beyond the classroom through independent work. Second, I wanted to know about UK’s study abroad options and the resources available for such trips. I also had questions about the kinds of jobs UK’s computer science graduates get as well as where they go for graduate school.”

Josiah met with department chair Kenneth Calvert to address each issue. In the end, Josiah saw enough potential to pursue his undergraduate education at UK. Now a junior, how does Josiah evaluate his experience thus far?

“UK has exceeded my expectations by far,” he says. “I got everything I was looking for as well as opportunities I had never even considered. It was the right decision to come here.”

Concerning research, Josiah has had the chance to work with computer science professor Judy Goldsmith on her artificial intelligence research, particularly in the area of planning and decision making under conditions of uncertainty. His research productivity enabled him to pursue another piece of important criteria from his university search: studying abroad.

“This past summer I went to Paris to continue my research with some of the leading researchers in the artificial intelligence field. It was my first time out of the country and one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Being able to do research, without worrying about classes, in Paris was unbelievable,” he says.

In recognition of Josiah’s academic excellence and passion for research, the Department of Computer Science made him the inaugural recipient of the Duncan E. Clarke Memorial Innovation Award. The award was established as a tribute to former computer science professor Duncan Clarke’s educational and career achievements, his passion for research and his lifelong pursuit of innovation and excellence.

“I am very honored to receive this award because I know the quality of the students in the computer science department and all are equally as deserving,” he says. “It means a lot for a faculty member to think highly enough of you to nominate you for such an award.”

When he graduates, Josiah plans to attend graduate school and earn a Ph.D. He is also thinking about entrepreneurial ventures that will require problem solving on a computer science and business level. For now, however, he is enjoying classes, research and involvement in Triangle Fraternity, which is open to engineers, architects and scientists, and the Society for the Promotion of Undergraduate Research (SPUR).

“A lot of incoming freshman I talk to aren’t interested in research, but what a student learns by working independently and with a team can really them understand whether or not they are in the right field,” he suggests. “So I am doing what I can to help the number of undergraduates doing research grow.”

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