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Computer Science Newsletter
Spring, 2009
Summer Research
Dr. Toone and Dr. Donaldson once again served as mentors for the National Science Foundation sponsored BACHE Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program during the summer of 2008. Dr. Toone’s research projects were “Accessible Visualization of Global Statistics” and “Migration via AJAX” (with students Michael Johnston and William Skinner from Birmingham Southern College). Dr. Donaldson’s projects were “Automating Jigsaw-Puzzle Solutions” (with student Michael Steuve from The University of Alabama at Birmingham) and “Cognitive Mapping and Artificial Systems” (with Samford student Greg Brazda).
Samford Computer Science major Greg Brazda presented the results of his research on “Cognitive mapping and Artificial Systems” at the 19 th Annual Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics at the Argonne National Laboratory just outside Chicago in November. This work was done with Dr. Donaldson over the past two Summers as part of the BACHE REU program. Dr. Toone’s students from BSC, Michael Johnston and William Skinner, also made presentations at the symposium.
ACM MidSoutheast Conference
Dr. Toone, and Mr. Kawell attended the 2008 Fall Conference of the Mid-Southeast Chapter of the ACM, held in Gatlinburg, TN. Dr. Toone gave a presentation on “Investigating the Impact of AJAX on Server Load in a Web 2.0 Application.” Mr. Kawell presented “From CS Concepts to K12 IT Support.”
Dr. Donaldson attended a “Studio-Based Learning” workshop in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
New Minor
A new minor in Bioinformatics (including a new course, “Advanced Bioinformatics”) was approved by the University Curriculum Committee this Spring. Special versions exist for majors in Computer Science, Biology, and other disciplines. Details can be found in the University catalog.
Cognitive Science Scholarship
The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science is pleased to announce the availability of a new scholarship to support students interested in interdisciplinary studies in Cognitive Science. Students receiving this scholarship can select their own major but will take a prescribed set of courses in Computer Science, Psychology, Biology, and Philosophy. For more details contact Dr. Donaldson at sfdonald@samford.edu.
Scholarships in Computational Biology
This past Fall, Samford welcomed the second group of students receiving scholarships under the Clark Scholarship in Computational Biology program. Entering and returning students were hosted early in the Fall semester by Dr. Donaldson (Computer Science) and Dr. Elizabeth Dobbins (Biology) for a “get-acquainted” dinner at the Donaldson’s home.
For scholarship details, click here. For an application (for prospective students), click here.
Outstanding Computer Science Students
Department awards for the 2008-2009 academic year were made at the annual Spring picnic. Greg Brazda (senior) and Claire Richie (junior) were recognized as the Outstanding Computer Science Students.
Out and About
Dr. Donaldson and his family spent two weeks in southwest and central Colorado. Adventures included climbs of Sunshine and Red Cloud peaks (two of Colorado’s “fourteeners” by Steve, Matthew, and Rachel), rock climbing, an excursion at Mesa Verde, a hike into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (completed by Joshua and Matthew and aborted by Steve after a fall that resulted in a broken leg), and a side trip to the Great Sand Dunes.
Just before Fall classes began, Dr. Donaldson was the faculty representative for eight incoming freshmen participating in Samford’s Outdoor Summer Adventure program. After rafting the Ocoee River in Tennessee with other SOSA students, the group spent time backpacking along the Conasauga River Trail in the Cohutta Wilderness area in North Georgia.
Professors Donaldson and Kawell, together with several of their children, joined a group of Samford faculty, staff, and students in December to help construct a Habitat for Humanity House in the western part of Birmingham.
Brian Toone had the opportunity to return to Nicaragua with his family for a mission trip in January. Brian worked with an organization called Nuevas Esperanzas to help service computer equipment and revamp the organization's website to make it easier to update. Brian converted the website to use the popular blogging software WordPress for easier updates without the complexity of administering a dedicated content-management system. The attached picture shows Brian's wife, Kristine, and daughter, Analise, reconnecting with girls that Kristine had discipled six years ago when she lived in Nicaragua as a missionary.
Cluster Computing
Brian Toone is currently in the process of building a virtual supercomputer for use across campus. The virtual supercomputer is in reality a non-dedicated cluster of computers networked together to donate idle processing cycles to tasks scheduled to run on the virtual supercomputer. Initially, the computers used in the cluster consist of department computers located in one of the classrooms. The goal is to expand the project to include computers in labs all across campus. Two seniors, Kyle Morton and Bradley Whited, worked on senior projects involving the cluster. Kyle's project involved creating a benchmark for the cluster through the parallelization of a brute force password cracking application. Bradley's project involved the parallelization of a computer chess program to run on the cluster to improve the performance with which game trees can be searched.
