Department of Math and Computer Science
Alumni Letter
October 5, 2002

Dear MCS Alum,

As we begin a new academic year, we'd like to bring you up to date on departmental news and alumni opportunities for staying in contact with the Department and the University.

ALUMNI OPPORTUNITIES

We'd like to stay in touch with our alumni. We'd like to hear from you and to provide you with opportunities for networking, talking, making suggestions, etc. We're offering the following:

• An alumni newslist, MCSAlum. To subscribe, send a plaintext email to listproc@csueastbay.edu with the message body: subscribe MCSALUM first-name last-name . If you have problems, email alum@mcs.csueastbay.edu.
• A colloquium with free pizza most Fridays from 12 pm until 1 pm in North Science 321. Speakers either work in industry or direct research in the fields of math or computer science. Everyone is welcome. If you are interested in giving a colloquium, please let us know.
  Schedule of colloquium: http://www.sci.csueastbay.edu/mathcs/colloq/
• TWO SPECIAL EVENTS ON OCT. 29: An Artificial Intelligence presentation titled "Judy the Robot" at 4 P.M. in the Student Union (lower level, Room 101). The show offers insight as to "what is intelligence?" and "do we really want human-like, intelligent machines?" Free.
  For more information about the show: http://sgouros.com/

  Show, live hook-up to the Internet2 conference at USC, involving live video and audio over the Internet. Bill Thibault (with Scot Gresham-Lancaster from Music) is responsible for one part with dancers in Hayward and LA. Video of their motions will control the music via software written by Dr. Thibault to analyze the video in realtime. The event begins at 5; the Cal State section will start about 5:30. Music Building Recital Hall, MB1055.
  For more details: http://isis.csueastbay.edu/dbsw/music/internet2.php

It is (probably) possible to see both; "Judy the Robot" lasts a bit more than an hour. If one left immediately (there will be a discussion period after), one could see Bill Thibault's live video/audio internet presentation.

Following these events, we will have an informal wine, soft drinks, and cheese reception in the (soon to be refurbished) Mathematics Laboratory, North Science 111.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to the department via email, alum@mcs.csueastbay.edu, or to the Dept. office by phone (510) 885-3414. This will allow us to get a rough count of those attending so we can be sure to have enough refreshments.

We encourage you to attend the show and the reception. It's a great chance to meet with the faculty, network with other alumni, and see what's new at the University.

DEPARTMENT NEWS IN BRIEF

There are three new tenure-track faculty who have joined the Department this Fall. Their names are: Roger Doering (Computer Engineering, Ph. D. from U.C. Berkeley), Levent Ertaul (Network Security; Ph.D. from Sussex, U,K.), and David Yang (Software Engineering, Ph. D. from Columbia.).

The program continues to expand. This fall we offer 84 sections of Computer Science and 86 of Mathematics. Five years ago, the numbers were 46 CS and 76 math; one year ago, 75 CS and 87 math sections. The School of Science is bursting at the seams, with classrooms full from 8 AM to 10 PM. We're hoping that a new Business and Technology building, now in the planning stages, will alleviate some of the space crunch. (I'm sure that University Advancement will ask - or has asked -- for your contribution).

We also have some alumni who have taught or will be teaching for us: Ray Mitchell, Prameet Chhabra, Diane Battilana, Kathleen Choi, Walt Becker, Butch Conlan, Tony Dao, Maula Allen, Sue Zipris Benjamin, Dangthu Ta, and others.

Our faculty are doing interesting things: Ed Keller, Stuart Smith, and Massoud Malek have been in China, either attending meetings or having fun (or both). Russ Merris just submitted the final draft of the second edition of his book, Combinatorics. Tom Roby, Kathy Hann, Julie Glass, and Kevin Callahan all have many projects to interact with local teachers, schools, and kids. Chris Morgan and his MAGIC project continue to grow. Leann Christianson and Kevin Brown are busy with the TC MS program and the fairly new Networking Option in the CS BS degree - they received grants totalling $84,000 to outfit the TC teaching laboratory.

Some of you may remember Dr. Ranjit Sabharwal, who taught calculus, geometry, and more for many years. He was bored with retirement and has come back to teach again for us. He is always glad to see his old students. And, he is making a generous contribution to the Department, starting a fund to benefit its students.

Best wishes from all of us. We hope to hear from you, to see you, or, better yet, both.

Yours,

Edna (Eddie) Reiter, Chair