CIS Team Wins EduVision 2011 Competition

On December 1^st and 2^nd a delegation from the Department of Computer & Information Sciences of Northern Caribbean University (NCU) attended the bi-annual EduVision conference, held at the Jamaica Conference Center in Kingston. EduVision is Jamaica's premier conference highlighting the use of technology for advancing educational objectives.

 
This conference is organized by the Ministry of Education in partnership with the Institute of Education at the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Jamaica Teachers' Association, e-Learning Jamaica, ICT4D Jamaica and the Department of Information and Communication in the Office of the Prime Minister. The theme for this year was “Sustainable Innovations: New Opportunities for Education and Business Collaboration.” Emphasis was placed on the role of technology in human resource development and entrepreneurship.

This year’s conference saw the addition of an exciting component, aptly called, “Mission Impossible: Possible”, where students were given a challenge to solve in approximately 1 ½ days or 27 hours. The details of the challenge were presented at approximately 8:40am, where all students were simultaneously charged to develop a Library Management System (LMS) to address the needs of colleges in Jamaica. A team comprising Terrence Sterling, Rhodrey Shaw, Ricardo Thompson, Romario Hall, and supervised by Damion Mitchell, entered and competed against other teams from tertiary institutions across Jamaica. These teams included Knox Community College, and two others from the University of Technology.

 All competitors were placed in a “boiler room”, where they worked tirelessly and passionately on the given challenge. The team proved the concept of TEAM-Together Everyone Achieves Much, as each person used their skillsets to realize a working prototype of the given challenge. On the final day, team NCU presented to a panel of four judges, and was drilled extensively on the practicality of the system, and also the prospect for future growth. The team expertly handled the questions, and gave a good account of themselves, which once again demonstrated the virtues of the holistic educational approach adopted by NCU. At the end of the presentation, it was announced that team NCU outdid their competitors, and was crowned champions. This challenge certainly exposed the competitors’ technical skills as well as their team work and ability to work under pressure – all valuable competencies for successful techpreneurship. The team showed that what is impossible, with hard work and determination can be made possible. Once again, this is another great achievement that highlights the Department of Computer & Information Sciences’ standing in the Information Technology sphere in the region. Congratulations again to team NCU.

by Damion Mitchell
Assistant Professor

Department of Computer Information Sciences

by Damion Mitchell
Assistant Professor

Department of Computer Information Sciences

Department of Computer and Information Sciences Delegation Visits MIT and Harvard

On Monday, October 17, 2011, an enthusiastic delegation of faculty, students and recent graduates from the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, headed by Department Chair, Kenrie Hylton, embarked on a trip that would take them to visit two of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the United States of America.  The purpose of this visit was to expose them to research opportunities and graduate study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.  This trip was partially sponsored by Dr. Byron Robinson, an alumnus of Northern Caribbean University.

Upon our arrival at MIT, on Tuesday, October 18, the delegation was met by Christopher Jones, Assistant Dean for Graduate Education, who hosted us at breakfast and introduced us to MIT while giving us a heads-up on the activities planned for the day.  Our visit started out with a brief tour of the campus and an extensive visit to the Media Lab conducted by a Research Assistant, Kenton Williams.  At the Media Lab an unorthodox research approach to envision the impact of emerging technologies on everyday life, technologies that promise to fundamentally transform our most basic notions of human capabilities, is applied.  He also gave us a very comprehensive introduction to some of the cutting-edge research activities being conducted by him and other members of the Personal Robots Group in their research laboratory.  We concluded the tour with a brief stop at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
 

Group at MIT's Media Lab

Our visit to MIT continued with a working luncheon with representatives from the School of Engineering, Graduate Admissions, and the International Students Office who gave presentations about research and graduate study opportunities available at MIT, along with pertinent application and immigration procedures relevant to international students.  Presenters included Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook, Associate Dean and Director at the International Students Office, and Cardinal Warde, Professor of Electrical Engineering.  After our luncheon current graduate students of MIT conducted a very informative Graduate Clinic which highlighted not only what graduate study entailed, from the application process through to final research, but also their own journey as students of MIT.

On Wednesday, October 19, our trip to Boston continued with a visit to Harvard University.  After being met by Marie Dahleh, Associate Dean of Academic Programs at Harvard, Gloria Anglόn, Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions & Administrative Fellow in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), provided us with an overview of SEAS, their research activities and graduate study opportunities.  Jorge Pozo, Coordinator of Educational Programs, continued with an enlightening discourse about his own continuing journey as a graduate student within SEAS.  In spite of continuous rain, typical of Boston at this time of year, we were given a very extensive tour of the Harvard campus, during which we were exposed to the very rich history of this prestigious 375 year old university.  Our visit at Harvard concluded with a stop at the Harvard International Office where we had discussions with Darryl Zeigler, Advisor to International Students and Scholars, about attending Harvard University and living in Boston as an international student.
 

This trip was of benefit to all of us.  Prospective graduate students were energized as they were introduced to the joys, challenges and benefits of research and graduate study in Computer Science at MIT and Harvard.  Faculty and staff left with renewed interest in research and fuelled with fresh ideas for the continued development of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.   Added to which we were all impressed by the strong commitment to scholarship that was very evident in the environment of both universities.  

by Halzen G. Ashton Smith
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Information Sciences

Alumni Profile (3)

Name: Chantal ‘CJ’ Thompson

Degree Completed: B.Sc. Computer Information Science

Class of: 2008

Company/Employer: Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., (ACS/Xerox)

Position: Hardware Resell Support Manager

Memorable CIS Moment(s):

• Every LAN party! I’m supposed to be the reigning Female Mortal Kombat champion (despite what Christine says, lol!)
• When they finally sprung me (by giving me the piece of paper dem call degree)

Achievements (while enrolled and/or recent):

• CHIPS Social Director
• CHIPS Project Director
• USM Sports Director
• ACS/Xerox – Employee of the Month May, June, August, September, January, Employee of the Year 2010

Parting Words....
CIS & NCU taught me everything I know, most of the things weren’t taught in the classroom and one would get in trouble for divulging such info, but there are no regrets. Life in CIS was never easy, but no one can say it wasn’t interesting.

Alumni Profile (2)

Name: Trevoir ‘The Trev’ Williams

Degree Completed: BSc. Computer Science (Programming Emphasis)

Class of: 2010

Company/Employer: Northern Caribbean University (UNISS)

Position: Junior Software Engineer

Memorable CIS Moment(s):

Every moment was an adventure, and thus memorable

Achievements:

2007 – Silver Medalist – National Skills Web Design Category
2009 – Int'l Software Design Finalist in the Microsoft Imagine Cup (Cairo, Egypt)
2010 - Int'l Software Design Finalist in the Microsoft Imagine Cup (Warsaw, Poland)

2011 – Prime Minister’s Youth Award for International Achievement 

Parting words:

CIS for life!!!
Long live the Republic

Alumni Profile (1)

Name: Le-Vaughn Roper

Degree Completed: BSc. Information Science

Class of: 2009

Company/Employer: Harrison Memorial High School

Position: Information Technology Specialist

Memorable CIS Moment(s):

I would need a book to tell it all, and even if I got a book all the good stuff would be left out. Lol But as the great Barney Stinson would so eloquently put it, “THE LAN PARTIES ARE LEGEN……….DARY!!!!!!”

Achievements:

• Honor roll for a couple semesters, if I remember correctly.
• One of the I.T representatives for West Jamaica Conference at the 2011 Global Internet Evangelism Network (GIEN) Seminar held in Jamaica. More to come. :-)

Parting words....
To my remaining CIS colleagues, Viva la Résistance! And never forget that "Amidst adversity, God provides the ultimate solution." - L.A.R

2011 Graduate List

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

• Brown, Courtney
• Westcarr, Jevon

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER INFORMATION SCIENCE

• Anthony, Melissa  
• Britton, Aldain  
• Brown, Michael  
• Campbell, Shellaine * 
• Foster, Abigail *
• Granston, Durvan
• Hanson, Ricardo
• Jefferson, Rion
• Lewis, Jaison
• Sinclair, Niffian
• Smith, Rohan
• Stennett, David
• Wheeler, Silvester

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION SCIENCE

• Hector, Terrence
• Letts, Mkwawa +
• Swaby, Anthony

ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION SCIENCE

• Campbell, Andre
• Holness, Duane +
• Palmer-Hynes, Marion

CIS Family Addition

Announcing the arrival of Makenzi Shae and Makayden Avery on August 1, 2011 to the CIS family. Congratulations to the proud parents, Janece and Kerry Morgan.

Makayden Avery

Makenzi Shae