Founded in 1966

6th Annual Computer Science Day - a big success

February 17, 2006 - 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sennott Square 5th and 6th Floors

Articles in the press about CS Day

"This event just keeps growing," said Compunetix VP Gerry Pompa before presenting an award at the sixth annual Computer Science Day, held on February 17th, 2006 in Sennott Square.

The statement was echoed by many others throughout the day, which saw the introduction of some exciting new additions to the successful events which have comprised CS Day in previous years.

Most notable of the new events was a debate co-organized with the William Pitt Debating Union, titled "Digital Media: To Share or Not to Share?" It featured Philadelphia attorney Geoffrey L. Beauchamp, an area counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); and Charles Lee Mudd, an attorney who has represented several defendants in file-sharing lawsuits. (Videos available).

Paired with the attorneys were two Pitt junior debators, Tony DiMattio and Melina Forte. Dr. Kevin Ashley, a Pitt Professor of Law, and Kristen Wlazeleck, a double major in Political Science and Communication at Pitt, acted as questioners. Gordon Mitchell, Associate Professor of Communication and Director of Debate at Pitt, moderated the event.

The debate posed the question, "Should lawsuits against individual P2P [peer-to-peer] users be sharply curtailed?" Both sides presented their cases in a series of speeches, which were followed by an audience question-and-answer session.

The Second Annual Computer Science Bowl, a fast-paced competition in which teams of students were tested on their knowledge of computer science, began with the high school division, featuring students participating in Pitt's College in High School Program. Area high schools Richland, Woodland Hills, Greenville Area, Mohawk, Central Catholic, Fox Chapel and Trinity were present. The Greenville team (comprised of Alan Hogan, Adam Stubert and Kevin Jeffries) came in first place, and the Mohawk team (Kevin Kapraly, Jonathan Haski and Andrew Berg) came in second.

College students competed in a separate division of the Bowl. In first place came Team Zissou (Robert Cleric, Nathan Homitsky and Drake Wilson) and in second place was team Mocha Lotion (Ashley Kelley, Chrisopher Bejnar and Joseph St. Onge).

For the CS Day's Marketplace, representatives of local and national high-tech firms lined the halls, presenting information about their businesses and speaking with students about careers. Among the new events, students created attention-grabbing video clips that were presented during the Marketplace. Nevine AbouGhazaleh created a clip titled "What Can I do with a degree in Computer Science?" (Wmv, 8.9 MB). Nevine also collaborated with other women students to create a clip titled "How is it to be a Woman in the Computer Science World?" (Wmv, 29 MB).

Integrated with the Marketplace was a scavenger hunt, another new addition to CS Day this year. Visitors collected stickers by visiting each of the Marketplace booths, and were then entered into a drawing to win a video iPod, donated by the Industry Advisory Board. The winner was James Larkby-Lahet.

Graduate and undergraduate research were presented in posters, and vied for prizes in the Poster Competition. Faculty judges gave Nevine Abou-Ghazaleh the Graduate Grand Prize, while the Undergrad Grand Prize went to Gregory Nicholas. Visitors also voted for their favorites, with the Graduate People's Choice poster award going to Amruta Purandare, and the Undergrad People's Choice award going to Vang Be Pha.

At the awards ceremony, Nevine AbouGhazaleh was given a special award for Outstanding Student Citizenship. Also honored was the Outstanding Undergraduate CS Student for 2005-2006, Christopher R. Povirk. For the Graduate Research Award, Mahmoud Elhaddad won for his paper "Scheduling in Buffer Limited Networks", while Nevine AbouGhazeleh was given an honorable mention.

Winners of the CS Bowl, the Poster Contest, and the scavenger hunt were also announced, as well as the CS Honor Roll for 2004-2005: Joshua S. Albrecht, Wesley G. Goodman, Patrick J. Koshar, Gregory D. Nicholas, Michael P. Nugent, Christopher R. Povirk, Ezra W. Smith, Allen M. Stern and Anthony J. Zana.

CS Day Photos

The pictures taken during CS Day have been placed online. Please feel free to check them out!

CS Day videos



CS Day 2008 | CS Day 2007 | CS Day 2006 | CS Day 2005 | CS Day 2003 | CS Day 2002
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