New CIO appointment announced
SPSU President Dr. Lisa Rossbacher recently announced the appointment of Dr. Sam Conn as SPSU’s new chief information officer. Dr. Conn, who will start his new position in mid-March, is currently vice president for information technology and director of online learning at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville.

Dr. Conn has more than 22 years of professional and industry experience in the field of technology and information systems, including having served as director of the Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and as chair of the Computer Information System Department at Regis University in Denver. He also has extensive experience in the corporate world, having worked with a wide range of organizations and clients including mortgage/real estate services company, health care information systems, a Russian-American software development company and the parent company of NASCAR.

Dr. Conn holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, a master’s degree in computer information systems and a doctorate in information systems. He is widely published on the topics of information systems, educational technology, e-learning networks, system development methodologies and epistemic belief research.

Engineering Week events
Georgia Engineers Week, also known as E-Week, will be celebrated Feb. 19-25 with a number of campus events and activities in observance of this cooperative effort of the state’s professional engineering organizations. E-Week promotes the engineering disciplines to students, helps expand public recognition of the engineering profession and celebrates engineering accomplishments.

One event is SPSU’s annual E-Week Luncheon, which is by invitation only and is scheduled for Thurs., Feb. 23, at 11:30 a.m. in the Student Center Ballroom (Check-in begins at 11 a.m.). The luncheon gives students, faculty and staff members, advisory board members, SPSU Foundation board members and local engineering firms a chance to gather in celebration of this special week.

The program will feature W.L. Stanton Stafford, a LEED-Accredited Professional Engineer who is the director of energy and sustainability services at Newcomb-Boyd Consulting Engineering Company. His presentation is on “Sustainable Architecture, Engineering and Construction: Opportunities for the Next Generation.”

Other E-Week events and activities include:

• Tues., Feb. 21 – An open forum sponsored by Georgia Power’s Technical Women in Georgia for anyone in engineering with a presentation on “Georgia Power’s Green Energy Program,” 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Q-109, seating is limited – reservations required (RSVP to G2TWIG@southernco.com); and
• Wed., Feb. 22 – Case study on environmentally responsible aviation by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, 1-3 p.m., Q-202.

For more information on E-Week events, contact Ann Lay in the School of Engineering Technology and Management at ext. 7234 or alay@spsu.edu.

Irish Fulbright Scholars visit SPSU
Dr. Eugene Coyle and Dr. Nicholas Gillian, both Fulbright Scholars who hail from Ireland, are visiting the campus this spring to present lectures to students and meet and interact with faculty and academic administrators. Their visits to SPSU are part of an ongoing program to internationalize the campus and curricula and were organized by Raj Sashti, director of international program development, Dr. Bill Diong, associate professor of electrical engineering, and Dr. Richard Halstead-Nussloch, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.

Dr. Coyle, head of the School of Electrical Engineering Systems at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), is on campus today and Thurs., Feb. 16. Dr. Coyle, who is currently affiliated with Purdue University’s Global Research Institute, specializes in energy policy and its relevance to and impact on engineering education.

He will make two presentations during his visit. Today, he will address “Climate Change and the Challenges Presented” in a general talk for anyone interested (5:30-6:30 p.m., Q-202). On Thurs., Feb. 16, he will give a technical talk, “A Review of Developments in Wind and Marine Renewable Energy Technologies,” aimed at SPSU faculty members and students as well as engineers. He will also provide a short overview of his research on energy policy at Purdue (12-1 p.m., Q-202).

The primary campus contact for Dr. Coyle’s visit is Dr. Diong (ext. 5574, bdiong@spsu.edu).
 
Post-doctoral fellow and Fulbright Scholar Nicholas Gillian will visit SPSU from Feb. 29 to March 2. He is working in the Responsive Environments group at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his research focuses on the application of machine learning for the real-time recognition of musical gestures. While completing his doctorate at Queen’s University Belfast, Dr. Gillian worked on the European Union research project SKILLS. He has an undergraduate degree in music technology and a Master of Art in Sonic Arts from Queen’s University Belfast and has composed music for several dramatic productions.

In addition to addressing new media arts students, Dr. Gillian will give a workshop on gesture recognition and machine learning on Thurs., March 1 (1:30-5 p.m., J-202) and a presentation entitled “Real-Time Gesture Recognition for Musician Computer Interaction” on Fri., March 2 (10-11:15 a.m., J-381).

The primary campus contact for Dr. Gillian’s visit is Dr. Halstead-Nussloch (ext. 5509, rhalstea@spsu.edu).
 
Anyone interested in meeting one-on-one with these scholars should contact Raj Sashti (ext. 3266, rsashti@spsu.edu).

SPSU to host two Science Olympiads this spring
The nationally recognized program to enhance science education and interest in science is coming to SPSU once again. The popular Science Olympiad is a daylong competition in which teams of up to 15 middle- and high-school students compete in 23 different age-related events, where they do and apply science.

This year, participants will compete in designing and operating robotic arms, model helicopters and gravity vehicles, identifying rocks and minerals, completing chemistry and thermodynamic experiments and much more.

The High School Regional Science Olympiad Tournament will be Sat., Feb. 25, and the Statewide Middle School Science Olympiad Tournament will be Sat., Mar. 24.

Last year’s Georgia Science Olympiad was a huge success thanks to the help of a variety of volunteers. Help is needed again, both before and on the days of the events. To volunteer, please contact Dr. Lance Crimm at ext. 7249 or at lcrimm@spsu.edu.

Cliff Yeager promoted to police captain
SPSU Police Chief John Bauer recently promoted Lt. Cliff Yeager to the rank of captain to serve as the department’s captain of operations.

Yeager joined the department three years ago and received the Public Safety Medal of Valor from the Cobb Chamber of Commerce in October 2011 for acts of bravery during his time on campus.

New staff member in Career and Counseling Center
Tanya Davis has joined the counseling team in the Career and Counseling Center.

She is a graduate of Georgia State University’s professional counseling program and also has a biology degree from Livingstone College. Davis has worked with juveniles in the Clayton County Court System, for the non-profit organization Odyssey Family Counseling Center and as a high-school biology and physical science teacher.

Please give Davis a warm welcome to the campus. She can be reached at ext. 7391 or tdavis26@spsu.edu.

SPSU students participate in Global Game Jam
The world’s largest game jam event, Global Game Jam (GGJ), took place Jan. 27-29.

The GGJ is an annual event that brings together thousands of game enthusiasts to participate in hundreds of local jams around the world. All of the sites are challenged to create games on the same theme that must be completed over the weekend of the event.

SPSU hosted the first statewide GGJ last year. This year, students enjoyed the educational and fun event at the Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). The event had over 200 participants, a third of whom were SPSU students, and was the largest GGJ event in the United States and third largest in the world.

Local gaming companies such as Eyes Wide Game, Kaneva, Hi-Rez, Tripwire, Microsoft and Mowgli were on hand for the event.

Chili Cook-Off winners announced
Sixteen cooks let their hearty concoctions speak for themselves in SPSU’s 16th Annual Tony Tillmans Chili Cook-Off on Feb. 7. When the crockpots were empty and the participants were full, a panel of judges announced their top choices:

1. “Worth the $5 Chili” by Bennie Sue Houck, Student Records;

2. “Olive Some More, Please Chili” by Diane Payne, Public Relations Office;

3. “Trevor Chili” by Jerry Burgess, Facilities;

Honorable Mention: “I Know the Secret Ingredient, do You? Chili” by Ann Lay, School of Engineering Technology and Management; and

Honorable Mention: “Tried the Rest? Come Taste the Best Chili” by alumnus George Soublis (husband of Leigh Ann Soublis, Auxiliary Services).

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all the other cooks and to the Social and Community Building Committee for a delicious lunch!

Have news to share?
If your department has an upcoming event or other news to share with the campus community, please send an e-mail with all the pertinent information to Diane Payne (dpayne@spsu.edu). To be considered for use in a specific issue of the SPSU Hornet’s Nest, a news item must be submitted no less than four weeks before the date of the issue.

Volume 5, Issue 6
Feb. 15, 2012