Table of Contents
Letters of Welcome2
Conference Center Map6
Schedule at a Glance7
Navigating the STARS Celebration
13
Speaker Biographies14
Celebration Presenters17
STARS Computing Corps Leadership
22
Workshops and Presentations24
Celebration Leadership32
Celebration Award Nominees33
1
Welcome From The 2012 General Chair
I would like to welcome you to the Seventh Annual STARS
CELEBRATION!!!
Our theme for this year is: Transform Minds, Change the
World...Be the Change. This theme not only encompasses
the impact STARS has had on colleges, universities and
local communities, but grounds us in the reality that our
untired efforts must meet great resolve to diversify the
computing profession.
This conference plans to be an enriching educational,
networking, and skill-building experience for students,
faculty, staff, the community and corporate partners.
This year we have focused on creating an experience that
is more engaging and interactive, from the workshops to
the speakers we have invited.
I must thank the STARS conference leadership team, along
with our host, Hampton University and their leadership
team, for their hard work and dedication.
I look forward to meeting everyone. Let’s have an
outstanding Celebration!
Nate Thomas
STARS Celebration General Chair
Director of Multicultural Education and Engagement
University of South Florida
2
Welcome From The Director
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the STARS Celebration 2012. We challenge you to “Transform your
mind, change the world, and be the change!” In this first year of the STARS Scaling Project it has been exciting to watch the STARS Alliance evolve to become
a national community for student-led regional engagement. To date, more
than 40 colleges and universities have implemented the STARS Leadership
Corps (“Corps”), including 31 schools (17 new and 14 returning) that participated in data collection during 2011-2012. The STARS schools represent a
diverse array of best practices for broadening participation in computing. For
example, USF Polytechnic, Florida A&M University, NC State University, Columbus State, Hampton, IUPUI, and NC A&T have strong mentoring programs within
the Corps. The Corps at SC State, Florida International, Meredith, University of
New Orleans and Winthrop provide peer tutoring. Florida A&M held a “mini”
STARS Celebration with new STARS, Northwest Florida State College and Florida
State College Jacksonville. Indiana University is aiming for another statewide
STARS community that now includes IUPUI and DePauw. George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College teamed up to create an effective bridge from the community college to the university. Arizona State
University integrated Research Experiences for Undergraduates into their Corps. Georgia Tech leveraged the Corps
to strengthen their summer computing camps. Auburn, Johnson C. Smith University, Central Piedmont Community
College, and Northwest Florida State College used robotics in their outreach. UNC Greensboro, Loyola, DePauw, Wilberforce, and Duke University implemented robust middle or high school outreach programs. Spelman College continues to convey the big impact of a tiny Corps through the success of their Geek Week. Seminole State College had
similar success with their Hot Technologies Expo. Florida State University has institutionalized the Corps through an
exemplary computer science course that provides students with credit for a university leadership program. At UNC
Charlotte we developed a STARS-inspired undergraduate engagement program that has been adopted as the quality enhancement plan for the entire university. The STARS impact reached beyond U.S. borders with the STARS Haiti
Project. With leadership from Dr. Tiffany Barnes, Corps students from five STARS schools helped Haitian teachers
and students enhance learning with “One Laptop Per Child” laptops and curriculum developed by the Waveplace
Foundation. My favorite example of STARS Scaling is the number of former STARS students who are now faculty
members leading their own Corps (Columbus State, JC Smith, Livingstone College, Moreouse College and Winthrop).
With leadership from Dr. Heather Lipford, we launched the STARS Online Community this year, which includes an online social network, affinity groups and a digital library of STARS practices. With leadership from Ashley
Peeler, we formed the STARS Computing Corps nonprofit organization and introduced new logos and branding (see
www.starscomputingcorps.org). We commenced distribution of a STARS newsletter to keep everyone up-to-date on
happenings and will make the first STARS Awards this year to recognize outstanding STARS leaders and institutions.
The STARS Evaluation Team continues their heroic effort in data collection and meaningful assessment – in particular with the dedication of Dr. Audrey Rorrer and the great work done by the 31 student evaluation assistants from
each STARS school.
I appreciate the tremendous efforts of the Academic Liaisons and Corps Leaders at each STARS school.
Their dedication catalyzes the STARS community as an interconnected system of regional partnerships. I also appreciate the strong leadership by Karen Bean (STARS Project Manager) in coordinating the big and small details of
alliance operations.
Eleven new colleges and universities will join the existing 31 schools at the Celebration this weekend with
plans to implement a Corps during this upcoming academic year. In addition, we welcome the participation from a
number of individual students and faculty members – as we open up the STARS community to individual participation (in addition to institutional participation).
With support from a strong leadership team, General Chair Dr. Nathan Thomas (USF Polytechnic) and Dr.
Chutima Boonthum and Dr. Jean Muhammad (Hampton) have put together a rich set of sessions on engagement,
leadership, research, technology, and Corps practices. While many people contributed, Dr. Marguerite Doman
(Winthrop), Karen Bean, Ashley Peeler, and Aubrae Collins have given a heroic effort to bring this program to you. I
thank Hampton University for hosting the Celebration in a beautiful city. I encourage you to sample a diverse array
of sessions; interact with people you don’t know; and have fun!
Teresa A. Dahlberg
Professor and Associate Dean, College of Computing and Informatics
Director Diversity in Information Technology Institute
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
3
Welcome From The STARS Evaluation Team
This year’s Celebration theme, Transform Minds, Change the World, Be
the Change, is more than a call to action to all of us. It is a declaration of
the core values of the STARS Alliance. Since 2006, the STARS Alliance has
united and inspired more than 1,134 university and college students, 70
faculty, and a variety of community partners to reach over 36,000 K12
students, teaching them the beauty and joy in computing. Our collective
inspiration is motivating students at all levels to pursue computing and
we are seeing an increase in computing enrollments and graduation as a
result. This change is circular and continuous, meaning that through our
efforts to serve our local communities, we are in fact being the change we
want to see in the world. We are changing ourselves with increased motivation, knowledge, and commitment to use computing to better the world
around us, and changing those we interact with as a result. As we continue
to expand the STARS Alliance, we are now bringing this change and inspiration to students around the country.
We know how incredible our impact is due to the diligent evaluation that
STARS undertakes continually. Our central evaluation team is led by us,
Audrey Rorrer and Kim Buch of UNC Charlotte, and Anthony Chow of UNC
Greensboro, along with an Evaluation Assistant representative from each
STARS school. The Evaluation Assistants (EAs) provide vital input to our
collective evaluation by gathering and reporting the activities at each
SLC. We could not conduct the extensive evaluation of STARS without
their support, diligence and commitment to providing accurate and timely
information for each school. We are grateful for this effort to ensure that
the STARS Alliance can build upon our successes to impact even more
students and our national community.
Every year, we see and feel the invigoration that the Celebration catalyzes
in each of us. We return to our home institutions more connected to one
another, more energized, and more inspired to be role models within our
communities. We create new outreach activities and connect to even more
individuals beyond STARS. Let’s carry that momentum throughout the year
with the STARS Online Community (http://community.starsalliance.org)
and our STARS Digital Library (http://www.bpcportal.org/bpc/collections/
slcp/). We invite everyone to post discussions, tools, lesson plans, posters, and other ideas for STARS practices so that we can help and inspire
each other to transform minds and change the world. Together, we are the
change!
Tiffany Barnes, Associate Professor, Computer Science, North Carolina
State University
Heather Lipford, Associate Professor, Software and Information Systems,
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
STARS Co-PIs, and Evaluation Team
4
Welcome From 2012 Host, Hampton University
Greetings,
On behalf of the Hampton University community, I thank you for participating in the STARS (Students and Technology in Academia, Research and
Service) 2012 Celebration! In its seventh year, the STARS Alliance assumes
a multifarious approach in strengthening the participation of women,
under represented minorities, and persons with disabilities in computing
disciplines. Through its many outreach projects, the STARS Alliance has
allowed others to see women and minorities as role models. A producer of
exceptional results, students participating in the STARS Celebration have
shown an increased interest in community building and helping others to
understand how computing and IT professionals can help improve their
quality of life.
Hampton University is also a producer of outstanding results. Leaving
behind an international wake of results, Hampton boasts 76 new academic
programs, including four doctoral programs in physics, pharmacy, physical
therapy and nursing, five online advanced degree programs, an effective
faculty, both men and women, who have patents for breast cancer detection devices as well as patents for artificial body parts. Our Department
of Computer Science offers the Bachelor of Science Degrees in Computer
Science and Computer Information Systems, Master of Science degrees in
Computer Science and Information Assurance. We, Hampton University, are
now a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance
Education (CAE/IAE) designated by the National Security Agency and the
Department of Homeland Security. The Information Assurance Center at
Hampton awards the following certificates: Information Systems Security
Professionals, NSTISSI No. 4011 and Senior Systems Manager, CNSSI No.
4012.
Hampton is a strong advocate for helping others through a diverse group
of motivated, enthusiastic faculty who provide students an Education for
Life. Again, I extend my sincere thanks to you for your participation in this
important activity.
Sincerely,
JoAnn W. Haysbert
Executive Vice President
5
Hampton Roads Convention Center Floor Plan
Second Floor
First Floor
6
Three Day Schedule
Saturday, August 11, 2012
(ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE HAMPTON ROADS CONVENTION CENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
TIME
EVENT
LOCATION
12:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Registration
Room 101
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Mentoring Workshop - Part I
Room 106-107
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
STARS Evaluation Assistant Training
Room 104-105
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Opening Reception
Conference Room AB
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Leadership Development
Conference Room CD
STARS Faculty & Liaisons Meeting
Conference Room AB
Developing Leadership Skills for Mentoring and Relationships
Presenter: Nate Thomas
Required for EA student or Corps Leader from each STARS School
Presenters: Audrey Rorrer, Anthony Chow and Kim Buch
Dinner reception for all attendees and guests
Required for all STARS students
Presenters: William R. Harvey Leadership Institute
All STARS Faculty, Staff and Liaisons are requested to attend for a debriefing
on our upcoming NSF Site visit and Faculty Networking
Desserts and Coffee to be served
Sunday, August 12, 2012
(ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE HAMPTON ROADS CONVENTION CENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
TIME
EVENT
LOCATION
7:45 AM - 8:45 AM
Breakfast & Home Team Meetings
Embassy Suites Atrium
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Registration & Information
Room 101
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Call to Action for Corps
Ballroom ABC
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Breakout Session I
Presenters: Teresa Dahlberg, Tiffany Barnes and Audrey Rorrer will provide a
progress report for STARS and higlight our outcomes, projects and plans for
the future
Mentoring Workshop - Part II
Room 106-107
Leadership
World Class Leadership: 3+12+4
Room 104
Leadership
Professionalism
Room 103
Technical
Introduction to Programming with Android Phones - Part I
Room 102
Corps Practices
STARS 1.0: Launching a Successful Corps - Part I
Room 105
11:00 AM - 11:25 AM
Break
Identity Development, Pyscho-social Support, Sense of Belonging
Presenter: Nate Thomas
Presenter: Anthony Chow
Presenter: Battino Batts
Presenters: Alok Baikadi and Trisha Biswas
A Guide for New Faculty and Corps Leaders
Presenters: Teresa Dahlberg , Audrey Rorrer, Kim Buch, Tiffany Barnes, and
Karen Bean
7
Three Day Schedule
Sunday, August 12, 2012
(ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE HAMPTON ROADS CONVENTION CENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
TIME
EVENT
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Breakout Session II
LOCATION
Mentoring Workshop - Part II Continued
Room 106-107
Engagement
Teaching CS Concepts in Haiti
Room 104
Leadership
Managing Projects and Teams
Room 103
Technical
Introduction to Programming with Android Phones - Part II
Room 102
Corps Practices
STARS 1.0: Launching a Successful Corps - Part II
Room 105
Lunch: Women in IT Panel
Ballroom ABC
Presenter: Nate Thomas
Panel discussion on teaching in Haiti
Presenters: Stephen Chandler and Megan Harwell
Presenter: Lori Pollock
Presenters: Alok Baikadi and Trisha Biswas
A Guide for New Faculty and Corps Leaders
Presenters: Teresa Dahlberg , Audrey Rorrer, Kim Buch, Tiffany Barnes, and
Karen Bean
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Ms. Shalanda Armstrong - PricewaterhouseCoopers
Ms. Alika Muhammad - Lucent Technologies
Dr. Janet Brunelle - Old Dominion University
Ms. Denisse Aranda - NASA’s Langley Research Center
Dr. Michelle Claville - Hampton University
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Breakout Session III
Mentoring Workshop - Part II Continued
Room 106-107
USF Polytechnic Summer Camp & K-8th Mentoring - Part I
Room 104
Getting Things Done: Personal Productivity for Computing Leaders
of Today and Tomorrow
Room 103
Improving Technical Skills:
3rd World Network Administration
Room 102
Presenter: Nate Thomas
Engagement
Best Practices with Curriculum
Presenters: Nate Thomas, Deonte Cooper, and Donald Black
Leadership
Presenter: Kristy Boyer
Technical
Presenters: Veronica Catete and Katelyn Doran
Usability and Human-Centered Design
Presenter: Anthony Chow
Understanding Analytics
Presenters: Ashley Rustein, Katherine Smith, and Ebe Randeree
Corps Practices
Review of a 5-Year STARS Organization
Presenters: Katherine Smith and Ebe Randeree
Polling Florida’s Leaders
Presenters: Raquel Safra, Ebe Randeree, and Emily Ensley
8
Room 105
Three Day Schedule
Sunday, August 12, 2012
(ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE HAMPTON ROADS CONVENTION CENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
TIME
EVENT
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Breakout Session IV
Engagement
USF Polytechnic Summer Camp & K-8th Mentoring - Part II
Conitnued
Room 104
Leadership
Designing, Presenting and Critiquing Research Posters
Room 103
Technical
Microsoft Tools
Room 102
Corps Practices
Exchange of Ideas and Successes
Room 105
Corps Practices
Teaching AP CS Principles with Scratch, GameMaker, and
AppInventor
Room 107
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Break
Ballroom Pre-function
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Poster Session
Ballroom ABC
Industry & Community Expo
Ballroom Pre-function
LOCATION
Best Practices with Curriculum
Presenters: Nate Thomas, Deonte Cooper, and Donald Black
Presenters: Lamarra Warren, Jerold Dawson, Amantha Lott, and Brandi Smith
Presenter: Rane Johnson-Stempson
Q&A with first Old Timers in STARS
Presenters: Ebe Randeree, Jason Black, Cheryl Seals, Anthony Chow and
Felesia Stukes
Presenter: Tiffany Barnes
6:45 PM - 8:00 PM
Refreshments Provided
Dinner
Dr. Lowe, Hampton University
Keynote: Battino Batts, William R. Harvey Leadership Institute
9
Three Day Schedule
Monday, August 13, 2012
(ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE HAMPTON ROADS CONVENTION CENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
TIME
EVENT
LOCATION
8:15 AM - 9:15 AM
Breakfast & Home Team Meetings
Embassy Suites Atrium
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Registration & Information
Room 101
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Plenary Session
Human-amplifying and Transformational Computing
Ballroom ABC
Presenter: Tiffany Barnes
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Breakout Session V
Engagement
Initiating and Implementing a Successful Outreach Program Workshop Part I
Room 104
Research
Introduction to Grad School
Room 106
Leadership
From College to the Real World
Room 103
Technical
Introduction to Web Development with Django - Workshop Part I
Room 102
Corps Practices
STARS Working with HBCUs - Workshop
Room 105
NSF Site Visit Prep - Inviation Only
Room 107
Presenters: Veronica Catete, Caitlin Foster, and Anne Watson
Is Graduate School for Me?
Presenter: Cheryl Seals
Tips and Tools to be Successful in an IT Career
Presenters: Powers Strickland and Lonnie Emard - IT-ology
Presenters: David Dearmore and Omar Estrella
Presenters: Nate Thomas and Deonte Cooper
Presenters: Tiffany Barnes and Audrey Rorrer
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Break
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM
Breakout Session VI
Engagement
Initiating and Implementing a Successful Outreach Program Workshop - Part II
Room 104
Research
CISE Graduate Research Fellowships
Room 106
Technical
Introduction to Web Development with Django - Workshop Part II
Room 102
Refelective Writing
Room 105
Ad Hoc
Room 103
NSF Site Visit Prep - Inviation Only
Room 107
Presenters: Veronica Catete, Caitlin Foster, and Anne Watson
Presenters: Tiffany Barnes
Presenters: David Dearmore and Omar Estrella
Corps Practices
Presenters: Karen Bean and Kim Buch
Presenters: Tiffany Barnes and Audrey Rorrer
10
Three Day Schedule
Monday, August 13, 2012
(ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE HAMPTON ROADS CONVENTION CENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
TIME
EVENT
LOCATION
12:45 PM - 2:00 PM
Lunch: Dr. Rod Brame, University of South Florida
Ballroom ABC
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Breakout Session VII
Engagement
Outreach Presentations
Engaging Students with New Ideas
Power Tower Activity: Integrated STEM Inquiry and Problem Based Learning
Room 106
Presenters: Jamal Gumbs, Angelina Collazo, and Ebe Randeree
TSA/STARS; A Strategic Partnership
Presenters: Matthew Russi, Allison Loehr, and Ebe Randeree
Project L.I.F.T
Presenters: Wanda Eugene and Christian Shelton
Research
Research Presentations
Using Technology to Support Citizen Science
Room 106
Presenters: Michael Hester, Scott Heggen, Jamie Payton, and
Osarime Omokaro
Computer Science and IT Identity Formation
Presenters: Anthony Chow, Steve Tate, Lakshmi Iyer, and Xia Zhao
Technical
Gamemaker - Workshop Part I
Room 102
Corps Practices
TREU; How to Prepare, Sustain and Plan
Room 105
Ad Hoc
Room 103
Presenter: Acey Boyce
Presenter: Tiffany Barnes
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Breakout Session VIII
Engagement
USF STARS Unleashed: The Positive Implications of STARS
Involvement in RoboCup International
Room 104
Research Presentations
Summer REU Presentations
Room 106
Presenter: Nate Thomas
Research
Assisting F1 Students with Obtaining Internships and REUs
Presenters: Sihle Wilson and Jason Black
Technical
Gamemaker - Workshop Part II
Room 102
TREU; Finding Funds
Room 105
Ad Hoc
Room 103
Presenter: Acey Boyce
Corps Practices
Presenter: Tiffany Barnes
11
Three Day Schedule
Monday, August 13, 2012
(ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE HAMPTON ROADS CONVENTION CENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
LOCATION
TIME
EVENT
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Break
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Breakout Session IX
Engagement
Successful Outreach
Ad Hoc
Room 104
Research
Conversations on REU Experiences (Students Only)
Room 106
Technical
Microsoft Tools - Repeat
Room 102
Faculty Focus Groups
Room 103 & 105
Ad Hoc
Room 107
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Home Team Meetings
Determined by Teams
7:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Dinner
Ballroom ABC
Refreshments Provided
Student 2 Student: Candid Conversations about REUs
Presenter: Rane Johnson-Stempson
Corps Practices
Presenter: Audrey Rorrer
A Discussion with Johnathan Banks, Managing Director, Bank of New York
Mellon , Client Technology Delivery Services
Hosted by Nate Thomas, STARS General Chair
From motel to corner office: Life’s journey and the realities of being a
technology professional
Awards Ceremony
Post Conference Celebration
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
(ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT THE HAMPTON ROADS CONVENTION CENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
12
TIME
EVENT
LOCATION
7:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Breakfast
Embassy Suites Atrium
Navigating the STARS Celebration 2012
Top 10 Suggestions for Corps Students Navigating STARS Celebration 2012
By Audrey Rorrer
10. Be professional. Remember that this is a professional conference and you are
representing your school. Dress in business casual attire and behave as if your faculty
advisor (or grandmother) were watching.
9. Consider your goals. What do you hope to accomplish while here? Who would you like
to meet? What knowledge do you need to be successful?
8. Diversify your experience. Choose sessions across all the tracks. Stretch yourself
beyond your expectations.
7. Be friendly and approachable. Smile and meet peers, faculty, and community partnersSnag’em helps!
6. Remember that it’s about the people, not the technology. Put that phone down, pay
attention to your surroundings and speakers, and engage with one another.
5. Be considerate. Silence your technology during workshops and presentations, show up
on time and don’t walk out early. Think about what it’s like to be giving a talk.
4. Contribute. Everyone has a unique perspective and set of experiences that are valuable,
no matter if this is your 7th or 1st Celebration. Ask your questions, share your point of
view, respectfully of course, as we are all here to learn and collaborate.
3. Use the buddy system. When two or more sessions are of interest to you that are
occurring at the same time, ask your friends to divide and conquer, sharing notes about
each session later.
2. Be present. My father always says that success is 90% perspiration and 10%
inspiration, and that showing up is key. The Celebration is packed with exciting work
shops and sessions so arrive a bit early and stay late so you won’t miss out.
1. Have fun! The Celebration is about making connections with students, faculty and our
community partners. Enjoy getting to know others and sharing your experiences and
ideas.
13
Speaker Biographies
Denisse Aranda, Contamination Control Engineer and Planetary Protection Specialist, NASA
Denisse Aranda is a Contamination Control Engineer and Planetary Protection Specialist at NASA
Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The focus of her research is ensuring the performance of flight hardware in space via protection from particulate and molecular contamination.
In the summer of 2009, she obtained a position as Technical Assistant to Mission Manager Bob
Ess for NASA’s high profile flight project Ares IX. This rocket was launched in October 2009 and
is the largest rocket in the world, second in history only to the Saturn V. This project developed,
manufactured, and launched a rocket capable of reaching low earth orbit with an impressive
GNC system and ingenious systems integration.
Though born in Caracas, Venezuela, she has spent the majority of her life in South Florida’s
beautiful Miami. Denisse graduated from Florida International University with her Bachelors in
Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics and will begin the PhD program at Virgnia
Tech after receiving her Masters in Material Science Engineering.
Alika Muhammad, Senior Director of Program Management & Operations, Lucent
Technologies
Alika Muhammad is a senior program management executive with Lucent Technologies and Alcatel Lucent Technologies. Ms. Muhammad’s professional career started in 1997 where she held the
role of Current and Deployment Engineer within Customer Support. Following that success, she
was chosen as the Senior Program / Project Manager within Wireless Mobility. In her current role
as Senior Director of Program Management & Operations for new Cloud Solution, Ms. Muhammad
is responsible for building the operational framework to develop, introduce, and grow new strategic service/product offering to enable service providers to increase business agility, efficiency, and
speed to market. She also directed the establishment and integration of a new team in Israel into
internal culture and standards, oversaw the development and launch of new ALU Cloud Solution,
and managed delivery of solutions to initial definitional customers in Europe.
Ms. Muhammad holds a Master’s of Science in Management with a concentration in Project Management from Stevens Institute of Technology; and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
from Southern University. She additionally holds a Master’s Certification in Project Management
and Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification.
Shalanda Armstrong, Senior Associate, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Shalanda is a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Washington Federal Advisory
Practice with a focus on program/project management and strategic planning. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Hampton University, a Master in Science in Engineering
Management from George Washington University, and a Masters in Business Administration from
the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland - College Park.
14
Speaker Biographies
Janet Brunelle, Assistant Chair and Chief Departmental Advisor, Old Dominion University
Janet Brunelle is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at Old Dominion
University and serves as Assistant Chair and Chief Departmental Advisor (CDA) responsible for
the undergraduate program. She has been actively involved in assisting the research efforts
for the recruitment and retention of women and minorities in computer science. She was
instrumental in the development of an introductory course for first year students, preparing
them for the profession of computer science. She has developed a popular web-based course
that incorporates discussion, and voice-recorded presentations. Janet was selected as Advisor of the Year for the College of Science in 2001 and again in 2006. She was selected for
the NACADA 2007 Mid-Atlantic Region Outstanding Faculty Academic Advising Award, with a
national certificate of merit in the same year. She has served as chair of two ODU committees
charged with the investigation of first year student success and recruitment. Most recently,
Janet has played a critical role in the development of an instructional model for Teaching
Information Literacy and Research to undergraduates, based upon a case study approach.
Dr. Michelle O. Claville, Assistant Dean, School of Science, Hampton University
Michelle Claville received her B.A. in English, B.S. in Chemistry and PhD in Chemistry from the
University of Florida. Upon graduation, she began her tenure as a Senior Research and Development Chemist at Albemarle Corporation, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 2002, she transitioned
to Southern University (Baton Rouge) as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. There, she taught
all undergraduate and graduate courses in Organic Chemistry, earned promotion and tenure in
2008, served as Chairperson of the Department of Chemistry, and was awarded the National
Science Foundation Faculty Early Development Career (CAREER) award. She also received an adjunct appointment as Associate Professor at Louisiana State University. Dr. Claville transitioned
to Hampton University in August 2011 to assume the position of Interim Dean and Assistant
Dean of the School of Science.
Dr. Claville is a strong proponent for the “total education” of all students, especially those who
are from under-represented groups. She has nurtured scores of students into professional
schools, graduate schools, or industrial careers.
Mr. Battinto L. Batts, Jr., Director, William R. Harvey Leadership Institute at Hampton
University
Mr. Battinto L. Batts, Jr. serves as Director of the William R. Harvey Leadership Institute at Hampton University in addition to his role as assistant professor in the Hampton University Scripps
Howard School of Journalism and Communications.
The mission of the William R. Harvey Leadership Institute is to develop entry-level leaders who
have the character and commitment to ethically lead and serve. It is an intensive, interactive
undergraduate minor designed to develop entry-level leaders for the workplace and community
who are competent, committed and ethical.
He has served as a writer and editor for major daily newspapers including The Daily Press,
Newport News, Va.; South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Richmond Times-Dispatch,
Richmond, Va.; St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.; and the Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
15
Speaker Biographies
Jonathan Banks, Managing Director, Bank of New York Mellon, Client Technology Delivery
Services
Jonathan Banks is a Managing Director and head of the Professional Technical Services team
for The Bank of New York Mellon’s Client Technology team. His responsibilities are comprised
of Platform Management/Enterprise Portal Oversight, Internet Implementation and Strategic
Account Initiatives. His Platform Management group drives stakeholder consensus for one of the
Firm’s largest client platforms and he serves as a Technical conduit between Product Management and the Technology areas as they relate to client side applications. This includes organizing UAT(User Acceptance Testing) and DCAT(Data Center Acceptance Testing) events as well
as client outreach efforts when changes are expected to impact end-users. The Internet Implementation team under Jonathan offers a host of technical services to our in- house developers
and vendors through a scalable Internet testing lab, which is designed to mimic multiple client
environments. This facility is also used to diagnose production related issues from a client perspective, for faster turn-around on resolutions.
Mr. Banks joined BNY Mellon in 1998 as an Analyst and was instrumental in the Development of
the INFORM Platform as it relates to client connectivity and security. He is the Technical Lead for
his Division . Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Jonathan served as a Senior Analyst at UBS (formerly
PaineWebber) on their Branch Information Systems and Retail Technology teams for four and a
half years. There, he was tasked with Technical Project Management for new branch openings
and Broker software deployment. Jonathan is a 1993 graduate of Norfolk State University, where
he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management Computer Information Systems.
Dr. Roderic Brame, Program Director of STEM Education, USF Polytechnic
As program director of STEM education, Dr. Brame is proactively supporting the improvement of
STEM education along the I-4 corridor. He is building collaborations and is sharing expertise and
innovative ideas with Polk, Orange, Osceola, Lake, and Hillsborough County schools as well as
RCMA and Heartland Education Consortium. He served as a member of the task force to revise
the STEM Strategic Plan for Florida. He is currently PI for the Accelerated STEM Academic Pipeline
program funded by the Helios Foundation to support building expertise in STEM teaching and
learning for middle school.
Dr. Brame holds a PHD from Virginia Tech in Geosciences, an MS in Science Education and a BS in
Geosciences from Radford University. His experience includes 20 years of teaching geosciences
and science education in higher education and 5 years teaching Earth science, physics, and
chemistry in high school. He has served in many capacities for local, regional, state, and international science fairs and robotics competitions. His career focus is to make the teaching and
learning of STEM fields more meaningful to students.
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Celebration Presenters
Alok Baikadi, NC State University
Alok is a Ph.D student in Computer Science, studying Artificial Intelligence, writing and creativity support tools. He
received his B.S. in Computer Science at the University of
Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign in 2007.
Dr. Tiffany Barnes, UNC Charlotte
Dr. Barnes is an Associate Professor of Computer Science
at UNC Charlotte and received her PhD from NC State in
2003. Dr. Barnes received an NSF CAREER Award for her
novel work in using data to add intelligence to STEM learning environments. Dr. Barnes is co-PI on the NSF STARS
Alliance grants that engage college students in outreach,
research, and service. She has received over $2 M in funds
from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and industry
sources to research effective ways to build serious games
for education, exercise, and environmental awareness;
promote undergraduate research; and develop new ways
to teach computing. Dr. Barnes serves on the ACM SIGCSE
board, and has been on the organizing committees for
several conferences including Educational Data Mining and
Foundations of Digital Games, and has served as associate
editor for the Journal of Educational Data Mining.
Karen Bean, UNC Charlotte
Karen serves as the Associate Director of the Diversity in
Information Technology Institute and as Project Director
for the STARS Scaling project. She has been instrumental
in the development and delivery of the curriculum for the
Computing Leaders Seminar at UNC Charlotte. She earned
an MA in sociology with a research interest in gender and
violence against women.
Trisha Biswas, NC State University
Trisha is a PhD candidate at North Carolina State University
working in the area of routing protocols for wireless
networks. She received her Bachelor’s degree from West
Bengal University of Technology in 2008, India and her
Master’s degree in Computer Science from North Carolina
State University in Spring 2011.
Acey Boyce, UNC Charlotte
Acey is a fourth-year PhD student researching game elements in educational tools. He does weekly outreach with
Citizen Schools teaching students how to make video
games with Game Maker. Acey is creator of the BeadLoom
Game, a educational game based on the Virtual Bead Loom
Culturally Situated Design Tool.
Kim Buch, UNC Charlotte
Kim is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist who
specializes in Organization Development and Team Dynamics. She also has extensive experience in developing and
evaluating service learning and civic engagement experiences for the undergraduate curriculum. She is the Lead
Evaluator for the STARS Alliance, and a faculty member in
Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Veronica Catete, UNC Charlotte
Veronica is a Ph. D. Student at UNC Charlotte majoring in
computer science. She is part of the Games + Learning
Lab and is a NSF Graduate Research Fellow as well as a
Microsoft Graduate Women’s Research Scholar. Veronica’s
research is focused on broadening participation in computing through longitudinal outreach efforts. Veronica is
the coordinator for the Charlotte-area SPARCS program, a
middle-school outreach program aimed at getting young
adults involved in computing. Veronica also acts as consultant for high school game development teams.
Stephen R Chandler, UNC Charlotte
Stephen is a senior and adult returning student studying
Software and Information Systems at the University of
North Carolina at Charlotte. He has been involved with
the STARS Alliance for one year and enjoys doing outreach.
In addition he works on campus as a TA/Grader for the
Infrastructure course and is involved with the 49er Security
Club and OASES club. Moving forward, it is his hope to continue working as a mentor and promote computer science
concepts.
Dr. Anthony Chow, UNC Greensboro
Dr. Chow joined the faculty at UNC Greensboro during the
Fall 2006 semester after serving five years on the faculty
of FSU’s College of Information. He managed the computerbased training program of the Florida Department of Revenue’s General Tax Administration Division, served as the
manager of quality assurance and training for an Internet
company, served as IT Director for Florida State University’s
College of Information, worked as Director of the FSU College of Information’s Usability Center, and currently owns
a small consulting company and is a general partner in
another company dedicated to improving schools
nationwide. Dr. Chow earned his bachelor’s degree from
San Francisco State in developmental psychology (1992),
his master’s of science degree in Educational Psychology
(1998) and Ph.D. (ABD) in Instructional Systems (2006) from
FSU.
Angelina Collazo, Florida State University
Angelina is an IT major in the school. She liaisons with
external agencies as well as campus groups on behalf of
STARS.
Deonte Cooper, USF Polytechnic
Deonte works for the University of South Florida Polytechnic
(USFP) under the Multicultural Educational and Engagement
Office. Deonte is the Advisor/Academic Liaison of the USFP
Students and Technology in Academia, Research and Service
(STARS) Program. The Student leadership Corps (Corps) is
a multi-year experience providing students with support
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Celebration Presenters
throughout their academic years. The Corps uses
civic engagement, mentoring, and professional development and/or research experiences to promote a healthy
student community among academia. Deonte is the Program
Coordinator of Promoting Academic Success for Boys of
Color (PASBOC). This program examines the relationships of
college mentors with elementary mentees to better understand their experiences and outcomes. Deonte earned his
undergraduate degree in Psychology from USF Polytechnic.
His main focus is to recruit, engage and graduate underrepresented students from college. His research interests
include mentoring relationships, multicultural awareness,
game making, K-12 outreach, service learning, and robotics.
Dr. Teresa Dahlberg, UNC Charlotte
Dr. Dahlberg is Professor of Computer Science and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Administration for
the College of Computing and Informatics at UNC Charlotte.
Teresa has over 25 years of experience in computer science
and engineering - as an academic researcher, educator and
administrator; research center director; industry developer,
and intellectual property consultant. Teresa is founding
Director of the Diversity in Information Technology Institute, a research center that has created a set of pipeline
programs for student recruitment, education and broadening participation from K-12 through graduate school. She
is co-founder and director of the STARS Alliance, a national
community of practice for student-led regional engagement. Teresa leads the STARS Alliance efforts to scale from
20 to 50 colleges and universities by 2016. Teresa created
the Socially Relevant Computing Research Experiences for
Undergraduates program; the Pathways from Community
College to Graduate School scholarship program; and the
Computing Scholarships for Ph.D. Students program. Teresa
leads the national formation committee for the Association
of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Broadening Participation (ACM SIGBP). She serves as an expert
consultant with the National Science Foundation CISE
Education and Workforce Programs. As a Computer Science
professor, Teresa’s research and teaching focus on areas
of communications networking, computing education, and
broadening participation. Teresa received the B.S. degree in
Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and
the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Engineering from
North Carolina State University. She worked as a hardware
and software development engineer for the IBM Corporation
for ten years, before joining the faculty at the University of
North Carolina at Charlotte.
David Dearmore, NC State University
David is an Undergraduate at NC State University, and is
studying Computer Science. He has experience in Software
Security and minor front-end and back-end web development.
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Katelyn Doran, UNC Charlotte
Katelyn is a NASA-Funded GSRP fellow working in the
Games+Learning Lab at UNC Charlotte with Dr. Tiffany
Barnes on the Game2Learn Project. Katelyn’s research
involves serious games - any game with a purpose beyond
entertainment, including education, physical fitness, and
environmental awareness. Katelyn also leads a Game Design and Development apprenticeship at the middle school
level as a way to teach Computer Science concepts and
Computational Thinking to young audiences and inspire
students to consider Computing as a career. Much of this
work is located in high-risk, urban schools.
Lonnie Emard, IT-ology
Lonnie Emard was instrumental in the formation of the
Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management and
was named the executive director in January 2009. He is
responsible for the strategic planning and tactical operations of the Consortium, including financial management
and facility planning. He has been passionately working
to bring academic, business, economic development and
public relations entities together to address the need
for more workers in the IT talent pipeline. Emard serves
on several boards, including the Columbia Chamber of
Commerce Information Technology Council, Midlands
Education and Business Alliance, New Carolina’s Insurance Technology and Services cluster and the Innovation
in Insurance organization. He graduated from Northwest
Missouri State University with a bachelor’s of science in
computer science in 1981.
Emily Ensley, Florida State University
Emily is a Political Science Major at FSU. She is currently
attending American University in DC with a focus on Law as
her future.
Omar Estrella, NC State University
Omar is an undergraduate at NC State University, and is
studying Computer Science. He has four years of experience in front-end and back-end web development, two of
those years have been spent working with Django.
Dr. Wanda Eugene is a principle and research scientist at
Vole Lib Research Institute Inc., where she explores how
cultural, social, and personal surroundings affect the appropriation of computational artifacts and ideas of how
they can serve as a resource for the design of new
technologies. She completed her doctoral studies in the
Human-Centered Computing Lab in the Computer Science
and Software Engineering Department at Auburn University. In addition, she holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and
a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Florida Agricultural
and Mechanical University-Florida State University College
of Engineering, and a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies
specializing in Instructional Technology and African Ameri-
Celebration Presenters
can Studies from George Mason University. In addition Dr.
Eugene is a STARS Alumni.
Caitlin Foster, NC State University
Caitlin is a rising junior in Computer Science at North Carolina State University. This past year she was involved in the
SPARCS outreach program and Undergraduate Tutoring.
Jamal Gumbs, Florida State University
Jamal works at the IT Help Desk and is currently interning
at a local company. In his free time, he performs with the
FSU Flying High Circus. His career interests are in Mobile
App Development, Security and Networking.
Megan Harwell, UNC Charlotte
A senior at the University of North Carolina Charlotte,
studying is Software & Information Systems with an emphasis in Information Assurance. Megan will be pursuing a Master’s degree in Information Technology, and is the current
recipient of the Cyber Security Scholarship for Service and
member of the 49th Security Division, the Charlotte OWASP
Student Chapter, and the STARS Alliance.
Scott Heggen, UNC Charlotte
Scott is a Ph.D. student at UNCC, seeking a degree in
Computing and Information Systems, and is researching an
idea known as participatory sensing, where mobile phones
are leveraged as data collection tools. Scott’s research is on
developing tools to make participatory sensing applications
more attractive and easier to deploy. Scott is also the Corps
Leader for the STARS Alliance, UNC Charlotte division,
and is responsible for leading students as they develop
outreach activities, professional development, technical
development, and recruiting events. Scott received his
M.S.and B.S. from Western Carolina University.
Michael Hester, UNC Charlotte
Michael is a junior undergraduate student at UNCC studying Computer Science. He has worked in the field of computer science since 2002 managing small business needs.
He has been working with the project since January 2012.
Michael plans on moving into the early entry master’s program offered by UNCC.
Rane Johnson-Stempson, Microsoft Research Connections
Rane Johnson-Stempson is the Education and Scholarly
Communication Principal Research Director, where she
engages with academics worldwide and identifies highimpact areas for research investigations. She is currently
working on projects that use technology to transform
how we learn about history and how we eradicate human
trafficking. Rane is also the lead for growing, attracting
and retaining women in research, science and engineering. She is actively working with NCWIT, Anita Borg, CRA-W
and researchers on how to grow the pipeline of women in
research, science and engineering. Previously, as the WW
Director of Education Strategy she was responsible for
multi-stakeholder partnerships, Cisco-Intel-Microsoft Alliance, World Economic Forum- Global Education Initiative,
Fast Track Initiative-Private Constituency and helping our
local teams around the world use the power of technology as an accelerator to transform education to meet local
government priorities to drive economic and workforce
development in the 21st century.
Dr. Heather Lipford, UNC Charlotte
Dr. Lipford is an Associate Professor at UNC Charlotte. She
completed her Ph.D. in May 2005 from the College of
Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her
research interests include HumanComputer Interaction,
usable privacy and security, social computing, and visual
analytics. She is co-directing the HCI Lab and is a member
of the UNC Charlotte Cyber Defense and Network Assurability Center, the Charlotte Visualization Center and
the UNC Charlotte Cognitive Science Academy.
Allison Loehr, Florida State University
Allison is an ICT (Information, Communication & Technology) major in the School. She balances school with two jobs
while serving with STARS.
Dr. Calvin Lowe, Hampton University
Dr. Lowe received a B.S. degree in physics from North
Carolina A&T State University and went on to receive a M.S.
in Plasma Physics and a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Lowe served as
Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and as
the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate
College at Hampton University before leaving to serve as
President at Bowie State University in Maryland. Upon his
return to Hampton University in 2011, Dr. Lowe became
the new Dean of the School of Science. Most recently, Dr.
Lowe served as Vice President of Research and Program
Development at the National Institute of Aerospace.
Timothy Noble, NC A&T University
Timothy is currently a proud Aggie at North Carolina A&T
State University studying Computer Science. At a young
age his father got him started with computers via the paint
tool and he has been programming and web designing ever
since.
Dr. Jamie Payton, UNC Charlotte
Jaime is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is the director of the Dynamic Pervasive Computing Environments
group, leading research projects in software engineering
for pervasive computing systems. She has received an
ACM Distinguished Paper award as well as a Bonnie Cone
Fellowship for female STEM faculty for her research on as19
Celebration Presenters
sessing and improving the quality of information provided
by humans and sensors in pervasive computing systems.
Dr. Payton is committed to recruiting a new generation of
students to the careers in computing that are essential to
our nation’s technological advancement by exposing
undergraduates to research in an accessible way. She was
a co-founder of to the Graduate Research and Academic
Discovery (GRAD) event, a two-day program designed to
introduce promising undergraduates from institutions in
the Southeast region to the research opportunities in the
College of Computing and Informatics at UNC Charlotte.
As a PI and mentor for a National Science Foundation’s
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site, Dr.
Payton has mentored 13 undergraduate students as they
conducted summer research projects in her lab.
Osa Omokaro, UNC Charlotte
Osa Omokaro is a Ph.D. student in the department of Computing and Information Systems at UNC Charlotte. Osa
is interested in pervasive mobile computers that make
our lives simpler through the use of tools that enable
us manage information easier. Her research focus is on
determining precise incentive mechanisms to recruit and
retain participants in participatory sensing campaigns.
Participatory sensing campaigns enable public users to
gather, analyze and share data using their mobile phones.
Osa received her M.S degree in Computer Science from
Igbenedion University, Nigeria and her B.S in Software
and Information Systems from UNC Charlotte.
Chirag Patel, UNC Charlotte
Chirag Patel is a sophomore at the Univeristy of North
Carolina at Charlotte, studying computer science. He is also
the co-owner and head of design at Simplx Designs, a web
design and photography startup in Charlotte, NC. His background includes graduating as an Academy of Information
Technology Honors Student from Phillip O. Berry Academy,
and placing first in Digital Video Production at the Future
Business Leaders of America state competition in 2011.
Ebe Randeree, Florida State University
Ebe is the Academic Liaision for the STARS FSU group. He
directs the Undergraduate IT program, oversees communication for the College, as well as coordinates internships/
outreach for the school. His teaching focuses on emerging
technologies, health informatics, leadership and social
media management.
Dr. Audrey Rorrer, UNC Charlotte
Dr. Rorrer is a Research Associate at the UNC Charlotte,
leads undergraduate student assessment in the College
of Computing and Informatics, and is an evaluator for the
Diversity in Information Technology Institute. Dr. Rorrer
specializes in program evaluation of programs designed
to broaden participation in computing and to increase the
number of women and underrepresented minority mem20
bers in the pipeline of computing disciplines. She has been
a key member of evaluation teams for more than ten NSF
funded projects, such as the STARS Alliance (2006-present), Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Computing and Information Sciences and Engineering [REU CISE]
sites (2006-present), and the UNC Charlotte ADVANCE IT
project (2009-2011). Dr. Rorrer received her doctorate in
Counseling from UNC Charlotte, her M.A. from Appalachian
State University in Student Development, and her B.S. from
Guilford College, with a double major in Psychology and
Religious Studies.
Matthew Russi, Florida State University
Matthew is an IT student at FSU. Besides school, he coordinates 10 students running the help desk for the City of
Tallahassee. He has served STARS on many projects and
serves the College on the Student Leadership Council.
Raquel Safra, Florida State University
Raquel is an art major at FSU with a concentration in
computer animation. She has hopes of having a career in
animation or scale modeling.
Dr. Cheryl Seals, Auburn University
Dr. Seals is an associate professor in Auburn University’s
Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering. Dr. Seals conducts research in Human Computer Interaction with an emphasis in visual programming of educational simulations to support end-user programming, user
interface design and evaluation, and educational gaming
technologies to support computing and STEM. Some
of her recent projects involve multi-touch SmartTable,
iPhone and Droid applications. Dr. Seals works with many
programs focused on improving computer science education at all levels and to increase the computing pipeline
by getting students interested in STEM disciplines and
future technology careers (starsalliance.org, www.eng.
auburn.edu/stars). Dr. Seals also works with the A4RC
alliance that works on increasing the computing pipeline
by created opportunities for African American students to
learn more about research and academic careers, through
research experience and training. ADMI/A4RC hosts an
annual conference as a venue for informal mentoring,
computing research, and skill building for undergraduates
and graduate students (www.a4rc.org).
Dr. Christin D. Shelton recently earned her Doctoral degree
in Computer Science, at the Auburn University College
of Engineering in the Human Centered Computing. She
received her Bachelor’s degree from Talladega College and
her Masters from Auburn University in Computer
Science and Software Engineering, respectively. Dr. Shelton has held a number of positions in the government as
an intern and employee and has years of experience in
research, teaching, tutoring, and mentoring including her
most recent position at the Naval Research Laboratory in
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Washington, D.C. There she worked in NRL’s robot lab in the
areas of Human-Robot Interaction and Language Processing. Dr. Shelton’s dissertation research involves creating a
grammatical structure to enable robots to appropriately
interact with and manipulate objects in the real world.
With the success of this research she seeks to add to the
momentum of the endeavor to bring service robots to
homes beginning with those who are severely disabled
and require assistance. She anticipates using her degrees
primarily for the advancement of both space and assistive
technologies. She has coordinated various academic and
extracurricular programs, including STARS, and held positions on numerous boards.
last 20 years he has addressed the importance of student
development in secondary and higher education, desegregation and equity in educational institutions, and the
effectiveness of community collaborations to improve the
quality of life in diverse communities. His current research
includes creating a grounded theory around Identitybased mentoring using his “Thomas Principles” to increase
student college adjustment, grade point average, retention
and timely graduation. Dr. Thomas is a leader on the STARS
Executive team and a Co-PI for Project Pride, a $1.2 million
grant to increase the number of Males and Minorities in K5th grade education.
Katherine Smith, Florida State University
Katherine serves as the evaluation assistant for STARS FSU.
She recently completed her Bachelors in IT and is currently
working on her Masters in Integrated Marketing Communication. Her career interests are in the health informatics
and social media area.
Powers Strickland, IT-ology
Powers Strickland is the Communications Manager for
IT-oLogy, a non-profit advancing IT talent. She has a
background in fundraising and communications in a nonprofit setting, having previously worked as the Director of
Development for Sandhills School and the Special Events
Coordinator for the SC Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis
Foundation. A native of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina,
Powers has been in Columbia for six years. Powers graduated from Presbyterian College in 2004 with a Bachelor of
Arts degree. As Communications Manager, Powers works
to connect students, parents, educators, professionals and
the media with IT-oLogy to increase the IT talent pipeline
across the Southeast. Powers manages all communications,
marketing, and PR efforts for IT-oLogy.
Anne Watson is a recent graduate from North Carolina
State University last May, with Bachelors of Science in
Computer Science and Physics. She has been an SLC member of STARS for the past four years, participating in various
research and outreach projects, foremost among those the
SPARCS outreach program. She will be pursuing a PhD in
Physics at Duke University this fall, and will hopefully become integrated with the growing SLC there.
Dr. Nathan Thomas, University of South Florida
E. Nathan Thomas III, PhD, is the University of South Florida
In Lakeland Director of Multicultural Education and Engagement, where he manages campus diversity among
students, faculty, staff, and in the community. He also
teaches undergraduate courses in Leadership Studies. Dr.
Thomas earned his doctoral degree in Ecological – Community Psychology from Michigan State University and
his Master’s and Undergraduate degrees in Clinical/Community Psychology from Norfolk State University. Over the
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STARS Computing Corps Leadership 2011-2012
Advisory Board
M. Brian Blake, University of Miami
Barbara Bogue, University of Pennsylvania; AWE Project
Tracy Camp, Colorado School of Mines; CRA
Priscilla Cohen, Citizen Schools
Gerry Dozier, North Carolina A&T State University
Juan Gilbert, Clemson University
Richard Ladner, University of Washington; AccessComputing
Carol Rudisill, Anita Borg Institute
Executive Steering Committee
Teresa Dahlberg, University of North Carolina at Charlotte - STARS Alliance Director, PI
Tiffany Barnes, North Carolina State University - STARS Alliance, Co-PI
Heather Lipford, University of North Carolina at Charlotte - STARS Alliance, Co-PI
Maureen Biggers, Indiana University - Bloomington
Jason Black, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Anthony Chow, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Larry Dennis, Florida State University
Jean Muhammad, Hampton University
Cheryl Seals, Auburn University
Nathan Thomas, University of South Florida
Mladen Vouk, North Carolina State University
Kera Watkins, Wilberforce University
Evaluation Team
Tiffany Barnes, North Carolina State University, Coordinator
Audrey Rorrer, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Reporting & Collection
Kim Buch, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Publications
Anthony Chow, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Planning
Executive Team
Karen B. Bean, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, STARS Project Manager
Aubrae J. Collins, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Program Coordinator
Scott Heggen, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Web Portal
Andria Jones, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Business Manager
Ashley C. Peeler, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Director of Development and Marketing
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Academic Liaisons and Corps Leaders
Auburn University - Cheryl Seals, Justus Nyagwencha
Arizona State University - Winslow Burleson, Cecil Lozano
Bowie State University - Quincy Brown
Central Piedmont Community College - Felesia Stukes, Jean Schoenheit, Jason Bellew
Columbus State University - Radhouane Chouchane
DePauw University - Gloria Townsend
Duke University - Brooke Osborne
Florida A&M University - Jason Black
Florida International University - Massoud Milani, Tiana Solis, Sheena Chiong
Florida State College, Jacksonville - Ernie Friend, Ofori Boateng, Pamela Brauda
Florida State University - Ebe Randeree
Fort Valley State University - Cheryl Swanier
Georgia Gwinett College - Kristine Nagel, Nannette Napier
George Mason University - Kammy Sanghera
Georgia Tech - Barbara Ericson, Stephanie Echols
Hampton University - Chutima Boonthum-Denecke
Illinois Institute of Technology - Cindy Hood, Vida Williams
Indiana University-Bloomington - Nancy Lemons
Indiana University-Purdue - Polly Baker, Vicki Daugherty
Johnson C. Smith University - Hang Chen, Lijuan Cao
Livingstone College - Kathryn Moland
Loyola University - Ronald Greenberg
Meredith College - Kristin Watkins
Morehouse College - Kinnis Gosha
North Carolina State University - Kristy Boyer, Joe Grafsgaard, Arpan Chakraborty
NC A&T University - Gina Bullock
North Dakota State University - Simone Ludwig, Joan Krush
Northern Virginia Community College - Paula Worthington, Ken Shade
Northwest Florida State College - Heidi Gentry-Kolen, Wanjiku Jackson
Oregon State University - Eleen Momsen, Marleigh Perez
Rutgers University - Rebecca Wright, Elanie Zundle
Seminole State University - Melinda White, Sandy Keeter
South Carolina State - Nikunja Swain, Cynthia Davis
Spelman College - Andrea Lawrence, Iretta Kearse
University of Delaware - Lori Pollock
University of New Orleans - Jamie Nino
University of North Texas - Ryan Garlick
University of North Carolina at Charlotte - Karen Bean
University of North Carolina at Greensboro - Steve Tate, Lakshmi Iyer, Lydia Fritz, Janice Knapp
University of South Florida - Nate Thomas, Deonte Cooper
Wilberforce University - Kera Watkins, Deborah Love
Winthrop University - Marguerite Doman
23
Workshops, Programs and Sessions
Saturday, August 11
Sunday, August 12
Mentoring- Part I, Dr. Nate Thomas
Plenary Session; Call to Action for Corps, Dr. Teresa
Dahlberg, Dr. Tiffany Barnes, Dr. Audrey Rorrer and Dr.
Nate Thomas
Location: Room 106-107, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Developing Leadership Skills for Mentoring and Relationships
Evaluation Assistant Orientation, Dr. Audrey Rorrer
Location: Room 103-104, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
This interactive workshop will introduce Corps student Evaluation Assistants (EAs) to their important
role in STARS. Participants will hear from a panel of
continuing EAs about their experiences, ideas, and
research skills they’ve applied through their work
in STARS. In preparation for the upcoming academic
year, EAs will learn to use evaluation and reporting
tools such as the Corps Activity Reporting system,
the Corps Student Registration system, and will
brainstorm about their research projects. EAs not
only make vital contributions to STARS, but also
develop transferrable skills to computing research
and professional development. This evaluation
training workshop is required for all designated
Evaluation Assistants.
Leadership Development, Battino Batts
Location: Conference Room CD, 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
This session will connect STARS students through
ice-breakers as well as leadership and team-building
exercises. This leadership development workshop is
required for all student attendees.
All STARS Faculty & Liaisons Meeting
Location: Conference Room CD, 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Requested attendance by all STARS faculty and
liaisons to review upcoming NSF Site Visit and STARS
outcomes. Desserts and coffee will be served.
Location: Ballroom ABC, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Breakout Session I ~ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Mentoring - Part II, Dr. Nate Thomas
Location: Room 106-107
Identity Development, Pyscho-social Support, Sense
ofBelonging
World Class Leadership: 3+12+4, Dr. Anthony Chow
Location: Room 104
Dr. Chow will present the applied concepts of world
class leadership and management derived largely
from the seminal Gallup study of 80,000 managers
and 400 companies worldwide. In addition, he will
share his own unique experience as one of the original founders of the STARS Alliance, Director of Online
Learning for UNG Greensboro’s School of Euducation,
Marine Corps officer candidate, Internet company
manager, and community advocate. Ultimately world
class leadership can be broken down into the 3 secrets + 12 seminal questions + 4 master keys. Like to
know what they are? How does Google do it? Come
find out.
Professionalism, Battino Batts
Location: Room 103
This session will explore Professionalism in the
workplace: dress, communication (verbal, non verbal,
email) dealing with conflict resolution, integrating
oneself (their age and older), handling relationships
(friends and more than friends) and after work social
gatherings.
Introduction to Programming with Android Phones ~
Part I, Alok Baikadi and Trisha Biswas
Location: Room 102
This workshop will provide an introduction to app
development with Android phones. By the end of this
hands-on workshop, attendees would have a non-trivial functioning Android app and a basic knowledge on
24
developing apps. As a prerequisite, participants must
know how to program with Java. Attendees would
need a computer (Windows/Linux/Mac) to write
programs during the workshop. Steps to install the
Eclipse IDE commonly used for app development will
be provided. Android phones will also be provided,
but you are welcome to use yours. Alternately, the
Eclipse IDE provides an excellent Android Emulator
that may also be used.
Maximum 20 participants. Attendees must have a
computer and know how to program with Java.
STARS 1.0: Launching a Successful Corps ~ Part I,
Dr. Audrey Rorrer, Dr. Kim Buch, Dr. Tiffany Barnes, Dr.
Teresa Dahlberg and Karen Bean
Location: Room 105
This session provides start-up information to help
new faculty and Corps leaders (from new or returning STARS institutions) plan and implement a vibrant
Corps on their own campuses. Topics covered include:
What is the STARS Leadership Corps?; Implementing a
Curricular or a Co-Curricular Corps Experience; Service Learning & Civic Engagement; Team Dynamics;
Project Management; Reflective Writing and Leadership. Partcipants will leave the session with access
to the newly-developed Corps Manual designed to
share Corps best practices and tools such as syllabi,
resources, and sample assignments and activities that
support your Corps curricular or co-curricular experience.
goal of teaching English to children who mostly speak
the native Creole Language. Our team used Scratch
to teach the children basic programming methods.
The knowledge they’ve gained in programming will
propagate to other subjects; math, problem solving,
teamwork, creativity, and communication. Our trip was
a smashing success, and while there our group used
the Scratch application to create a Creole to English
teaching tool with animation and speech. This presentation focuses on our trip and our success while there.
Managing Projects and Teams, Dr. Lori Pollock
Location: Room 103
Leading projects, whether it be outreach, software, or
research, can be exciting but also overwhelming.
This talk discusses ways to plan, organize, and manage projects to meet the intended goals given a set of
resources and constraints, including time deadlines
and budget. The talk will also include ideas for team
building and management.
Introduction to Programming with Android Phones ~
Part II, Alok Baikadi and Trisha Biswas
Location: Room 102
Continuation of 10:00 AM Session, pre-requisite to
attend second session.
STARS 1.0: Launching a Successful Corps ~ Part II,
Dr. Audrey Rorrer, Dr. Kim Buch, Dr. Tiffany Barnes, Dr.
Teresa Dahlberg and Karen Bean
Breakout Session II ~ 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Location: Room 105
Mentoring - Part II, Dr. Nate Thomas
Continuation of 10:00 AM Session, pre-requisite to
attend second session.
Location: Room 106-107
Teaching CS Concepts in Haiti, Stephen Chandler and
Megan Harwell
Location: Room 104
A group of STARS members, including faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students, traveled to Haiti with
the goal of teaching computing to an underprivileged
population. In collaboration with the One Laptop
Per Child Initiative, STARS provided and trained the
schools and orphanages with XO laptops. The Haitian
children were taught a variety of computing concepts,
including email and social networks, with a secondary
Lunch ~ 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Location: Ballroom ABC
Women in IT Panel,
Ms. Shalanda Armstrong - PricewaterhouseCoopers
Ms. Alika Muhammad - Lucent Technologies
Dr. Janet Brunelle - Old Dominion University
Ms. Denisse Aranda - NASA’s Langley Research
Center
Dr. Michelle Claville - Hampton University
25
Workshops, Programs and Sessions
Breakout Session III ~ 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Mentoring - Part II Continued, Dr. Nate Thomas
Location: Room 106-107
USF Poly Summer Camp & K-8th Grade Mentoring
~ Part I, Deonte Cooper, Donald Black, and Dr. Nate
Thomas
Improving Technical Skills
Location: Room 104
Location: Room 102
The Students and Technology in Academia, Research
and Service (STARS) program at The University of
South Florida Polytechnic (USFP) provide outreach
through tiered mentoring* using the Thomas
Principles*. Outreach is comprised of an annual
“STARS Summer Camp” and “STARS K-8th grade mentoring.” The summer camp is held during a five-day
period in the month of July by STARS mentors and
mentor/mentees. The five-day “free” camp includes
a technology curriculum (science, mathematics, and
computing) to expose students to programming robotics, gaming to develop student social skills (team
building, problem solving, and effective communication) and daily journaling to improve written communication skills. During the school year the STARS
mentors continue to visit the mentees weekly using
a curriculm built using the Thomas Principles to
reinforce relationships and skills learned during the
summer camp.
3rd World Network Administration, Veronica Catete
and Katelyn Doran
Getting Things Done: Personal Productivity for
Computing Leaders of Today and Tomorrow, Dr. Kristy
Boyer
Location: Room 103
Do you feel like you have more tasks than time to
spend? Have you delivered projects late or barely on
time? Do you sometimes think about all the things
you have to do and feel unable to begin because you
are overwhelmed? Based on Getting Things Done,
the national bestseller by David Allen, this workshop
presents a personal productivity approach that has
revolutionized the way people around the world address the productivity challenges in their lives.
26
merging the multiple sources of “input” we all must
attend to in our daily lives, and implementing a flexible prioritization scheme to help decide which task
to do when, even in the face of changing circumstances and complex decision factors. The ultimate
power of this approach lies in getting things off your
mind and into a trustworthy system that increases
your productivity and decreases your stress.
Intended to help “knowledge professionals” (which
all students and faculty are) manage tasks, track
many projects, and accomplish ongoing peace of
mind and productivity, this workshop will cover
practical aspects of personal productivity including
specific tools to manage tasks and calendar entries,
We will discuss the STARS Haiti project, during
which our technical skills were pushed far beyond
the bounds of a University setting. While in Haiti,
students were put into the position of Network Administrators and learned more about wifi, linux, and
RAM than they had in any class. More importantly,
students learned how to operate under pressure, develop and test creative solutions, and know when it’s
time to admit defeat. It is these skills and the context in which we learned them that we would most
like to share with Participants, because they make us
better students and Corps participants.
Usability and Human Centered Design, Dr. Anthony
Chow
Dr. Chow will present his research and experience
in usability and human centered design and provide
both a theoretical framework and applied methodology for designing systems around its intended users
and then testing and evaluating those systems to
ensure continuous refinement and improvement
takes place.
Understanding Analytics, Ashley Rutstein, Katherine
Smith, and Ebe Randeree
So, what’s the ROI (Return on Investment)? It has
been a year and we are looking back at what worked
and what didn’t. Where did we achieve success?
Where did we fail? What does the data say about
our efforts? This presentation will showcase what we
learned.
Participants will become familiar with analytics for
videos and social media, how to read data, how to
measure ROI, etc.
Review of a 5-Year STARS Organization, Katherine
Smith and Ebe Randeree
Location: Room 105
We have been in STARS for 5 years and one important planning step is to look back and evaluate our
approach and our outcomes. We conducted a 5 year
review of our activities, our approach, and the data
collected. We will showcase successes and areas for
improvement. We will use the data to plan the next
5 years.
Participants will leave with a general understanding
of strategic planning, pathways for success, and how
to negotiate university and faculty barriers.
Polling Florida’s Leaders, Raquel Safra, Ebe Randere
and Emily Ensley
Location: Room 105
Each year, 100’s of boys and girls travel to Tallahassee for a week on civics and government - STARS
participates with a recruitment event that allows us to
take surveys of these students. We conduct surveys
and have for the past 3 years. Our data shows clear
differences between Boys/Girls in how they perceive
Technology and IT. We have analyzed the data for the
past 3 years and will showcase our results.
Breakout Session IV ~ 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
USF Poly Summer Camp & K-8th Grade Mentoring
~ Part II, Deonte Cooper, Donald Black, and Dr. Nate
Thomas
Location: Room 104
Continuation of 2:00 PM Session, pre-requesite to attend second session.
Designing, Presenting and Critiquing Research Posters, Lamara Warren, Jerold Dawson, Amantha Lott, and
Brandi Smith
Location: Room 103
This interactive session will explore research poster
design and content elements, presentation considerations, and criteria used to critique research posters.
Participants will be grouped in small teams to step
into the role of both of a researcher and a poster
judge using sample posters and judging rubrics. We’ll
have sample posters, but anyone with a research
poster is welcome to bring it to this session to receive
feedback!
Microsoft Tools, Rane Johnson
Location: Room 102
Come learn about free tools you can use in your
outreach efforts to excite young girls into computing,
created free from Microsoft Research. We will show
you the tools, let you practice hands on and answer
your questions and get your feedback.
Exchange of Ideas and Successes, Q&A with first Old
Timers In STARS, Ebe Randeree, Dr. Jason Black, Dr.
Cheryl Seals, Dr. Anthony Chow, and Felesia Stukes
Location: Room 105
Teaching AP CS Principles with Scratch, GameMaker,
and AppInventor, Dr. Tiffany Barnes
Location: Room 105
Learn to help with the CS10K and AP CS Principles
efforts to prepare high school teachers and students
to be creators in computing! In this workshop, we will
introduce the NC and Berkeley approach to teaching a
pilot of the AP CS Principles course, called the “Beauty and Joy of Computing” (BJC). In this workshop,
we’ll spend 70% of our time on various tools, where
participants will experience first hand how to conduct
outreach and/or lessons with short lectures, discussions around readings, CS Unplugged activities, and
a hands-on lab. We will spend 30% of our time on
logistics, introducing our 16-unit curriculum, projects,
and teaching methods including pair programming,
along with practical tips and tricks for classes and
outreach. We will also discuss our “STARS” approach
to engaging professors, college students, and high
school teachers together to form a Computer Science
Teachers Association (CSTA) partnership to enrich CS
education and access in a region.
Poster Session ~ 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Location: Ballroom ABC
Community and Industry Expo
Location: Ballroom Pre-function
Dinner ~ 6:45 PM - 8:00 PM
Welcome: Dr. Lowe, Hampton University
Keynote: Battino Batts, William R. Harvey Leadership
Institute
27
Workshops, Programs and Sessions
Monday, August 13
Plenary Session
Location: Ballroom ABC, 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Introduction to Web Development with Django ~
Part I, David Dearmore and Omar Estrella
Breakout Session V ~ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Room 102
Initiating and Implementing a Successful Outreach
Program ~ Part I, Veronica Catete, Caitlin Foster, and
Anne Watson
This workshop will provide an introduction in web
development methodologies using the Django web
framework. As a prerequisite for the workshop, participants should have at least a basic knowledge of
Python. Participants should leave with knowledge of
Django and a functioning web application with frontend and back-end portions.
Location: Room 104
We will discuss how to create and maintain successful outreach programs. In our expereince we have
run numerous workshops and outreach programs for
youth. We would like to share our experiences and
lessons learned with fellow STARS members in hopes
that they can create great outreach programs capable
of growth, expansion, and flexibility.
Participants will leave with:
* an outreach creation task plan
* a list of software tools useful for managing
numerous outreach venues
* a list of out-of-the-box lesson materials that are
free and easy to use
* strategies for locating community partners
* ideas for how to turn their outreach into research
Introduction to Grad School; Is Graduate School for
Me?, Dr. Cheryl Seals
Location: Room 106
This workshop has been given at many schools in the
past as a Best Practice for BPC. The A4RC Alliance
utilizes this workshop to instruct students on the benefits of graduate school. This talk will also have linkages to community service and why graduate school
is one of the strongest forms of community service
that one can participate in. Graduate education
has the potential to strengthen our nation through
growing the graduate pipeline and building the future
technology workforce.
From College to the Real World: Tips and Tools to be
Successful in an IT Career, Lonnie Emard and Powers
Strickland
Location: Room 103
28
learn more about building your resume, gaining realworld experience and finding an IT job.
From internships to entry-level positions, we have the
tips and tools you need to be successful. Join us to
Attendees will need a computer to write programs
during the workshop. Their computer can have any
operating system (Windows/Linux/Mac). During the
workshop, steps to install Django will be provided.
Useful links and resources will be provided at the
workshop to allow the participants to continue working with Django. Maximum 15 participants.
STARS Working with HBCU’s, Dr. Nate Thomas and
Deonte Cooper
Location: Room 105
Historically Black Colleges and Universities continue
to struggle with the academic metric that measures
the eligibility and retention of student athletes
at a team level. Where many non-HBCU peers – including schools with similarly limited resources –
show some improvement, teams at HBCUs are trending in the opposite direction. (NCAA). STARS
approaches this problem with IT students making
sure they have the right qualification for grants and
schalorships. We look to address this issue in this session with our IT students.
NSF Site Visit Preperation - Invitation Only, Dr. Tiffany
Barnes and Dr. Audrey Rorrer
Location: Room 107
The STARS Executive Steering Committee and Evaluation Team will meet with selected STARS faculty, staff,
and students to prepare for our October 15, 2012
visit at the National Science Foundation. The purpose
of this visit is to present the results and impact of
STARS from 2006-2012, with a special emphasis on
outcomes and assessment, and a few meaningful stories that illustrate how STARS has made a difference.
Breakout Session VI ~ 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM
Initiating and Implementing a Successful Outreach
Program ~ Part II, Veronica Catete, Caitlin Foster, and
Anne Watson
Lunch ~ 12:45 PM - 2:00 PM
Location: Ballroom ABC
Power Tower Activity: Integrated STEM Inquiry and
Problem Based Learning, Dr. Rod Brame
Location: Room 104
Breakout Session VII ~ 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Attendance to Part I not required for Part II
Presentations on Current Outreach
CISE Graduate Research Fellowships, Dr. Tiffany
Barnes
Location: Room 104
Location: Room 106
This session is designed to encourage and educate
students on how to apply for graduate research fellowships. Faculty will learn how to support and guide
students in these applications and how to write a
good reference letter.
Introduction to Web Development with Django ~
Part II, David Dearmore and Omar Estrella
Location: Room 102
Continuation of 10:30 AM Session, pre-requesite to
attend second session.
Reflective Writing, Karen Bean and Dr. Kim Buch
Location: Room 105
Engaging Students with New Ideas, Jamal Gumbs,
Angelina Collazo, and Ebe Randeree
Curricula in many programs are set by administration/
faculty. These tend not to fluctuate frequently and
have minimal changes. Technology/IT on the other
hand changes everyday! Students from the
FSU Stars Alliance have taken the leadership role
within the college in ENGAGING other students (pirmarily for recruitment and retention efforts) through
a series of FEED YOUR BRAIN activities. These include
both technical and non-technical topics. We conducted outreach, promotions through social media recruited external speakers and business leaders. We
have data to report on the marketing efforts.
In addition - we used the events to create links to
industry leaders, recruit for STARS, promote STARS,
and identify STARS as the lead in driving new topics/
emerging technology within FSU.
“We do not learn from experience. We learn from
reflecting on experience.” John Dewey
TSA/STARS; A Strategic Partnership, Matthews Russi,
Allison Loehr, and Ebe Randeree
The value of reflection has been well-documented in
the literature on service and learning. When students
think critically before, during, and after their participation in community service projects, they are better
able to make connections to the academic curriculum,
to have meaningful experiences, and to develop a
desire for lifelong participation in civic engagement.
This interactive session will present best practices
on reflective writing by addressing components such
as developing effective prompts, incorporating reflective writing into your STARS curriculum, and pros and
cons of assessing reflections.
Technology Student Association (TSA) provides opportunities for middle and high school students who
have a strong interest in technology to build on their
skills through co-curricular activities and competitions. Students focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Two-thousand schools
throughout the nation have partnered with TSA.
TSA has 160,000 members nationally and 22,000 in
the state of Florida. This presentation will highlight
our approach, avenues for partnership, opportunities
for other STARS, etc. We will also discuss new initiatives in the State for high school academies and the
impact on TSA and STARS.
Ad Hoc
Location: Room 103
Project L.I.F.T.; Leveraging Innovation for Transformation, Dr. Wanda Eugene and Christian Shelton
Project LIFT, an initiative of Vole Lib Research Institute
(VLRI), seeks to foster collaboration with those in the
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Workshops, Programs and Sessions
Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics
(STEM) disciplines to leverage technology to help
meet the needs of target communities. Students will
gain practical experience innovatively applying their
technical skills. By engaging students in projects that
result in immediate social impact, Project LIFT
aspires to promote STEM as a helping profession,
increasing recruitment and improving retention of minority STEM students. Participants should leave with
an understanding of how they can be part of Project
LIFT and what they can gain from the experience.
Research Presentations
Location: Room 106
Using Technology to Support Citizen Science, Michael
Hester, Scott Heggen, Osarieme Omokaro, and Dr.
Jamie Payton
We ran a 10-week citizen science apprenticeship
through Citizen Schools at MLK middle school with 21
students. Using mobile applications built for capturing citizen science data, the students created a campaign to solve community issues that they identified,
and used our application to conduct an experiment
to prove the issues existed. The students identified
pollution in the local watershed as a major issue, and
proposed solutions to the problem. This presentation
will highlight the integration of technology with the
citizen science project, and show how technology enhanced the students engagement with the scientific
method.
Computer Science and IT Identity Formation, Dr.
Anthony Chow, Dr. Steve Tate, Dr. Lakshmi Iyer, and Dr.
Xia Zhao
Dr. Chow will present his joint interdisciplinary research with UNCG faculty Dr. Steven Tate, Dr. Lakshmi Iyer, and Dr. Xia Zhao around the psychological
factors behind computer science and information
technology identity formation. Using path analysis
the presentation will discuss the preliminary findings from the experimental CSIT Identity Formation
Scale. Why do you identify with computing and IT?
Can those same variables be isolated and nurtured
in others who we are trying to recruit and retain
in the field? Come hear our preliminary findings,
emerging hypotheses, and join in the discussion.
Gamemaker ~ Part I, Acey Boyce
30
Location: Room 102
Many middle and high school students become interested in computing due to their enjoyment of video
games. These students often desire to play a role in
video game design and development. By exposing
students to simple tools for creating video games,
we can help to focus their interests early and inspire
them about computer science. In this workshop,
participants will learn how to run outreach using the
Game Maker software by taking part in an example
tutorial. We will walk attendees through the creation
of a simple game called “Catch the Clown,” an activity
that has been used with great success in middle and
high schools. We will also discuss how to extend this
session into longterm outreach. Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops with Game Maker
installed so they can follow along with the tutorial.
TREU; How to Prepare, Sustain and Plan, Dr. Tiffany
Barnes
Location: Room 105
This session will work to encourage and prepare faculty and graduate students to effectively prepare for,
conduct, and manage undergraduate research
Ad Hoc
Location: Room 103
Breakout Session VIII ~ 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
USF STARS Unleashed; The Positive Implications of
STARS Involvement in RoboCup International,
Dr. Nate Thomas
Location: Room 104
Research Presentations
Location: Room 106
Summer REU Presentations
Summer’s REU students are invited to present their
research. Students can sign up for the session during
the conference at the Registration desk.
Assisting F1 Students with Obtaining Internships and
REUs, Sihle Wilson and Dr. Jason Black
As a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago and a graduate
student who has participated in internships,
scholarship programs and REUs, the presenter is
aware of the challenges faced by such students
when applying for these programs. This workshop was
designed to inform undergraduate students of how
to make the best of their time in college by taking
advantage of various opportunities. Several topics are
covered, ranging from tips to updating resumes to
participating in professional organizations to applying
for REUs and internships. This session is very interactive as students are allowed to give real-time feedback to the presenter about the challenges they have
faced. The presenter gives advice on how to resolve
those challenges, students are informed of best practices when applying to internships with companies
and national laboratories.
Location: Room 106
Microsoft Tools - Repeat, Rane Johnson
Location: Room 102
Come learn about free tools you can use in your
outreach efforts to excite young girls into computing,
created free from Microsoft Research. We will show
you the tools, let you practice hands on and answer
your questions and get your feedback.
Faculty Focus Groups, Dr. Audrey Rorrer
Gamemaker ~ Part II, Acey Boyce
Location: Room 103 & 105
Location: Room 102
Faculty Focus Groups are an integral component of
the STARS Alliance evaluation because of the valuable insights shared. The Evaluation Team has set
aside this time to hear from faculty about their experiences in STARS, whether new to STARS or a veteran.
We discuss your successes, challenges, questions,
and ideas for enhancing our impact in support of our
collective BPC goals. This session is required for at
least one member from each institution, ideally the
Academic Liaison.
Continuation of 2:00 PM Session, pre-requesite to attend second session.
TREU; Finding Funds Dr. Tiffany Barnes
Location: Room 105
This session will work to encourage and support faculty and students to obtain funding for and conduct
undergraduate research.
Ad Hoc
Location: Room 103
Breakout Session IX ~ 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Converstions on REU Experiences; Student 2 Student:
Candid Conversations about REUs - Students Only
Home Team Meetings ~ 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Location: As determined by your team
Dinner ~ 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Keynote: Johnathan Banks, Managing Director, Bank of
New York Mellon, Client Technology Delivery Services
Hosted by: Dr. Nate Thomas, STARS General Chair
Ad Hoc Sessions:
In addition to the scheduled session, you are welcome to organize extended talks, panel discussions or work groups
(bird-of-a-feather) in one of the conference’s ad hoc sessions. Meeting rooms are indicated in the schedule as “Ad Hoc”.
These sessions are in response to ideas and issues that have been nagging you or issues and questions that arise during
the conference.
Requesting an ad hoc session: To request an ad hoc session, fill out an ad hoc session request form and return it to the
registration desk. Ad hoc sessions may be “clinics”, where you bring a problem for which you would like input. For example, would you like assistance in developing an evaluation tool for a community outreach program? Other suggestions
include topics from the conference you would like to discuss further or unscheduled topics that you would like to share
at the conference.
Scheduling an ad hoc session: Ad hoc session requests will be displayed near the registration tables. Attendees indicate
interest in the topic by signing up for the session. If enough interest is shown, the session will take place in the ad hoc
room listed in the program. Check back at the registration desk for details.
31
2012 Celebration Leadership
General Chair
Nathan Thomas, University of South Florida Polytechnic
Vice General Chair
Jean Muhammad, Hampton University
Program Chair
Marguerite Doman, Winthrop University
Poster & Multimedia Session Co-Chairs
Kristin Watkins, Meredith College
Nikunja Swain, South Carolina State
Registration & Local Arrangements Chair
Chutima Boonthum-Denecke, Hampton University
Workshop Co-Chairs
Kammy Sanghera, George Mason University
Melinda White, Seminole State College
Evaluation Co-Chairs
Audrey Rorrer, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Tiffany Barnes, North Carolina State University
Web & Online Registration Chair
Scott Heggen, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Finance Chair
Karen Bean, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Conference Experience Chair
Ashley Peeler, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Faculty Experience Co-Chairs
Felesia Stukes, Central Piedmont Community College
Ebe Randeree, Florida State University
Middle School/High School Experience
Barbara Ericson, Georgia Tech
Stephanie Echols, Georgia Tech
Affinity Groups Co-Chairs
Jason Black, Florida A&M University
Cheryl Seals, Auburn University
Online Activities Chair
Heather Lipford, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Learning Outcomes
Anthony Chow, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Industry Engagement Co-Chairs
Jean Muhammad, Hampton University
Radhouane Chouchane, Columbus State University
32
2012 STARS Awards Nominees
This year we are introducing our first class of STARS Award Winners. Nominees were selected and reviewed
by their peers in a competative process and were selected on the basis of merit, overall contritbutions to
STARS and their ability to make an impact on their community as related to our core mission and values. We
are delighted to showcase the 2012 STARS Award Nominees and congratulate each oustanding individual on
their nomination.
Outstanding Corps: Nominees are current Corps that have excelled in their leadership abilities and/
or created, established, and implemented a successful and innovative outreach project in their local
community that further showcases the mission and outcome of STARS while fostering a positive community relationship.
UNC Greensboro Corps
This Corps was nominated for their successes in three outreach efforts in their community; iComputing Day,
whereby high school students were invited to an all-day event featuring Scratch and web-design workshops,
guest speaker and participant prizes. Corps students sought and received funding from the Greensboro Jaycees. The second effort consisted of targeted Career Fairs, High School presentations and a UNC Greensboro
open house for incoming freshmen. Corps students actively visited local high schools to present to both
parents and students on the opportunities in computing education. Lastly, the Corps students attended and
hosted a variety of self-development events including Dr. Touretzky’s robotics workshop at UNC Charlotte.
Overall, the UNC Greensboro Corps was successful in garnering an increased awareness and interest in the
field of computing, along with creating a positive impact on future computing students and current mentoring
between current Corps students.
Florida A&M University Corps
The FAMU Corps was nominated for their extreme success in leveraging their Corps to receive funding for collaborative projects including the African-America Women in Computer Science (S-STEM) scholarship, the TRI-IT
Project, and ITEST grant for recruiting high school girls to computing. In addition to their ability to receive
funding, the FAMU Corps students have held significant outreach and recruitment projects; CSDT after school
and summer camps with the Boys and Girls Club, a High School Teen Summit (co-hosted with the Tallahassee
Urban League), after-school and summer workshops for high school girls through the TRI-IT Project, and a CNN
“Black in Silicon Valley” Watch Party held as recruitment event, and lastly, traveling road shows and career
expos representing FAMU and computer science. As demonstrated by their efforts in collaborative outreach,
the FAMU Corps has been exceptional in creating a model of recruiting and retaining Corps members, having
reached a retention rate of over 90%. Their i-10 Mini-Conference has resulted in a model for mentoring Corps
chapters can best coordinate and assist mentee Corps students.
Outstanding Corps Student: Nomiees are current Corps student participants that have excelled in
their leadership abilities and, while making a significant contribution to their Corps, have encouraged
positive outcomes for the mission of STARS.
Simone Stephens, UNC Greensboro
Outside of juggling a heavy course load and extracurricular activities, Simone has shown dedication and commitment to the UNC Greensboro Corps, serving as the Corps President and achieving recognition as an official
student organization on campus. Simone was also instrumental in the UNC Greensboro Corps major project,
“Computing Day”. This ambitious project included securing a grant from the local Jaycees, organizing related
events, planning a luncheon, obtaining the keynote speaker and managing logistics. As project manager
Simone was able to guide the Corps in their ambitious endeavor and help make the event a true success. As a
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2012 STARS Awards Nominees
natural leader, Simone is willing to carry her share of the work as well as actively recruiting other students to
our Corps. She genuinely cares for others and is well respected by her peers, and is a true asset to our STARS
Corps.
Veronica Catete, UNC Charlotte
Among her many activities this past academic dear, Veronica successfully established a SPARCS (Students in
Programming, Robotics, and Computer Science) outreach program for the UNC Charlotte STARS. This is a series
of lessons for middle grades students that covers a variety of computing concepts from CS unplugged to
robotics, web design, game design, and mobile app development. Veronica worked with two different community partners, allowing her team to facilitate the Techno Club that led 13 weeks of activities at McClintock
Middle School’s weekly Family Night. They also led SPARCS activities at the MSEN Academy, an event for
minority female students that was held over a series of six Saturdays. Veronica also led her team in outreach
with Elementary students, the Julia Robinson Mathematics and Computing Festival, a Community in Schools
event, and other outreach venues. Veronica’s leadership and computing savvy resulted in over 50 hours of
outreach with STARS’ primary audiences - minority and female youth. This program was well received and the
students were avid participants in the interactive lessons that were offered and visibly excited about computing. Veronica has also provided UNC Charlotte with reusable content that future Corps students can use with
our current and future community partners. Her SPARCS modules will also be submitted to the digital library
so that other STARS participants can use them for outreach. Her able guidance, people skills, and attention to
detail were remarkable and will leave a lasting impact on UNC Charlotte STARS.
Jason Bellew, Central Piedmont Community College
Jason is the founding member of the STARS in STEM Club at Central Piedmont Community College. Under his
leadership, the club has grown from 4 members to over 100 in the past two years. Jason has promoted the
CPCC STARS Program activities and events in numerous ways gaining the support of others through emails,
classroom presentations and community outreach events. Under Jason’s leadership this past year, Corps students have leveraged the STARS Leadership Corps at CPCC to collaborate with another STARS Alliance member,
North Carolina A&T University (NCA&T). Jason has helped recruit, train & develop an undergraduate research
group which is a first for the college. Seven of the CPCC STARS students are participating in an undergraduate
research project during the 2012 Summer session with preparation guided through a research methods course
and mentoring by faculty and graduate students. As a result of his dedication to increasing the presence of the
CPCC Corps, these students will present their experiences at the upcoming annual STARS leadership conference.
Maynard Yates, Florida A&M University
Maynard has been dubbed “Mr. Everything” for the Corps at Florida A&M, and has continued serving as an
honorary “Assistant Academic Liaison” each year filling in wherever needed. Over the past year Maynard
has excelled as a recruiter, mentor and advisor for younger students all while completing and defending his
Masters thesis. Representing STARS as a panelist at several organization including the Student Government
Association and Progressive Black Men Organization is just one of the many ways he is constantly promoting
STARS. Since joining the STARS Corps, Maynard has become very active and successful in empowering fellow
students to become leaders in the computing field, role models and ambassadors for computing majors at
FAMU. His leadership has grown considerably and one who has gained the respect and admiration of other
Corps students.
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Ronald Benson, Florida A&M University
Ronald has been extremely successful in his development and receipt of a patent on research to develop an
automatic car retrieval program which will enable a car to dive itself to a parking spot after dropping you off.
He, along with Sihle Wilson, originated the idea, developed and submitted the patent application. Ronald
has been presenting his research at numerous conferences and workshops, and as a result has received wide
recognition both nationally and locally to the department and STARS. He is currently working for Lawrence
Livermore National Lab developing a platform the Lab plans to use for data management via Apps. Ronald is
an exceptional STARS Corps student and holds great enthusiasm, motivation and imagination towards research
and his work.
Sihle Wilson, Florida A&M University
Shile is an academic standout, carrying an exceptional grade point average in her class and possessing the
knowledge of several programming languages and platforms. Her work with fellow STARS student Ronald
Benson has helped bring national and regional recognition to the STARS Corps at FAMU, and awarded her the
opportunity to receive the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Student Research. While not working on the
car retrieval patent research, Sihle works hard to recruit students to the FAMU Corps and has recently taken
on the job of Co-Chairing the mentoring committee. In this role she helped plan a successful mini-conference
modeled off of Dr. Nathan Thomas’ “Mis-Education of Generation X” workshop.
Jessica Herd, Florida A&M University
Jessica excels as a Corps student in her representation of the Florida A&M Corps. She proudly represented
Florida A&M as a BP Scholar during an Annual Black Executive Exchange Program Leadership Conference. In
addition, Jessica was recently nominated to attend a competitive leadership conference geared towards students that held previous leadership roles in diversity, hosted by Unilever. While serving in a summer internship with Bank of America Corp. she developed a process to enhance customers online banking experience. At
FAMU Jessica launched a professional organization in an effort to help fellow students increase their involvement in community service, professional development and leadership skills. Through STARS Jessica serves
as the Education and Outreach Committee Chair and helped organize a city-wide Teen Summit; where over
15 students attended to hear STARS students speak on computing, college and life, as well as a CNN “Black
in Silicon Valley” Watch Party. She is consistently an avid recruiter for the FAMU Corps and demonstrates her
leadership on a daily basis.
Outstanding Evaluation Assistant: Nominees are current EAs who have excelled in their leadership
abilities and, while making a significant contribution to their Corps, have encouraged positive
outcomes for the mission of STARS.
Jennifer LeMieux, Seminole State University
As the Universities first year in STARS, Jenny proved to be an invaluable asset to the Corps. She kept students
organized and focused on the Corps mission. Not only was she amazing at collecting data for the evaluation team, but she trained and encouraged students to log their hours. Jenny lends her success in the role of
Evaluation Assistant (EA) because she possesses the traits necessary for this position; dependable, reliable,
organized, attentive to details, curious and willing to learn. Her prior research skills, previous coursework and
experience in statistics, data analysis, and research methodology also helped in her EA role. Jenny was instrumental in recruiting 10 students to the Seminole State Corps this year and helped set up the “tutoring”,
“Freaks and Geeks Digital Media Event” and “Hot New Technology Event”. She attended weekly EA meeting religiously and participated in the STARS online Sakai Forum daily, helping us keep up with the Corps Student’s
STARS activities, forms and paperwork. She also helped us contribute a few items to the STARS Digital Library.
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2012 STARS Awards Nominees
Richelle Oakley, UNC Greensboro
As an Evaluation Assistant for UNC Greensboro, Richelle demonstrated strong leadership skills and abilities
through note taking at weekly meetings, tracking student progress and helping students stay focused. She consistently followed up with students by reminding them to record their weekly activity reports, and developed an
excellent rapport with fellow Corps students and was committed to making sure the students made consistent
progress toward completing their goals. Under her guidance the Corps accomplished a great deal of participation in a variety of outreach opportunities in the community. The most significant being the “Computing Day” for
high school students. Under Richelle’s leadership the students were able to apply for and receive funding for the
project, as well as stay on track with the organization of the ambitious project. In addition to her studies as an
Information Systems and Operations Management PhD courses, Richelle always sets an outstanding example for
her fellow Corps students through her professionalism, organization, and personal responsibility.
Noah Hunter, University of South Florida
Noah has served as the Evaluation Assistant at University of South Florida for the past academic year and has
excelled in documenting all of the outreach, road show and workshop activities the Corps has accomplished.
Being able to travel to all of these events has given Noah first hand knowledge of the results the Corps has
achieved. Coupling his digital multi media skills to keep students up to date on programs has given him an
edge in helping Corps students produce quality work that is reflective of the core value of technical excellence. Through his leadership and guidance the USF Corps has been able to expand their reach and flourish
under Noah’s dedication and commitment to their work.
Olivia Wilson, Florida A&M University
Olivia has been a very active Evaluation Assistant since entering the program as a Freshman and has quickly
become a role model for her fellow Corps students. She recently received seed funding from the National Center
for Women in IT (NCWIT) for the Fall 2011-Spring 2012. She utilized this funding to help plan and implement the
1st Annual STARS i-10 Mini Conference, where FAMU hosted two mentee schools, Northwest Florida State College and Florida State College at Jacksonville. In addition to this work on the conference, Olivia has been able to
expand her work with the CSDT outreach project with the Boys and Girls Club, creating weekly activities with the
club and a two week summer camp.
Outstanding Corps Faculty Liaison: Nominees are current STARS Faculty or Liaisons that have excelled in their leadership and support of their current Corps and have worked tirelessly to encourage
positive outcomes and growth for the mission of STARS.
Ebe Randeree, Florida State University
This past year Ebe has lead efforts at Florida State to establich everal STARS Awards preented at the annual College Student Awards Day Ceremony, helped create a large number of YouTube videos, including a Future STARS
video featuring middle and high school students (Youtube.com/GoFSUcci), hosted the Tallahassee Gifted Network (gifted elementary and middle school students, their parents and teachers) in cooperation with Leon County Schools, and mentored the Tech Club as Chaires Elementary School. In addition he went on recruiting visits to
local high schools and high schools in Tampa, Orlando and Ft. Myers, FL, hosted several high school technology
clubs for a day on the FSU campus and held a community workshop entitled “So you want to lanuch a website.”
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Coupled with his work on campus, Ebe has worked on “Feed Your Brain”, a Leadership Course for STARS students,
established a Student Organization, WISE Women (Women in IT Sharing Experiences), and developed college
shadowing experiences, game day and club day. One of his latest efforts is to establish a long-term collaboration
with the Florida Technology Student Association (TSA) and to use the events as a high school feeder to the FSU
STARS program. This relationship with TSA enables FSU students to conduct an annual statewide leadership conference for 300 middle and high school students and to participate in judging the state-wide competitions. It has
helped make teachers, parents, guidance counselors and students aware of computing professions and enables
students to continue their TSA involvement via STARS.
2012 Celebration Partners and Sponsors
Generous support and partnership has been provided by the following Industry and
Community Partners. Please visit them at our Expo to discover the many ways they are
helping further mission of STARS.
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Notes
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