Dr. Deborah A. Trytten an
associate professor in the School Computer Science at the University of
Oklahoma. She received a BA in physics and mathematics from Albion College. She
has MS degrees in both applied mathematics and computer science, and a PhD in
computer science from Michigan State University. Dr. Trytten's current research
interests include: gender and ethnic/racial diversity issues in engineering
education, undergraduate education in computer science, and the educational use
of computer games. Dr. Trytten has authored papers in venues including the
Journal of Engineering Education, the Special Interest Group in Computer
Science Education, the American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference
and Exposition, College Teaching, Pattern Recognition, and the Frontiers in
Education Conference. She has been an investigator on more than thirty grants
and contracts from the NSF, the United States Department of Education, and
several state agencies.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Friday, February 13, 2015
Student Spotlight- Michael Menarguez
Michael Menarguez – M.S. in Computer Science
Michael was born in the United States
but spent his life in Madrid, Spain. His parents and his brother are all in the
medical field but Michael was drawn to computers. He has always wondered what
happened when you push the buttons. Michael has been naturally good in Math and
Physics, which he considers good tools for Computer Science. He became very
interested in Computer Science in preparatory school where he first learned to
code. With this new knowledge, Michael designed a new database for his father’s
job and created video games for himself.
Michael studied Computer Engineering
in Madrid and then he had the opportunity to study in Bordeaux, France and at
the University of Oklahoma as an exchange student. He enjoys discovering new
perspectives conveyed by different languages. He thinks that the different
universities he has visited have made him a well-rounded person. In Spain, he
found that his curriculum focused on the theoretical background, while in the U.S.
it has been more practice and research oriented.
Although Michael misses the Madrid
big city feel, he came back to OU to pursue his M.S. in CS guided by passion
for computers and love. He enjoys CS classes because they always have a very
motivating project. For example, in CS 5013 Artificial Intelligence, Dr.
McGovern divided the class into teams to see which one would perform best
competing at a spaceship game. CS 5023 Intro to Robotics and CS 5970 Artificial
Neural Network Evolution, both taught by Dr. Hougen, are also among Michael’s
favorite classes because they gave him the opportunity to play with robots and
to do more than coding - it was very practical. Michael is also working on his
thesis with Dr. Lakshmivarahan and Dr. Xiao. For this, he chose to focus on
applying algorithms to improve the mapping of multi-spectral satellite imaging
of permanent water bodies at 30 meter-pixel resolution from 1984 to present at
a global scale.
Michael is the recipient of a CS
Graduate Alumni scholarship and an active member of the Software Studio. He is
also a research assistant for the Earth Observation and Modeling Facility on
campus; he manages the maintenance and development of their website eomf.ou.edu
and helps with the development of programs for their data sets and scripts to
update and create new remote sensing products. Michael would like to work for a
big company after graduation to gain experience while he works with his
girlfriend creating a startup.
During his free time Michael enjoys
spending time with his girlfriend and playing rugby. He loves to travel and
discover different cultures. He has already been to 14 different countries and
speaks 3 languages fluently: English, Spanish, and French. He also likes
dancing and cooking.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Student Spotlight
Katie
Trivitt – Minor in Computer Science
Katie is from Oklahoma City, OK. After attending
Bishop McGuinness High School, she joined OU where she is pursuing a B.S. in
Mathematics with minors in Spanish and Computer Science. Her mother, who
graduated from SWOSU with a degree in Computer Science and is a computer
programmer, encouraged Katie to take Intro to Computer Programming. Katie’s
father is an Electrical Engineering graduate from OSU. It seems evident that
science and mathematics are a strong suit in the Trivitt household; Katie grew
up participating in science fairs and other engineering hobbies.
Because of her father’s alma mater, Katie grew up
wanting to attend OSU. However, she kept an open mind and came to Norman to
visit the OU facilities. A friend of her father, Dr. John Fagan told her:
“Everybody can train you to be an engineer, only OU can train you to be a whole
person.” This piece of advice convinced Katie to come to Norman, as an
Engineering-Undecided major before switching to Mathematics. She is an OU
Regents Scholar and part of Alpha Gamma Delta. Katie also studied abroad in
Madrid, Spain during the Spring 2014 semester.
Katie’s change in major was motivated by her passion
for teaching. She is a math tutor for UC Action and got a very sought after
internship with Breakthrough in
Summer 2013 and 2014. At Breakthrough in
Fort Worth, TX she had the opportunity to teach science to underprivileged
middle school students with strong academic potential. Katie will be done with
her degrees in May 2015 and she has applied for Teach for America and to the masters in education program at Notre
Dame University, which would allow her to teach during the academic year. Her
dream job would be teaching math and Spanish at a low income Catholic school.
However, Katie realizes that teachers are not paid adequately and sees her
minor in computer science as a tool to make her more marketable if needed.
Katie loves coding and building her own software. She
particularly enjoyed classes with Dr. Trytten and Dr. Radhakrishnan. She has
made good friends in Computer Science and some of her favorite moments in
college have been spent struggling with them all night on projects.
Katie is very busy outside of school and likes to
spend time dancing, including swing, ballroom and salsa, when she is not
volunteering for the Food Bank, Americorps, or St Thomas More’s Catholic
Church.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Friday, October 17, 2014
CS to Feature a Student Every Week
Hello all,
Here at the School of Computer Science we are excited to announce that we will be featuring a student every week. We are very proud of our students and want everyone to see what CS is all about, our students.
So here we go with our inaugural post:
Here at the School of Computer Science we are excited to announce that we will be featuring a student every week. We are very proud of our students and want everyone to see what CS is all about, our students.
So here we go with our inaugural post:
Mamta
Yadav – Ph.D. in Computer Science
Mamta is from the Indian province of Rajasthan, a hill
station in the north-west part of the country. When she was a little girl, Mamta
dreamt of becoming a medical doctor. She inherited a love for mathematics from
her dad and was so talented in computer science that after solving many
problems for her teachers, they encouraged her to pursue engineering. She received
a very high score on the regional placement test, which opened the opportunity
for her to go study Computer Science at Rajasthan University. She was convinced
it was the right track when she got the chance to work on the university web
portal.
After receiving her B.E. there, Mamta followed the
advice of her father and her spiritual teacher and came to the U.S. to pursue
further her education. She completed her M.S. in Computer Science at Oklahoma
City University and after a year working in the industry, she decided to go
back to school to complete her lifelong dream: getting a doctor title. She
joined OU as part of the School of Computer Science Ph.D. program in Fall 2010.
Mamta is currently conducting research for her dissertation under the
supervision of Dr. Krishnayan Thulasiraman. She focuses on community detection
in network science.
Mamta originally chose to come to Oklahoma because
she wanted to study in a peaceful environment. She enjoys the close-knit community
and feels like the OU School of Computer Science is a family. According to her,
the faculty and staff members are always very helpful and focused on maximizing
the students learning experience. Mamta also appreciates all the opportunities
that have been offered to her within the department. Working with Dr.
Thulasiraman, for example, allowed her to participate in the writing of his new
book. She is also very involved in the Computer Science Graduate Student
Association for which she was president of the organization in the academic
year 2013-14. Her position as a teaching assistant for many CS classes throughout
the semesters also convinced her to pursue a career in academia upon
graduation.
Mamta puts her skills to good use by volunteering
for the Divyajyot Cancer Research Foundation founded by her spiritual teacher.
Mamta speaks fluently Hindi, Gujrati, and English. She enjoys writing poems and
articles, meditating, cooking and singing.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Paycom Lunch
Paycom will be joining us today for lunch and a Tech Talk discussion covering Mobile Development. I hope everyone can join us.
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