College of Computing

Weekly Download, April 6, 2021

The Weekly Download

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EVENTS AND LECTURES

Design Expo

Student Events

  • Dean Livesay's Open Office Hours: Fri., Apr. 9, 3-4 pm; Dr. Livesay's drop-in office hours are canceled Friday, May 1, and Friday, May 8, as the Dean will be traveling.
  • GLSC CTF Competition, Registration begins Apr. 10
  • Great Lakes Security Conference, (GLSC) Apr. 16-18
  • GLSC Capture the Flag Competition, Apr. 16-18
  • Design Expo: Thur., Apr. 15
  • Graduation Celebration: Fri. Apr. 30

Graduate Student Lectures

  • RQE: Tino Moore, CS: Fri., Apr. 9, 2 pm
  • Master's Defense: Dylan Gaines, CS, Apr. 16, 12 pm, "Towards Location-Independent Eyes-Free Text Entry"
  • Master's Defense: Dante Paglia, CS, Apr. 26, 1 pm
  • PhD Defense: Jinxiang Liu, CS, Mon., Apr. 12, 1 pm, "Prediction of Coincident Peak Days in Electricity System: A Case Study for Classification on Imbalanced Data"

Faculty Lectures (Open to all)

NEW SUMMER COURSES

New Summer Courses

  • SAT 3812  CyberSecurity I, online. Please note that the fall section is at capacity and no more students will be added.
  • EET1141 Basic Electronics, crn 51426 and 51427

GREAT LAKES SECURITY CONFERENCE

Great Lakes Security Conference

The Michigan Tech RedTeam, the Michigan Tech Networking and Computing Student Association (NCSA), and University of Michigan’s WolvSec will host the Great Lakes Security Conference from April 16-18, 2021.

  • The virtual conference will include talks from industry professionals and a Capture the Flag (CTF) competition in which students can win prizes.
    Read the blog post here.
  • CTF registration begins April 10, with the CTF competition from April 16, 6:00 p.m. to April 18, 6:00 p.m. Team are limited to 10 people. Categories include Reversing, PWN, Web Application Exploitation, Cryptography, and Miscellaneous Challenges.
  • The Great Lakes Security Conference is hosted by three student-run organizations: the Michigan Tech Networking and Computing Student Association (NCSA), the Michigan Tech RedTeam, and WolvSec of the University of Michigan.
  • The Great Lakes Security Conference is sponsored by GRIMM, Lockheed Martin, Amazon AWS, Aunalytics, and PolyVerse.

OUR STORIES: Dr. Nathir Rawashdeh

Dr. Nathir Rawashdeh and Paul-222

This is part of a series of short introductions about College students, faculty, and staff. Would you like to be featured? Send a photo and some background info about yourself to computing@mtu.edu.

Dr. Nathir Rawashdeh, Assistant Professor, Applied Computing

  • Affiliated Assistant Professor, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Years teaching at Michigan Tech: 2
  • Years teaching overall: 12
  • Member, Data Sciences research group, Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC)
  • Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, 2007
  • MS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2003
  • Faculty Profile
  • Read the blog post here

Classes Dr. Rawashdeh Teaches

  • Programmable Logic Control (PLC)
  • Digital Electronics
  • Analog Electronics
  • Image Processing
  • Automatic Control Systems
  • Instrumentation and Measurement

The “coolest” class you teach, and why:

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), because every factory in the world is controlled by PLCs.

The importance of your class topics to the overall understanding of Computing and your discipline: 

Computing is the way of the future. And in all disciplines we rely more and more on sophisticated design, modeling, and control software. The Digital Electronics course is key to the overall understanding of computer systems. We discuss the building blocks of computers, and programmable logic controllers apply computing solutions for automation programming and industrial communication.

Your teaching philosophy: 

  • I believe in the social connection between teacher and student because it enables them to learn from each other, and more than just technical material and information.
    In today’s changing world, courses and delivery methods must be constantly updated to maximize learning in a wide sense. When teaching online, I always turn on my camera and teach from the classroom.
  • I interact actively with students, and when I see that they need a break I tell them a story from my professional or personal experience. In the labs, I am almost always engaged with students, helping them solve problems.

Labs you direct and their general focus:

  • In the Programmable Logic Controllers labs (for introductory and advanced level courses), students learn how to program industrial controllers and interface with sensors and actuators.
  • In the Digital Electrics lab, students learn the building blocks of computers and program FPGA boards, which is the fastest programmable hardware possible.

Research projects in which students are assisting: 

  • An ECE PhD student is working on sensor fusion for autonomous driving in the snow.
  • I plan to hire a graduate student this summer to implement indoor simultaneous location and mapping of a mobile robot.
  • Recently, an undergraduate EET student helped me build a virus sterilizing mobile robot that uses ultraviolet light. Read a news article, view photos and a YouTube video here.
  • In personal research, I also work on image analysis and industrial inspection research.

Other cool things your students are doing:

  • Recent senior design projects include a gesture controlled robotic arm and a PID control system based on a levitating ball.
  • See more projects on my lab website: https://www.morolab.mtu.edu/students.

Interests beyond teaching and research:

  • I am married and have four children. The eldest is studying Environmental Engineering at Tech.
  • I like cars and ground robots, painting, swimming, and playing soccer.
  • I speak three languages and have lived in four countries, in each for over a decade.

 

STUDENT EMPLOYMENT, INTERNSHIPS

Student Employment, Internships

On-Campus

Teaching Assistantships, EET/MERET Program

  • Fall 2021 and beyond.
  • Applicants must to be in their second or third year of study.
  • Submit your CV and a letter of intent to Dr. Alex Sergeyev (avsergue@mtu.edu).
  • Please contact Dr. Sergeyev with questions.

Great Lakes Research Center

Summer Hourly Position, Graduate or Undergraduate, Great Lakes Research Center

  • Seeking a currently enrolled Michigan Tech graduate or upper-level undergraduate student help to compile Great Lakes datasets on water use and energy (i.e., solar, wind, heating / cooling, and wave energy).
  • You’ll work with Dr. John Lenters and an interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students that is collecting energy, water, and climate change related datasets during the summer of 2021.
  • Learn more here.

Dr. Leo Ureel's Research Group

Dr. Leo Ureel is seeking motivated students to join his research group.

  • We are forming Educational Software projects involving Code Critiquers, Modeling and Simulation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Language Parsers, Internet of Things, and Online Magazine Publishing.
  • Contact Dr. Ureel (ureel@mtu.edu) to receive a Google invitation to the meetings.

Off-Campous Jobs

Off-Campus

Electrical Controls Summer Internship: Material Handling Systems (MHS), Grand Rapids, MI.

  • Looking for individual who is interested in Industrial Automation and is experienced in programming languages like Python, Visual Basic, .NET, C++, AutoLisp, etc.
  • We don't expect a superior programmer to come in as an intern, but would like someone who has a little more knowledge than the basics.
  • Contact Jennifer Baker (jennifer.baker@mhsglobal.com)

COMPUTING LEARNING CENTER

Gary Tropp, CNSA

"We at the CCLC enjoy helping others solve computing problems and develop their debugging and problem solving skills. I joined the coaching team to help expand our supported classes and to help others. Come see myself for help with SAT classes or my colleagues for help with CS classes!"Gary Tropp, Computer Network and Systems Administration

UNIVERSITY EVENTS

University Events

ACADEMIC CALENDAR

Academic Calendar

View the full Academic Calendar

Spring 2021

  • Fri., Apr. 23: Last Day of Regular Classes
  • Mon., Apr 26: Final Exam Period
  • Fri., Apr. 30: Spring Commencement

Summer 2021

  • Monday, May 10, 2021: Session A Begins
  • Monday, May 10, 2021: Full Session Begins
  • Monday, May 31, 2021: Memorial Day Recess
  • Tuesday, Jun 1, 2021: Classes Resume
  • Thursday, Jun 24, 2021: Session A Ends
  • Friday, Jun 25, 2021: Session A Exams
  • Monday, Jun 28, 2021 Session B Begins
  • Monday, Jul 5, 2021: Independence Day Recess
  • Tuesday, Jul 6: Classes Resume
  • Thursday, Aug 12: Session B Ends
  • Thursday, Aug 12: Full Session Ends
  • Friday, Aug 13: Final Exam Period