CME News
40th CCSC Eastern Annual Meeting
October 18-19, 2024– CME students traveled to Mount St. Mary University to present their research and participated in the programming contest.
 Poster Presentation by CME Students |
 CME Students Presenting |
European innovation academy
August 1, 2024– Two CME students, Raina Burton and Cara Burgan spent 3 weeks at the European Innovation Academy (EIA).
 Cara Burgan at EIA |
 Raina Burton at EIA |
West Virginia Academy of Science
Apr 6, 2024– CME students and other College of STEM students traveled to Glenville State University to present their research at the annual conference of the West Virginia Academy of Science (WVAS). Students in the photo (left) as below: Camron Vu, Daria Panova won a poster award for their project with another CME student Josiah Kowalski. The student on the right photo (Cara Burgan) made a fantastic presentation on her AI-powered Chatbot.
 Poster Presentation at WVAS 2024 |
 Cara Burgan Presenting |
Computer science student presents research at symposium
August 21, 2023 — Shepherd University computer information sciences major Tyler Burgee, Frederick, Maryland, presented research findings at the fourth annual Conference for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Smart Health and Bridges in Digital Health in Morgantown, West Virginia, in August. Read more »
Math Field Day
Saturday, April 22, 2023 — Student volunteers are needed. Volunteers receive free T-shirt and lunch. The two shifts are 8:30-noon and noon-3:30. Please contact Dr. Mills. Thank you CME students!
S-STEM Seminar
Sep 21, 2022 — The next S-STEM seminar is titled “Roadmap to Zero Emission Vehicles” by Dr. Jian Li, Senior Project Manager, Volvo Group NA. Wednesday 6-7pm on Zoom. Ask any CSTEM professor for the Zoom link.
West Virginia Academy of Science
Apr 23, 2022 — CME students and other College of STEM students traveled to Fairmont State University to present their research at the annual conference of the West Virginia Academy of Science (WVAS). Photos top to bottom: Levi Junkins; Ethan Bevan; John Little & Zachary Spiggle; David Martinez; Michael Nasuti. Present but not shown: Andrew Moseman.
Materials Engineering
Mar 18, 2022 — Two Shepherd University students witnessed aircraft manufacturing over spring break. The delegation led by CME professor Jason Miller visited Carbon Fiber Composites, Inc. Company owner Brian Alley demonstrated the construction and installation of ailerons on an experimental airplane. The parts were made from layers of carbon fiber fabric infused with epoxy resin. This composite is high strength but light weight. The delegation returned with samples to be analyzed on Shepherd’s new strength-testing machine. This on-going project receives support from Shepherd University, the Fabrication Lab, and the CME Department; NASA WV SGC; The John Conard Science Fund; JLG Industries of Hagerstown MD; and CFC, Inc of Ona WV. Pictured below: CME students Michael Nasuti (blue) and Levi Junkins (orange) holding CFC parts.
Shepherd Robotics
Mar 11, 2022 — Shepherd Robotics competed at the West Virginia VEX U qualifier at Fairmont State University (pictures below). The team ranked 6th out of 10 in their first time competing. Thanks to Professors Butcher and Guzide and corporate sponsor JLG Industries.
Mar 8, 2022 — The Shepherd Robotics Club visited the high school robotics team at James Rumsey Technical Institute (JRTI) (picture below).
S-STEM Lecture Series
Mar 9, 2022 — Wes Miller, Shepherd alum and DevSecOps Engineer at General Dynamics Mission Systems. “Getting from Class to Career.” 6-7pm.
Feb 24, 2022 — Stephan Hockley, Shepherd alum and Performance Tester at IBM Rocket Center, WV. “How will you measure success?” 6-7pm.
Linux Vulnerability
Jan 26, 2022 — CyberSec firm Qualys discovered a vulnerability in the Linux operating system. A common library called polkit can be exploited to gain root privilege. The news was shared quietly before being made public. Linux distribution companies such as Red Hat and Ubuntu have issued patches and updates. [News story]
S-STEM Lecture Series
Jan 25, 2022 — “A Look at the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)” by Mr. Greg Sager, Shepherd alum and Director of Software Engineers, Maritz Global Events. 6-7pm.
NSF S-STEM Scholarships
Jan 3, 2022 — Eight CME students were awarded NSF S-STEM scholarships for the Spring 2022 semester. Congratulations to the awardees! To apply for next semester, see CME scholarship opportunities or speak to Dr. Qing Wang, Professor of Mathematics.
CyberSec / President’s Lecture Series
Sep 21, 2021 — Mark Montgomery, senior advisor to the chairmen of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, spoke at Shepherd (on Zoom) at 6:30pm.
NSF S-STEM Scholarships
Aug 26, 2021 — Shepherd University was awarded a $1.5 million grant to enable scholarships for STEM students. Shepherd’s press release says, “The grant will allow Shepherd to award 126 scholarships over the next five years to academically talented students with a demonstrated financial need who are majoring in data analytics, mathematics, computer information sciences, computer information technology, computer engineering, or engineering science.” See CME scholarship opportunities for details. Congratulations to Dr. Qing Wang, Professor of Mathematics, for making it happen!
Materials Testing
May 19, 2021 — Shepherd University was awarded a grant that will help establish a materials testing laboratory in Snyder Hall. The grant, funded by NASA WV SGC, will allow two students to collaborate with industry partners and test of advanced materials such as carbon fiber composite parts for vehicles. Ask a CME professor how to get involved!
Retirement
April 30, 2021: Shepherd University President Mary Hendrix issued a proclamation honoring Dr. Nicholas Martin, Professor of Mathematics, on this retirement after 32 years with Shepherd.
McMurran scholars
April 30, 2021: Shepherd University inducted 27 new McMurran Scholars including the following CME students: Daniel Carson, B.S. CIS; Justin Fisher, B.S. CIS; Olyvea Pancerella, B.S. MATH; Cameron Stephens, B.S. DATA; Nicholas Wissinger, B.S. CIS.
CME students present
April 1, 2021: CME students Keagen Thomson and John Little presented at the Shepherd University Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors. They gave a talk with slides (posted online) that explained how they used computer simulation and machine learning to explore RNA biology. Their investigation was mentored by CME Professor Jason Miller and funded by NASA WV SGC Fellowships awarded to both students in 2020.
Career Fair
April 6, 2021: VIRTUAL CAREER FAIR. Regional companies will interview Shepherd University students over Zoom. Register on Handshake or contact Shepherd Career Services (jobweb@shepherd.edu).
Webinar for computer science graduate school at WVU!
Mar 9 2021 — The Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University will be hosting a Zoom information session for prospective graduate students on Tuesday, March 9, at 5:00 PM. We invite all students with a strong academic record who may be interested in pursuing an advanced degree within our department to attend. Attendees should preregister by filling out the form posted here.
Congratulations NASA!
Feb 2021 — The Mars rover landed successfully!
Student Exchange Opportunity!
Jan 2021 — The Zurich University of Applied Science seeks a data science exchange student from Shepherd! Typically, exchange students pay tuition at their own university but each attend the other’s university for one semester or one year. See CME study abroad.
Shepherd Career Fair
Oct 15, 2020 — The Shepherd University Career Fair was virtual but students were able to interview with engineers at tech companies looking for employees or interns. Participants included CME students Alexander Nguyen, Eston Penwell, Aaron Morris, Tania Hernandez, Zackery Jaouni, Tonga Aka, and Bradley Kisner.
Time to apply for a NASA Fellowship!
Aug 28, 2020 — Fellows work on projects of their own design with a faculty mentor. Fellows receive a generous stipend (the amount depends on the number of awards). Fellows are selected in October. Fellows are required to present at NASA Day in April. Speak to an advisor and write a short project proposal. Apply online by Oct 5, 2020. (Faculty evaluations are due Oct 7.) This opportunity is made possible by the NASA WV Space Grant Consortium.
Accepted Students Day at Shepherd
Feb 29, 2020 — All admitted students for the Fall of 2020 are invited Accepted Students Day. This energetic event meant to help students complete some enrollment tasks (review financial aid, obtain student ID, find a roommate) and to ideally secure Shepherd as their choice in college this fall. Please visit the CME Department’s table in the Wellness Center. The event runs Saturday 10am-2pm. Lunch is served at 12.
NASA Grant Opportunity
Feb 20, 2020 — NASA will give multiple awards of $15K-$50K under the “Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) 2021 Academic Innovation Challenge”. See also the NASA WVSCG page for student fellowship opportunities. Proposal Due Date: April 24, 2020.
study abroad in China
Apr 2019 — Apply to study computer science in China! Applications accepted now till April 2020. See “Study Abroad” on the CME Grants page.
International Collegiate Student Programming Contest
Nov 9, 2019 — CME students competed at Mid-Atlantic ICPC 2019. This competition is sponsored by the International Collegiate Programming Contest. This year’s regional contest took place at James Madison University in Virginia. The students made a great showing by completing 8 of the 9 programming challenges. Congratulations students! Visit CME Professor Osman Guzide to learn about future contests.
Students Brian Crutchley, Johnnie Meredith, and Melvin Bowers (L to R) exercised their perseverance, team-work, and problem solving skills.
Technica Hack-a-Thon
Nov 9-10, 2019 — Shepherd CME students attended the Technica Hack-a-Thon at University of Maryland College Park. Not only did the students create a “hack”, they networked with potential employers and met career mentors. Look for future hack-a-thons on the Major League Hacking events list.
Regional Collegiate Student Programming Contest
Oct 26, 2019 — CME students participated in the CCSC Eastern US conference and programming challenge. This event was one of many events hosted by the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC). Visit CME Professor Osman Guzide to learn about future events.
Seeding Your Future
Oct 26, 2019 — CME hosted programming workshops attended by 16 WV 8th graders. The workshops were part of Shepherd’s Seeding Your Future conference to encourage girls to pursue the STEM fields. CME Professor Jason Miller and CME students taught the attendees how to build online video stories with the Scratch programming language.
CME student Trey Castrechino helps 8th graders at Seeding Your Future 2019.
Shepherd students compete at HackUMBC
Sep 29, 2019 — Six CME students competed at HackUMBC, an annual hackathon hosted by University of Maryland Baltimore County.
CME students at HackUMBC, September 2019.
- Justin Fisher, Steven Griffin, and Gabriel Maldonado won a prize in the category of Best Digital Forensic Related Hack. Each team member came home with a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ starter kit. Their project, called Chromatic Data Encryption, involved Java, Python, and bash programs that hide information in color image files.
- Nathaniel Pearson, Kurt Acker, and Tyler Streets competed in the category of Best Data Science Hack. Their project, called Hyper-Local Pollution Monitor, used Python and HDFview to analyze aerosol matter in satellite imagery from the NASA MODIS project.
2019 Computer Engineering lab
Sep 12, 2019 — Shepherd’s new Magnetic Material Laboratory will support research into magnetic materials and magnetic refrigeration. The lab currently houses an arc melting furnace purchased with an Instrumentation Grant. The furnace will enable the study of magnetic, structural, and electrical properties of matter through synthesis of alloys that vary by composition and stoichiometry. An X-ray fluorescence analyzer will be added soon thanks to an Innovation Grant. This new lab will be used for instruction and faculty-student research under the direction of Dr. Mohammadreza Ghahremani. The lab should have enormous impact on engineering education at Shepherd University.
The arc melting furnace in Shepherd’s MML Lab, 116 Snyder Hall.
2019 NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium
Sep 23, 2019 — That is the deadline for students to apply for a NASA WV SGC Fellowship. Fellows receive a stipend for one year of assisting faculty with research and teaching. Aspiring fellows should consult with a CME faculty member and visit the Grants page. Last year’s fellows performed research in virtual reality, neural networks, web-accessible databases, and statistical programming.
Three NASA Fellows at Shepherd created a virtual reality environment for visualizing 3D solutions to mathematical equations.
2019 Hack-a-thons
September 2019 — Hack-a-Thons are free, weekend-long events where students team up to design and develop useful technology. The technology can be an app, a web site, a device, an algorithm, a model, or a plan. Upcoming nearby Hack-a-Thons include: HopHacks in Baltimore Sep 13-15; HackUMBC in Baltimore Sep 28-29; Pitt Challenge in Pittsburgh Oct 11-12; Technica near DC Nov 9-10. Find a longer list at Major League Hacking. Shepherd students attended three Hack-a-Thon events during the 2018-2019 academic year. Two CME students attended Technica in October 2018 and five CME students attended BitCamp in April 2019, both at University of Maryland College Park. One CME student attended HackUMBC in October in Baltimore.
Five CME students attended the BitCamp hack-a-thon at University of Maryland College Park in Spring 2019.
2019 Summer Science
August 2019 — Three CME students worked through the summer to develop software for the analysis of gene expression in plants. The students used laptops to develop Python programs for high-performance, distributed computing environments. Read the full story on Shepherd News.
CME students Justin Fisher, Nathaniel Pearson, and Zachery Jaouni (seated left to right) worked with Professor Jason Miller to build scientific software for gene expression studies.