Friday October 28, 2016

Keynote Address

Friday October 28, 2016 - 8:45AM, Plummer Room

Dr. Joe Nordgren, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences with Lamar University.

After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Nordgren earned his MA and PhD degrees from Florida State University. Upon being conferred his doctoral degree in 1990, he likewise received the Outstanding Dissertation Award for his book-length monograph Malcolm Lowry: The Destructive Search for Self. He has published widely on notable modern writers such as Albert Camus, T.S. Eliot, and Graham Greene.

Dr. Nordgren joined Lamar in 1991, and has served in multiple administrative roles as Chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages, as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and now as Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Lastly, Dr. Nordgren has served his profession as a member of numerous panels and programs ranging from the Advisory Panel for the Literature Granting program sponsored by the Texas Commission on the Arts to the present Governor's XXXV Executive Development Program offered through the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.

Beyond academe, Dr. Nordgren enjoys photography and golf, both at which he describes himself as mediocre at best.

Seeking Best-Practice Pedagogy for Teaching Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Tejus Mane BS, Aniket Khade BE, Damilola Runsewe BS, Dr. Stefan Andrei PhD, Dr. David Cocke PhD

Friday October 28, 2016 - 9:45AM, Spindletop Room

Research into best practice pedagogy of teaching and learning innovation and entrepreneurship in technologies such as computer science and engineering depends on developing cognitive skills and behavioral skills necessary for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. These activities promote the five elements of innovator's DNA: associative thinking, observation, experimenting, questioning, and networking.

NoSQL database for efficient data storage and retrieval

Rajan Alex, Ph.D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 9:45AM, Lamar Room

This is work will introduce applications in Node.js that use MongoDB database. Presentation will include how to download the needed software, create database, and data analytics to reveal information from large volume of unstructured data in Node.js. A number of hands on applications will be presented.

ADOS, An intelligent and Autonomous Desktop Organizer Software for Faculty.

Isaac K. Gang, PhD, Gavin N. Alvesteffer

Friday October 28, 2016 - 10:30AM, Spindletop Room

What if there is a way to organize the desktop so that folders, files, and users are neatly organized automatically by keyword and/or relevance. In this proposal, we will try to answer this question and ultimately attempt to develop an autonomous software to accomplish this inherently tedious task.

Service-Learning for the Millennial Generation

Nary Subramanian, Ph.D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 10:30AM, Lamar Room

Service-learning is a form of pedagogy where the student learns by working with a community member outside of class. Service-learning can take the form of projects, internships, or research experience, and has been found to be effective for teaching millennials. This presentation discusses service-learning approaches for imparting IT education.

Case Study: An Incremental Approach to Developing a Compiler for YPL (Your Programming Language)

Arthur D. Hanna, Ph. D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 11:15AM, Spindletop Room

I've discovered a wonderful way to help novices learn methods for programming-in-the-large, the semester-long case study, which requires the student to actively engage in re-solving a problem by answering computational-thinking and critical thinking questions and by supplying "missing code" segments. My presentation describes one of my favorite case studies.

Why an Information Systems Major Should Focus on the User First

Sam Hijazi Ph.D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 11:15AM, Lamar Room

A computer system consists of three major components. These are hardware, software and the user. There is a clear difference between Information Systems, as a major or study, Computer Science and Computer Engineering. While in its purest form, Computer Engineering focuses on enhancing the hardware, Computer Science focuses on software development. What is left is the user. The computer user controls the hardware and the software to manipulate, processes, and solves real world problems. This presentation focuses on the reasons a degree of Information Systems must have a class designed jut to build this type of thinking. A graduate in Information Systems must be a computer savvy, business savvy, and a problem solver. Preparing a person who knows how to utilize both hardware and software creatively, efficiently, critically, and effectively in a field that is changing by the second is another goal of this presentation.

The design of a center of excellence for applications of digital technologies (CADT) in the care and management of health and disability

Stefan Andrei, PhD, Monica Harn, PhD, Vinaya Manchaiah, AuD, PhD, Ashley Dockens, AuD, PhD, Jamie Hartwell Azios, PhD, Elizabeth Long, DNP, Delanea Bronson

Friday October 28, 2016 - 1:45PM, Spindletop Room

The CADT will develop innovative digital products and applications that support healthcare providers, caregivers, those with health conditions and disabilities, and their families. Outcomes will fulfill the primary area of research (i.e., developing new evidence-based procedures (EBP) for technologies/health and disabilities management resulting in high quality products and publications).

Teaching Software Testing Techniques in Introductory Programming Courses

Theresa Horvath, B.S. Takeisha Moranza, M.S. Yihao Li, M.S. W. Eric Wong, Ph.D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 1:45PM, Lamar Room

Software testing is timely and costly, yet early programming courses often don't teach it. We explain why it needs to be taught and why it has not been emphasized in the past. We offer pedagogically sound activities and examples for educators to use with students to develop good testing habits.

Alternative Leaning Environments Focused on the Learning Preferences of Female Students

William A. Booth, Ph.D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 2:30PM, Spindletop Room

Over the past 30 years there has been a dramatic decrease in the percentage of women majoring in computer science when compared to the percentage of women majors in Medical School, Law School, and the Physical Sciences. This trend is a concern for educators in the field of computer science. Several faculty members in the computer science department at Baylor University are looking at ways to help retain women majors in both computer science and bioinformatics. One potential way for improving the retention of this underrepresented population, is to implement the computer science curriculum in ways more consistent with the learning style and social preferences of those populations.

The Development of a Software Tool to Reduce Time Spent Identifying and Commenting Writing Errors in Research Papers

Charles L. McDonald, Jr., Ph.D., Theresa A. McDonald, Ph.D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 2:30PM, Lamar Room

This technical presentation describes the development of a tool that identifies and comments writing errors in research papers. Written entirely in VBA, the tool operates as a Word Add-in that presents thirty buttons across three ribbons. The rationale for the code that supports each button's actions will be addressed.

Why we should teach Excel VBA

Sam Hijazi Ph.D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 3:45pM, Spindletop Room

Excel is amazing productivity software. It is used by millions of people for business, scientific, and personal reasons. Many people have not taken advantages of the macro side of Excel. This presentation aims at sharing some intriguing and powerful macros to save hundreds of unneeded laborious hours. Also, the presentation will discuss the possibility of using VBA as an introductory programming language for non-computer science major students. VBA is a pure object-oriented language the presentation will discuss some ranges, control objects, ActiveX controls, functions and subs, the application controls, and user forms.

Teaching Secure Programming Practices in Introductory Programming Courses

Takeisha Moranza, M.S., Theresa Horvath, B.S., Yihao Li, M.S., W. Eric Wong, Ph.D.

Friday October 28, 2016 - 3:45PM, Lamar Room

When software does not perform correctly, development costs increase and lives are lost or placed at risk. Software must always work as intended and never be allowed to enter an unsafe state. Teaching students secure programming practices will decrease the risk for software malfunctions, which will reduce catastrophes and abnormalities.

The Basics of Scala Programming

Dr. Mary Myers

Friday October 28, 2016 - 4:30PM, Spindletop Room

Scala stands for "Scalable Language". This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. So it feels like a scripting language. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. Scala was created with the goal of being a better language, removing those aspects of Java which are considered restrictive, tedious, or frustrating for the developer.

Cybersecurity attacks and their countermeasures

Stefan Andrei, PhD

Friday October 28, 2016 - 4:30PM, Lamar Room

Cybersecurity attacks are conducted by large organizations targeting information systems, infrastructures, networks, personal computing devices by various means of malicious acts. Because of their persistency, cyberwars became the preferred way to disturb the activities of an organization or a country. This presentation will describe these concepts together with existing countermeasures.

Saturday October 29, 2016

Online Information Security Practice System

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 8:30AM, Spindletop Room

Security classes require much practice in using various hacking tools to attack different operating systems and assess security risks. However, existing security courses do not allow students to fully obtain this practice due to the limitations associated with the performance of students' laptops. This study aims to suggest how to develop online security practice system and to emphasize how important it is on the pedagogical effect.

The use of Edit Assist, a Software Assisted Editing Tool for Research Papers

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 8:30AM, Lamar Room

Charles L. McDonald, Jr., Ph.D., Theresa A. McDonald, Ph.D.

Attend this presentation to see a Microsoft Word Add-in designed to save faculty time in reviewing research papers! It will quickly perform the mundane task of identifying and commenting about 2,000 writing errors. It was written in VBA and includes an easy to use database manager, to configure rules and comments.

A look at Computer Science for ALL & AP CS Principles across Texas

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 9:15AM, Spindletop Room

Deborah Kariuki , MEd BsCS

The call for Computer Science for all initiative and the introduction of the new AP computer science principles course has created an exciting momentum in computer science education across Texas, how is ACET going to participate in policy making going forward.

A Security Encryption Technique based on Steganography and Wavelet

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 9:15AM, Lamar Room

Heejun Choi, Xiao Jie Ge, Evan Guo, Qiang Guo

Data encryption scheme has been considered a very necessary process for protecting data against unauthorized people. This paper suggests a new encryption scheme based on two methods, such as wavelet and steganography, emphasizing its impact on the cyber security field.

Bitcoin and the Byzantine Generals Problem in Distributed Systems

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 10:15AM, Spindletop Room

Lawrence J. Osborne, Ph.D

Bitcoin is a decentralized, distributed system of trust and ownership. It depends on technologies such as a distributed general ledger that is cryptographically verifiable. A central clearinghouse, and sender identity credentials are not needed. Is it the first practical solution to the famous Byzantine Generals Problem in computer science?

Microsoft Project Plugin for MagicDraw

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 10:15AM, Lamar Room

Monica Pandey, Anca Andrei, Jay Karmarkar, Alexander Strong

As the name suggests, Microsoft Project Plugin is a MagicDraw plugin which integrates MagicDraw and Microsoft Project. The plugin allows the user to import exported XML files from Microsoft Project and view them in MagicDraw. Our goal was to collaborate the functionalities of Microsoft Project in MagicDraw.

State of ACET – Challenges and Opportunities in developing the next generation of IT Leaders

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 11:00AM, Lamar Room

Isaac K. Gang, PhD

In looking back to the past year, the author, who is the current ACET President, will conduct a round table discussing some of the organization's accomplishments and areas of improvement as it strives to be one of the leading Computer Science and IT pedagogical associations in the state of Texas.

Python in the K-12 Classroom

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 11:00AM, Spindletop Room

William A. Booth, Ph.D.

Most, if not all, classrooms in our public schools have at least one computer. They are used for classroom management, and communication. This powerful tool can also be used for problem solving when the teachers and students know simple ways to exploit the computers power. This presentation will examine ways in which classroom teachers can use their classroom computer for problem solving at all levels of public school education (K-12).

Closing Remarks

Saturday October 29, 2016 - 11:45AM, Plummer Room

William A. Booth, Ph.D.

ACET President