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EECS Weekly News: June 16, 2014

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Have a great summer!

IN THE NEWS

Commencement 2014
This year’s graduates have many compelling stories about their success. Brian Benavidez spent four years in the U.S. Air Force as an avionics systems specialist and served for a time in Iraq. He was accepted into the Airman Scholarship Commissioning Program and became a cadet in OSU’s Air Force ROTC program. He commanded a wing of nearly 80 cadets, and served as president of the Veterans & Family Student Association. He is graduating summa cum laude in electrical and computer engineering. Powered by Orange

Oregon State to Graduate Record Number of Online Students
The most popular of the Ecampus offerings is a post-baccalaureate program in computer science that can be completed in as little as one year. Launched in the summer of 2012, it now has 886 admitted students with 62 set to receive their diplomas Saturday – and some will transition immediately to the workforce. Bryan Robinson studied online from Irvine, California, while working full time and raising two young children with his wife. He turned his OSU degree into a new job as a reporting analyst for a computing company in Portland. Salem News

NASA challenge tests autonomous robots
This week robots with no human handler will be making their way through a field, searching for hockey pucks, blue rocks, wooden cubes and the like. The robots won't even know what some of the objects are. The teams, from organizations and universities such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Oregon State University, focused on creating robots that can work to work their way around a field the size of a football field and a half, while searching for and grabbing various objects without any guidance from humans or GPS. Computerworld

A good robot is hard to find -- or build
NASA officials and roboticists were disappointed, but not shocked, at the less-than-spectacular results at yesterday's NASA robotics challenge -- even though researchers from the likes of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Oregon State University had worked on the fully autonomous machines. Computerworld

2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge
Members of the Oregon State University Mars Rover Team prepare their robot to attempt the level one competition at the 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. SpaceRef

Hillsboro technology camp Girls Get IT seeks participants interested in technology
Savannah Loberger started the camp in 2011 as part of a Girl Scouts project with the goal of inspiring more girls to enter science-related careers. She graduated from Hillsboro High last year and now studies computer science at Oregon State University. The Oregonian

Engineering Expo: A win-win for industry and students
Besides creating a hands-on experience for students, the expo demonstrates the importance of industry-university partnerships, as evidenced by the more than 50 projects sponsored by companies such as HP, Georgia-Pacific, Intel, and Microsoft Research. College of Engineering

Industry Insight: Ken Wightman
The Grand Marshall for this year’s event was Ken Wightman, chairman emeritus of David Evans and Associates, Inc., a 750-person engineering consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon. When he was told which student team he would be announcing as winner of the People’s Choice Award — Intellicycle — he quickly used his smartphone to check for any information about the project. He was pleased to find the students had a website up, including a 10-minute video clip about their technology. Intellicycle is a device that can be added to any bicycle to measure speed, distance, cadence, and temperature. Data is routed to a smartphone, where it is displayed via a mobile app that can also display a map of the rider’s location. College of Engineering

Oregon wave testing center files FERC license notice, scoping documents
Oregon State University's Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center has filed a notice of intent to license and environmental scoping documents for the nation's first utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site. The Pacific Marine Energy Center will have four "test berths," open spaces of water dedicated to testing individual devices or small arrays of devices, each of which will be connected to the community's electrical grid. It will also collect data associated with environmental and human impacts. HydroWorld.com

NOT NEWS, BUT OF INTEREST

Job openings soar to highest since 2007
Job openings in April soared to their highest level in almost seven years in another sign of the labor market's growing strength. The government reported Friday that as of last month, the economy had more than recovered all of the 8.7 million jobs lost in the 2007-2009 recession and its aftermath. With job gains in excess of 200,000 in February through May, employment is 8.8 million above its low in February 2010. USA Today

PBJ100: Tech companies, natch, flourish among Portland's fastest-growing lot
The Portland Business Journal's list of the 100 fastest growing private companies is out, and it's not a shocker to learn that many of the region's hottest tech companies made the cut. Portland Business Journal

PBJ100: No. 6 Puppet Labs hits 300 employees, can't hire fast enough
The biggest change you’ll see is an increase in headcount. We have about 300 employees now, but to build a large, sustainable business we need to be able to scale incredibly rapidly. By continually increasing our headcount, we can ensure we have all the resources to address the biggest problems of our customers and potential customers. Portland Business Journal

Portland's Elemental on how the World Cup and other sports events boost business
“It becomes a galvanizing event for showcasing the technology,” said Keith Wymbs, chief marketing officer for Elemental. “When we do things that aren’t available to all consumers it shows the level of innovation we have and allows customers to know that purchasing with us will evolve with the future of video.” Portland Business Journal

OPPORTUNITIES

Design a web site this Summer! The CS 195 Beginning Web Authoring course will teach you the  basics of web site development:

  • Design and production with HTML5, CSS3, and PHP
  • Graphic design and image optimization
  • Site management
  • Online promotion

In just 4 weeks, you'll have a functional web site for the topic of your choice. Build a site for your portfolio, club, or friends and family. No textbook cost or lab fees! Sign up right away! 4 Credits. Taught online.

Then if you enjoyed that, take the CS 295 Intermediate class the second 4 weeks and improve on those skills, add dynamic functions, and create another professional site with all the bells and whistles! 4 credits. Taught online. http://people.oregonstate.edu/~vanlondp/testing/

Are you savvy? Enroll in WGSS 320 Gender & Technology to meet the BACC Science Technology Synthesis requirements through meaningful activities:

  • Research and write about the social and economic impacts of women in the technology industry.
  • See technology products through a Gender Lens.
  • Discuss trends in STEM and STEAM.
  • Learn to add your research and writing to a web site.
  • Plan for your greatest dream!

No textbook cost! 3 credits. Offered online. http://people.oregonstate.edu/~vanlondp/wgss320/

Need Graduate Credit? Then take the WGSS 525 version of Gender & Technology. 3 credits. Offered online.

EVENTS

Portland's Techno-Activism Third Mondays
Monday, June 16, 6pm-7:30pm, Flux Feminist Hackerspace, 412 NW Couch St, Portland, OR
"User Experience and Privacy Software" presented by Jennifer Davidson and Sean McGregor. More info and to RSVP: http://ta3m-pdx-11.eventbrite.com

SCHOLARSHIPS/FELLOWSHIPS

USRA Education Scholarship Fund
The Universities Space Research Association offers the award to full- time junior and senior students who have a career interest in the physical sciences or engineering with an emphasis on space research and/ or space science education. You must have a minimum 3.5 GPA, and be a U.S. citizen to be eligible for this $1,500 award. Applications for the fall 2014 USRA Scholarship Awards will be accepted until August 1, 2014. Details

Math and CSE Student Scholarships
The deadline for AfterCollege scholarships is coming up on Monday, June 30. All currently enrolled Math and Computer Science & Engineering students are eligible for the following scholarships. Details

AfterCollege STEM Inclusion Scholarship
$1,000 - Open to students working toward a degree in a field of Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics from a group underrepresented in their field of study.

AfterCollege Engineering Student Scholarship
$500 - Open to students working toward a degree in any field of engineering.

NSA Mathematics & Computer Science Student Scholarship
$500 - Open to students working toward a degree in the fields of computer science, computer engineering, or mathematics.

AfterCollege Analytics Student Scholarship
$500 - Open to students working toward a degree in any discipline interested in a future career in analytics.

AfterCollege Succurro Scholarship
$1,000 - Open to students of all majors.

JOBS

Recent job postings on Beaver JobNet
Career Service's current system will be disabled June 16th, to make way for the transition to new software. During the week of June 16th to June 20th, you will not be able to access the system, including making appointments or accessing a jobs list. You will not be able to login to make changes to your profile. On June 20th, the new Beaver Careers will go live and you can login, update your profile, and begin setting appointments, searching jobs and connecting with off-campus employers!

Software Release Manager, WebMD. WebMD Health Services is looking for an experienced Software Release Manager that will be responsible for supporting software releases to our various environments. You'll manage repeatable release processes to ensure that code is delivered accurately and reliably. You will draw upon your understanding of complex systems and development skills to increase the efficiency and quality of our automated software deployments. Details

Technical Services Engineer, Obvius. The Technical Services Engineer will be responsible for providing customer service and technical support for customers in the field, the TSE is the first point of contact for owners and integrators with installation and trouble-shooting questions. The TSE is expected to have a high level of understanding of Obvius products as well as supported third party products such as meters and sensors that customers are installing. In addition, the TSE needs to be familiar with standard network and PC functionality, including TCP/IP, Modbus TCP and serial communications. This position at Obvius can be a ‘gateway’ for other specific engineering positions within the company, this is available for persons that have been with the company for at least 1-2 years and have a proven track record of providing the kind of engineering prowess we need to be a world class company. Details

Hardware Design Engineer, Micron Technology. As a Hardware Design Engineer within the SSD product group at Micron Technology Inc., you will be responsible for designing solid state drives suitable for high volume manufacturing. Your responsibilities will include circuit design, circuit simulation, design documentation, circuit layout supervision, design verification, component selection, circuit reliability studies and sustaining. Details

3 Ph.D. student positions in Systems Biology, Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences, Oregon State University. Particular emphasis on development of bioinformatics tools and use of systems biology approach to functional analysis of omics data from experiments performed mainly in livestock species. The PhD students will be involved in experimental design, project coordination, daily project operation, and will communicate with collaborators. The students are also expected to prepare research reports, present results at conferences, and manuscripts for publication. A three-year research assistantship that covers tuition expenses and a competitive stipend is available to aid in the completion of the Ph.D. program. Details

Partial list of jobs posted in the past week through LinkedIn (these are just a few of the hundreds of jobs listed)

Don’t forget to check out the AfterCollege job site, tailored especially for our EECS students. Sample jobs:


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