College-Wide Internship Coordinator, Susan Biszewski-Eber is pleased to announce that there is a new link to the Career Center on the Tampa Bay Technology Forum (TBTF) page. St. Petersburg College’s College of Computer & Information Technology department (CCIT) is now being represented on the web site. Here is the link: TBTF Student Interns.
Jerry Vaughan has been in the Information Technology field for the past 32 years. He grew up in the St. Petersburg / Clearwater area, where he attended and graduated from Dunedin High School. Vaughan received his Associate’s degree from St. Petersburg College (SPC) and then transferred to the University of South Florida in 1980. The majority of his career was spent in the financial industry. With the exception of Antarctica, Vaughan has had the privilege of traveling to all the other continents. He has been the Chief Operating Officer of several software companies over the years. Since retirement, he has made a decision to give back to the colleges and universities he attended.
In an effort to give back to the SPC community, Vaughan wrote a letter to Dr. William Law stating that he would like to get involved with an advisory committee or the Board of Trustees. He sent his resume to Dr. Sharon Setterlind, Dean of the College of Computer & Information Technology department (CCIT), and she invited him to join the CCIT Advisory Committee. Vaughn hopes that his experience in the corporate world would aid him in helping young people to be good problem solvers and help them think analytically. He hopes to use his expertise to inspire more young people to enter the IT field.
“I think my practical work experience would be very valuable to the committee. In the near future, I want to evaluate the current curriculum, looking at what programs are solid and which ones need work. I want to orchestrate a plan to achieve this goal.”
When Professor Brad Yourth announced to his Java Programming students that there was going to be a Google Summer of Code contest (GSC), Programming student Shelly Copeland jumped at the opportunity. She created a concept for Android in just a few days. Though she did not win the contest, Yourth said that her work and concept was praised by faculty from MIT and Mills College.
Copeland’s passion for computer programming began in the 1980’s when she owned a Commodore Vic20. That was the first time she ever wrote a program and was able to watch it run. From that time forward, she was hooked. Once Copeland heard about the GSC, she began thinking seriously about her concept for the project. The concept she chose was a combination of the types of technology her chosen organization was interested in, combined with practicality. “I wanted to come up with an idea that could help people in their everyday lives, something people actually need,” she said.
Copeland feels that her application would benefit others because it would allow people to use sensory data to monitor a person’s health, without having to open and record it on a daily or weekly basis. The data would be monitored using a wireless monitor already available as a health and wellness aid. The device is about the size of a watch. A probe automatically records the data from the wireless monitor. In the event of a trauma, such as an increased heart rate or cardiac arrest, a programmed event would occur, such as calling 911, or alerting family members or a physician. This critical data could also easily be transferred through NFC to a hospital or EMS vehicle. If someone is in cardiac arrest, it is difficult to push a button, use a phone, or open an application for a paramedic, so it is important that critical data be readily available if someone is unconscious. Copeland feels that this could “revolutionize how critical healthcare data is processed for patients that are at high risk such as after heart surgery and end-of-term care for hospice patients.
“In my opinion, mobile development is the future. So the skills I acquired while working on this project are of utmost importance to me. Mobile developers who can build marketable mobile site and apps are currently in high demand, she said.” In the future, Copeland hopes to earn her Master’s Degree in Computer Science, specifically honing in on developing a uniform operating system that can run across platforms such as Android, Mac and PC’s alike.
At the conclusion of the spring 2012 term, the College of Technology & Management is pleased to announce that all 43 students who applied for graduation, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Technology Management. Congratulations to all of you for a job well done!
Recently, the College of Computer & Information Technology Department (CCIT) invited Mayra Harley, Chief Executive Officer of Smart Marketing Concepts, Inc. (SMC) to join its Advisory Committee. SMC has been in existence for the past 9 years, and Mayra and her husband Mike have been in charge of the division in Tampa, Florida for the past 3 years. The Harley’s primary focus is on the business development aspect of the company.
“We strive to match the product to the individual. We look closely at the product to make sure it is effective,” Harley said. The Harley’s highly value customer service, since “it is paramount to having a great product.” As Harley transitions to a new role on the advisory committee, she hopes that the experience she gained from the corporate world would be an asset to the committee.
“I hope to impart to the group real world experience and hone in on some of the software skills that have been overlooked in Academia.”
For the past 15 years, William Roussel has been involved with computer programming. Roussel said that he always liked working with computers. He is intrigued when presented with challenges. In the spring semester, Roussel was a student in Professor Brad Yourth’s Java Programming I class, COP 2250. As part of a class assignment, students were required to make an Android application. Upon hearing this, Roussel wanted to create a simple, yet innovative product that would be marketable and compete with existing applications.
“I think that it’s great that I was able to take what I learned from the college and use that knowledge to create an app on the market,” Roussel said. Currently, he is creating a Camera application that can be used by companies as a branding tool to promote their business. Though the applications are free, Roussel hopes to acquire more experience to produce applications for payment.
For students who strive to make android applications, Roussel suggests that students look at existing applications to gain a better understanding of what is needed in the industry and recreate something of greater market value.
While stationed in Afghanistan, St. Petersburg College student Andrew Pruitt enrolled in the Linux System Administrator Certificate Program in the College of Computer & Information Technology (CCIT). Upon completion of his last course CTS 2106 Fundamentals of LINUX/UNIX Operating Systems, Pruitt said that the class was especially helpful to him because most of the modems and control centers where he is stationed in Afghanistan run on equipment that uses a LINUX based operation system.
Pruitt began the job with little knowledge of LINUX operating systems. He was only aware of the commands that were commonly used. After he completed CTS 2106, the knowledge he acquired enabled him to understand why certain commands are used and he was able to work through each task. This course also aided him in using SatCom Modems and Sun Solaris Servers to run Satcom Networks that run on Linux/Unix.
“I enjoyed this class. It definitely helped me out at work,” he said. Pruitt currently works for a telecommunications company in Afghanistan.
