Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Dr. Nahum Gershon to Speak about "Social Media/Mobile Technology/Real-Time Information/Location Services and Their Potential Impact"

Plan to join us for the IEEE December section meeting to be held at Penn State Harrisburg on December 14th. You will have an opportunity to meet with attending professionals, enjoy a nice meal, and listen to this month’s talk presented by Dr. Nahum Gershon.

Social Media/Mobile Technology/Real-Time Information/Location Services and Their Potential Impact

Abstract

Social media has swept the world in the past 2 years, but it has not yet been widely adopted or used in many organizations. The discussion will include how new media (social, mobile, real-time information, and location services) could be used by organizations to support their mission, in addition to people's personal use.

Depending on the available time, some of the following topics will be discussed:

  • Sorting through what is good and what is helpful.
  • Filtering, acquiring, and sharing information using social media.
  • Increasing the number of "friends" (acquaintances) and role of contacts within organizations & outside.
  • Looking at the potential of social search.
  • Looking at the role of mobile platforms in enabling an effective use of social media.
  • Sampling the social media platforms, e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Ning.
  • Advantages and disadvantages of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, photo sharing (e.g., Flickr) & email.
  • Community management and how to develop and implement successful social media strategies.
  • Blurring the boundary between life, study, and work.

About the Speaker

Dr. Gershon works on combining creative expressions like storytelling, film, social media, and visual and interactive design with technology and strategic planning. Dr. Gershon is a Senior Principal Scientist at the MITRE Corporation where he focuses on research and practical applications of presentation and visualization of data and information, as it relates to perception, society, storytelling, culture, and new media (social, mobile, real time, community organizing). Routinely, he tries very hard not to torture his audience with PowerPoint slides and bully bullets whenever possible. In his free time, Dr. Gershon, among other things, participates in a number of national and international committees.

Talk Details

Please note that the talk is free, however, there is a charge for the meal.

Date: Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Time: Dinner: 6:30 PM Presentation: 7:30 PM

Program: Social Media/Mobile Technology/Real-Time Information/Location Services and Their Potential Impact

Presenter: Dr. Nahum Gershon, Senior Principal Scientist, The MITRE Corporation

Place: Special Events Room, First Floor, Olmsted Building, Penn State Harrisburg, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057

Dinner Cost: $20 IEEE members & guests; $10 students & life members

Contact: To register for dinner and for additional information, contact Aldo Morales, email: awm2@psu.edu, phone: 717-948-6379

If you plan to attend the dinner, please RSVP (preferably by Email) by Friday 12/10/10 so we can get the catering count right for our hosts.

Important Note: Dinner no-shows will be charged if not canceled by December 12. Also, we cannot guarantee late dinner reservations. There is no charge for attending the talks or tour sessions of our section meetings provided that you register in advance and clearly specify that you are not interested in the dinner.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Starting Salaries and Demand for Computer Science Graduates

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) released a pair of surveys that show good salaries and a high demand for graduates with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.  The NACE Job Outlook 2011 survey polled employers about their hiring plans for the class of 2011.  The NACE Fall 2010 Salary Survey collected salary offers for graduates from the class of 2010.


The NACE Job Outlook 2011 survey found that graduates with degree in computer science were fourth most sought after group.  Approximately 53 percent of the employers planned to hire Computer Science graduates.  The top three degrees were accounting (plans for hire by 62% of respondents), finance (57 %), and electrical engineering (53.5 %).


The NACE Fall 2010 Salary Survey found that the average starting salary for students with degrees in Computer Science was higher than all but three other disciplines. Computer Science graduates received an average starting salary of $60,473. The sorted list of salaries for the top 10 disciplines is listed in the table below.



Discipline Average Salary
Petroleum Engineering
$77,278
Chemical Engineering
$64,889
Mining & Mineral Engineering (incl. Geological)
$63,207
Computer Science
$60,473
Electrical/Electronics & Communications Engineering
$59,512
Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering
$58,208
Mechanical Engineering
$58,110
Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering
$57,396
Systems Engineering
$56,953
Bioengineering & Biomedical Engineering
$53,416

Details for the NACE surveys are available from http://www.naceweb.org/.


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Jeremy Blum, D.Sc.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Penn State Harrisburg
777 W. Harrisburg Pike
Middletown, PA 17057
Email: jjb24@psu.edu
Phone: (717) 948-6686