Forum for Advancing Software engineering Education (FASE) Volume 11 Number 10 (Issue 141) - October 15, 2001 Note: If you have problems with the format of this document, try ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Table of Contents December 2001 - 10th Anniversary Issue Articles ABET Software Engineering Accreditation Update by Bob Cannon News Items CCPE Criticizes CSAC Accreditation of University of Saskatchewan SE Program CACM Article on Mathematics in Software Engineering Calls for Participation Teaching Virtual or Distributed Team Project Courses - Survey The Third International Conference on Rough Sets and Current Trends in Computing (RSCTC'2002) Naval Postgraduate School Scholarship Program Position Openings University of Wisconsin - Platteville Contact and General Information about FASE ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: The FASE Staff December 2001 - 10th Anniversary Issue FASE Volume 1, Number 1 had a publication date of December 1991. To mark the occasion, the FASE staff is planning something special for the December 2001 issue. More details next month! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Articles ###################################################################### From: Bob Cannon [Note: This article was originally solicited for last month's topic on "Software Engineering As a Profession After the Withdrawal: One Year Later".] ABET Software Engineering Accreditation Update Bob Cannon University of South Carolina ABET is ready to evaluate degree programs in software engineering whenever an application for evaluation is received. Programs will be evaluated under the software engineering criteria of the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET. The 2001-2002 EAC criteria are available at www.abet.org. Extensive preparation for a visit by the EAC is essential. The outcomes-based assessment process used by the EAC generally requires more than a year of preparation in order for a program to demonstrate that program outcomes are being assessed and being used for program improvement. CSAB is the ABET lead society for software engineering. It has the responsibility to train and recommend software engineering program evaluators to the EAC. The Program Evaluator and Program Criteria Committee (PEPC) of CSAB has those responsibilities. PEPC includes representatives from CSAB, the ACM, and the IEEE Computer Society. Although the need for software engineering program evaluators may be small for several years, PEPC intends to be prepared to provide software engineering evaluators when requested by the EAC. If you are interested in being a software engineering program evaluator, you should complete the application form available at www.csab.org. Note that the form asks you to indicate your preference for computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, or information systems. Evaluator training for each of these is different, so if your primary interest is software engineering it would be best if you indicate that as your preference. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ News Items ###################################################################### By: Don Bagert (Professional Issues Editor) CCPE Criticizes CSAC Accreditation of Univ. of Saskatchewan SE Program In a news release entitled "Calling Computer Science 'Engineering' Raises Safety/Legal Issues", the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE), criticized the recent accreditation by the Canadian Computer Science Accreditation Council (CSAC) of the University of Saskatchewan Software Engineering Honours B.Sc. program offered by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan, the first Software Engineering program in Canada to be accredited by CSAC. The Software Engineering program in Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan is within the College of Arts and Science. (A news release from University of Saskatchewan Communications concerning the software engineering program's accreditation is at http://www.usask.ca/events/news/articles/20010928-1.html.) In their release, CCPE stated that "Universities who name computer science programs 'software engineering' may be placing the safety and well-being of Canadians at risk...calling computer science programs software 'engineering' - as the University of Saskatchewan has done - may lead students to mistakenly believe they can legally practice software engineering in Canada and refer to themselves as software engineers on graduation. In fact, by doing so graduates would contravene provincial and territorial engineering laws that restrict the practice of engineering and the use of the title engineer to licensed professional engineers in the interests of public safety. The safety of Canadians could be directly threatened, as graduates of computer science programs are not fully trained or qualified to practice software engineering. "CCPE, through its Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB), accredited its first three Canadian software engineering programs [University of Ottawa, University of Western Ontario, and McMaster University] last June. Graduates of those programs are considered by the profession to have the core engineering knowledge and academic qualifications to be licensed as professional engineers in Canada and practice software engineering." The CCPE news release, dated September 4, 2001, does not appear to be on the CCPE web page. The release says "For More Information, Contact: Terence Davis, Manager, Communications, CCPE (613) 232-2474, ext. 238 [or] Marie Lemay, P.Eng., CEO, CCPE (613) 232-2474, ext. 269". Also, more information concerning CCPE matters dealing with software engineering can be found at http://www.ccpe.ca/ccpe.cfm?page=softwareEngineering [Editor's Note: Thanks to Peter Voldner for forwarding the articles related to the University of Saskatchewan.] ###################################################################### By: Don Bagert (Professional Issues Editor) CACM Article on Mathematics in Software Engineering The October 2001 "Communications of the ACM" (Volume 44, Number 10) contains a Viewpoint article by Keith Devlin entitled "The Real Reason Why Software Engineers Need Math" on pages 21-22. Devlin, the Executive Director of Stanford University's Center for the Study of Language and Information, states that "Software engineers...don't use their college mathematics...[but] they make use of their college mathematics education every day...The effect of repetitive learning is nowhere more dramatic than in mathematics." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Calls for Participation ###################################################################### From: Mary_Last Teaching Virtual or Distributed Team Project Courses - Survey Dear Colleagues, I am conducting a survey to uncover current practices in designing and teaching virtual or distributed team project courses in Computer Science and Computer Information Science. Data gathered via the survey will form the basis of a conference article. A virtual or distributed team can be defined as a temporary, culturally diverse, geographically dispersed, electronically communicating work group (Kristof et al., 1995). In the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of universities participating in virtual or distributed team project courses. One example is the collaboration between Grand Valley State University in the United States and Uppsala University in Sweden (Daniels et al., 1998). Another example is a collaboration between three universities in the United Kingdom; Keele University, University of Durham, and University of Manchester (Brereton et al., 2000). (For complete citations, see http://acad.stedwards.edu/~last/references.htm.) If you have taught a virtual or distributed team project course, could you please complete the survey at: http://acad.stedwards.edu/~last/virtual_team_survey.htm? If you have not taught such a course but know someone who has could you please forward this email to them? All information that you provide is strictly confidential. Answers will not be attributed to you on a personal level or to your institution. Only aggregate results of the study will be published. If you would like to receive a copy of the results, please include your email address in the text box at the end of the survey. The deadline for completing the survey is October 15, 2001. Results will be available by November 15, 2001. Thank you for your help. Mary Z. Last Assistant Professor Computer Information Science St. Edward's University 3001 S. Congress Ave Austin, TX 78704-6489 512-464-8834 last@acad.stedwards.edu ###################################################################### From: James Alpigini Call For Papers The Third International Conference on Rough Sets and Current Trends in Computing (RSCTC'2002) http://www.gv.psu.edu/Conferences/RSCTC2002 Penn State Great Valley Malvern, PA, USA October 14 - 16, 2002 Rough Set theory was introduced by Zdzislaw Pawlak in the early 80's and has reached a level of high visibility and maturity. In recent years, we have witnessed diverse, as well as, widespread research in rough set theory and its applications worldwide. A considerable number of applications of rough sets in medicine, economics, finance, business, environment, electrical and computer engineering, a number of sciences, software engineering, and information science have been introduced in recent years. In addition, many rough set case studies and more than a dozen commercial, as well as, research rough set tools are currently available. The biannual international conference on Rough Sets and Current Trends in Computing (RSCTC) provides researchers from universities, laboratories and industry to present state-of-the-art in rough set theory and its applications. RSCTC'2002 will also make it possible for researchers and developers to highlight new research directions, new applications, and a growing number of relationships between rough sets and such areas as computational intelligence, knowledge discovery and data mining, intelligent information systems, synthesis and analysis of complex objects and non-conventional models of computation. RSCTC'2002 in the USA will be the third conference of its kind. This international conference was first held in Warsaw, Poland (RSCTC'1998). The second international conference was held in Banff, Alberta, Canada (RSCTC'2000). RSCTC grew out of a series of annual International Workshops devoted to the subject of rough sets held alternatively in Canada, China, Japan, Poland and the USA. The aim of RSCTC'2002 is to bring together researchers from diverse fields of expertise to facilitate dialogue and cooperation. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: Rough set theory and applications Computational intelligence Machine learning Fuzzy set theory and applications Computing with words Granular computing Applications of soft computing Evolutionary computing Petri nets and concurrency Logical aspects of soft computing Non-classical logic Neural networks Complexity aspects of soft computing Spatial reasoning Statistical inference Pattern recognition and image processing Multi-criteria decision analysis Decision support systems Knowledge discovery and data mining Multi-agent systems Web intelligence Hybrid and integrated intelligent systems Approximate and uncertain reasoning Paper Submission Both research and application papers are solicited. All submitted papers will be reviewed on the basis of technical quality, relevance, significance, and clarity. Electronic submission is encouraged and preferred. Please send the Microsoft Word, postscript (ps) or PDF version of your paper, and an ASCII version of the cover page (in separate email), by January 15, 2002 to jja7@psu.edu. If submitting via hard copy, please submit four (4) hard-copies of your paper by January 15, 2002 to: James Alpigini (RSCTC'2002) Penn State Great Valley 30 East Swedesford Road Malvern, PA 19355 USA E-mail: jja7@psu.edu Phone: (610) 648-335 Fax: (610) 648-3377 Your draft paper should be less than ten (10) double-spaced, single-column pages including all figures, tables, and references. The ASCII version of a cover page must include author(s) full address, email, paper title and a 200 word abstract, and up to 5 keywords. When preparing your final paper, please read the Information for Authors and use the style files for Proceedings and Other Multi-Author Volumes supplied by Springer-Verlag regarding Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). Springer-Verlag author instructions are available at: http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html. Conference Language The official language of the conference is English. Student Participation Student participation is highly encouraged. Students not presenting a paper may attend the conference at a reduced fee that does not include banquet and proceedings. A special poster session will be held with an award for best student paper. Workshop and Special Session If you are interested in organizing a workshop, a special or an invited session, please contact James Alpigini at jja7@psu.edu. Publication All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings by Springer-Verlag in the series of Lecture Notes in Computer Science / Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/index.html. LNCS is also published, in parallel to the printed books, in full-text electronic version. A selected number of accepted papers will be expanded and revised for inclusion in "Knowledge and Information Systems: An International Journal" by Springer-Verlag, or "Fundamenta Informaticae" by IOS Press. Selected papers will be invited for inclusion in a feature issue of the European Journal of Operational Research, published by Elsevier Science. This issue will be composed of selected full papers presented at the conference on the topic of "Decision Support using Rough Sets". Important Dates Full paper submission by: January 15, 2002 Camera-ready papers due by: May 15, 2002 Acceptance notices: March 15, 2002 Conference: October 14-16, 2002 Conference Fee $360 Regular $285 Student Conference Organization Conference Chair: James Alpigini, Penn State Great Valley, USA Honorary Chairs: Zdzislaw Pawlak, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland Lotfi A. Zadeh, UC Berkeley, USA Program Chairs: James F. Peters, University of Manitoba, Canada Andrzej Skowron, Warsaw University, Poland Ning Zhong, Maebashi Institute of Technology, Japan Advisory Board: Nick Cercone (Canada) Jerzy Grzymala-Busse (USA) Tsau Young Lin (USA) Akira Nakamura (Japan) Sankar Pal (India) Lech Polkowski (Poland) Roman Slowinski (Poland) Hideo Tanaka (Japan) Shusaku Tsumoto (Japan) Yiyu Yao (Canada) Wojciech Ziarko (Canada) Program Committee: Peter Apostoli (Canada) Ali Arsanjani (USA) Malcolm Beynon (UK) Hans Dieter Burkhard (Germany) Mihir Kr. Chakraborty (India) Liu Chunnian (China) Andrzej Czyzewski (Poland) Jitender S. Deogun (USA) Patrick Doherty (Sweden) Dieder Dubois (France) Ivo Duentsch (N. Ireland) Maria C. Fernandez (Spain) Fernando Gomide (Brazil) Salvatore Greco (Italy) Xiaohua (Tony) Hu (USA) Masahiro Inuiguchi (Japan) Jouni Jarvinen (Finland) Janusz Kacprzyk (Poland) Daijin Kim (S. Korea) Jan Komorowski (Norway ,Poland) Jacek Koronacki (Poland) Bozena Kostek (Poland) Marzena Kryszkiewicz (Poland) Churn-Jung Liau (Taiwan) Pawan Lingras (Canada) Jiming Liu (Hong Kong) Qing Liu (China) Solomon Marcus (Romania) Benedetto Matarazzo (Italy) Ernestina Menasalvas-Ruiz (Spain) Zbigniew Michalewicz (USA) Ryszard Michalski (USA) Nakata Michinori (Japan) Sadaaki Miyamoto (Japan) Mikhail Moshkov (Russia) Tetsuya Murai (Japan) Hung Son Nguyen (Poland) Ewa Orlowska (Poland) Witold Pedrycz (Canada) Mohamed Quafafou (France) Sheela Ramanna (Canada) Zbigniew W. Ras (USA) Ron Shapira (Israel) Jerzy Stefanowski (Poland) Jaroslav Stepaniuk (Poland) Zbigniew Suraj (Poland) Roman Swiniarski (USA) Andrzej Szalas (Poland) Marcin Szczuka (Poland) Francis E.H. Tay (Singapore) Helmut Thiele (Germany) Mihaela Ulieru (Canada) Guoyin Wang (China) Anita Wasilewska (USA) Michael Wong (Canada) Xindong Wu (USA) ###################################################################### From: Tanya Raven via several others Naval Postgraduate School Scholarship Program Here's a brief synopsis of the program. Our web site is under construction, but additional details and the online application form are available at: http://cisr.nps.navy.mil/programs/scholarship.htm The U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is proud to announce an exceptional scholarship program that enables CIVILIANS to obtain a free Master's Degree, receive a living wage in the process, and have entry, upon graduation, to a career with an unlimited future. NPG's Center for Information Security Studies and Research (CISR) is designated as a National Center of Excellence for Information Assurance (http://www.nsa.gov/isso/programs/nietp/newspg1.htm) and is one of the world's foremost centers for information security education and research. Students enrolled in the program will have access to state-of-the-art equipment and the possibility of participating in challenges like the Cyber Defense Exercise, a competition to defend your team's system from attack while trying to break down other teams' defenses. NPS is located in Monterey, CA on the central California coast, a pristine environment of unparalleled scenic beauty. NPS has 10 scholarships available for the winter quarter, beginning January 2002. If you're interested in the program and have questions, let's talk. I'll do my best to make it work for you! SCHOLARSHIP DETAILS: * FREE tuition for two year Master's Degree in Computer Science (emphasis in Information Assurance) * 29-30K/year stipend (student might be allowed to have a part-time job, contingent on advisor's approval) * Upon graduation, serve your country in a guaranteed position as a cyber security professional for two years in the Federal Cyber Service Corps QUALIFICATIONS: * Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field; Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Physics are the most likely to be good matches. The selection committee is most interested in the specific computer and math classes you've completed and might, in certain circumstances, give special consideration to other fields of study. * Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must not be currently employed by the Federal Government or be a member of the U.S. Armed Forces. (NPS will sponsor similar scholarships for military and civil service personnel beginning April 2002) Need more info? Please contact me at: traven@nps.navy.mil 831-656-3819 Note to applicants: The sections below will be on our revised website as well as an application deadline date of mid/late November. TRANSCRIPTS AND FACULTY RECOMMENDATIONS Official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended and two (2) written faculty recommendations are required. Recommendations must be from three current or former university professors and/or advisors. Each recommendation must include the approximate dates of course attendance and/or advisement. Please have the transcripts and recommendations mailed to: NPS CISR - Scholarship Computer Science Department, Code CS/Ic 833 Dyer Road Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA 93943-5118 ESSAY In 1000 words or less, please discuss the following question. Your answer may be provided on separate paper. Only typewritten essays will be accepted. "In the United States, virtually all key public infrastructure systems (water, sewer, power, natural gas) rely on computers for the bulk of their operational functions. Please discuss the potential effect that a system-wide computer failure in the water system could have on the other three systems mentioned." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Position Openings ###################################################################### From: Joseph M. Clifton University of Wisconsin - Platteville Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering The Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, invites applications for three tenure-track faculty positions starting Fall, 2002. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Information Systems, or Software Engineering. Candidates with significant industry or teaching experience in computing and a Ph.D. in a related field or an MS in Computer Science, Information Systems, or Software Engineering will also be considered. The Computer Science and Software Engineering programs at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville are targeted for substantial growth. These programs will be combined into a single department effective fall of 2002. New labs, classrooms, and faculty offices will be housed in a building scheduled to be remodeled by fall of 2003. In addition, there is a potential for the start-up of a Master's degree program. The primary duties of the successful candidates will be teaching upper and lower division undergraduate courses in computer science, information systems, and/or software engineering. Successful candidates must have excellent verbal and written communication skills and a strong commitment to teaching. Commitment to scholarly and professional activities is also required. Special accommodations can be made for those who have a strong commitment to research or extramural funding. The successful candidates would also be expected to participate in the new initiatives of the department. Candidates will be chosen to best complement the needs of the programs. Salary will be competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications. In addition, there are consulting opportunities with local companies. The university serves students through the use of technology in the classroom and alternative delivery methods including Web-based courses in fields in which online programs exist. Send a letter of application, undergraduate & graduate transcripts, and a resume including references to Mohan Gill, Computer Science and Software Engineering, 409 Pioneer Tower, 1 University Plaza, Platteville, WI 53818-3099. Visit the campus web site at http://www.uwplatt.edu. Review of applications will start January 7, 2002 and will continue until suitable candidates are found. UW-Platteville is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Names of all nominees and applicants who have not requested in writing that their identity be kept confidential and of all finalists will be released upon request. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Contact and General Information about FASE FASE is published on the 15th of each month by the FASE staff. Article and Faculty Ad Submission Guidelines Send newsletter articles to one of the editors, preferably by category: Articles pertinent to academic education to Tom Hilburn ; corporate and government training to David Carter ; professional issues, faculty ads, and all other categories, to Don Bagert . If the article is for a FASE topic where there is a guest editor, the submission should instead be to that person, according to the schedule provided. Items must be submitted by the 8th of the month in order to be considered for inclusion in that month's issue. Also, please see the submission guidelines immediately below. FASE submission format guidelines: All submissions must be in ASCII format, and contain no more than 70 characters per line (71 including trailing blanks and the new line character). This 70-character/line format must be viewable in a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad WITHOUT using a "word wrap" facility. All characters (outside of the newline) should in the ASCII code range from 32 to 126 (i.e. "printable" in DOS text mode). All articles contain the viewpoints of their respective authors, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the FASE staff. _____ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information Everyone that is receiving this by email is on the FASE mailing list. If you wish to leave this list, send a message to and, in the text of your message (not the subject line), write: unsubscribe fase To rejoin (or have someone else join) the FASE mailing list, write to and, in the text of your message (not the subject line), write: subscribe fase For instance, if your name is Jane Smith, write: subscribe fase Jane Smith But what if you have something that you want to share with everyone else, before the next issue? For more real-time discussion, there is the FASE-TALK discussion list. It is our hope that it will be to FASE readers what the SIGCSE.members listserv is to that group. (For those of you that don't know, SIGCSE is the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education.) To subscribe to the FASE-TALK list, write to and, in the text of your message (not the subject line), write: subscribe fase-talk For instance, if your name is Jane Smith, write: subscribe fase-talk Jane Smith Please try to limit FASE-TALK to discussion items related to software engineering education, training and professional issues; CFPs and other such items can still be submitted to the editor for inclusion into FASE. Anyone that belongs to the FASE-TALK mailing list can post to it. As always, there is no cost for subscribing to either FASE or FASE-TALK! (Subscriptions can also be maintained through the Web via http://lyris.acs.ttu.edu. From there, click on "TTU Faculty Mailing Lists", and then either "fase" or "fase-talk", depending on which list you desire.) _____ Back issues (dating from the very first issue) can be found on the web (with each Table of Contents) at in chronological order, or in reverse order. _____ The FASE Staff: Tom Hilburn -- Academic Editor Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Department of Computing and Mathematics Daytona Beach FL 32114 USA Phone: 904-226-6889 Fax: 904-226-6678 Email: hilburn@db.erau.edu URL: http://faculty.erau.edu/hilburn/ David Carter -- Corporate/Government Editor 807 Hwy 1204 #B-2 Pineville LA 71360 Phone: 318-641-0824 Email: dacarter@bayou.com Don Bagert, P.E. -- Professional Issues/Misc Editor and Web/Listmaster Department of Computer Science 8th and Boston Texas Tech University Lubbock TX 79409-3104 USA Phone: 806-742-1189 Fax: 806-742-3519 Email: Don.Bagert@ttu.edu URL: http://www.cs.ttu.edu/faculty/bagert.html Laurie Werth -- Advisory Committee Taylor Hall 2.124 University of Texas at Austin Austin TX 78712 USA Phone: 512-471-9535 Fax: 512-471-8885 Email: lwerth@cs.utexas.edu Nancy Mead -- Advisory Committee Software Engineering Institute 5000 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA Phone: 412-268-5756 Fax: 412-268-5758 Email: nrm@sei.cmu.edu