ACM / Crossroads / Xrds1-2 / On the Road

 

Meet Oakland, CalPoly, Michigan-Flint, and Loyola

Sara Carlstead

Here at Crossroads, we have decided that it would be interesting to find out what ACM student chapters all over the world are doing. We hope this column will become both a place to highlight the great projects of different chapters and a resource from which other chapters get ideas.

Oakland University's ACM chair, Dave Gruber , writes ``Our biggest project that we currently have running is a fully functional Internet host...'' According to the usage conditions detailed on their homepage, Oakland students use Pollux, the group's Ultrix machine, to ``manage a busy time-sharing network host.'' Management to them means everything from maintaining user accounts to negotiating with vendors. Future plans include administering a host for OU alumni. Browsing around Oakland's homepage , shows some other projects in the works, including the sponsorship of a Virtual Tourist Map of Michigan.

C a l P o l y, S L O

The folks over at CalPoly have established a couple of great events including an annual day of kite flying and barbecue. Chair Matthew Wetmore says, ``The kites were constructed on the spot from `green-bar' computer paper, dowels, and a whole lot of masking tape.'' Sounds like fun! Last year president Heather Robinson arranged a corporate tour of several Silicon Valley companies. About a dozen lucky students spent their spring break visiting the companies. Another on-going student project is SimStar III, a networked simulated starship. Recently ported to UNIX, SimStar traditionally involves 10-15 students a year and often provides senior projects needed for graduation. As if all this wasn't enough, the group also has company and department speakers, a banquet, presentations at open houses and activities fairs, barbecues, beach trips to look at the stars, programming contests, and pizza and movie nights. To learn more about this group, check their homepage for a calendar of events and information about their officers.

T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f M i c h i g a n - F l i n t

The University of Michigan - Flint held a programming contest this past spring. Chair Mark Davy says, ``It was unique in the fact that the contest was run by a 100% electronic submission system, designed by the UM-Flint ACM. This eliminated the need for any `runners' and allowed us to post scores electronically, and in real time.'' The also sponsor an Internet workshop, open to everyone on campus. They use the workshop to spread information about the Internet and to promote the ACM's image in other departments.

L o y o l a C o l l e g e

``The goal of the Loyola College [Baltimore, MD] Chapter of the ACM is to demonstrate how the field of Computer Science spans across all fields of study,'' says Matthew Malatesta, chair. The chapter is involved in a number of projects to this end. Last summer, members worked on a video that includes computer generated animations and faculty and student interviews to show how computer science is interdisciplinary. The chapter is also becoming a resource on campus through its efforts to assist members of the Loyola community in exploring the applications of computing to any and all disciplines, and by offering tutoring to those who wish to learn more or are having difficulty with some aspect of computing. Matthew also mentioned other activities planned for this year: ``Loyola Alumni speaking about graduate school, a lecture on technologies abroad, ACM sponsored classes in which Loyola students will get a hands-on lesson on navigating through the Internet, and attending the ACM Conference in Nashville in 1995.''

If your ACM student chapter is doing anything exciting, new or different, I'd love to hear about it and include it in a future column. Drop me a line at saracarl@rice.edu.