Category Archives: Publicity

NOVA Launches DCO PD at ACTE Conference in Denver

NOVA IET launched the DCO PD (Data Center Operations Program Development) grant award with ACTE at their National Postsecondary CTE Summit in Denver on September 21st, with a call to action for college and secondary educators to participate in a DCO Fellowship that will bring them to NOVA for professional learning, then return to their schools and institutions with an action plan to implement and expand DCO in their service area.

Data Center industry experts  Anthony Hatzenbuehler, from CoreSite, Vanessa Kennedy, from STACK Infrastructure, and Jeffrey Cassar from Cologix, Inc., added their valuable insights as panelists at the launch presentation led by NOVA SySTEMic Director Josh Labrie.

Labrie opened by noting that “the DCO industry is growing fast and markets continue to strengthen across the U.S. DCO’s goal is to raise awareness for the national need for data center operations education and to increase capacity for DCO education at community colleges and technical colleges around the nation.”

One way this will be accomplished this is by bringing college and secondary educators to Northern Virginia Community College for a Professional Learning Fellowship.

By a wide margin, Northern Virginia is the No. 1 site for data centers in the country and the world. With NOVA’s upcoming Data Center Training Facility underway at the Woodbridge campus, the region is an ideal locus to facilitate training that will act as a catalyst for expansion throughout the country.

After the fellowship, participants will complete an externship at a data center in their region and develop a DCO Education Action Plan that can applied in their professional practice, inspiring and equipping more people to get into Data Center careers, no matter what their background.

Cassar stated during the panel session that “someone with a solid base education and  who’s motivated has so much opportunity within data centers. It’s a career, it’s not a stepping stone.”

Hatzenbuehlar added “what I’m looking for is somebody who has the drive, desire, and the aptitude to keep going and furthering their knowledge even beyond the education system to the industry they’re in.”

Kennedy highlighted the importance of fostering industry awareness and talent: “Data center growth in employment is outpacing the economy. There are so many career opportunities. We’ve been really big on pushing internship programs and diversity, trying to get women into the data center and technology sector. We need that talent. STACK has been partnering with NOVA to do these internships with a goal of finding them a place in the industry. We want everyone to be successful.”

Hatzenbuehlar later capped off the panel by stating “that’s what we’re looking for in partnering with NOVA – we’re really in need. there’s a ton of demand for operators and very little supply. We need to partner together to build that supply chain.”

Educators can apply for the DCO Professional Learning Fellowship here. 

Read more about DCO PD at www.nvcc.edu/systemic/dco-pd-nsf-grant.html

NOVA IET is looking forward to working with Association for Career and Technical Education and co-principle investigator, Sophia Ward-Alston on DCO PD.

Special thanks also to Thomas (TJ) Ciccone, Albertine (Laury) D.,  Josh Levi and the Data Center Coalition.

DCO PD is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

#DCO #DataCenterOperations #MissionCritical #InDemandTech

 

IET Events In November

IET Speaker Series: Joshua Powers
Thurs 11/4: 6:30-8:00 pm.

Information Technology professionals are in high demand and essential to just about every modern business model, the need for qualified professionals is immediate! Joshua Powers is the Technical Director for Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning at Dev Technology Group. Josh has 25 years of experience in researching and applying artificial intelligence technologies to a wide variety of business and public sector challenges. Join us virtually for the third installment of our monthly NOVA IET Speaker Series and learn more about artificial intelligence, machine learning, and how they can be applied to Information Technology!

Register to attend at iet.novastem.us/Register


IET Speaker Series: Dolica Gopisetty and Christian Ramirez
Weds 11/10: 6:00-7:30 pm.

Dolica Gopisetty is a Solutions Architect at AWS in the Public Sector team and works specifically with customers in Higher Education. She helps them achieve their business objectives by hosting their mission critical applications in the AWS cloud.

Christian Ramirez is an Associate Solutions Architect at AWS, where he entered through the TechU Program. Christian made the career switch after completing a Cloud Computing Certificate at East Los Angeles College, where he gained the fundamental knowledge to attain an AWS Solutions Architect – Associate certification.

In the fourth installment of the NOVA IET Speaker Series, Dolica and Christian will share their journeys to becoming an AWS Solutions Architect, provide a brief introduction to Cloud Computing, and share tips on how to navigate a career in Cloud Computing.

Register to attend at iet.novastem.us/Register


Women in IET & Computer Science Networking Event
Weds 11/17: 4:00pm

Join us in our third and final Women in IET and Computer Science Coffee Chat of the semester. In this virtual session, we will feature a panel of women in IT to discuss their personal journeys into IT, how taking the initiative to learn has helped them advance in their career and how they have built their own personal toolkit to help them persevere in the face of adversity.

Register to attend at iet.novastem.us/techwomen


IET and Computer Science Clubs

NOVA Coding Club Annandale Campus

The Coding Club is held on Fridays from 12:30pm – 1:30pm for students interested in programming (coding) or computer science.  It is open to any student interested in coding of any type.  Meetings focus on coding challenges, upcoming events, and current events in the industry.

For more information contact Aren Waheed at asw2167@email.vccs.edu

NOVA Fiber-Optic Fusion Splicing Course Makes News

Northern Virginia’s skilled workers — including many NOVA students and alumni — build, operate and maintain our region’s critical infrastructure. Exciting programs like this support an inclusive innovation economy and prepare our talented and diverse students for high-demand, high-wage jobs and careers that will keep Northern Virginia on the leading edge of technology well into the future.

~ NOVA President Dr. Anne Kress


NOVA’s IET Division was happy to partner with Amazon.com Inc. on October 13th and 14th for a fiber-optic fusion splicing course and career networking session. Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Inc., an optic fiber manufacturer and data center solutions provider based in Raleigh, North Carolina, also partnered in the course and networking session on Wednesday and Thursday. The event was held in the WRC Building on the Woodbridge campus, and with almost 40 students participating and completing the training, it was a huge success.

Northern Virginia is home to the largest data center market in the world and is nearly equal to the 2nd through 5th largest US markets combined. When you add this with the increased demand for broadband technology and access, you can see the rapidly growing need for skilled labor for the data center industry and the supporting companies. Opportunities like this give NOVA students industry credentials to explore careers even during their educational journey and add value to their resumes for future employment efforts.

Fiber-optic cabling is made of glass fibers inside a casing that transmits data through signals, including for internet, television and phone services — technology that’s critical to the build-out of communication networks and data centers. Participants in this week’s course, the first installment in Greater Washington, learned how to install and repair fiber optics and met with local employers, an AWS spokesperson said.

Check out the article from the Washington Business Journal

 

NOVA IT Degree Programs Ranked Top 10 in the Country

NOVA IT Degree Programs Top 10 in the Country

According to Value Colleges.com, NOVA’s online information technology degree programs for 2022 are in the Top 10 for the country. The methodology for ranking the best online associate’s in information technology starts with the editors research of accredited, trustworthy colleges and universities known for return on investment. Then they ranked programs according to student reviews, graduate salary, and cost, according to current Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Niche data.

When you add that all up, they came up with the top 25 online information technology associate’s degree programs. NOVA, with its extensive online IT courses landed at number 10. The Information and Engineering Technologies Division offers nine of its thirteen IT programs (AAS and CSC) completely online. Students can complete everything from Cybersecurity to Information Systems Technology, or Application Programming to Network Administration. There are plenty of options for students seeking the flexibility of fully online programs.

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for computer support specialists was $55,510 in 2020. This is representative of the average associates degree in information technology salary, but actual pay varies depending on your role. Many IT fields value experience along with education, and if you’ve combined earning an associate’s degree in information technology online with employment, you can find higher paying positions. It’s easy to discount the opportunity for higher paying jobs because you “only” have an associate’s degree, but the field of IT is one that rewards people for knowledge, education, experience, and intuition quite nicely.”

Full Article: Top 25 Best Value Online Associate’s Information Technology Degree Programs for 2022

 

 

(ISC)² Award for NOVA Cybersecurity Faculty

NOVA Cybersecurity faculty member Marouane Balmakhtar, is a 2021 (ISC)² Global Achievement Award Recipient!

This Senior Professional Award is given in recognition of the 5G Cybersecurity and Security Awareness project. This is the highest global award an individual can receive in the cybersecurity field!

Prof. Balmakthar said “I am so humbled and excited to have received this. As a representative of the NOVA /NVCC family, this is a testament for us and for the work that we do as part of our designation as a Center of Academic Excellence and for our unmatched Cybersecurity leadership.”

Global Achievement Award recipients will be celebrated during (ISC)²’s premier global event, Security Congress, which will be held both virtually and in-person on October 18-20, 2021. More info about the event at https://www.isc2.org/Congress#

Prof. Balmakhtar can be reached at mbalmakhtar@nvcc.edu

#WeDoSTEM

 

NOVA Computer Science Students are SkillsUSA Winners!

Two of our NOVA Computer Science Students – Sesol Han (not pictured) and Arienbelle Aguila (with Skills USA Executive Director Chelle Travis) – finished 1st and 2nd in the SkillsUSA VA Leadership Conference in the post-secondary computer science competition!

(See Twitter and Facebook posts about the event).

Sesol Han was named State Champion and will compete virtually in the computer science division at SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference at the end of June.

In addition, NOVA student Da Nguyen Ngo participated in the SkillsUSA “Connect to My Future” Conference. These conferences allow NOVA students to showcase their skills in computer science, meet other students, and develop further skills that will help them succeed in the job market.

During the 2020-21 school year NOVA started a chapter of SkillsUSA thanks to the InNOVAtion Grant provided by the NOVA Foundation.  During this pilot year, three faculty members: Ryan Ammons (computer science), Kwabena “KK” Konadu (cybersecurity), and Babur Kohy (cybersecurity) were recruited as advisors.  These faculty members recruited 30 students (seven in computer science and 23 in cybersecurity) for the club.

NOVA SySTEMic plans to expand the SkillsUSA club at NOVA for the 2021-22 school year, including adding additive manufacturing program.

#CompSci #WeDoSTEM #BoldlyNOVA

 

NOVA SySTEMic Coordinator Nominated for Gov Award

Tiffanie Rosier, our Woodbridge STEM Coordinator, has been nominated for a 2020 Governor’s Honor Award for Personal and Professional Excellence. Tiffanie specializes in STEM Career Exploration, and has been particularly adept at transitioning STEM Career events into a virtual platform, connecting with both students and the corporate world. Tiffanie has also taken on the role of Remote Student Support (RS3) for NOVA IET.

Summary of Nomination
Ms. Rosier is admired by her NOVA SySTEMic team for her positive outlook, willingness to help, and her commitment to the students at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). Ms. Rosier is currently associated with the Perkins Grant Committee and in collaboration with team members to further CTE efforts. Ms. Rosier constantly seeks out and shares opportunities to encourage career development or participate in events to anyone she encounters within the NOVA community.

Significance
The recent restrictions to in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant there was a need to quickly adapt to a “new normal”. Ms. Rosier put her resilience and resourcefulness to good use to make sure this would be accomplished.

Initiative and Creativity
Without the ability to host in-person events, the career focused, Ms. Rosier, focused her energy into seamlessly transitioning into a virtual platform; allowing accessibility to a broader, diverse
audience. Ms. Rosier’s numerous connections in the corporate world has allowed her to provide greater exposure to all NOVA students. Most recently, she partnered with NOVA’s Career Connection team and organizations like Leidos and LinkedIn to make engaging and educational virtual events accessible during a critical time when employment was a concern for many students.

Ms. Rosier also recently stepped in to fill the need within the Information and Engineering Technologies Division as a Remote Student Support (RS3) advisor. Within four months, Ms. Rosier has taken ownership of this new role and is actively involved in guiding new and current students.

Benefit
She continues to coordinate with NOVA faculty and staff to offer professional and personal growth opportunities and has reached over 800 students in the past year. As an RS3 Advisor, Ms.
Rosier, successfully connected with upwards of 300 students and 25 military veterans to provide them advising, guidance in course sections, and completing financial aid requirements. Every individual Ms. Rosier reaches will be more prepared for their educational and career path because of her efforts.

Mission
In line with the mission of Northern Virginia Community College, Ms. Rosier delivers exceptional service to the college as well as the community. Her dedication to career development has proven to inspire students to set goals, challenge themselves, and explore opportunities in Northern Virginia’s competitive workforce.

Quote from Nominee
“I am honored to receive the nomination for the Personal & Professional Excellence Award! I consider myself a lifelong learner and people have always shared information with me about the importance of personal and professional development as early as my college years.  I try to seize any opportunity that I can to learn something new or enhance myself by strengthening myself in other areas.  I am a firm believer in giving and giving back and leave no one behind.  I try to share all that I can with others, in order to support them in thinking about their own personal or professional development needs.”

 

Surgical Robot Named by STEM Camp Student

Congratulations to Nathan Tang!

We partnered with with OrthoVirginia on a naming campaign for their new MAKO Robotic-Arm Assisted Surgical Robot (for the knee) at the Herndon Operatory, the first robot in the commonwealth to be used in an outpatient surgery setting! The surgical staff chose Nathan’s moniker (credit also to Nathan’s friend Micah for input) from a list of submissions from our Virtual Robotics STEM Camps. The winning name: R2-Knee2.

Nathan got to meet R2-Knee2 in real life and learn about using the robot in surgery from Dr. Kevin Sumida, Dr. Johnathan Bernard and the Herndon Operatory staff. Thank you to all NOVA Systemic participants who submitted a name!

Nathan wants to go into Biomedical Engineering in the future, so maybe he’ll design the next wave of surgical robots! For winning the naming comp he received a custom plaque, a NOVA robotics jacket, four tickets to a D.C. United Soccer game and free D.C. United gear! His friend Micah also received swag and prizes.

About OrthoVirginia

With 27 locations around the state that include on-site physical therapy, orthopedic urgent care, and out-patient surgery centers, OrthoVirginia makes it easy for orthopedic patients to excel on the path to recovery, powered by advanced technology and techniques.

“R2-Knee2” performs total and partial knee replacement surgery. Click here for a video that highlights the robot’s capabilities.

Live-streaming of States 2019

Welcome to the live streaming of States19. Please use the links below to navigate to each livestream event for each division (HS VRC, MS VRC and VIQ). Each division will feature qualification matches (and elimination matches including round of 16 and quarter finals for VRC).

All the finals as well as the opening and award ceremonies will be livestreamed in a separate channel.


Friday March 1
12:00pm – 12:30pm Opening Ceremony
4:25pm – 5:15pm Finals and Award Ceremony (VIQ ES only)

Saturday March 2
9:00am – 9:40am Award Ceremony and VIQ MS Welcome
4:15pm – 5:00pm Finals (VIQ MS, VRC MS, and VRC HS)
5:15pm – 6:15pm Award Ceremony (VIQ MS, VRC MS, and VRC HS)


livestream.novastem.us/States19/ESVIQ

Friday March 1
12:00pm – 12:30pm Opening Ceremony
1:00pm – 4:10pm Qualification Matches
4:25pm – 5:15pm Finals and Award Ceremony


livestream.novastem.us/States19/MSVIQ

Saturday March 2
9:00am – 9:40am Award Ceremony and VIQ MS Welcome
11:30am – 12:15pm Qualification Matches
1:00pm – 3:30pm Qualification Matches
4:15pm – 5:00pm Finals (VIQ MS, VRC MS, and VRC HS)
5:15pm – 6:15pm Award Ceremony (VIQ MS, VRC MS, and VRC HS)


Friday March 1
12:00pm – 12:30pm Opening Ceremony
2:00pm – 4:20pm Qualification Matches
5:15pm – 6:15pm Qualification Matches

Saturday March 2
9:00am – 9:40am Award Ceremony and VIQ MS Welcome
10:00am – 12:00pm Qualification Matches
12:45pm – 2:00pm Qualification Matches
3:15pm – 4:00pm Elimination Matches (Round of 16 and Quarterfinals)
4:15pm – 5:00pm Finals (VIQ MS, VRC MS, and VRC HS)
5:15pm – 6:15pm Award Ceremony (VIQ MS, VRC MS, and VRC HS)


Friday March 1
12:00pm – 12:30pm Opening Ceremony
2:00pm – 4:20pm Qualification Matches
5:15pm – 6:15pm Qualification Matches

Saturday March 2
9:00am – 9:40am Award Ceremony and VIQ MS Welcome
10:00am – 12:00pm Qualification Matches
12:45pm – 2:00pm Qualification Matches
3:15pm – 4:00pm Elimination Matches (Round of 16 and Quarterfinals)
4:15pm – 5:00pm Finals (VIQ MS, VRC MS, and VRC HS)
5:15pm – 6:15pm Award Ceremony (VIQ MS, VRC MS, and VRC HS)