Monthly Archives: August 2022

Community STEM Teams, Robotics, VEX Robotics

VEX Robotics Community Teams Are Back!

This fall our VEX Community teams are back and competing for the 2022/23 VEX Robotics season. These teams are for elementary, middle and high school students in Manassas and Loudoun who do not have a robotics team or program at their school. Registration is now open and due by October 15th for the 2022-2023 school year. Teams will start meeting the week of September 26th at both locations.

We’ll be using the VEX IQ Challenge (VIQC) and VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) platforms. VEX IQ is a platform that consists of robots assembled from plastic snap-together parts and consist of 2-3 members. The programming used is Graphical or Text-based. VRC robots are metal and put together with metal screws and advanced parts and consist of 3-5 members. The programming is Text-based.

Our goal with these teams is to introduce kids to STEM and instill in them a quality robotics foundation. On a robotics team, participants learn the design process as well as gaining problem solving and teamwork skills. It’s an excellent gateway into STEM and also teaches the soft skills needed to excel in higher Ed or a professional environment.

Sign up now at vexcommunityteam.novastem.us/register

 

AFCOM, Data Center Operations, Internships, Scholarships

AFCOM Interns Ready to Pursue Data Center Opportunities

For the second year in a row AFCOM Potomac Chapter, supported by NOVA through the Go VA DEEP IET grant, put students through a 10 week summer internship program. The objective of the internship is to engage undergraduate students from multiple disciplines having them observe and assist with projects within the data center community.

This year 12 interns participated, with 8 of them coming from the NOVA Data Center Operations Program (DCO). AFCOM has increased the number of internships offered year over year and won national recognition from AFCOM National at Data Center World 2021. By supporting the internship project, companies can actively participate in bringing up the next wave of talent in data centers. “We will be continuing this annually to help introduce and drive young talent into the data center space,” said Stuart Dyer, Global Data Center Strategy and Planning, IBM, and AFCOM Potomac Chapter Director of Scholarships & Internships. “Students return to school armed with good references, and a solid foundation of influence, and in some instances, land jobs with their sponsor companies.”

Additionally, AFCOM gives annually to the DCO program through the Wendy Darling Scholarship. This year AFCOM increased its support to $20,000 for course scholarships. “With NOVA sponsoring our internship program, it completes the circle of investing in these students’ future in the data center industry” said Dyer. This year’s donation demonstrated AFCOM’s commitment and support to making the NOVA DCO program a top generator for talent for the Data Center industry.

AFCOM, the interns and their partners celebrated the successful completion of the internships and the generous donation at Top Golf in Ashburn.

AFCOM is a professional association proven to advance the career of IT and data center professionals. For over 40 years, they’ve been educating, connecting & lifting our members to help them meet the growing demands facing the IT and Data Center industry.

More about AFCOM here

Computer Science, NOVA CS Faculty

Computer Science Faculty Spotlight

Kimberly Whitehouse

Born in Florida and raised in Georgia, Kimberly joined the Marine Corps upon graduating high school.  She served for several years as a jet engine mechanic until she was selected to attend college while on active duty. Kimberly attended the University of Florida earning a Bachelor’s degree in Finance.  Upon graduation, she was commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps, serving as a Data Systems Officer until she retired after over 21 years of active service.  During her last few years in the Corps, she earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California.

After retiring from the Marine Corps, Kimberly has worked for a major defense contractor, owned her own business, and taught high school computer science.  Kimberly is excited to join the faculty at NVCC and loves spending time in the computer lab sharing her passion for computer science.  When she’s not in the classroom, you will likely find her enjoying one of her many other hobbies, such as quilting, reading, cooking, hiking, running (sloth-pace), attending baseball games, or riding her Harley-Davidson. The most cherished aspect of her life is her family.  Kimberly is married, has five children, two grandchildren (and another on the way), and two sweet Viszla puppies!

Kimberly can be reached at cboicu@nvcc.edu  

Cristina Boicu

Cristina is a new faculty member in Computer Science at the Annandale campus. Cristina has taught for more than 15 years in higher education, at undergraduate and graduate level, in multiple institutions. She designed and taught several information technology and computer science courses at George Mason University, Colorado Technical University, Northern Virginia Community College.

Cristina has performed basic and applied research in Artificial Intelligence and knowledge-based decision support systems (knowledge acquisition and refinement, knowledge engineering, multi-strategy learning, mixed-initiative problem solving) with applications in military, intelligence analysis, emergency response, financial, education and medical domains. She has advised students in their research and academic programs as well as assisting teaching several computer science and information technology courses at George Mason University, US Army War College and US Air War College. She has extended experience in computer related industries including programming in various languages, starting with assembly language, C, C++, LISP, Prolog, Java and Python, software design and development for industrial computers, intelligent agents, databases, and web development.

She holds a PhD, an MS, and a BS in Computer Science.

In her free time, Cristina enjoys photography, music and travel!

She can be reached at cboicu@nvcc.edu