C_O_C_A_C_M___D_A_T_A___C_H_A_N_N_E_L
Newsletter of the Central Ohio Chapter of
the Association for Computing Machinery, Columbus, Ohio
April 2009 vol. 42, no. 9
The April Chapter Meeting is canceled
Symposium: Wednesday, May 20
Sponsored by the Central Ohio Chapters of ACM and IEEE
Computing in a Tough Economy
Keep the day open for this important symposium. At this
writing the location, speakers' roster, schedule, and cost
have not been finalized. Speakers are expected to discuss
cloud computing and life cycle management, among other
relevant topics.
Report on District Science Day
Saturday March 21, 2009
by Bill Ryder
This year David Clouse and I judged for COCACM. In the senior
division, we awarded the first prize of $50 to Colm Crotty,
7th grade from St. Paul in Westerville. He did a project
titled "Is Rock, Paper, Scissors Fair?" He started with a
simple spinner program that he downloaded. The spinner had
three possible outcomes, he spun it twice for 300 times to
come up with 300 trials. He then got some friends to do 300
trials of rock paper scissors with their backs to each other
and got the same friends to do 300 trials facing each other.
Finally, he compared the results to a Chi-squared prediction.
The results clearly showed that the face to face game of rock
paper scissors did not match the predicted results whereas the
computer generated and back to back trials did match. He
concluded that there was some cheating going on in normal
"rock, paper, scissors" games.
The first prize of $25.00 in the junior division went to
Kanaad Parvate, in the 6th grade at Karrer Middle school in
Dublin, for his project titled "Optimal Position of Wireless
Router." He placed a router is several places around his home
and used three different computers to measure signal strength.
He also measured the distance between the PC and the router.
He graphed the results and was able to show the optimal
location. He had a good scientific process that was easily
repeated.
The meeting scheduled for
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
is canceled.
(No program information was available in time for
publication.)
See our web pages at http://www.acm.org/chapters/cocacm
for complete up to date COCACM information
Please post this newsletter at your organization.
State Science Day 2009
Don't miss out on the fun. Volunteer to judge at Science Day.
Each year the Ohio Academy of Science sponsors Science Days in
high schools and middle schools. Students exhibit their
projects. The best ones advance to District Science Day and
the best of those to State Science Day, Saturday, May 9. At
State Science Day, COCACM will award a $100 prize to the best
high school Computer Science project, and we'll award a $50
prize to the best middle school project. COCACM's judges
always enjoy the morning judging. Sometimes they accept the
Chapter's offer to buy lunch. Join in. Send an e-mail to
[log in to unmask], or leave a message for Scholarship Chair Bill
Ryder, 614-267-5229.
Volunteer to be a COCACM Officer
At the June Meeting, COCACM will elect officers to serve
beginning July 1. Are you tired of the same old faces? Our
by-laws are. Our Chair, David Clouse, is not eligible to
succeed himself and some of the other officers would gladly
step aside for you. Volunteer for an office. You'll have
experienced help on on the Board. How about it? Send an
e-mail to [log in to unmask], or leave a message for Chapter Chair
David Clouse, 614-471-7983.
COCACM Officers, 2008-2009
Chair: David Clouse, [log in to unmask], 614-471-7983
Past Chair: Dean Liming, [log in to unmask]
Vice Chair / Program Chair: (vacant)
Secretary: Paul Buerger, [log in to unmask], 614-292-4170
Treasurer: Clark Hahn, [log in to unmask], 614-387-8109
Committees
Data Channel Editor: Otto Juelich, [log in to unmask]
Symposium: (vacant)
Information: Dean Liming
Scholarship: Bill Ryder, [log in to unmask], 614-267-5229
Intergroup: Paul Buerger
Professional Development: (vacant)
Membership: (vacant)
Upcoming Meetings (subject to change)
Chapter meetings are usually held on the third Wednesday of
each month.
May 20, 2009 (Symposium)
June 17, 2009 (Election Meeting)
COCACM Board Meetings
All members are welcome at Board Meetings.
When: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Lane Road Library
1945 Lane Road (Not on Lane Avenue!)
Upper Arlington, OH 43220
When: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Upper Arlington Main Library, Friends Theater
2800 Tremont Road
Upper Arlington, OH 43221
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