Professor Robert Beck
Dear Professor Beck:
This letter outlines a PFF proposal from several members of the Iowa Undergraduate Computer Science Consortium. We expect that such a proposal will build upon various on-going contacts between the University of Iowa and several of the private colleges in the state. Through the work on this grant, we hope to expand past interactions and increase a range of activities for both graduate students and undergraduates, with the hope that more graduate students will consider entering academic careers and that more undergraduates will consider graduate school preparation -- with the option of an academic career in the long term.
Planning for this grant began with the observation that students wanting to pursue software development and/or research can find an extraordinary range of opportunities in the private sector -- at salaries that are dramatically higher than those in academia. Thus, activities designed to encourage academic careers must highlight what is most special about academia -- teaching and student-faculty interations, with many collaborative research options. Already, the Learning Center at the University of Iowa works to help prepare graduate students to teach as TAs. This proposal builds upon past discussions within the Consortium and upon current activity at the participating schools, but will develop or expand interactions between graduate students and undergraduates in several significant ways.
The grant itself will be administered by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Iowa. Other administrative and coordinating information follows:
Partner institutions: Central College, Cornell College, St. Ambrose University, and Grinnell College.
Project Co-Coordinators:
| Steve Bruell, Chair | ||
| Department of Computer Science, 14 MacLean Hall, | ||
| The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1419 USA, | ||
| 319-335-0713 (voice), 319-335-3624 (fax), bruell@cs.uiowa.edu. | ||
| Henry Walker, Professor | ||
| Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, | ||
| Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa 50112 | ||
| 515-269-4208 (voice), 515-269-4984 (fax), walker@cs.grinnell.edu. | ||
Steering Committee:
| Steve Bruell | CS Chair, Prof., | University of Iowa | bruell@cs.uiowa.edu |
| Tony deLaubenfels, | CS Chair, Prof., | Cornell College | tdelaubenfels@cornell-iowa.edu |
| Robert Franks, | Math/CS Chair, Assoc. Prof., | Central College | franksr@central.edu |
| Tom Halverson, | Graduate Student | University of Iowa | halversn@cs.uiowa.edu |
| Joseph Kearney | Prof. of CS, | University of Iowa | kearney@cs.uiowa.edu |
| Brian Mackie, | CIS Faculty | St. Ambrose University | bmackie@sau.edu |
| Samuel Rebelsky, | Asst. Prof. of CS, | Grinnell College | rebelsky@cs.grinnell.edu |
| Marie Roch, | Graduate Student | University of Iowa | mroch@cs.uiowa.edu |
| Leon Tabak, | Assoc. Prof. of CS, | Cornell College | l.tabak@ieee.org |
| Henry Walker, | Prof. of Math/CS, | Grinnell College | walker@cs.grinnell.edu |
More complete details of this proposal may be found in the accompanying narrative and budget.
Appendices: