CIS 497 – Senior Seminar

Spring 2006

Course Objectives – Under the guidance of their faculty mentor, each student will:

• Develop an appreciation for the impact of computing on society
• Gain experience in developing an in-depth study of the impact of computing on a specific element of society, such as medicine, entertainment, transportation, security, safety, commerce, etc.
• Gain experience in communicating (via writing, speaking, and discussion) a technical computing topic to a non-technical audience

Course Topics:

• The topic of the course will vary with the student and be chosen through a collaborative effort by the student and his/her mentor. The student will develop a paper describing the societal impact of a specific computing technology. Below is a very limited set of examples of topics.
• What computing technologies enable Bioinformatics and what impact do these technologies have on the design of drugs?
• How does computing impact the area of food chain safety and what computing technologies enable us to achieve such safety?
• What level of software validation and testing is needed in software in medical implant devices, such as cardiac pacemakers or infusion pumps?
• Do computer gaming technologies enhance medical training, diagnosis, treatment, and/or therapy?
• In what areas of society do “serious games” contribute and how?
• How safe is the cyber infrastructure of the U.S.?
• Does software adequately protect the safety of the electric grid, natural gas pipeline system, and gasoline supply system?
• How safe is embedded software in the automotive, aeronautical, military, and space exploration sectors?
• How does software enable commerce and does it insure the integrity and privacy of personal and/or commercial transactions?
• Do current intellectual property laws adequately protect software from being stolen?
• How does software enable education? Can it replace humans?
• Are your medical records safe in this era of data mining?
• Will telemedicine replace the M.D.? If not, how does it enhance health care?
• Can you really tune your car (for racing, efficiency, safety, etc.) if you are not a good programmer?
• Is your identity safe on the Internet?
• These are just random samples of examples and there are many, many more.

Example Resource Materials:

• The National Academies: Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine. The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board - http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cstb/publications_by_title.html
• This site has a wide range of publications (dated 1980-2006) that are written by professionals in computing and information technology. These articles consist of the impact of computing and information technology on society and specification of research directions that should be funded by the Federal government.
• US FDA: General Principles of Software Validation: http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/comp/guidance/938.html
• Safety-Critical Systems: http://vl.fmnet.info/safety/ and http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/resources/scs/
• Identity Theft Resource Center: http://www.idtheftcenter.org/index.shtml
• Safety of Medical Records: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15579353&dopt=Citation
• Bioinformatics (you must access this through the KSU digital libraries): http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1031122&coll=portal&dl=ACM&CFID=63120584&CFTOKEN=35938783
• Artificial Limbs: http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/articles/therapy_enhancement_and_the_augmented_society/
• Just Google on a topic that interests you.

Course Requirements:

• Attend and summarize (in half a page) four CIS Departmental Seminars (Summaries are due prior to Spring Break; you can turn them in any time.)
• Currently Scheduled CIS Seminars (also see http://www.cis.ksu.edu/Department/seminar.shtml for other CIS Department seminars)
1. Stephanie Springer, K-State Peace Corps: January 30, 2006 – 2:30PM in Nichols 122
2. Michelle Munson, President of Aspera, Inc. (a Silicon Valley start-up) February 27, 2006 – 2:30 PM in Nichols 122
3. Dr. George O. Strawn, Chief Information Officer of the National Science Foundation: March 7, 3:30 PM in Fiedler Auditorium,
• Attend all senior seminars (schedule will listed below; some will be during class time and some will be scheduled in the evening) and provide a critique that will be helpful to your fellow students in improving their topic or presentation style
• Develop a proposal for your Position Paper. This will consist of a 2-page introduction to the problem area and a detailed outline of your final Position Paper. These are due February 27. You must make a 3-5 minute presentation of your Position Paper.
• Present a 15 minute seminar on your Position Paper:
• Due April 10, 2006: Write a Position Paper (20 pages) on an application of computing in society – for a non-technical audience
• Sample Contents
1. What medical, industrial, entertainment, transportation, educational, security, etc. problem needs solution through computing technology?
2. How does a specific computing technology enable solution to this problem?
3. How does the chosen computing technology interface with other elements of the problem solution?
4. Who are the beneficiaries of this application of computing technology?
5. What are the safety and security issues?
6. What Intellectual Property issues are to be considered?
7. What market, legal, ethical, cultural, and technical factors drive the development and deployment of this problem solution?
8. References

Tentative Class Schedule: Check this frequently. Updates on seminars and deadlines will be posted here.

January 23: Introduction and Overview of the class, Guidelines for Writing, and Computing History: Virg Wallentine

January 30: How can computing technology be utilized in the Peace Corps? Stephanie Springer: K-State Peace Corps

February 6: Some fun technology impact http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/ and Contributions of Computing to Society. Virg Wallentine

Due February 13: Write a paragraph or two (must be less than a page) about what you think is the most important contribution of computing to society. Include a description of the important historical computing facts (or inventions) that contribute to the development of the chosen contribution. Be accurate and concise.

February 27: Proposals for Position Paper are due and (5 minute) presentations of proposals will begin.

March 6: Continued presentation of proposals. (We will need an evening session or two to get through with Proposal presentations.)

March 13: Continued presentation of proposals

April 10: Presentations begin.(Some presentations will need to be given during evening sessions because we have too many students to be accommodated during class hours.)

Presentation Evaluation Form (to be filled out by student audience)

· Website to fill out evaluation form

New: Student Presentation Schedule:

New: Final Paper: Due Date: April 10:

What and how to submit:

Turn in:

1. a hard copy to your mentor

2. a hard copy to either Julie Thornton or me (depending on which presentation section you are in)

3. an electronic copy to Virg