Computer Science holds annual awards banquet

The Department of Computer Science held its annual Spring Banquet and Awards Ceremony on April 20, 2006 at the Briarcrest Country Club in Bryan. Dr. Guylaine M. Pollock PhD '85 and Dr. Jeff W. Rickel BS '85 (1963―2003) received the department's Distinguished Former Student Awards, which consisted of commemorative plaques and $1000 scholarships in their honor. The 2005-2006 Pollock Scholarship recipient is Manas Singh, graduating in May 2006 with a Master's Degree in Computer Science. The 2005-2006 Rickel Scholarship recipient is Jiheon Kwon, graduating in May 2008 with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering.

In her acceptance speech, Dr. Pollock challenged her audience to "know who you are" and to always make choices that align with personal values. A former IEEE-CS president and current senior member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, Dr. Pollock is recognized for her many contributions to software engineering research and for her positive impact on women in computing. Outside her work at Sandia in Albuquerque, Dr. Pollock is known for the positive difference her volunteer efforts make on behalf of many New Mexico nonprofit organizations.

Mrs. Lynn Rickel, accepting the award on behalf of her husband, said that he "did everything with passion." Dr. Rickel, who died of complications with cancer, specialized in intelligent tutoring systems and has a worldwide reputation for his notable achievements in interactive virtual humans research. He was an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Southern California and received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1995.

Following the former student award presentations, the computer science student organizations presented student, faculty and staff awards for excellence in leadership, teaching, research, and service. Ms. Kasia Leyk received the Undergraduate Research Excellence Award and Mr. Wangqi Qiu, the Graduate Research Excellence Award; Ms. Shilpa Agarwal was presented with the Undergraduate Leadership Award and Ms. Reetal Pai, the Graduate Leadership Award. The Texas A&M Computing Society (TACS) and Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) honored Mr. Brian Eoff with the Teaching Assistant Teaching Excellence Award. The Mentoring Award was presented to Ms. Olga Tkachyshyn by Aggie Women in Computer Science.

Dr. Sing Hoi-Sze received the Undergraduate Faculty Teaching Excellence Award from TACS and UPE. The Computer Science Graduate Student Association selected Dr. Jianer Chen for the Graduate Faculty Teaching Excellence Award; Dr. Valerie Taylor for the Faculty Service Excellence Award; and Ms. Elena Rodriguez for the Staff Excellence Award.

The Department of Computer Science Annual Spring Banquet and Awards Ceremony was funded by the department's Industrial Affiliates Program and hosted by Aggie Women in Computer Science, the Computer Science Graduate Student Association, Texas A&M Computing Society, and Upsilon Pi Epsilon.

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