Math and computer science activities assist students individually, worldwide Math Summer. Penn State University. Ten weeks. Flexible hours. Sounds like a fun way to spend the summer, right? Maybe not. If you are a math or physics major and you like working with statistics, this might be fun. And this was how senior Susan Parks spent her summer. Parks and 13 other undergraduate students worked with graduate students in four areas of statistics - applied statistics, likelihood statistics, statistical education and environmental statistics. Parks worked with likelihood statistics, which she says is the most theoretical of the four. Likelihood statistics deals with applying statistics to different problems. Parks assisted a student in working on a way to quicken the process of getting statistics without complete data. Without this method of statistics , much research would have to be thrown out because it is incomplete. Parks spent most of her summer trying to learn stat istical ideas. She spent time in the library looking for papers that applied to the project on which she was working. Her big project was rewriting a computer program for the student to use with the variables she needed to complete her problem. Parks learned more last summer than just statistics. While she was working, she received a good view of what graduate school will be like. "I learned that graduate school is more time-consuming than I previously thought, " she said. "The intense studying, while stimulating, is sometimes very frustrating, too. " Parks spent 10 weeks working at Penn State. She had flexible hours and worked as long as she needed to get her job done. Some days were short; others were long. Parks also had to do two presentations this summer about her job as part of her internship. - Alyne Hoover Computer Science The World-Wide Web was created, in essence, to make it easier to move information around the Internet without much expertise. Through the hard work of computer science department professor Ron Pacheco, Harding now has its own "home page" on the web. "I felt itwas time for Harding's presence on the web," Pacheco said. "I wanted to have something to show the administration to let them know that we can do this. " During his limited spare time, Pacheco designed the Harding page on the web. He introduced it in January of 1995; the final product was finished in March of 1995. The Harding page contains both recent and older pictures of the campus, along with general information about the school. Some pictures date back to the recordbreaking snow of 1987, showing a snapshot of the front lawn covered by a blanket of white powder. Before Fall Fest, Pacheco added a piece to the page that gave information about the weekend. He felt this can be another great service to Harding. By periodically updating the material , Harding will keep those thumbing through the Harding page aware of campus events. Pacheco feels that the possibilities for Harding on the web are limitless. "There are a few universities that have programs designed for students to register for classes through the web pages," Pacheco said. He also says he would like to see class schedules, handbooks and other useful information for the students on the Harding page in the future. With almost 60,000 people accessing the Harding page in the first seven months of its existence, it is obvious that being a part of the World-Wide Web has potential for Harding. Hoping to see many new things incorporated soon, Pacheco said, "We 've barely touched what can be done." - Shellie Morris Steve Baber, Ph.D., Professor, Math, Computer Science Tim Baird, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Computer Science, Department Chair Harmon Brown, Ph.D., Professor, Math Gene Dugger, M.S., Professor, Computer Science, Math, Ass 't. Director Info. Services Debbie Duke, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, Math Bill Oldham, Ed.D., Professor, Math Ron Pacheco, M.S., Assistant Professor, Math, Computer Science Scott Ragsdale, M.S.E., Ass 't. Prof., Computer Science, Ass 't. Football Coach, Golf Coach Steve Smith, Ph.D., Professor, Math, Department Chair
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