Tag Archives: computer science

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From graduation to employment, TSU graduates secure top jobs with fortune 500 companies

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – The experience, success and or job stability are just a few of many reasons behind attending college. At TSU, many of the undergraduates did just that by successfully landing employment in their industry before walking across the stage. From Microsoft to Bank of America, here are four Spring 2022 graduates who landed top-paying jobs with fortune 500 companies.

Davarious Thompson accepted a full-time job offer last fall as a project engineer assistant with one of the largest domestic contractors in the United States, Turner Construction Company. Thompson of Memphis, Tennessee, received a Bachelor of Science degree in architectural engineering from the College of engineering. When he first enrolled at TSU, he was unsure of what career path he wanted to take. That’s when he decided to utilize his resources on campus.

Davarious Thompson accepted a full-time job offer as a project engineer assistant with Turner Construction Company. (Photo submitted)

“The career development center gave me that extra push,” Thompson said. Upon arrival, an employee from the career development center told Thompson to close his eyes and envision the person he wanted to become and a career path he truly wanted to follow.

“The first thing I said was … build a building or designing.” That’s when Thompson got on track with the engineering program.  “I fell in love with it.” Thompson will start his new position located in his hometown on June 16, earning around $80,000. Thomas said his 2019 internship at General Motors, his senior capstone project, and overall TSU experience is what led him to the amazing opportunity.

As for Aliyah Muhammad, she is still in shock about the job offered she accepted as a software developer for Bank of America.

Muhammad of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, received a degree in computer science and is moving to Dallas, Texas, for her new career in June. She will be earning $88,000. “It’s been a long time,” Muhammad said, noting that she was initially a biology major.

Aliyah Muhammad accepts job offer as software developer for Bank of America. (Photo submitted)

“But it was definitely worth it.”

The first-generation college graduate accepted the job in December and said that the Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP) program, is what assisted her on the journey. “It’s so surreal,” she said. “I am really excited to start the next chapter of my life. TSU was awesome and I am very grateful.” As Muhammad is in disbelief of her outstanding accomplishments, Shaun Anderson of Lexington, Kentucky, said his graduation experience was bittersweet.

Anderson is a recent graduate who received a degree in marketing. During his time at TSU, Anderson became a United Negro College Fund scholar and traveled to D.C. for a leadership seminar, an event that set him up for success, he said.

“Being in that room … and being an African American male at a HBCU is unheard of,” Anderson said. “Being in that setting is great.” Anderson interned with Spectrum in 2021 and the rest was history. “Once I did a good job the first summer … they invited me for a full-time position.”

Shaun Anderson accepts offer with Charter Communications as a marketing analytics specialist. (Photo submitted)

Starting July 6, Anderson will be taking his talents to Charlotte, North Carolina, working for Spectrum/ Charter Communications as their marketing analytics specialist, earning $85,000.

In just a few weeks, Amiya Ingram will be a part of the 5.7% of African American employees representing Microsoft within the United States.

Ingram of Huntsville, Alabama, will be moving to Seattle, Washington, to start her new position as a program manager. She will be working under Microsoft’s marketing and advertising artificial intelligence team.

“It was only God,” the recent TSU graduate said when she applied for the position and received the offer after four rounds of hour-long interviews.

Amiya Ingram accepts offer as a program manager, under Microsoft’s marketing and advertising artificial intelligence team. (Photo submitted)

Ingram, who was the president of the National Society of Black Engineers at TSU, now holds a bachelor’s degree from the college of engineering in computer science. She noted that her contribution towards the organization and members, along with support from the computer science department, has shown her what she is capable of. “That organization (NSBE) creates some of the best talent that the university produces,” she said. “It showed me my own power within myself.”

She stated that helping others keeps her motivated. “It is something so fulfilling about seeing people really thrive in whatever they want to do.”

Ingram landed a six-figure salary and will start her new position on June 20.

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a premier, historically black university and land-grant institution offering 39 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs, and eight doctoral degrees. TSU is a comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, Tennessee. With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee State University provides students with a quality education in a nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

Alumni, FACULTY, Featured, FEATURED, NEWS, Uncategorized

Graduate develops app to help special needs children enhance their social skills

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Aram Abubaker was presented with a challenge. A friend who worked with children with special needs was looking for something that would help enhance their social skills. Abubaker responded: He made an app for that.

Aram Abubaker

On Nov. 20, Abubaker joined nearly 700 undergraduate and graduate students who received various degrees at Tennessee State University’s Fall Commencement ceremony. Abubaker got a doctorate in computer engineering, where he improved his software developing skills that aided him in making the PeerKnect app.

According to the app’s website, 93 percent of parents or therapists say their child or client has difficulty finding social interactions. The app is intended to provide children with opportunities for connection and to help develop social skills which can increase confidence and autonomy.

“Many parents with special needs children have a problem finding play dates or finding friends for their kids because they have some kind of special need,” said Abubaker. “The app facilitates the process of connecting parents, therapists, and businesses that work with children with special needs.”

By teaching or enhancing their social skills, Abubaker said the kids can become “more engaged, and feel less isolated.”

Emily Bruce is a board-certified behavior analyst and Abubaker’s business partner. In her therapy practice, she said many parents with special needs children ask about ways for them to connect socially, have a play date. She said many of them were unaware of sensory friendly events in their area, like a local mall in Nashville, Tennessee, that allows kids with special needs to take pictures with Santa Claus on a certain day and time in December.

“There are a lot of businesses out there that will host these events because they want families of children with special needs to be included,” said Bruce. “So, we wanted to add that as a feature (to the app) where businesses can post their events. And then of course we wanted to get these families connected either with another parent, or with a therapist. We’re getting users every day, and it’s really wonderful to see people respond to this.”

Roseanna Martinez is a special education teacher in Phoenix, Arizona, who has been teaching special needs children for more than 20 years. She said she likes the connectivity the app provides.

“I think it’s a really neat idea,” said Martinez. “One of the things I find interesting is that parents can link up with other families with kids like theirs. That not only gives kids an opportunity to socialize with people who understand them, but it also gives parents a bigger community to work with.”

“The other thing that appealed to me is the sensory friendly places,” added Martinez. “That’s a big deal. You never know till you get to a place how it’s going to be and how the kids are going to react. So, it’s nice that they (parents) have a little insight into that before they take their kids out.”  

Dr. Robbie Melton is dean of TSU’s Graduate School and Professional Studies and associate vice president of the university’s SMART Global Technology Innovation Center. She encouraged Abubaker to participate in the center’s “Everyone Can Code & Create” initiative, a partnership with Apple. The initiative improved Abubaker’s problem-solving skills, and aided him in finding solutions, such as developing PeerKnect.  

“The Graduate School takes pride in providing both a supporting academic and social environment in helping students like Aram surpass their potential,” said Melton. “Aram is truly a role model!”

Abubaker said developing the app was hard work, but he believes it will help many people.

“I’ve spent hours working on this, and I’ve enjoyed the process, because I believe this is going to change people’s lives,” he said.

To learn more about TSU’s Computer Science Department, visit https://www.tnstate.edu/computer_science/.

For more information about the SMART Global Technology Innovation Center, visit https://tsu-smartinnovationtech.netlify.app/.

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a  premier, historically black university and land-grant institution offering 39 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs, and eight doctoral degrees.  TSU is a comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, Tennessee.  With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee State University provides students  with a quality education in a nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

FEATURED, NEWS

Tennessee State University Engineering Students Participate in “Hack Nashville”

Myron Sallie, a junior Architectural Engineering mojor, conducts a soldering experiment during Hack Nashville, an event that brought computer programmers and coders together to collaborate on innovative products during the course of a weekend.
Myron Sallie, a junior Architectural Engineering major, conducts a soldering experiment during Hack Nashville, an event that brought computer programmers and coders together to collaborate on innovative products during the course of a weekend. (courtesy photo)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Students from Tennessee State University recently had the opportunity to hunker down with other like-minded “techies” and programmers from throughout the city to build products, share coding skills and participate in real-world programing exercises.

Billed as Hack Nashville, the event drew more than 300 participants who took part in the gathering November 7-9 where computer programmers and coders came together to collaborate on innovative products during the course of a weekend.

“So much innovation is coming out of these events,” said Dr. Sachin Shetty, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and one of the team leaders. “This was a great opportunity for our students to apply concepts they learn in the classroom to real-world applications. It was a tremendous boost to show the students exactly what they are capable of accomplishing.”

Hackathons have been around since the late 1990s and have sometimes been called a hackday or codefest where “hackers” meet other hackers, team up according to skill and interest, then collaborate and show off their final product. This is the sixth event hosted in Nashville since 2012 where organizers provide developers and designers a place to come together in a completely organic, unrestricted environment to create.

Shetty and co-team leader, Dr. Tamara Rogers, associate professor of Computer Science, helped prepare the engineering and computer science students compete in the cognitive exercise to develop solutions to real-world problems.

“We worked with other universities in the area to garner more student participation and interest in the event that has traditionally not been opened to students,” added Shetty. “Our students then came up with some unique concepts to demonstrate.”

A 10-member team of TSU students developed two projects at the event.  One project dealt with addressing the problem of controlling any software on a computer without using a keyboard or mouse, called a gesture-free recognition system.

The solution involved using the hands to interact with software on the computer. The team developed a system that used an armband to act as a sensor to control any program.

For example, the armband could enable hands-free audio mixing by altering pitch and volume of musical tones in any type of computer software by simply waving the hands.

Another team developed a low-cost mobile robot that teaches design principles, simple machines, and energy transfer to students in 5th and 6th grades.

“This opportunity was important to our students because it showed them what they are learning in the classroom has real-world applications and can be used to benefit and impact society,” said Shetty. “It also boosted their confidence knowing they have the skills, knowledge and ability to use this experience and take it to the next level and become marketable in any industry.”

Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of the College of Engineering, agrees, noting the hackathon itself offered a taste of real-world experience to students who are just used to specific assignments from instructors.

“It is important we continue to challenge our students in the classroom and laboratory to enhance their critical-thinking skills, and, at the same time, promote team-based learning while they are students,” Hargrove said. “This will make them more competitive when they graduate and enter the workforce.”

 

 

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 42 undergraduate, 24 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

EVENTS, FACULTY, NEWS

TSU Engineering Students Take Part in Annual Air Force Design Competition

AFRLChallenge
A team of engineering students from Tennessee State University representing the fields of mechanical design, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science joined 15 other universities and three service academies at Arnold Air Force Base recently for the annual Air Force Research Laboratory Collegiate and Service Academy Engineering Design Competition. This year’s challenge centered on a problem routinely faced by Air Force pararescuemen and other military units — lifting up of heavy armored vehicles to rescue fellow soldiers pinned or trapped inside, similar to the vehicle pictured. (courtesy photo)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – A team of engineering students from Tennessee State University joined 15 other universities and three service academies at Arnold Air Force Base recently to find a solution to a problem routinely encountered by members of the military…designing a portable one-man heavy lifting device capable of lifting 45,000 pounds.

The teams came together April 14-17 at Arnold Engineering Development Complex in middle Tennessee for the annual Air Force Research Laboratory Collegiate and Service Academy Engineering Design Competition. TSU fielded a 12-person team and joined forces with Prairie View A&M University. Students represented the fields of mechanical design, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science.

Now in its third year, the competition revolves around a single engineering challenge aimed at fostering innovative and creative solutions. This year’s challenge centered on a problem routinely faced by U.S. Air Force pararescuemen and other military units. The weight of armored vehicles and frequent encounters with improvised explosive devices or damage from combat operations occasionally require these up-armored vehicles be lifted to rescue fellow soldiers pinned or trapped inside. These heavy lift devices are also routinely used in rescue operations of collapsed structures or downed aircraft.

The challenge this year was to design a lifting device that was portable, lightweight, and could lift a structure, aircraft or armored vehicles at least 24 inches high that would effectively lift a 45,000-pound vehicle sufficient to retrieve trapped personnel.

“The current constraint is the inability to make kits available in small enough volume and weight factor,” said Dr. Fenghui Yao, professor of Computer Science and the team’s leader. “A successful rescue is a controlled operation that is immediately deployed to prevent crushing or further damage to equipment and personnel. Our mindset was to ‘lift an inch, shore an inch’ for stability of lifting the heavy load.”

Devon Parker, a senior Air Force mechanical engineer at AEDC, was the host and manager for the national competition on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory. In addition to managing the competition, he provided regular feedback to the design teams throughout the academic year during design reviews. While this was designed principally to ensure the teams fully understood the problem, it also allowed him to ensure the trial phase conducted at AEDC could safely accommodate all of the various design entries during demonstration.

“The challenge was a 40,000-pound bulldozer resting on an deep incline deep within the Tennessee Guard Volunteer Training Site,” said Parker. “The competition and the teams were supported by a number of experienced Air Force pararescuemen from around the country – who performed work under the load for the student teams, as instructed by the respective student team leader.”

The team from Tennessee State University developed and designed two solutions to the problem. According to Yao, the first solution was entered and competition along with the solution provided by the Prairie View students. Both were able to execute the required lifting task successfully.

Ultimately, the team from Auburn University delivered a design solution that met the objective while also achieving significant progress in many of the additional design constraints. Their solution consisted of a mixed air bag system, built of Kevlar and Vectran in their own laboratory.

Regardless of their performance on the field trial, there were portions of each entry that offered further opportunity for creative development. There were mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and hybrid solutions developed and demonstrated, said Parker.

“Engineering designs and team creativity were all put to the test,” he said. “Regardless of individual results, every team came away with a more profound understanding of why it is essential that engineers leave their office desks and get their hands dirty when working on a problem.”

Even though the joint TSU/Prairie View A&M team did not win the competition, it provided valuable design experience for the students.

“It is this type of first-hand experience that enables engineers to fully comprehend the scope of any problem,” said Yao. “It allows them to work more effectively as part of any product development or problem solving team.”

Dr. Landon Onyebueke, professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Dr. Saleh Zein-Sabatto, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, assisted Yao and the Challenge team.

 

 

 

Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

 

About Tennessee State University

With nearly 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 22 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.