It has been an exciting and eventful year for the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences clubs!

On February 21st, NYIT Computer Science student Nicholas Cariello, the new President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) led an information session to kick off the new Old Westbury chapter of the student organization. Nicholas, alongside fellow E-board members, Thomas Laveniano, Vice President, Shanjeetha Kirupananthan, Treasurer, Linda Chin, Secretary, and Rajendra Bhagroo, Senator, introduced fellow students to the organization’s mission and values, and the goals of the Old Westbury student chapter. President Nicholas Cariello is working on getting the chapter off the ground by planning workshops that will engage campus community members. Club advisor Makerukh Akhtar will oversee the success of the chapter as they recruit new members.

From Left to Right: Rajendra Bhagroo - Senator, Linda Chin - Secretary, Nicholas Cariello - President, Thomas Lavenziano - Vice President, Shanjeetha Kirupananthan - Treasurer

On May 12, 2017, the club successfully hosted /bash night in collaboration with the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences (SoECS). The event provided SoECS students with an opportunity for a fun hangout before finals week. The highlight of the event was a mini-coding competition. A screening of The Imitation Game followed the competition.

The Manhattan (MA) chapter of the National Society Black Engineers (NSBE) received 40 new members in 2017, marking the largest increase in membership since the club’s installation in 2013. Throughout the year, NSBE MA held social events that gave students the opportunity to practice networking. NSBE also held an off-campus Christmas party, attended by more than 30 NSBE collegiate, alumnae, and professional members and non-members. Vice President Marciana Davis and former President Jamiah Braithwaite started an eight-week Peer Mentoring Program, which partnered up seven pairs of students. For NSBE MA’s last general body meeting, the chapter collaborated with CODE2040 to bring ESPN to the NYIT campus. A panel of four engineers spoke about their experiences throughout their careers. NSBE was also featured in the NYIT Magazine. Read the spotlight here.

The Manhattan chapters of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and Society of Women Engineers (SWE) also collaborated on a number of successful events.

They contributed to making the March Introduce a Girl to Engineering event at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum a huge sucess. The event hosted many educational institutions, organizations, and companies. Despite the frigid weather, many young girls attended and gained valuable insight into STEM.

The NYIT tables included a HTC Vive for virtual reality, gumdrop bridge building challenges, coding projects, and various robots. The club members engaged the young girls in enjoyable and interactive projects that explored engineering concepts.

SWE and IEEE also held a ‘Learn to Solder’ event on March 9 open to students from all disciplines, including Electrical and Computer Engineering, IT, Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering. The students learned the basic safety requirements for soldering and began soldering discrete components onto a provided circuit board. Most groups successfully completed a mini-project by the end of the event, assembling boards that could produce sound and light.

Other workshops included the IEEE Super Pi Boy workshop to teach students how to operate a Raspberry Pi board and emulate an original Nintendo Gameboy using a Raspberry Pi board and an Open CV workshop to teach students how to implement filters and perform edge detection on pictures and videos. ACM has also held many workshops over the past year on python for web development, ethical hacking, and virtual reality.

This year has also been successful for the IEEE OW chapter. The chapter received the 2016 Velio Marsocci Outstanding Student Branch Award for its student programs and achievements. The mission of the IEEE and of the student branch – advancing technology for humanity – is seen in all of the programs and activities the student club members participate in, which includes technical and professional development workshops that encourage members to develop new skills and find new passions and competitions and conferences that allow members to showcase their work and network with peers and industry leaders. The club’s most important philosophy is giving back and being involved in the community by giving presentations about IEEE and STEAM and attending STEAM showcases to encourage interest and participation in these fields.

The NYIT IEEE student branch also participated in the 2016-2017 VEX Robotics challenge called Starstruck. During the year, students learn team building, public speaking, electrical distribution, incorporating analog and digital sensors, mechanical building and design, and computer programming. The preparation culminated in the 2017 VEX World Championship held in Louisville, Kentucky. After four days of intense competition and networking with teams from China, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Colombia, and many other countries from all over the world, the NYIT IEEE members ranked #1 in Driver Skills and placed 16th worldwide. They also received the 2017 VEX Robotics Community Award for dedication to developing, promoting, and teaching STEM curricula in their community because of their great work volunteering at VEX Robotics high school and middle school competitions, mentoring high school robotics teams and hosting workshops with them.

Both NYIT IEEE student branches participated in the IEEE Region 1 Student Conference held at the University at Buffalo. The branches participated in the MicroMouse Competition, an annual challenge at the conference where students design a robot to autonomously navigate to the center of a maze and return to its starting position. During the conference, the club members met industry leaders, IEEE Region 1 delegates, and participants from other IEEE chapters in the region.