ITU Journal, Volume III, Issue 5

Volume III, Issue 5, 2013 ESTA

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International Technological University

LearN, Cultivate, Flourish Graduate school growing with students

“Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.”

-James Cash Penney

Lasers and Your Daily Life

fall enrollment

Software is everywhere!

By Avid Farhoodfar, PhD

By Cornel Pokorny, PhD

All of us know the word laser, but do you know what it stands for? That is Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Simply speaking, light consists of photons. For light from an ordinary PG. lamp, photons travel in different directions. The light from the lamp consists of different light colors (or wavelengths).

Ever wondered what is NOT controlled by software? From your car engine or your bike, computer to your cell phone, from your dishwasher to your dentist’s PG. X-ray machine, from your digital camera to the internet, software is everywhere!

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Fall 2013 student enrollment exceeded projections by 50%.​

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International Technological University

Volume III, Issue 5, 2013

Ongoing Growth...

ITU has enjoyed significant growth, which brings its own rewards. Growing means offering more jobs to more people. To support this growth, the University is hiring experienced faculty and staff across all departments.

Investing in people​and building proficiency for the long term is a key driver for ITU. Even with growth, ITU has retained its original spirit: a family-spirit that has always made the university unique. We work collectively towards a general purpose and rejoice in the success of a job well done.​ Growth is made by continually examining our standards, by identifying advanced objectives, and by striving towards their accomplishment.

ITU supports continued growth in the following ways: - Education that is the best teaching and training for achieving better learning.

- Technology that is cutting edge.

- Culture of caring and support.

The University constantly adds relevant graduate programs and majors, and has added distance learning to fit the educational objectives of a growing student body.

ITU’s current enrollment has grown by approximately 70 percent, comparing Fall 2013 to Fall 2012.

ITU online increases its distance learning courses for Business Administration and Engineering. The university’s growth in course offerings increases its growth.

Growth in enrollment expands our faculty and staff population as well.

Students meeting their educational objectives for success indicate their desire to invest in themselves and in their community. By understanding students’ objectives, ITU is committed to serve and meet their needs and community growth.

The University’s educational services and support are broad. They include market research, recruitment, student services, course design and development, and faculty professional development. We also use tech-based educational management systems with sophisticated data analytics to observe student performance, growth and academic achievement.

ITU is committed to competence-based education, evidenced-based learning, and supporting successful student learning outcomes. If you ask anyone at ITU, they will say: We are proud of our accomplishments, always aiming for continual improvement.

Continued growth means continued success.

Amal Mougharbel, Ph.D. Business Administration Department Chair Editor in Chief, ITU Journal

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What’s Inside The topic of our WASC-accredited university’s growth continues in this issue.

We discuss educational offerings, industry ties, training and advancement opportunities, and community involvement in our ‘Growth and Progress at ITU’ article.

Another form of growth is faculty achievement, as seen in publication of scholarly articles. In ‘Lasers And Your Daily Life,’ we describe the revolution lasers bring to medicine. Another scholarly publication featured is ‘Computer Graphics with WebGL’.

ITU is supporting new efforts in online education and faculty development. The intensive training course for faculty is featured in “ITU Faculty Graduate From Custom Online Training Course”. The article “Excellence in Teaching” highlighted two topics: using course rubrics to assess and grade student achievement, and best practices to teach weekend courses.

Investment in the Institutional Research (IR) Office manifests ITU growth. The story “Data-Driven Decisions” shows how IR practices help campus leaders to grow the university successfully. ITU’s IR data analyzes students’ enrollment, retention and graduation, and is used in program reviews.

The diverse and active academic life at ITU allows us to get to know new staff in the Admission Department: we enjoy smelling the coffee in reading “The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony”. We love sharing happy stories of students coming to ITU in “A Student Of Life” and “From the City of Dreams to the City of Opportunities”.

Volume III, Issue 5, 2013

At ITU, we are planning for some major growth in the following areas:

Growth and Progress at ITU

By Rebecca Choi

1. Introducing ITU to a new demographic of students with more

domestic and international recruitment as well as our new distance learning platform 2. Forming new, stronger ties to industry to help companies meet their staffing and training needs, and partnering with them on research and development of new technologies 3. Providing training and advancement opportunities for our staff and faculty 4. Contributing to our local and global communities to promote environmental sustainability and social responsibility

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”

-Benjamin Franklin Growth is not easy, safe, or comfortable.

Rather, growth – by nature – is challenging, risky, and awkward.

Just picture an adolescent, pimple-faced boy whose voice squeaks, limbs mismatch, and hormones rage. It’s not pretty but that’s growth!

We, at ITU, are passionate about providing cutting edge technological and practical education. We believe education is the best tool for creating opportunities, wealth, and a better future.

As an entrepreneur, leader, and a mom, I’ve encountered and managed different dimensions and issues of “growth.” One common factor - whether it be a child going through a growth spurt or an organization expanding - is that growth happens when you’re stretched beyond your limits.

Thank you for partnering with ITU as we continue to grow globally and provide industry-focused education!​ Rebecca Choi joined ITU as Chief Operating Officer in August 2013. With more than 13 years of management and private equity experience, she leads strategic planning for ITU growing institution as it continues to deliver high-quality education for the future leaders of Silicon Valley. Choi graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University.

We, at ITU, know this well.

We know what it’s like to struggle with limited resources. We know how difficult it is to transition from seeing a vision of the future to actually working through each tangible step forward.

We know what it feels like to be questioned and challenged because we’re trying to forge a new path, a new model.

Many Silicon Valley “start-up” enterprises experience the same growing pains as ITU. A company knows the realities of growth when it shifts from running a three-man show in a garage to a glossy corporate office in Silicon Valley. While painful at times, growth is what true innovators crave.

Growing EE Partnership with Peking University

By Sophia Gu

These proposed joint study programs will allow PKU-SSM students to complete their PhD at ITU.​Students finished with their PKU course work can study in a dual ITU PKU Master’s program, receiving simultaneous master’s degree from both schools.

The proposed programs will give promising Chinese engineering students the opportunity to learn from ITU’s industry-leading faculty and develop their professional awareness.

This summer, President Yau-Gene Chan and Electrical Engineering (EE) Department Chair Dr. May Huang signed an exciting new agreement with Peking University’s School of Software and Microelectronics (PKU-SSM), further solidifying ITU’s institutional partnership with the premier university in China. Since 2008, ITU’s EE Department has partnered with PKU-SSM’s School of Software and Microelectronics to conduct joint research through our Artificial Intelligence lab. Now, ITU’s collaboration with PKU-SSM will also include dual Master’s and joint PhD programs.

With this partnership, ITU is one step closer to its vision of becoming a globally networked university. “This is a significant achievement for ITU,” says Dr. Huang.

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International Technological University

Volume III, Issue 5, 2013

Lasers and Your Daily Life

By Avid Farhoodfar, PhD Continued from page 1

In a laser all photons have the same wavelength (or the same color) and travel in the same direction.

This change in the direction of photons has resulted in lots of advancements in science and technology.

It is important to mention that a laser is not necessarily visible light. That is because photons are electromagnetic (EM) waves and visible light is only a small portion of the EM spectrum.

Laser

Ordinary light

The laser has so many applications in our lives. Here are some revolutions that lasers have made in medicine: • Cosmetic surgery: tattoo removal, scar and wrinkle correction • Eye surgery: vision correction, Refractive surgery • Dentistry: tooth whitening, oral surgery • Major surgery: tumor removal, especially from the brain Laser applications are not limited to medicine. The laser has opened new doors in many areas, some as simple as perfectly aligning pictures on the wall, to complicated military projects.

Lasers are versatile and exciting. And behind these complicated concepts is something that is very simple: the Laser.

Avid has written an article on lasers for SPIE—the International Society for Optics and Photonics—and will present it at Photonics West in San Francisco, February 2014.

profession,” Mark says, “I typically get a kind of blank stare in response.” So what is institutional research? Institutional Research (IR) makes use of campus data, other data sources, statistics, and other data analysis techniques to evaluate data that pertains to the operations or functions of the university. Often the purpose of institutional research is to provide university decision makers with information to help guide their decisions.

Data-Driven Decisions​ ITU has embarked upon an aggressive effort to grow into an increasingly sophisticated university. In February of 2013, ITU added Mark Robinson to to spearhead the university’s Institutional Research (IR) efforts. Mark comes to the campus with 20 years experience working as a data analyst. Besides recent experiences as an institutional research consultant, for most of the time between 1994 and 2011 Mark Mark Robinson managed the institutional research offices at the California State Universities in Fresno and in Los Angeles.

In simpler language, institutional researchers are the numbers’ guys for institutions. As Mark puts it, “In IR, we are in the business of bringing evidence to bear on the operations of the university.” This evidence often has to do with enrollment trends, student success, or many other institutional matters that can be quantified. As ITU grows, Mark’s goal is to use IR practices to help the campus leaders grow the university as successfully and intelligently as possible.

“When I tell someone that I do institutional research for a

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Volume III, Issue 5, 2013

Software is everywhere!

By Cornel Pokorny, PhD Department Chair of Computer Science Continued from page 1

In your lifetime, you will see driver-less tractors plowing fields and cars driving themselves down the street.

Sophisticated software is essential, as are talented, educated people who can program it, who understand the algorithms, the networking and security issues. ITU’s class offerings in Computer Science provide a leading-edge education. Our courses, from IT security, web programming to algorithms - feature experienced professors who are leaders in their fields.

ITU Press Publishes New Textbook ITU Press has published Computer Graphics with WebGL, written by Cornel Pokorny, Department Chair of Computer Science. WebGL will replace Adobe Flash for creating animation on the web, since it can do much more than Flash. All techniques in computer graphics can be implemented with high speed, including games and instructional tools. Dr. Pokorny’s previous publications are:​Computer Graphics, The Principles Behind the Art and Science, 1989, Computer Graphics, an Object Oriented Approach to the Art and Science, May 1994, an outline font generator for Chinese Characters. Written in C++ on a X Window – Motif platform in UNIX. Presented at the Engineering Conference in Xian – China, 1995, and Computer Graphics with WebGL – San Jose, 2013.

Dr. Pokorny received his Doctorate in Computer Science from Technical University in Vienna, Austria. He is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at California Polytechnic State University, and the Computer Science Department Chair at ITU. His interests include object-oriented approach to computer graphics, photorealistic rendering, and graphical user interfaces.

ITU FACULTY GRADUATE FROM CUSTOM ONLINE Training Course

By Barbara Arnoldussen

This old-fashioned image of a typewriter greeted ITU faculty enrolled in Professor Barbara Hecker’s intensive three-week online training course.

Passing the course was a requirement for teaching Fall 2013 online classes.

Course resources about creating an engaged virtual community mirrored ITU’s philosophy. Graphics added a fun touch!

Professors John Kim, Carmelita Omran and Barbara Arnoldussen successfully made the cut! More faculty trainees will take the course in the Winter Semester of 2014.

Online courses will be regularly available to enhance the international students’ learning pathway during their academic coursework.

To make sure faculty could handle a broad scope of learning opportunities, materials included announcements, quizzes, essay assignments, videos, HTML coding, and discussion questions.

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International Technological University

Volume III, Issue 5, 2013

ExCellence in Teaching​

Did You Know?

By Albina Pereira

Academic​Program Review

ITU conducted its annual program review. The process engages faculty, staff, students, alumni and external reviewers in: a) reviewing and analyzing the programs, b) reviewing assessment strategies and procedures, c) making decisions about overall program quality and progress, recommending suggestions for program improvement and updates, d) monitoring program responsibility for improvement, and e) helping the department in implementing recommended suggestions.

EE Department Program Review, September 27, 2013

On September 27th, distinguished members of the ITU Electrical Engineering department gathered together for its annual program review. Faculty discussed ways to attract more students to Electrical and Computer Engineering and connect with potential industry partners. Core faculty members also made plans to include more hands-on projects within the curriculum, and refined the PhD qualification exam.

Business Department Program Review, October 5, 2013

The Business Department and the Engineering Management Department jointly reviewed their programs on Saturday, October 5. The Faculty and the Director of Enrollment and Registrar met and discussed the Program Learning Outcomes, (using Bloom Taxonomy)​the curriculum, the courses, and the data, including student enrollment, retention and graduation. In addition, recommendations were made to improve future program reviews.

computer science & Software Engineering

The program review for the CS & SE departments will be on November 9, 2013.

On Friday September 13, faculty from all departments attended the Business Administration Academic Talk workshop. Topics included: course rubrics for grading student achievement, and best practices for teaching weekend courses.

The initial presentation included how ITU Rubrics, based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, are tied to course learning outcomes, featuring expected levels of student achievement: initial, emerging, developed and highly developed. Dr. Amal Mougharbel, Business Department Chair, and Dr. Liz Li, Dean of Faculty, described how the university does data analysis each semester for grades and rubric ratings. The program data help ITU assess the achievement of courseand program-learning outcomes.

Rebecca Choi, ITU COO, stressed the importance of integrating consistent, rubrics-based grading processes for courses.

Never Give Up A poem by Albina Pereira

There are times you may fall down, There are also times you may sit back and frown, Days will just come and go, you may have no clue where to go, There’s a little voice inside you; that may be really meek, It will encourage you, motivate you, Will give you strength though you are weak.

Always believe in the good you possess, Faith, hope and belief will be testedin this process, Gather the confidence whenever you fall, Through all the storms you always need to stand tall, There’s so much to learn from everything around us, Do deeds that are memorable before you turn to dust.

Life is too short to grumble about your sorrows and pains, Live everyday as its your last; stop thinking about any losses or gains, Your life is precious don’t just throw it away, Always smile and rejoice that’s the way to spend your day, Life as you know is not a bed of roses, Make each day worthwhile before your eyelid closes.

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Volume III, Issue 5, 2013

Introducing ITU’s Administration Family​ International Student Office

Student Records

Left to Right: Amy Chaung, David Kim, Evelyn Tsao, Adam Martinez.

Sara Javid, University Registrar, Director of Student Affairs, & Director of Doctoral Admissions

Left to Right: Jonelle Howard, Jose Dominguez, Hayat Adem, Evelina Caswell

Admissions Representatives

Student Services

Left to Right: Angela Chapa, Mary Tran, Caroline Bailer

Left to Right: Alex Peña, Sarah-Lynn Brunner, Joel Fleischman

The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony​

By Hayat Adem

I have been living in the US for ten years, but I do miss my homeland country, Ethiopia, every single day. I miss celebrating holidays and wearing the traditional clothes. But there is one thing I really long for, something that takes place at least once a day in every home: the coffee ceremony. The coffee ceremony is a time where everyone welcomes friends, families, and neighbors. During this time, everyone connects on any and all topics. It’s a sign of respect and friendship to be invited to a coffee ceremony.

This event is not as just about drinking coffee; it usually lasts from 45 minutes to two hours, giving everyone a chance to catch up and remain close.

First the green coffee beans are roasted over a hot

pan. Once the beans are roasted each guest is given an opportunity to sample the smoke by wafting it towards them. The next step is grinding the beans (traditionally in a wooden mortar and pestle.) I remember how it took my time and energy! The coffee grounds are then put into a handmade clay pot.

The coffee grounds are brewed three times: the first round is called abol the second one kale, and the third bereka, meaning “blessing.” The coffee ceremony may also include burning of various traditional incenses. Some people add sugar to their coffee, or people in the countryside sometimes add salt or butter. We usually eat a small snack such as popcorn or bread.

I miss this gathering. It was a time of bonding and I love it.

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Hayat Adem currently works as an International Student Advisor at ITU. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree at San Jose State University in Business Administration, concentrating in Corporate Financial Management.

She is also a recent ITU MBA graduate.

International Technological University

TEAM Editor-in-Chief: Amal Mougharbel, PhD

Volume III, Issue 5, 2013

A Student of Life

The ITU campus is an amazing place to hang out with intellectual, humorous, skilled and talented professionals across various occupational fields.

Thus, my social network has widened and broadened, through these amazing contacts. The professors at ITU are approachable, considerate, experienced, and informative, which has sculpted me as a better human being. They not only develop my intellectual capacities, but also help me to understand my highest interests.

By Abhishek Bagkar

Manager: Hubert Chang Editorial Board: Barbara Arnoldussen Patricia Wiggin Coordinator: Albina Pereira Contributors: Avid Farhoodfar, PhD Cornel Pokorny, PhD Hayat Adem Abhishek Bagkar Rebecca Choi Sophia Gu Mark Robinson Joel Enash Thoras Designer: Kathia Rubi

International Technological University

“Learning is an addiction, improvement is a necessity; and education (ITU) is a bridge to our freedom and success.”

I am currently pursuing my second semester of Masters in Business Administration at ITU. Being new to the US, ITU has helped me enormously to settle down in a new country both professionally and socially. ITU has helped me in updating and tailoring my resume. As a result, I was hired as a Night Auditor/Guest Service Agent for Residence Inn by Marriott in South San Jose.

By Joel Enash Thoras

The decision to study at ITU was one of the toughest commitments of my life. I wanted to explore new dimensions and break through old barriers: welcome to San Jose. The city presented challenges and difficulties, was unique and yet offered special climate, people and food. The first few rough days had lots of ups and downs, testing me—would I quit and give up my dreams? Thankfully my colleagues and every new ITU acquaintance gave me the strength to fight and succeed.

355 W. San Fernando Street San Jose, CA 95113 www.itu.edu

The views expressed in articles are those of the writers only and not of ITU. ITU Journal is not responsible for accuracy of information cited in the news and events. The Editorial Board reserves the right to edit submissions, with contributions capped at 300 words. Plagiarized submissions will be discarded.

One astoundingly beautiful aspect of life I came across in ITU - is to learn and change in order to prosper in the current competitive job market.

ITU has really changed my world, which reminds me of the noble words of Nelson Mandela: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

From the City of Dreams to the City of Opportunities

“Global Development through Silicon Valley Education”

International Technological University is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, 985 Atlantic Avenue, # 100, Alameda, CA 94501, 510-748-9001.

I do believe that education, knowledge and learning opens our mind and expands it to discover our potential to its fullest. Prior to pursuing my MBA from ITU, I completed my Bachelors in Hospitality Management from India and Double Post Graduations from London, United Kingdom and Auckland, New Zealand, respectively.

ITU has created an atmosphere where the guy sitting next to you in class turns from a stranger to a friend, within minutes.

I am now in my second semester but still feel like it’s my first day. I do miss my home in India. But thanks to ITU and the way it reaches out to its students, I feel special, encouraged and hopeful. I am happy to be a part of ITU and look forward to a promising future.

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND? PLEASE SEND YOUR THOUGHTS TO NEWSLETTER@ITU.EDU.

Please remember to recycle!

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TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ITU, VISIT WWW.ITU.EDU.

ISSN: 2161-8054