Fall 2007
IST 301 - INFORMATION AND ORGANIZATIONS (3)
Course Description: Overview of organizational structures and functions. Includes information processing and analytic perspectives of organizations.
IST 301 was a great introduction to organizational theory. It taught me a lot about structure, control systems, and how different kinds of organizations interact. It discussed all types of organizations from small start-up companies to distributed teams working in different locations or even countries.
The coursework consisted of my being assigned a team that functioned as an imaginary consulting team. We received organizational problems from a variety of companies, and then designed proposals of how to solve the issues. Course output consisted of many informative and well-written memos, website or system prototypes, and responses to RFPs.
The main project in IST 301 was a collaborative project with a team from the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands. After a devastating earthquake in Peru, we were tasked with designing an emergency response and resource system for major regions of Peru. The system was to be accessible by government, aid workers, and regular citizens. We needed to design a complex plan of access level privelages as well as system requirements and functionality. We worked with the Dutch students to develop an effective and solid solution.
One of my favorite parts of IST 301 was team-building. I was placed on a team with peers whom I'd never worked with before, and we were all very different. Our views and opinions differed, so we "stormed" at the beginning of the assignment. By the end of the semester, we had adapted to working together and produced great products. I actually enjoyed working with them! When we were told we'd be working with students from the University of Tilburg, team-building became a large part of the course again. We did many team-building activities including a team contract and website. Once again, we learned to work together and enjoy our collaboration.
IST Samples
Comparison between the structural and contextual elements of a
large university, small university, and corporation: NVMemo.doc
Business process review of start-up company: BPmemo.doc
University of Tilburg/Penn State Distributed Team Group Website
GRRR (Peruvian response system):
Final Project - [Please see projects section]
Grade: A.
IST 302 - IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT (3)
Course Description:
Exploration and application of the basic concepts, methodologies, and tools of project management in the field of information sciences and technology.
IST 302 was an interesting experience for me because it followed an internship with Citigroup where I worked as a project manager. I had already experienced "real-world" project management without any formal training. I have mixed-reactions to the course because I knew many of the differences between academic theory and real-world management. I felt that we spent too much time discussing the project process and spitting out project documents without actually understanding what effects those pieces would have on the project team. We did not spend enough time discussing the "human factor" of project management - building team buy-in by working around their personal schedules and showing good leadership. We also did not spend much time learning how to properly communicate with a project team.
The main outputs of IST 302 were dozens of deliverables. Each week, we took an out-of-class quiz, an in-class quiz, wrote a 4-5 page group paper, and completed an MS Project assignment. We also completed a project management Fissure simulation.
For our main project, we worked with IBM subject matter experts on a main project that followed the entire path of a project that the subject matter expert had already executed. For our project, we managed a major database consolidation of Super Regional Bank - a bank in the midwest that had acquired many smaller banks and thus had duplicate and unstandardized information. This project was very inciteful as we ran through the entire project development process.
IST Samples
Group Paper 1 - "CHAOS Theory vs. Reality Challenged": ch1_1.doc
Group Paper 2 - "Risk Management and
Project Success": ch11_5.doc
Super Regional Bank (IBM project):
Final Project - [Please see projects section]
Grade: A.
CSE 331 - COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND DESIGN (3)
Course Description: Introduction to major components of a computer system, how they function together in executing a program, how they are designed.
CSE 331 was a course that I met with mixed reaction. The first part of the course taught us MIPS, an assembly-language based on the SPIM architecture. I really enjoyed learning MIPs and found assembly-language very interesting. It was challenging but definitely within scope of my knowledge and understanding.
The second part of the course taught us VHDL, a hardware logic simulation language. It wasn't as much "taught" as assigned us circuits to design and left us to researching how on the internet. I found VHDL very challenging. I understood the basic elements and functionality and could even follow the bit-logic, but I had trouble translating the conceptual ideas into code. This part of the course assured me that I am not interested in hardware design.
An overarching aspect of the course was educating us on the organization and interaction of different levels of computer architecture. We learned about the architectural, logical, and gate-theory levels of computing. We studied the purpose of high-level languages, assembly language, gates, compilers, assemblers, and so forth.
Programming Samples
MIPS Example - "Summation of Array Elements":
HW2-yakabosky_nase2.txt
VHDL Example - : hw7_yakabosky_nase.txt
MIPS Example - "Exceptions, Polling, and Line Reversal": HW8_Yakabosky_&_Nase.s
Grade: B+.
CSE 465 - DATA STRUCTURES AND ALGORITHMS (3)
Course Description: Fundamental concepts of computer science: data structures, analysis of algorithms, recursion, trees, sets, graphs, sorting.
CSE 465 is one of the most difficult courses I have ever taken. It deals with algorithmic optimization in programming as well as extensive study of different data structures including B-trees, AVL-trees, and linked lists. We learned a huge variety of sorting and searching methods as well as their running time.
The course consisted of three exams and eight homework assignments. Two of these homework assignments were programming assignments (which you can find below).
Programming Samples
Algorithmic Optimization - "4-peg Towers of Hanoi": Hanoi2.cpp
Pointers & Keys - "Priority Queue": priority.cpp
Grade: C.
IST 390 - INTRODUCTION TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (1)
Course Description: Interdisciplinary course to introduce students to the issues, concepts and skills involved in successfully transitioning into professional life.
IST 390 was a voluntary elective that I took after my first internship with Citigroup because I wanted to learn elements of professionalism that I was lacking. This course helped me to improve my resume, taught me how to handle myself at meetings, provided me with tips on how to deal with conflict, and prepared me for the real world.
The major project in this course consisted of my project team traveling to two local companies and comparing the two cultures. We wrote a report and presented our findings. The two companies that we worked with were RLW Inc., a small public-sector group, and Accuweather, one of the world's largest weather systems analysis groups.
IST Samples
Final Paper - "Company Cultures": corp.doc
Final Presentation: corp.ppt
Grade: A.
WMNST 003 - WOMEN, THE HUMANITIES, AND THE ARTS (3)
Course Description: Interdisciplinary consideration of primary works and scholarship pertaining to women in the humanities and the arts. [WEB COURSE]
WMNST 003 was a great experience for me because it was one of the few courses I took outside of either one of my majors. It was a challenge and something that was new to me that I had not taken before. I had no prior experience in the arts, or women's studies. I took this course because it counted for a large percentage of my general education credits, and I am extremely satisfied with what I got out of the class. I learned a lot!
The coursework was much different from anything I had ever done before. We were often asked to lead discussions amongst our teammates, write and analyze poetry, interpret artwork, watch films and relate them to women's or artistic movements. We were also asked to photograph ourselves to create stories. We even had to go as far as designing a house for women!
As a male, many of the challenges in this course were difficult for me; but I adapted very well. The professor often sent me messages telling me how impressed she was with my incites and analyses. I enjoyed this course more than almost any other course at Penn State and recommend it to any incoming students!
WMNST Samples
My Online WMNST Blog
Grade: A.
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