Computer Science Graduate Student Newsletter
1995-07
July 19, 1995
==================================================================
Dr. Albert Newhouse Passed Away

The Department morns the loss of one of its long time members.  
Dr. Albert Newhouse, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, 
passed away on June 10, 1995.  Dr. Newhouse received his Ph.D. 
degree in Mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1940.  
He was a member of the faculty of UH where he taught Mathematics 
and Computer Science from 1946 until his retirement in 1980.  
Upon his retirement, he was appointed Professor Emeritus for his 
contribution to the Computer Science Department at UH.  Professor 
Newhouse continued to teach (primarily in Numerical Analysis) 
until 1985.

Dr. Newhouse was also an active member and volunteer of the 
Houston Area League of PC Users (HAL-PC).  He taught 
introductory computing classes to the seniors at HAL-PC for 
many years.  He will be greatly missed by his students and 
colleagues.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Eick's Grant on Survivability in Space 

A Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract has been 
awarded by the Air Force to Payload Integration Company, a NASA 
contractor in Clear Lake, and the University of Houston recently.  
Dr. Christoph F. Eick is UH's Principal Investigator of the 
project.  The project centers on how to make computer systems 
exposed to radiation in space more reliable.  The first year 
funding for the project is $78,075. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Tan and Dr. Banawan to Leave COSC

Dr. Jack Tan will be leaving the Department at the end of the 
summer session.  Dr. Tan will join the Computer Science Faculty 
of the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire.  Professor Tan 
joined the department after receiving his Ph.D. degree from the 
University of Minnesota in 1990.  He taught Data Structures, 
Operating Systems, and a popular course on Computer Networks.  
The department is actively seeking a qualified lecturer to teach 
the graduate Network course.

Dr. Sayed Banawan will also be leaving the department at the end 
of the summer session.  Prof. Banawan received his Ph.D. degree 
from the University of Washington-Seattle in 1987.  His areas of 
specialization are Computer Performance Evaluation and Simulation.

The two professors will certainly be missed by many students and 
their colleagues.  We wish them good luck in their new jobs.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Course Advising Policy Clarified

Graduate students are required to seek approval from the Graduate 
Advisor for course selection according to the published rules.  
In the past, this was not done by the students since most of them 
are taking courses in Computer Science only.  However, if a 
student plans to take a course outside the department, it must 
be approved in advance and in writing. 

According to Dr. Stephen Huang, the approval is required even if 
the course won't count toward the degree.  Without such approval, 
the department may take action to drop the student from the 
course and/or the course won't be counted toward the GPA.

The guidelines used by the Graduate Advisor in evaluating the 
courses are: (1) they must fit into the study plan of the 
student, (2) they are not offered in the Computer Science 
Department, (3) they should not have a significant overlap with 
COSC courses, and (4) they should be regularly scheduled 
graduate courses (no special problem).  Courses from College of 
Technology have never been approved in the past.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Getting a COSC MS Degree in One Year?

Is it possible to get an MS degree from this department in one 
year?  The answer is yes.  Mr. Zhong (Ray) Tan joined the 
department in Fall 1994 with one course transferred from another 
university.  He took 7 courses in two semesters (with a GPA 
better than 3.8) and completed a thesis this summer under the 
supervision of Dr. Jack Tan.  Ray Tan did all these while 
holding a job at Texas Microsystems, a local computer company, 
since May.