Bataille chosen for list of powerful Texas women

University of North Texas Pres­ident Gretchen M. Bataille is among three dozen leaders in higher education, business and the public sector named by Texas Diversity magazine to its 2008 list of Most Powerful and In­flu­ential Women in Texas.

Dennis Kennedy, publisher of Texas Diversity and chief executive officer of the Texas Diversity Council, said nearly 200 women were nominated for the list.

“The women who were chosen for the list provide leadership excellence in the public and/or private sectors, have a record of accomplishments throughout the scope of their career and demonstrate leadership and commitment to community well-being,” he said in a news release.

Bataille was named president of UNT in August 2006. During her official inaugural address in April 2007, she identified three university priorities: supporting students, responding to the changing national and global community, and committing to build a brighter future.

UNT to offer certificate in game programming

Building on a program established in 1993, UNT’s Depart­ment of Computer Science and Engineering will offer a certificate in game programming starting this fall.

The certificate requires a four-course sequence and may be taken as part of a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering or information technology. The courses include two classes in game programming, a class on game math and physics, and a game development class that will allow students to pursue specific projects on specific topics.

UNT computer science professor Ian Parberry said that over the last 15 years, roughly four dozen alumni have gone to work for a variety of computer game companies, including Terminal Reality, Paradigm Entertain­ment, Mumbo Jumbo and Barking Lizards.

“Many universities have since developed game programming certificates, but at UNT we were among the first in the country to offer the programming classes,” Parberry said in a news release.

The Laboratory for Recrea­tional Computing was established at UNT in 1993 for research and education in game programming in an environment that encourages group activity and cooperative learning.

Texas Codeboys finish 26th in Hungary contest

Two University of North Texas computer science and engineering students, along with a recent alumnus, finished 26th among the top 32 international teams attending an international computer science and programming competition held recently in Budapest, Hungary.

For the third year in a row, the Texas Codeboys — John Rizzo, Michael Mohler and recent graduate Jack Lindamood — were the only American team competing in the Challenge 24 contest. They finished fourth in the qualifying round for this year’s competition. The winner of this year’s contest, from Poland, also won last year.

The Codeboys prepared for the competition with assistance from their coaches David Keathly, a lecturer in UNT’s Computer Science and Engineering De­part­ment, and Ryan Garlick, visiting assistant professor of computer science and engineering.

This year’s contest required the teams to design both a virtual car and a three-dimensional virtual city and drive the car from one point in the city to another. Contest organizers said the major goal of Challenge 24 was to provide an opportunity for students and industry professionals in­volved in computer science and programming to measure their knowledge and ability in an extreme environment.

Mohler, a third-year graduate student in computer science and engineering, is the son of Gaylord and Artie Mohler. He attended Cedar Hill High School.

Rizzo, a senior computer science and mathematics major, is the son of John and Anita Rizzo of Houston.

Lindamood, a 2006 computer science and engineering graduate from Dallas, is the son of Johnnie and Marian Lindamood. He attended the Dallas Science and Engineering Magnet High School.

Rizzo and Mohler are also members of the Knapsackers @UNT, a computer programming team that in March won the second annual IEEExtreme 2008 24-hour Programming Chal­lenge. The Knapsackers beat 129 other teams from 33 countries.

Rizzo was also part of a Knapsackers team that competed last month in the world finals of the Association for Computing Machinery programming contest in Canada after placing first in the south-central regional competition last fall. He was also part of a UNT team that finished in the top 50 schools competing in the William Lowell Putnam Com­pe­tition, a mathematics contest sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.

Student to attend series featuring Nobel laureates

A doctoral student in chemistry at UNT is among 500 students from around the world selected to attend a meeting and series of lectures given by Nobel laureates in Lindau, Germany, this summer.

Gavin Williams, a third-year doctoral student from Texarkana, will attend the 58th Meeting of Nobel Laureates June 29 through July 4.

Since 1951, Nobel Prize winners have met in Lindau, in southern Germany, to lecture on their fields of expertise. The three natural sciences represented among prizewinners — physics, chemistry and medicine (biology) — rotate from year to year. The laureates give presentations on topics of their choice. Top students and young researchers from around the world apply to attend the meetings and lectures, and a committee decides who will attend based on recommendations from professors and universities.

In addition to the lectures, laureates hold specially organized discussions with student attendees. The week will end with a boat cruise on nearby Lake Constance and a reception in the courtyard of a castle. Students from more than 80 countries have attended the Lindau Nobel Laureate lectures. Donors and sponsors help pay for students to attend the lectures.

For more information, visit http://www.lindau-nobel.de .

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