The Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) at Texas A&M University recently held a career fair and poster competition at the fall recruiting event.
More than 300 CSE students attended to learn about the 21 IAP members and engage with the industry. The event provided IAP members exclusive access to students in the department.
The CSE department, headed by Dr. Dilma Da Silva, works to provide students with opportunities which they would not have elsewhere.
“The CSE-only career fair provides students and IAP members with a unique opportunity to interact in a more private setting than a traditional career fair,” Da Silva said. “Through generous gifts, the IAP program supports scholarships for many students."
Prior to the career fair, the department hosted a research poster competition for students. Presentations were judged by IAP representatives through a mobile application developed by CSE students. The application collects feedback and then automatically calculates and reports winners.
Trevor Nelligan and his adviser, Dr. Tracy Hammond, placed first and received $500 for their poster titled "Mechanix: A Sketch Based Educational Interface." Tian Lain and his adviser, Dr. Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna, received second place and $250 with their poster "Flappy Voice: an Interactive Game for Childhood Apraxia of Speech Therapy." Jian Wu and his adviser, Dr. Roozbeh Jafari, received third place and a $100 award for their poster, "Real-Time American Sign Language Recognition using Wrist-Worn Surface EMG and Inertial Sensors."
IAP provides opportunities for the industry to learn about activities in CSE through recruiting events, classroom talks and conversations with students, faculty and researchers. IAP’s goal is to develop relationships between the department and industry stakeholders.