Reaching out through Brown Bag Lunch series

Steven Fitzgerald, a professor of computer science, directs a program called the Pioneering Technology Group. Students, mentored by faculty, develop applications to improve campus services through leading-edge technologies. In the process, they learn how to produce software as they would in a business setting, and the software that results is used on campus.

One of the group’s projects is the Electronic Assessment System (EAS), which helps various CSUN units and departments gauge their success. On April 29, as the featured speaker at one of the college’s Brown Bag Lunches, Fitzgerald had an opportunity to explain to a broad campus audience how he works with students to develop the software. His talk, one of 13 Brown Bag Lunch sessions held last spring, attracted a large audience from across the university.

“Deans are charged with making sure their colleges are successful, so we had deans and associate deans and people from administration,” Fitzgerald says. “Everyone wanted to know what was going on with the software.”

The Brown Bag Lunches began in fall 2012 after a new faculty member who had come from a research institution told CECS dean S. K. Ramesh that he missed having the opportunity to discuss his research with his colleagues. In response, Ramesh sent an online poll to faculty and in short order had several faculty members eager to take part in the program. Basically an informal public forum for CECS faculty to present their research to their colleagues, students and anyone at CSUN who wants to attend, the Brown Bag Lunches are modeled after similar programs that are common at research institutions, where faculty make regular presentations about their work.

“The speakers are all from the college, but the audience can be from anywhere,” says Ramesh. “We put the lunches on the university calendar, and sometimes we have people from business, health, journalism, etc.”

One consistent audience member has been John Motil, an emeritus professor of computer science, who has attended most of the sessions. “The Brown Bag series of lectures constantly amazes me with the wide range of topics,” he says. “They show how engineering and computing touch so many different aspects of our lives.”

For his part, Fitzgerald is looking forward to seeing the program evolve. “The Brown Bag series creates a great opportunity for faculty to present their work or students’ work to a broader audience,” he says. “I wish there was more time to devote to it because there is a lot of great work going on in our college.”