Allegheny News and Events

Wenskovitch Publishes in BMC Bioinformatics

Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science John Wenskovitch published a paper in the journal BMC Bioinformatics. “MOSBIE: A Tool for Comparison and Analysis of Rule-Based Biochemical Models” describes the accompanying software, an interactive exploration system that enables the highlighting of similarities and differences in the structures and behaviors of rule-based models of cell signaling processes.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Kapfhammer Paper Demonstrates One of the First Mutation Testing Methods That Can Be Readily Applied to Real-World Programs

Associate Professor of Computer Science Gregory M. Kapfhammer and co-authors René Just (University of Washington) and Franz Schweiggert (University of Ulm) recently published a paper in the Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering. “Using Non-Redundant Mutation Operators and Test Suite Prioritization to Achieve Efficient and Scalable Mutation Analysis” demonstrates one of the first mutation testing methods that can be readily applied to real-world programs. More details about this and other papers by Kapfhammer and his colleagues and students are available here.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Come One, Come All

By Heather Grubbs and Nahla Bendefaa ’16

Everyone loves a home-cooked meal.

But when you’re away at college, enjoying grandma’s homemade lasagna is often a sacrifice one must make.

Or is it?

One student-organized group is aiming to change that. The Food Co-op began two years ago as part of Class of 2014 graduate Taylor Hinton’s senior comp titled “Activism through Food: Creating a Housing and Dining Cooperative at Allegheny College.” Hinton says she initially intended for the co-op to “address inequalities in access to cooking spaces, account for a range of dietary needs and food cultures, share cooking knowledge, and provide students with local, cheap, home-cooked food.”

Hinton’s comp then expanded upon her vision by seeking to:
• Create a sustainable organizing structure for the dining cooperative.
• Expand the population that the group was serving as a cooperative.
• Acquire a house that would both support the dining cooperative and provide a second space in which students can live and cook together.

Cara Brosius ’16 helps to cook one of the food co-op group's Friday night dinners.
Cara Brosius ’16 helps to cook one of the Food Co-op group’s Friday night dinners.

Current students Cara Brosius ’16, Stephanie Latour ’16, and Hawk Weisman ’16, who live in what is now known as the Co-op House on North Main Street, are carrying on Hinton’s vision by hosting Friday night homemade dinners on campus. The dinners seek to accomplish Hinton’s goals, as well as allow students to share family recipes and cultures and enjoy each other’s company.

“Whether you want to share an ethnic meal or your family’s apple pie, this is a welcome space to do that,” says Weisman, who is double-majoring in computer science and environmental studies. “Cooking and eating meals together was something I always did with my family, so this is a way to continue that.”

According to Weisman and Brosius, students sign up to participate in each week’s dinner. Two students are then assigned to the “head chef” role – meaning they are responsible for planning the meal – and two other students are assigned as sous chefs to assist with preparation.

For those students who prefer to stay out of the kitchen, they still can participate by serving as grocery shoppers, by volunteering to clean up, or by simply enjoying the food.

“Everyone here is very friendly, and there is definitely a sense of community since everyone helps out either cooking or cleaning,” says Catherine Schnur ’17. “Also, the food is always delicious!”

“Co-op is a great way to meet people you wouldn’t normally meet. It’s also a very welcoming environment,” adds Kara Van Balen ’17. “My first time here I felt like everyone was immediately my friend.”

Hawk Weisman ’16 and Cara Brosius ’16 work together in Carr Hall to prepare a homemade meal.
Hawk Weisman ’16 and Cara Brosius ’16 work together in Carr Hall to prepare a homemade meal.

The dinners are prepared and consumed in Carr Hall, with about 20 to 30 students attending. The group asks for a suggested donation of $2 to $3 to help cover shopping costs, or students can pay $20 up front for the entire semester.

“We represent a wide variety of majors and backgrounds on campus, which leads to a diverse menu,” Weisman says.

“We’ve had everything from lasagna to soup to Mexican food, and we really try to purchase fresh ingredients when possible, especially from the on-campus garden, the Carrden,” adds Brosius, an economics major and astronomy and mathematics minor. “We’ve also had other groups on campus like Edible Allegheny and the Green Living House volunteer to cook during certain weeks. We’d like to expand this concept by having other groups on campus participate, too.”

Just like Hinton’s original vision, the group stresses that its “come one, come all” approach applies to those with dietary restrictions, as well.

“We have a number of students who are vegetarians or vegans or those who eat gluten-free or have allergies, so we always make sure there are a lot of options,” Brosius says. “Personally, I like co-op because I have problems digesting certain foods, so I like knowing how each meal is prepared. Knowing that it’s homemade is comforting to me. Co-op is kind of like our home away from home.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Come One, Come All

Allegheny's food co-op group.

By Heather Grubbs and Nahla Bendefaa ’16

Everyone loves a home-cooked meal.

But when you’re away at college, enjoying grandma’s homemade lasagna is often a sacrifice one must make.

Or is it?

One student-organized group is aiming to change that. The Food Co-op began two years ago as part of Class of 2014 graduate Taylor Hinton’s senior comp titled “Activism through Food: Creating a Housing and Dining Cooperative at Allegheny College.” Hinton says she initially intended for the co-op to “address inequalities in access to cooking spaces, account for a range of dietary needs and food cultures, share cooking knowledge, and provide students with local, cheap, home-cooked food.”

Hinton’s comp then expanded upon her vision by seeking to:
• Create a sustainable organizing structure for the dining cooperative.
• Expand the population that the group was serving as a cooperative.
• Acquire a house that would both support the dining cooperative and provide a second space in which students can live and cook together.

Cara Brosius ’16 helps to cook one of the food co-op group's Friday night dinners.

Cara Brosius ’16 helps to cook one of the Food Co-op group’s Friday night dinners.

Current students Cara Brosius ’16, Stephanie Latour ’16, and Hawk Weisman ’16, who live in what is now known as the Co-op House on North Main Street, are carrying on Hinton’s vision by hosting Friday night homemade dinners on campus. The dinners seek to accomplish Hinton’s goals, as well as allow students to share family recipes and cultures and enjoy each other’s company.

“Whether you want to share an ethnic meal or your family’s apple pie, this is a welcome space to do that,” says Weisman, who is double-majoring in computer science and environmental studies. “Cooking and eating meals together was something I always did with my family, so this is a way to continue that.”

According to Weisman and Brosius, students sign up to participate in each week’s dinner. Two students are then assigned to the “head chef” role – meaning they are responsible for planning the meal – and two other students are assigned as sous chefs to assist with preparation.

For those students who prefer to stay out of the kitchen, they still can participate by serving as grocery shoppers, by volunteering to clean up, or by simply enjoying the food.

“Everyone here is very friendly, and there is definitely a sense of community since everyone helps out either cooking or cleaning,” says Catherine Schnur ’17. “Also, the food is always delicious!”

“Co-op is a great way to meet people you wouldn’t normally meet. It’s also a very welcoming environment,” adds Kara Van Balen ’17. “My first time here I felt like everyone was immediately my friend.”

Hawk Weisman ’16 and Cara Brosius ’16 work together in Carr Hall to prepare a homemade meal.

Hawk Weisman ’16 and Cara Brosius ’16 work together in Carr Hall to prepare a homemade meal.

The dinners are prepared and consumed in Carr Hall, with about 20 to 30 students attending. The group asks for a suggested donation of $2 to $3 to help cover shopping costs, or students can pay $20 up front for the entire semester.

“We represent a wide variety of majors and backgrounds on campus, which leads to a diverse menu,” Weisman says.

“We’ve had everything from lasagna to soup to Mexican food, and we really try to purchase fresh ingredients when possible, especially from the on-campus garden, the Carrden,” adds Brosius, an economics major and astronomy and mathematics minor. “We’ve also had other groups on campus like Edible Allegheny and the Green Living House volunteer to cook during certain weeks. We’d like to expand this concept by having other groups on campus participate, too.”

Just like Hinton’s original vision, the group stresses that its “come one, come all” approach applies to those with dietary restrictions, as well.

“We have a number of students who are vegetarians or vegans or those who eat gluten-free or have allergies, so we always make sure there are a lot of options,” Brosius says. “Personally, I like co-op because I have problems digesting certain foods, so I like knowing how each meal is prepared. Knowing that it’s homemade is comforting to me. Co-op is kind of like our home away from home.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

American Colors Inc. Prefers Blue and Gold

By Kathleen Prosperi ’11

Jim Wible ’71, co-founder and president of American Colors in Sandusky, Ohio, has long believed in the potential of Alleghenians. Not only does he advocate for students as a College trustee, he believes the Allegheny graduate to be a quality investment for his company, having recruited and hired Gators since the company’s inception in 1975.

“I know that the skills it takes to handle the pressure of getting a degree from Allegheny apply to the business world as well,” says Wible. His company provides high-quality liquid pigment systems and other products to the coatings, composites, plastics and allied industries. It serves customers from two manufacturing facilities, one in Sandusky, and the other in Lebanon, Tenn.

Finding committed, long-term employees has produced challenges, and a need for change has blossomed into what appears to be the next revolutionary idea in corporate recruitment.

Jim Fitch, assistant director of career education at Allegheny, explains: “Jim (Wible) came to me and proposed hiring a group of graduating seniors as a team, interviewing and hiring them as one unit … a unit with a variety of majors, skills and talents.”

The hope is to promote future success and satisfaction at American Colors through pre-existing, forged relationships while nurturing a critical mass of Allegheny alumni who contribute as employees.

Invited to apply as a group, Tyler Hogya ’14 (Economics/Computer Science), Jordan Encarnacion ’14 (Chemistry/Economics), John O’Donnell ’14 (Economics/Communication Arts), RC Kunig ’14 (Biology/Economics/Psychology), and Elliott Hasenkopf ’14 (Chemistry/Economics/Biology) were one of four cohorts to express interest.

“Over the past four years, we have become great friends through living, working and playing together,” said Hasenkopf.

“Being able to come right out of college and enter the real world with four of your best friends seemed surreal. I was extremely surprised to hear of this opportunity, mainly because I’ve never heard of such a strategy before. It was new to all of us,” O’Donnell added.

The idea was new to everyone involved, including the hiring team, which was comprised of Wible, Matt Kosior, chief operating officer, and Kayla Beatty ’12.

“We saw huge, exceptional talent,” says Wible. “This group, the one we chose, was the most enthusiastic and seemed to have a cohesiveness that I liked.”

The benefits will be twofold—for the graduates and for American Colors.

“Over the last few years, after we hired students from Allegheny, we noticed they would say, ‘I came here [to Sandusky, Ohio] and didn’t know anyone. I’m having trouble getting involved in the community and finding it tough to meet people,’” says Wible.

Although other Allegheny graduates were pleased with American Colors, assimilation in other areas of their lives proved to hamper their overall happiness. That won’t be the case with this group. “These graduates will now get to go into the real world with an immediate support system. We hope this will provide them with a smooth transition into the workplace with a sense of belonging,” Wible says.

The students also see the benefits: “When entering the professional workplace, it is essential, not only that you have many positive relationships, but that you continue to build upon them while continually adding new ones. Our pre-established relationship will also allow us to feel comfortable more quickly in our working environment,” says Kunig.

“We see this as a potential for longevity for the company, as well,” Wible adds. “We are hoping that all five of the new hires will like and form a long relationship with American Colors.”

“I believe our team chemistry will translate into a professional environment seamlessly. Not only are we able to achieve goals together, but we also challenge each other. I think the ability to bring in five new workers who already work well together will serve American Colors well, especially in project-oriented tasks,” says Hasenkopf.

American Colors wiblepic_web

At this point, the future of group recruitment can only be imagined. After all, it is not the norm. The benefits can be seen as huge, though, for all parties involved.

“We’re hoping that it can become a model … that other employers who can do this will think, ‘What a great idea. …Why don’t we do this too?’” says Fitch. “If we had 20 employers who did that, we would have huge diversity in the types of job opportunities we are providing to students.”

President James H. Mullen, Jr. adds: “Jim is a great Alleghenian who has long been committed to affording opportunities to our students. In hiring this very talented group of our graduates from diverse disciplines, he is at once implementing a very innovative business approach and reinforcing the strength of Allegheny’s liberal arts curriculum.”

No matter what comes from this unique hiring strategy, the future is bright for American Colors’ new team. The team began its first day at American Colors. Each person had their own job description: Encarnacion, Kunig and Hasenkopf are project chemist trainees and Hogya and O’Donnell are operations trainees. However, it should be pointed out that they will have the opportunity to work on a project together as a team, to exhibit abilities learned at Allegheny.

As graduation day approached in May, Hasenkopf reflected, “As graduation is upon us, everyone has started to say goodbye to Allegheny and the friends they have made here, but we have this amazing opportunity which will allow us to see our closest friends every day. We are all very excited to hit the ground running and apply our Allegheny College educations to our endeavors with American Colors.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Kapfhammer Publishes in Proceedings of the 6th 
International Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computing

Associate Professor of Computer Science Gregory M. Kapfhammer and co-authors Chu-Ti Lin (National Chiayi University, Taiwan) and Kai-Wei Tang (Institute for Information Industry, Taiwan) published a paper in the Proceedings of the 6th 
International Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computing. “Reducing the Cost of Regression Testing by Identifying Irreplaceable Test Cases” shows how to automatically create a reduced test suite with a lessened execution cost. The empirical study shows that, in comparison to prior methods, the presented technique is the most effective at decreasing the cost of regression testing. You can learn more about this and other papers by visiting https://www.cs.allegheny.edu/~gkapfham/research/ or following @GregKapfhammer on Twitter.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Kapfhammer and Former Students Publish in ACM SIGMETRICS

Associate Professor of Computer Science Gregory M. Kapfhammer and co-authors Philip F. Burdette ’09, William F. Jones ’09, and Brian C. Blose ’06 published a paper in the ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review. The paper, “An Empirical Comparison of Java Remote Communication Primitives for Intra-Node Data Transmission,” presents a benchmarking suite that measures the performance of using sockets and eXtensible Markup Language remote procedure calls (XML-RPC) to exchange intra-node messages between Java virtual machines (JVMs). The paper’s experimental results reveal trade-offs in performance and thus represent the first step toward determining if Java remote communication primitives can support the efficient exchange of intra-node messages. You can learn more about this and other papers by visiting https://www.cs.allegheny.edu/~gkapfham/research/ or following @GregKapfhammer on Twitter.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Kapfhammer Publishes in Conference Proceedings

Associate Professor of Computer Science Gregory M. Kapfhammer published a poster paper in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation. “Towards a Method for Reducing the Test Suites of Database Applications” describes and empirically evaluates a test suite reduction technique that improves the efficiency of regression testing for database applications by removing redundant tests. The experimental results show that the reduced test suites are between 30% and 80% smaller than the original test suite, thus enabling a decrease in testing time ranging from 7% to 78%. You can learn more about this and other papers by visiting https://www.cs.allegheny.edu/~gkapfham/research/ or following
@GregKapfhammer on Twitter.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Kapfhammer and Kauffman Publish “A Framework to Support Research in and Encourage Industrial Adoption of Regression Testing Techniques”

Associate Professor of Computer Science Gregory M. Kapfhammer and Jonathan Miller Kauffman ’12 published a paper in the Proceedings of the 7th Testing: Academic and Industrial Conference. The paper “A Framework to Support Research in and Encourage Industrial Adoption of Regression Testing Techniques” describes a recently released free and open-source framework that supports both research in and the practical development of regression testing methods. The sharing of this framework will permit the replication of empirical studies in regression testing and better enable industrialists to leverage these useful techniques. You can learn more about this and other papers at https://www.cs.allegheny.edu/~gkapfham/research/ or by following @GregKapfhammer on Twitter. More details about the software developed by Professor Kapfhammer and students at Allegheny are available at https://www.cs.allegheny.edu/~gkapfham/software/.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Kapfhammer Publishes Paper on Mutation Analysis

Associate Professor of Computer Science Gregory M. Kapfhammer and co-authors René Just and Franz Schweiggert (University of Ulm, Germany) published a paper in the proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Mutation Analysis. The paper “Do Redundant Mutants Affect the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Mutation Analysis?” empirically answers the question posed in its title with a convincing “yes.” Then the paper describes and evaluates a method for removing redundant mutants that can decrease the cost of this important software testing technique by up to 34 percent.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research