MEDIA ADVISORY

TO:                      Education Reporters and PSA Directors

FROM:                 UAF Department of Mathematical Sciences

SUBJECT:            Computer Scientists Seek Projects

DEADLINE:         5 p.m.,Thursday, Jan.11, 2001

Computer science students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are once again looking for challenging software design projects for its spring semester class. Student teams have found software solutions for several Alaskan communities while gaining real-world experience. Thursday, Jan. 11 is the deadline for local government, public service and private organizations to submit proposals for consideration by students in the senior project and professional practice course.

Requests must be received by 5 p.m. on Thursday by e-mail to ffpjk@uaf.edu or by regular mail to the UAF Department of Mathematical Sciences, P.O. Box 756660, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775-1110.

Last spring five projects were chosen for development, including an embedded software trace package for IBM, an Online In/Out board for the Fairbanks North Star Borough, an Air Pollutants database for FNSB, a Police Scheduling Program for the North Pole Police Department, and a Ticketing Program for the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. Student computer scientists have designed and implemented more than 30 different software applications since the course was first offered more than a dozen years ago.

"Clients" who have benefited from the student software projects include the Alaska Court System, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Fairnet and Fairbanks Taxi Inc., to name a few. Typical prices for commercial, custom software development projects like those done annually by UAF students can run as high as $40,000 each.

-30-

CONTACT: Pete Knoke, UAF Department of Mathematical Sciences, (907) 474-5107 or by email: ffpjk @uaf.edu.

CJB/1-4-01/01-039ma