The Department of Computer Science will be hosting the first Engineer in Residence event this Friday, 3 September 2010 at 11:30am. The featured engineer for this event is Zao Yang. Just a few short years ago, Zao Yang and a few of his friends were all students in Computer Science, working on a start-up company called MyMiniLife. Today, their technology is the backbone for one of the most popular and profitable social games on Facebook. Attend this event and find out how he got from there to here. The event will be occurring in Room 2405 in the Siebel Center and lunch will be provided. Please go here to RSVP for the event.

All students enrolled in Illinois Engineering Freshmen Experience (iEFX) will meet today, 9 September 2010, at 5pm in their respective iHouses (meeting space schedule located here).  On tonight’s agenda: Speakers from Engineering Career Services (ECS) and Caterpillar to guide, encourage and equip students to get value out of career fairs.  ECS Career Fair and ECS Engineering Employment Expo dates are fast approaching (15-16 Sept and 20-22 Sept, respectively).

On the website The American Interest Online, blogger Walter Russell Mead recently posted an article giving today’s American college students advice for “the real world” after completing their college educations. With educational costs exploding, Mead claims that this generation of graduating college students will ultimately face an extremely harsh environment as they go forward in their professional careers.  Students will be faced with a new world filled with new job opportunities, as the traditional jobs that their parents held gradually fade away. Mead gives these students seven pieces of advice as they emerge from the college “bubble” into a new, real world. Check out the rest of Mead’s article here.

This career fair is occurring on the 15-16 September 2010, and is for companies seeking students for full-time positions, internships (summer and semester) and co-ops. Attendance is limited based on available space, and more than 1,000 students are expected to attend. Online registration is now available through this website. For more information, please contact Susan Gordon at 217-244-4165. Also, the dates for the career fair and other iEFX related events are located here.

On 2 Septemeber 2010, students involved in the iEFX program elected officers for their Fall 2010 iTeams. Congratulations to the new iChairs and CIOs!

Art & Engineering Design (AED)–iChair, Rajarshi Bhakta; CIO, Manan Gandhi

Architecture & Engineering in the Build World (ArchE)–iChair, John Schuch, CIO, Jose Martinez

Digital, Computers, Computations, Communication, & Media (DC3M)–iChair, Liana Nicklaus; CIO, Eric Schwendner

Entrepreneurship & Innovation Team 1 (EI-1, iELITE)–iChair, Yen-Chu Tu (Jack); CIO, Alex Wen

Entrepreneurship & Innovation Team 2 (EI-2)–iChair, Tyler Mey; CIO, Aditya Guddi

Entrepreneurship & Innovation Team 3 (EI-3)–iChair, Adi Malik; CIO, Alex Oda

Entrepreneurship & Innovation Team 4 (EI-4)–iChair, Max Gruber; CIO, Stephanie Chou

Engineering in Service to Society: General (ESS-Gen)–iChairs, Joseph Isosaki & Ankat Jain; CIO, Faythe Wu

Engineering in Service to Society: Earth/Energy Team 1 (ESS-E/E1)–iChairs, Marika Nell & John Baader;

CIOs, Jason Kenyon & Ryan Chan

Engineering in Service to Society: Earth/Energy Team 2 (ESS-E/E2)–iChair, Darwin Walters; CIO, Lauraleigh Heffner

Molecules, Organisms, & Materials (M.O.M.)–iChair, Jose Regalbuto (Robby); CIO, Shahzad Ahmad

Transportation in Society Team 1 (TS-1)–iChair, Akbar Agha; CIO, Chee Haw Chan (Howard)

Transportation in Society Team 2 (TS-2)–iChairs, Craig Cochrane & Andrew McCormick; CIO, Thomas McGinnis

The full list of iChairs, CIOs, and iTeam descriptions is located here on the iEFX website.

iFoundry and iEFX are hosting the iCommunity Picnic on Thursday, 23 September 2010, from 5-7pm at Area 51 (the patio area between Everitt Lab and Engineering Hall), 1308 W. Green St., Urbana. This picnic is giving all iEFX students the opportunity to meet the Corporate and Faculty Advisors, as well as other iCommunity friends and members of the iFoundry class. For a list of more iEFX related events, please check out this page on the iEFX website.

Qiyuan Gou is the newest iSA to have a spotlight biography on the iEFX website. He is the iSA for the Engineering in Service to Society: General (ESS: Gen) iTeam for the iEFX program. Read more about Qiyuan’s hobbies outside of engineering, as well as his personal experience with iFoundry and iEFX, here.

Engineering Career Services is holding the Fall Engineering Employment Expo from 20-22 September 2010, each day from 9am-4pm. The event will be occurring in rooms A, B, and C of the Illini Union. Over the course of the week, companies will be holding information sessions for all attending students, talking about opportunities for internships, co-ops, and full-time employment. All students will be expected to dress in business attire and must bring their I-Cards. For more information on Expo, please go to this website. Also, a list of the companies that will be attending is located here.

Photos from the iCommunity Picnic have recently been posted onto the iEFX Facebook page. To view photos from this event and other iEFX related events, please go here.