Paper ID #19802 The NECST Program - Networking and Engaging in Computer Science and Information Technology Program Dr. Katherine G. Herbert, Montclair State University Katherine G. Herbert, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Computer Science, Montclair State University. Dr. Katherine Herbert is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Montclair State University. Dr. Herbert currently researches database management, data warehousing and data quality issues in bi- ological, biochemical and sustainability-related data sets. Dr. Herbert received her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2004 from the New Jersey Institute of Technology for studying data quality issues in biologi- cal databases. Since completing her Ph.D., she has continued to publish Dr. Herbert’s primary research is in biological databases with a specialty in phylogenetic databases. Presently, she is examining the data integration problems with regards to integrating protein-ligand data with respect to the phylogenet- ics relationships within the protein data with Dr. Nina Goodey from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at MSU. This work is has been funded by the Montclair State University Sokol Institute for Pharmaceutical Life sciences where she is developing a prototype system and been publish in ACM SIGMOD, ISMB CSHALS and the Faculty of 1000 blog Naturally Selected. Dr. Herbert is also a recently looking at problems regarding sustainability data and mobile applications. This work with Dr. Emily Hill, Dr. Jerry Fails and Dr. Jennifer Bragger, has been funded by the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Sci- ences. This work has been published in IEEE Big Data and ACM CSCW. Dr. Herbert is also the Principle Investigator for the National Science Foundation funded S-STEM Networking and Engaging in Computer Science and Information Technology (NECST) Program here at Montclair State University (NSF award 1259758). The NECST Program funds students, regardless of background, who are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in computer science. Students from computing related fields as well as other fields are welcome to apply. These students are then mentored through a network of mentors from not only MSU, but also neighboring universities who participate in NECST. Through her work with the Science Informatics Program, Dr. Herbert has also published a number of Computer Science and Interdisciplinary education papers in venues such as DIMACS, CUR and ACM Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education (SIGCSE). Dr. Thomas J Marlowe, Seton Hall University Thomas Marlowe is Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Seton Hall University, where he has taught for the past 37 years, and holds Ph.D.s in both disciplines from Rutgers University. He has broad research interests in computer science, having published on programming languages and compiler optimization, real-time systems, software engineering and collaborative development, algorithms, and computer science pedagogy. He is co-PI on the NECST grant. Dr. Jerry Alan Fails, Boise State University Dr. Jerry Alan Fails is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Boise State Uni- versity in Boise, Idaho. His primary area of research is Human-Computer Interaction, with a focus on technologies that support children’s creativity, mobility, and collaboration and promote activity and ex- ploration of the world around them. He has mentored several graduate and undergraduate students and is deeply invested in engaging students in research experiences and providing students with the tools they need to succeed after graduating. Dr. Cyril S Ku, William Paterson University Dr. Cyril S. Ku received the B. S. degree in Computer Science from Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA, in 1980, the M. S. degree in Computer Science and Applications from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, in 1982, and the Ph. D. degree in Computer Science from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA, in 1989. From 1982 to 1985, he was a Software Engineer in the field of traffic and transportation engineering. He conducted application research in software engineering, databases, and data science as Member of c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017