Computer science alumni Tim Mahoney says he loves Long Beach State so much that he has a black-and-gold mug in his office at Apple, where he works as a software engineering manager. Son of former College of Engineering Dean Mike Mahoney, who is now provost and vice president of academic affairs for Cal State East Bay, Tim said he attended five schools over seven years before earning his degree.
At CSULB, he received almost all As. In fact, Mahoney still remembers the one faculty member who gave him a B.
After graduating in 2013, he applied for more than 100 jobs and toured Silicon Valley companies to distribute his resume in person before receiving the fateful call from Apple. “Not everybody thinks they can apply to their dream job and get it, but there’s no harm in trying,” said Mahoney, recipient of a CECS Outstanding Alumnus award.
Dean Forouzan Golshani advised graduates to find their passion—and stay in touch with faculty. “I’m so glad we’re here to celebrate your success,” he said. “You overcame obstacles. You pulled through and you’re here.”
President’s Scholar and Engineering Honors student Amy Yang, who will be going to work at Northrop Grumman as a software engineer, received the Outstanding BS Student Award for computer science. “Amy is a remarkable individual,” said Associate Professor Mehrdad Aliasgari. “She’s always ready to learn more and more. We’re very lucky she chose to attend here.”
Nicolas Mallory, who is interning at Southern California Edison, received the Outstanding BS Student Award for computer engineering. Professor Michael Chelian said Mallory’s appetite for projects was nearly insatiable. “He would finish all his projects by the middle of the semester and pester his professors for more,” said Professor Tom Johnson, acting CECS chair.
Neha Tyagi, who competed her master’s degree in computer science, received the Graduate Dean’s List Award. And Nicholas Miller, who holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics, received the Outstanding Thesis Award for his paper “Benchmarks for Evaluating Anomaly-based Intrusion Detection Solutions.” Amazon caught wind of the application Miller developed, and now Miller will be moving to Denver to work for the online retailer.
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Tracy Maples urged the graduates to stay in touch with faculty. “You’re going to remember your faculty,” she said. “After all, Tim remembered who gave him a B.”