Morgan State University News June 15, 2016 Morgan Student’s Creation Helps Iranian Workforce Calculate Holiday Bonuses In the United States, a holiday bonus is something most employees want but very few actually receive or believe they will receive. And for those fortunate enough to get one, the amount received is typically at the employer’s discretion. But what if bonuses weren’t based on how well a business performed or an employer’s level of generosity during the holiday? What if a holiday bonus was something consistently awarded, and employees could calculate it themselves using a proven equation? For Iranian-born Morgan State student Zeinab Bandpey, finding an answer to these questions would help provide a solution to a problem faced by employees in her native country, where holiday bonuses are awarded with more predictability than they are here in the U.S. In Iran, around the time of the Persian New Year, all employees can expect to receive a holiday bonus on Norooz<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz> (translation: New Day). However, calculating the amount employees receive has sometimes been a challenge, that is until now. Bandpey, a doctoral student in Morgan’s Mathematics Department<http://www.morgan.edu/mathematics>, created a custom calculator that helps the people of Iran calculate the holiday award they receive from their employers each year on Norooz. The calculator came about as part of her work for Frederick, Md.-based vCalc LLC<https://www.vcalc.com/wiki/home/>, an Internet-based software company that offers hundreds of unique calculators for people all over the world. With Bandpey’s new calculator, employees in Iran can easily calculate an expected holiday bonus by inputting their monthly salary along with the number of days worked during the calendar year. Next, the users indicate whether they are a government or private sector employee, to determine the approximate amount of the holiday bonus they will receive. For government employees, the Norooz bonus is always a set amount, with no calculation needed, but in the private sector, employees generally receive two full month’s pay, with certain stipulations. For her efforts, Bandpey was recently honored with vCalc’s Award for Excellence. The award was presented to her this past May by the company’s founder and CEO, Kurt Heckman, during the MSU School of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences<http://www.morgan.edu/scmns> Awards Banquet. Congratulations to Zeinab Bandpey on her award and the success of her calculator! To find out more information about Zeinab Bandpey’s No-Rooz Holiday Bonus Calculator, visit online at https://www.vcalc.com/wiki/zeinab/Holiday+bonus+calculatordot. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-592-4820 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/ Register here http://hbculibraries.org/html/2016meeting-form.html for the October 10,11 Membership Meeting in Atlanta. [Sized Coming Soon]NEW DIGS!!!! The HBCU Library Alliance is relocating to the Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library. July 1st is target date for transition. Stay tuned!!! LYRASIS, Inc. 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 150 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.