The 2013 National Conference of Gamma Nu Eta, the National Information Technology Honor Society, was hosted by IIT’s School of Applied Technology on April 5th through the 7th. Industry Professor of Information Technology and Management Ray Trygstad is the Chair of the ΓNH National Board of Directors and the Adviser of IIT’s Beta Chapter. IIT Beta Chapter’s Charter President, Madeleine England–who now serves as the Chapter Administrator–and Beta Chapter President Bill Wesselman are also members of the National Board of Gamma Nu Eta. During the meeting, Bill Wesselman inducted Dr. Gregory N. Hughes, founder of the information technology degree program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, as a Professional Member of IIT’s Beta Chapter of Gamma Nu Eta. Prior to his appointment as the first Vice Provost for Information Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Dr. Hughes had a distinguished career as a senior executive at AT&T/Lucent Technologies, and as President of AT&T’s Transmission Systems Business he received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award from President George Bush.

IIT’s Ray Trygstad is becoming a ROCKSTAR—ok, not really,  just noted as an authority on information technology education. He was quoted in Network World in an article titled “Which tech degrees pay the most from day one?”  This is his 3rd article in the last 2 months! The article was on the front page at NetworkWorld.com, and was also the featured article in Network World’s afternoon email newsletter today.

The article contains good news for ITM graduates. Read it at Network World: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/030513-tech-degrees-267324.html

Just a reminder…Friday January 25 is the last day to drop a class for a full refund and to add a class without “issues”.

Jeannie Hartig, IIT Vice President of Marketing and Communications has sent us the following statement:

“Last night two exam proctors fell ill in two different rooms in Stuart Building and were transported to the hospital. In addition, an IIT student in a third classroom reported feeling ill. We are sorry to report that one of the proctors died of apparent cardiac arrest; the other was treated at the hospital and released. The IIT student reported back to the instructor this morning that he was well again after having gotten a good night’s sleep.

Stuart Building is safe and we have absolutely no reason to believe these incidents were connected or caused by any environmental factor.

Our sympathies go out to our colleague’s family and friends. It is important to everyone that information be factual and not based on unfounded rumor as we move forward. If you have questions or concerns, please contact either Jeannie Hartig, VP of Marketing and Communications, or Evan Venie, Senior Director of Communications.”

Ms Hartig conveyed that she has absolutely NO concerns for the safety of students at the Stuart Building. She also said that the two incidents were completely UNrelated and not the result of anything that was airborne, viral or contagious. She added that a complete evaluation as to the safety of Stuart Building is being conducted by an Environmental Agency, and that when those results are available, they will be provided to the entire student body and all faculty and staff at IIT.

Any further concerns or questions can be addressed to:
Jeannie Hartig, VP of Marketing and Communications, 312-576-3921; jhartig@iit.edu

All students should feel safe to return to Stuart Building and resume their regularly scheduled exam procedures for the remainder of this week. Good luck on your finals and congratulations to all of your hard work this semester.
(Reposted from Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/IITSoAT/posts/414932178575118 .)

Here’s more on Spring 2013 course registration, now underway at IIT. Since registration opened, we have added the following courses for Spring 2013:
 CRN/Course#-Section#/Course Name/Format/Hours/Days-Time/Seats/Location/Inst. 
 25900 ITMM 482-01 Business Innovation LEC 3 Thurs 6:25-9:05pm 10 Main WH-315 Praveen Gupta 
 25901 ITMM 582-01 Business Innovation LEC 3 Thurs 6:25-9:05pm 15 Main WH-315 Praveen Gupta 
Also take a look at the Joint Workshop course offered in conjunction with IIT’s world-renowned Institute of Design…

For Undergraduates:
If you have not seen Professor Trygstad for advising, please read the Spring 2013 Advising Notes and make an appointment with him for advising at your earliest opportunity!
If you have attempted without success to register for BUS 221, Professor Twombly from undergraduate business has assured us that he will open the course to non-business majors after Thanksgiving–so hang in there and give it a try then.

For Graduate Students:
Despite the fact that ITMO 547 Projects & Advanced Methods in Telecomm Over Data Networks is shown on the schedule as meeting at Rice Campus Mondays 1:50pm-5:40pm, YOU DON’T HAVE TO COME TO THE RICE CAMPUS ON MONDAYS TO BE IN ITMO 547. It’s a project course and project teams and individuals will meet weekly and decide on which day and which campus they will meet. Please contact Professor Carol Davids if you have ANY questions about this course.

Gamma Nu Eta invites you to a Halloween Party at The Bog on Friday, November 2 from 8 pm – 1 am.  It is free and and open to ALL IIT students.  It is a costume party and it includes free food and non-alcoholic beverages (there is a cash bar).  There are prizes for the best costumes.  Sponsored by Gamma Nu Eta, BOG Events Fund & SAF.  Questions - ubbogvp@gmail.com. (Photos are now on Facebook…)

Our own Information Technology and Management Organization challenges IIT students to learn, build and create cloud infrastructure and applications in an event they have named IIT on da Cloud. In this four-day event open to all students at IIT, students can learn about cloud computing, build the infrastructure of a private cloud, and create applications that can run on it. Recently, cloud computing has been used as a popular marketing term to attract a target market, which has led to many misconceptions and misunderstandings about what cloud computing actually is. ITMO’s goal is to help educate students about cloud computing and give them hands-on experience using this technology. Rumor has it that there may be a team competitive aspect to the event! For more information and to register, visit the IIT on da Cloud website at http://itm.iit.edu/iitCloud/.

The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) recently worked with IIT Professor Carol Davids and ITM students to test 911 emergency services at IIT’s Real-Time Communications Lab.

In the left picture, IIT students Michal Siuty and Kbrom Tewoldu work with IIT Mentor Joe Cusimano, NENA ICE-5 Participants and representatives as they test the 911 emergency service. The NENA event was held at IIT’s Real-Time Communications Lab at the Rice Campus in Wheaton Illinois. More than 50 vendors and NENA representatives gathered to test the interoperability of the vendors’ products which support an all-IP backbone for the delivery of Emergency 911 services, and in particular support their use by the hearing impaired community.

In the right picture, Professor Carol Davids looks on as NENA representatives and NENA ICE-5 participants demonstrate how the Emergency Services IP Network (ESInet) supports voice and video calls and text messages to Pubic Service Access Point (PSAP) call takers. In this photo, hearing-impaired callers and their American Sign Language interpreters use the video capabilities of the system as well as the text function to complete an emergency call.
Read more…

Congratulations to the Information Technology and Management Organization (aka ITMO) for placing third–really second; ask an ITMO member to explain why–in the IIT Pumpkin Launch!  You can now see the photos on Facebook…

The Spring 2013 Course Schedule will be available online on Monday, October 22. Registration for Spring begins Friday, November 2 with the following timeline for the start of registration for each group as indicated:

• Friday Nov. 2: ROTC, athletes, students with disabilities
• Monday Nov. 5: Graduate students and U5 fifth year undergraduates
• Tuesday Nov. 6: U4 fourth year undergraduates
• Wednesday Nov. 7: U3 third year undergraduates
• Thursday Nov. 8: U2 second year undergraduates
• Friday Nov. 9: U1 first year undergraduates and exchange, visiting, and non-degree students

More information on registration will be posted as it is available. In answer to a few questions, this Spring we will be offering ITMD 412 (advanced C++). We will be offering a topics class entitled Introduction to Health Care IT, taught by Professor Noland Joiner, former VP and CIO of GE Healthcare IT; this course will be offered at both the undergraduate and graduate level. We also expect there to be a Monday afternoon IPRO at the Rice Campus. In the summer expect to see a Windows 8 Mobile development course and a Django with Python course.