ITM faculty members and students will not only attend, but will present and chair sessions at the 14th Annual Conference in Information Technology Education (SIGITE) and the 2nd Annual Conference on Research in Information Technology (RIIT) in Orlando, Florida, October 9-12, 2013. This dual conference, conducted by the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Special Interest Group in Information Technology Education (SIGITE), provides a forum for sharing and developing ideas relating to Information Technology research, education, applications, IT-industry-academia relationships and our roles as professionals, educators, and advocates for the effective use of Information Technology.

School of Applied Technology Dean Dr. C. Robert “Bob” Carlson will chair Paper Session A2: Mobile and will present a paper, “Design Patterns as First-Class Connectors.” ITM graduate student Mikhail Zaturenskiy will present his paper “MP3 Files As A Steganography Medium” while graduate student Fernando Seror Garcia will conduct an RIIT Poster Session session entitled “DNS (Do Not Suspect).” ITM Associate Chair Ray Trygstad will also attend the conference.

ITM Adjunct Industry Professor Bill Slater knows data centers. With years of experience as a data center manager at BP and a stint as the first manager of Microsoft’s Northlake Data Center, which was the world’s largest data center when it opened, Professor Slater now passes along his knowledge and wisdom to graduate students in the ITM graduate specialization in Data Center Operations and Management. He also knows that industry events such as the 2013 Data Center Dynamics Conference are a good place to learn the latest and greatest developments in the field. With his encouragement and assistance, several of his students attended the conference, which was held at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago, IL, on October 1, 2013. ITM students Girithar Anthay Suthakavan, Shikha Srivastava, Samah Sallam and Adem Maksuti spent the day at the world’s largest peer-led data center conference & expo attending educational sessions and meeting vendors–and prospective employers! Conferences such as this are common in IT subject areas in Chicago, and we encourage students to attend to learn and network. And thanks go to Professor Slater for making this a great experience for our students.

Adjunct Industry Professor of ITM Bill Slater (center) and ITM students Girithar Anthay Suthakavan, Shikha Srivastava, Samah Sallam and Adem Maksuti (left to right), at the 2013 Data Center Dynamics Conference.

New Members of IIT’s Beta Chapter of Gamma Nu Eta, the National Information Technology Honor Society, were inducted on Monday, August 26th, 2013. Pictured above are Lei Zhang MITM; Industry Professor Ray Trygstad, Beta Chapter Adviser and ΓNH Professional Member; Srissa Dharampal MITM; Jeremy Stell ’14; Ziena Abdul-Samad ’15; Adjunct Industry Associate Professor Madeleine England ’11 MITM ’12, Beta Chapter Administrator and Past President; Brian Bailey MITM; Bartlomiej A. Dworak ’15; Ilo Miladinoski ’13; Michael Meier ’14; Justin Callanan ’14; Annie Ross MITM; Amulya N. Pothapragada MITM; René Tapia ’12 MITM; Ye Li MITM; Kumaran Ramanujam MITM; and Professor Bob Carlson, Dean of the IIT School of Applied Technology and ΓNH Professional Member.
Not pictured: Mark Adams ’13.

The Induction Ceremony took place in the Ballroom of IIT’s McCormick Tribune Campus Center, Chicago, Illinois. A reception followed the ceremony. Photos of the ceremony are available on the SAT Facebook page.

The IIT School of Applied Technology new student breakfast kicked off the new school year on August 16th in the lobby of Perlstein Hall. All of the ITM full-time faculty as well as a substantial representation of our adjunct faculty were on on hand to meet and greet our new students. An extensive photo gallery of the event can be viewed on Facebook.

Additional capacity has been added to almost all courses that have full enrollment, and several classes have been moved into larger classrooms to accommodate more students. ITMM 471 and ITMM 571 has had two new sections added, 15855 ITMM 471-03 and 15858 ITMM 571-04, which will allow students to view the course live via video in SB-201. Students waitlisted for ITMM 471 or ITMM 571 should register for these sections instead, as we cannot add any more capacity to the -01 sections. If you are waitlisted for a live class at this point, you can hope someone will drop and you can pick it their seat, but if you have not been notified of a seat being open for you by Friday of next week, you need to register for an alternative class. We cannot add any more capacity to ITM 301, ITM 312, ITMD 456, or ITMO 444-01/544-01.

It is with great sadness that I inform all of you that Jeff Kimont, Adjunct Industry Associate Professor of Information Technology and Management, passed away over the weekend.

Jeff has a long history with IIT, dating back to his work as a student at Midwest College of Engineering. He began teaching with the Computer Science Department in 1994 and has worked with the Center of Professional Development, the School of Applied Technology, and the Information Technology and Management program from the inception of each. He was the first full-time faculty member in the Information Technology and Management degree programs.

Over his long career here, Jeff was beloved by students and admired by his peers. He has skillfully taught multiple generations of software programmers, and our program is stronger and the lives of his students are better due to him.

Further details for an upcoming memorial will be posted here as we receive them.

Bob
C. Robert Carlson
Dean, IIT School of Applied Technology

Undergraduates in the Bachelor of Information Technology and Management degree can now complete a graduate degree simultaneously with their undergraduate degree, while maintaining their undergraduate status (and undergraduate financial aid!) In most normal circumstances, students can complete both degrees in five years of study, or in three years for many transfer students. To be eligible for the Co-Terminal Degree Program, students must:

• be a full-time Undergraduate student at IIT
• have completed at least 3 semesters as a full-time Undergraduate student or have 60 or more credit hours of Undergraduate course-work
• have a minimum Undergraduate GPA of 3.25
  (This means that transfer students may not apply until during their second term at IIT and cannot commence their graduate studies until their third term)

The degree combinations currently available under this program are:

• Bachelor of Information Technology and Management and Master of Cyber Forensics and Security
• Bachelor of Information Technology and Management and Master of Information Technology and Management

We have a course matrix showing a sample program of study for each option. You may note that three courses are counted towards both the undergraduate and graduate degrees; in the BITM to MITM, they are all required undergraduate courses, but in the BITM to MCFS, there are some specific undergraduate electives that must be taken. For more details please see the Co-Terminal Degree information page at https://www.iit.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/accelerated-masters-program. To apply for the program, log in to the my.iit.edu portal, select the Academics tab and navigate to the Graduate Admissions – Student channel, then select the IIT Co-Terminal Degree Program Application hyperlink, or just click on the link right here. Questions? Contact the ITM Associate Chair, Ray Trygstad: trygstad@iit.edu or 630.447.9009.

IIT’s Ray Trygstad will be a panelist in the Technology Executives Club “Selling to IT” event. The event will be held at IIT’s Rice Campus on Thursday, July 25. Details at http://www.technologyexecutivesclub.com/vendors/events/july2013selltoit.php

IIT Information Technology and Management students presented and demonstrated their Real-Time Communications projects to a crowd of communications professionals on May 1. Students were challenged to conduct research,and test and deploy solutions as part of the project-based learning approach at IIT School of Applied Technology. Unlike a final exam, these students had to provide a working system and defend it in front of a crowd of industry professionals—some with 30 years of experience.

Sponsors of the event included IIT School of Applied Technology, IEEE ComSoc and IEEE Fox Valley Subsection. Professor Carol Davids chaired the sessions and coordinated the student projects. The NG911 project was mentored by Joe Cusimano of Data-TelSystem Solutions. Several former IIT students also attended the event.

Read more…

Timing is everything, and students focusing on Information Technology and Management seem to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to take advantage of significant growth in cloud computing jobs.

7 Million New Cloud Computing Jobs by 2015

According to a Forbes review of an IDC report, sponsored by Microsoft, demand for “cloud-ready” IT workers will “grow by 26% annually through 2015. IDC expects that as many as 7 million new cloud-related jobs will be available worldwide by that time”. The author of the IDC report (Cushing Anderson) says that “Unlike IT skill shortages in the past, solving this skills gap is extremely challenging, given that cloud brings a new set of skills, which haven’t been needed in the past.”

Cloud-Related Positions Going Unfilled

According to the Forbes article, “lack of training, certification or experience” are the top three reasons cloud positions go un-filled. Anderson says several skill sets are key to building and maintaining cloud capabilities within organizations. These are listed in the table below, along with projected openings for 2015:

From IDC Report as Reported in Forbes 12/21/2012

In an earlier article Forbes’ writer Joe McKendrick suggested what IT professionals (future and present) should be learning in order to succeed in cloud-related jobs. His list seems to be right in line with the IDC report:

• Business and financial skills: Know how to make a business case and calculate an ROI for cloud.
• Technical skills: Java, .NET framework skills and knowledge of virtualization are important, and familiarity with open-source tools and languages is also valuable.
• Enterprise architecture and business needs analysis: Be able to build a “roadmap” for which services should be provided by IT and which by an outside provider. Learn to speak the language of business as well as the language of IT professionals
• Project management skills: Managing scope “creep”, contracts, service agreements and risk exposure are just some of the project management skills critical to implementing cloud. Cloud computing can cause end users to “run wild” with feature and service requests, so scope has to be contained. Also, remembering that cloud is supposed to cost less than equivalent on-premises services, skills in negotiating cloud vendors’ contracts, service level agreements and availability are critical to success.
• Security and compliance: Understanding security protocols is important in all types of cloud deployment. Additionally, regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA have made navigating data-handling laws more complex. IT professionals with an understanding of both can be very valuable.
• Data integration and analysis skills: Inside we have ERP systems, data warehouses, etc. Outside we have cloud-based services. Those who can analyze both sides and implement sound data integration between the two will be in high demand.
• Mobile app development and management: The rise of mobile devices of all kinds has been key driver for the expansion of cloud solutions. A sound understanding of the basics is a valuable skill in cloud-implementation.

So how does the future look for those with a solid grounding in Cloud, Information Technology, and Management? All in all, it looks anything but cloudy.

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2012/12/21/almost-1-7-million-cloud-related-jobs-went-unfilled-in-2012-estimate/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2012/08/27/the-8-most-important-skills-needed-for-cloud-computing-today/