College of Information
Science
and Technology
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Visit our home page at www.ist.unomaha.edu
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IS&T: Great ideas, great
students, great college
Great ideas and great students need the
proper environment in order to take root and grow. Since 1996, the College of
Information Science and Technology (IS&T) has proved a fertile ground for
both.
With a goal that no student will go unassisted or
unchallenged, enrollment in the college has grown from 124 students to more than
1,200.
Situated
within the impressive facility that houses the Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI)
of Information Science, Technology and Engineering, the college has an
award-winning faculty and administrative staff, as well as lab and classroom
space rivaling that of any university campus, including Stanford and MIT.
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• Software Design,
Development Focus of One Innovation Place
• Student teams bring
real solutions to real-world problems
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"We have a nationally-recognized faculty to
deliver a curriculum that ranks with the best IT schools," says David W.
Hinton, dean of the college. "We constantly review and update our courses in
our effort to meet—and stay ahead of—today's rapid changes in technology."
Local and national businesses and
organizations, often referred by UNO alumni, link with IS&T students for
coursework and product development. The end result has led in many cases to
offers of employment upon graduation.
Additionally, dramatic advances have been made
in external funding through grants and contracts. Faculty members are providing
technical assistance through the recently-established PKI Technology
Development Corp.
Across the campus and throughout the
community, IS&T students continue to impress:
• Of the 86 undergraduate degree recipients in
May 2004, more than 39 percent graduated with honors;
• Trevor Clark, a Management Information
Systems major, earned the 2004 Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding
Leadership;
• Five students—Courtney Burger, James Smith,
Jijesh Vayelil, Cuong Nguyen and Megan Sigmon—were awarded a bronze President's
Volunteer Service Award for their work with the Omaha Coalition for the
Homeless, writing training documentation for the OASIS system and conducting
administrative training sessions;
• Andrew Gacek, computer science major,
received the 2004 Vice Chancellor's Award as the Outstanding Student at UNO;
• Piyush Shah, information systems major, and
faculty member Donna Duffner were recognized by Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey for
Shah's work designing an Internet feature for the Mayor's telephone Hotline;
• For the recent fall term, 202 students made
the dean's honor list, including 48 with perfect 4.00 grades. In addition, 22
freshmen were honored at the UNO Honors Program First Year Member reception.
"The work ethic, determination and enthusiasm
of our students challenge us to do better," Hinton says. "Each semester, the
number of our graduates continues to grow, as do their accomplishments."
Challenging courses. Dynamic faculty. A
valuable resource for business and the community. UNO's College of Information
Science and Technology is a leader when others struggle to keep pace.
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College of IS&T Timeline
1996—College of
Information Science and Technology established, combining three existing units:
Computer Science, Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis, and the Center
for Management of Information Technology. Michael Mulder named founding dean.
Bachelor's and master's degrees offered in computer science and management
information systems.
1997—"Virtual"
groundbreaking held for Peter Kiewit Institute, the 192,000-square-foot
facility to house the college. Ceremony linked by satellite to Scottsbluff,
Neb., to emphasize the institute's statewide mission.
1999—PKI facility opens on
UNO's South Campus at site of former Ak-Sar-Ben racetrack.
2000—Scott Hall opens with
housing for 160 scholarship students.
2002—First Scott
Technology Transfer and Incubator Center opens.
2003—Scott Village opens
with housing for 480 chiefly technology and engineering majors; Ph.D. in
information technology added; student-run One Innovation Place begins; Start of
International Academy for Advanced Decision Support, a research center to
create tools and technologies for new generation of decision support systems;
National Security Agency recognition as Center of Academic Excellence in
Internet Technologies.
2004—IS&T develops undergrad
degree in bioinformatics, the use of computers and information science to study
genetic information and biological structures and functions.
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Software Design,
Development Focus of One Innovation Place
Students eager to design and develop
remarkable software have a home at the College of IS&T, and their address
is One Innovation Place.
Founded two years ago, One Innovation Place
(One IP) recruits and employs the talents of the best and brightest students
and puts them to work as consultants for some of the area's largest and most
prestigious companies, including Gallup.
Once on board, students at One IP are tasked
with researching, designing and prototyping new software products in a variety
of challenging fields—from robotics and medicine to Internet search engines and
food service. One project, for instance, led to a software program that allows
persons who hope to become candidates for a liver transplant to rate themselves
according to various decision criteria, thus allowing them to identify areas
they need to concentrate on to better their opportunities.
Dr. Gerald R. Wagner
(pictured below), a distinguished research fellow within the Peter Kiewit
Institute, guides the program. One IP, explains Wagner, is the evolution of two
earlier programs that had related goals.
"The concept for One IP began with the VIA
Design Group, a student multimedia and design center that emphasized Macromedia
Flash MX, a development platform for animations and the ability electronically
to put user interaction into motion," Wagner says.
The second program was New Generation
Consulting, a student-run information technology consulting firm that recruited
great students with great ideas to solve problems and consult in IT aspects
ranging from networks to security.
"We determined we did not want to be in
generic IT consulting. Also, we did not want to be pigeonholed in either Flash
MX or multimedia," Wagner says. "We wanted to take the themes we had been
successful with and expand them. One Innovation Place is the result, a place
for innovation in new software product research, design and development."
One IP is a people-oriented program that
requires a particular skill set, Wagner says. Students are recruited from a
variety of study areas, including information systems, computer science, studio
arts, geography and graphic design. They must be smart, driven, team players
with positive attitudes and pride in their work.
"If people are not overachievers, they don't
last around here," Wagner says. "We are looking for students who are somewhat
rare, as evidenced by the fact we have wonderful projects waiting for the right
students to work on them."
It is not an internship program, Wagner
emphasizes. "We are a resource for companies in need of new software products
and for students who are destined to become entrepreneurs."
Once a project is selected, students often are
paired into two teams. Each team meets with the client then competes
independently to produce the best software product. Teams present their product
and the client decides which is the best solution, or if a combination of the
two is best. Depending on the client, students receive a stipend similar to
what an intern would earn.
"It's a wonderful model for students," Wagner
says. Although some software becomes intellectual property that could be sold,
Wagner adds, "This program is designed not as a moneymaker but as a learning
experience for students."
An effort is underway to recruit incoming
freshman so as to keep them involved in One IP for as long as possible. "It's
fun, intellectual, challenging and original," Wagner says. "What bright student
wouldn't want to take advantage of such an opportunity?"
Eric Goeken
"Phenomenal" is how
Eric Goeken describes the opportunities available at One IP. "Not only is One
IP a cutting-edge idea," Goeken says, "that's also a great way to describe the
projects we're working on."
The third-year computer science major from
Omaha has been at One IP for a year. His initial project called for the
creation of a video business plan player for use in presentations.
"It had the ability to jump to key parts of
the demonstration. It was a network application, which allowed several people
to watch it and communicate simultaneously, and they could log their comments
for anyone who watched the video later."
Goeken says One IP provides something
traditional instruction can lack.
"I think it really completes the education
process. You can learn methods, formulas and practices in a classroom, but this
goes the next step and applies it to real life. We're breaking new ground every
day."
Anna Klotz
Anna Klotz's first
project at One IP called for the replacement of an existing Microsoft
PowerPoint slide show to fit the needs of a unique client—UNO Maverick Head
Volleyball Coach Rose Shires.
"She wanted to use it as a sales tool to
recruit players, but needed several features to be added to allow for an
interactive experience for the athletes," says Klotz, a senior from Council
Bluffs, Iowa.
But One IP is about more than software
development. "This experience has given me a foot in the door with so many
prospective employers," says Klotz, who will graduate in August. "It's given me
a greater eye toward the real world, a deeper knowledge that I wouldn't have
otherwise."
It's a place for students and faculty to
generate and exchange ideas as peers and as friends, she says. "It's a
family-type environment full of innovative thinkers. It's not only an awesome
work experience, but it gives you a place to be on campus that really feels
like a home."
Volkhard Korth
Volkhard Korth, an MBA
student from Braunschweig, Germany, served as the first student director of One
IP. "What I like the most about One IP is the entrepreneurial aspect. It's
something you can't find anywhere else."
Prior to coming to UNO, Korth launched his own
student consulting company at a university in Germany. "As a student, they may
see what we are doing and just want to give it a try. But once they are
involved, the entrepreneurial spirit takes over. It becomes a driving force
that leads to a great feeling of accomplishment."
Though he'd had experience with his own
company, what he found at IS&T was impressive. "I'm amazed by the facility
here, the faculty and what these students can do. I've learned a lot from
working with them, and I've had fun along the way."
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Student teams bring real solutions to real-world problems
Four real companies, four different problems:
• An auto service station records transactions
with an outdated, manual paper-based system and seeks to convert to an
electronic database.
• Business swells for a lawn service, and so
do the company's bookkeeping problems—lost billing records, sketchy clientele
information and redundant data. A database infrastructure is needed for
customer information, billing and daily itineraries.
• An emergency medical aircraft operation
looks to merge its paper and electronic data sources into a single electronic
retrieval system that is fast and accurate.
• A popular restaurant bottlenecks during peak
hours and considers hiring more employees, which would cut profits. It seeks a
web-based solution to streamline workflow and minimize operational costs.
One source for each solution—student teams in
the College of Information Science and Technology. Specifically, those students
in the Information Systems Analysis and Systems Design & Implementation
capstone courses taught by Professors Leah Pietron and Paul van Vliet (pictured
below).
Each semester, two dozen businesses,
educational institutions and volunteer agencies tap the resources of the
award-winning instructors and their eager student teams in a classic win-win.
Clients solve their problems in a rapid and reliable manner; students earn
valuable experience, six credit hours and a good measure of self-confidence.
"It is an
extraordinary opportunity for the students," van Vliet says. "They create a
real-world working information system for a real client. They experience the
entire system's development life cycle, from idea to fully developed and
documented working information system."
The nine-month course requires the completion
of nine milestones. It is an intensive, hands-on course that promises hard work
bsut also proves to be a fun experience for both teachers and students, Pietron
says. "We truly believe for our students to do real-world applications, they
have to work with real-world clients," she says.
In doing so, students get to learn from
world-class professors.
Pietron, a native North Dakotan, has been
teaching since 1979, at UNO since 1985. She was a faculty member in the
Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis (ISQA) department of the College
of Business Administration for 11 years before moving to the College of IS&T.
Van Vliet came a bit farther to get to
UNO-from Lisse in the Netherlands. He first experienced the United States in
1980 as an exchange student in high school. Later, he obtained his doctorate at
Oklahoma State University. While there he was recruited to join the faculty at
UNO—and was interviewed by Pietron.
Both say they enjoy the opportunity to teach
in the modern, expansive Peter Kiewit Institute facility south of UNO's main
campus. They also enjoy the challenges presented by the top-notch students who
enroll in their capstone courses.
"I have a reputation of being very tough, but
being fair in project work and examinations," Pietron says. "I believe in
pushing my students to illustrate that they are very capable of achieving the
standards that I have established for them."
Van Vliet recalls that when he started at UNO
11 years ago, "My job was very typical in a standard college of business." No
longer.
"Now we have this fantastic facility to work
in. We have our own college. We have our own major. There is always something
exciting going on here."
The two do their best to channel that
excitement into the energy that fuels learning. "I enjoy seeing the 'lights
come on' when students are able to apply theory to practice," Pietron says. "It
is exciting to see them grow and start to understand."
Although they've had opportunities to teach
elsewhere, both are committed to UNO and IS&T. "I'm not sure I'd really
want to be anywhere else," van Vliet says. "I have one of the best jobs in the
world here. I have the opportunity to travel. I have great facilities, great
colleagues and a great department. There's not really a reason for me to
leave."
Adds Pietron: "The most important thing that
keeps me here is the ISQA faculty," she says. "Our department is very
innovative and concerned about undergraduate and graduate education. The second
reason is that I am only eight hours away from my home in North Dakota. My
father died in 1993 but my mother is still very robust and active. Family is
very important to me, and being able to drive home in a day makes living in
Nebraska very ideal."
The commute home takes longer for van Vliet,
but he still tries to make it there each summer. "Other than being apart from
my family, it's not really that different for me being in Omaha," he says. "I
grew up in suburbia. Although the politics are very different—and more people
speak Dutch in the Netherlands than in Omaha—my life in my homeland was not
really that different from the American experience."
Both professors are single. Van Vliet resides
with two schnauzers and a cockapoo. Away from UNO, he participates in
fund-raising efforts for the Nebraska Humane Society and loves to read "big,
fat novels. Mysteries. Science fiction. History. No romance, westerns or
horror, but the rest is fair game."
Pietron is a passionate Cubs fan who loves the
College World Series and all Maverick sports. She bicycles, golfs, travels and
enjoys camping in the mountains. And she is caretaker of an orange and black
tabby cat. "Dartania was my sister's cat until she moved to California. She has
taken over my house and now rules it."
Pietron and van Vliet share pride in UNO and
IS&T. They believe in what the college has accomplished and are eager to be
a part of its future.
"The college has worked hard to create
partnerships, with benefactors, with a wide variety of businesses and with the
extended Omaha community," van Vliet says. "The projects our students take on
have added an additional facet to our work. We are really moving forward together.
By combining skills, we are producing something that is good for them and good
for us."
Pietron says it all comes down to the
students.
"Our graduates are the product of our
department, our college and our university. The quality of their education and
their impression is invaluable. My greatest accomplishment is to provide
students with a knowledge base from my classes that allows them to succeed and
make an impact on their organizations. My greatest reward is when former
students return and tell me that I made an impact on their lives."
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