College of Information
Science and Technology
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Visit our home page at www.ist.unomaha.edu
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The Power of Partnership
Since
its inception, the Peter Kiewit Institute and UNO's College of Information
Science & Technology have worked to create and expand partnerships with
the metropolitan Omaha business community.
"We
are grateful for the tremendous support provided to our faculty and students
from the business community," IS&T Dean David Hinton says. "Over the past
five years, we have had three different external reviews of our programs, and
all speak to the high quality and involvement of our business partners."
Each
year, more companies call upon IS&T for internships, research assistance,
and project design and evaluation. The two articles here focus on the
longstanding relationships between IS&T and the Omaha World-Herald Corp.
and Baldwin Hackett & Meeks Inc., highlighting the value these
partnerships produce.
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• 'Attic' students preserve historic event on Web
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'Scary smart' students pass the
grade during paper's security audit
When the Omaha World-Herald newspaper needed to audit the
security of its wireless computer connection between two offices in western
Nebraska, it utilized the Nebraska University Consortium on Information
Assurance (NUCIA) and the faculty and students of the College of IS&T.
Dr. Blaine Burnham, NUCIA senior
research fellow, took on the role of project director. IS&T faculty member
and NUCIA senior technology research fellow Stephen Nugen served as the primary
point of contact and report author; IS&T/NUCIA colleague Tim Vidas
assisted. They put students Bryan Wilwerding and Jonathan Kamler to work on the
audit.
"The World-Herald has enjoyed an excellent relationship
with the college in other projects in the past, so it was really no surprise
that we looked to the university for assistance this time," says Jim Johnson
(pictured), the World-Herald's information systems security administrator.
He says the college had done research on the wireless
network in its Security Technology Education and Analysis Laboratory, and
Burnham decided the methods could be applied to the newspaper's wireless
implementation at the Star-Herald Publishing Co. facilities in Scottsbluff and
Gering.
Not only did the team from IS&T identify the system's
vulnerable areas, Johnson says, it revealed that the vendor who sold the
product to the World-Herald had not conformed it to the newspaper's
specifications.
"This project yielded an opportunity for us to sit down
with the vendor and fix things," he says. "It was a learning experience for the
vendor as well. The team from UNO was able to teach him some things about how
to securely set up these systems."
He describes the IS&T team members who worked on the
audit as methodical. "As Dean Hinton says, they're 'scary smart.' They
definitely knew what they were doing and how to find vulnerabilities.
"They began work even before we left Omaha, looking at the
system from inside out. As soon as we got out on the network in Scottsbluff,
they began performing tests between that site and the site in Gering."
Johnson, who has served as a member of the College of
IS&T Advisory Committee since 2000, says the audit "was a good opportunity
for our Information Technology (IT) staff to collaborate with people who are
working with cutting-edge technology."
The World-Herald implements its own share of new
technology. The Freedom Center, the $125 million state-of-the-art Omaha
production facility opened in 2001, is home to many high-tech devices,
including Transfer Vehicle System (TVS) robotic vehicles used to deliver
newsprint to the press.
The newspaper has a rich history with UNO and the College
of IS&T. The World-Herald worked with other area corporations to help
establish the Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) and the college, and the paper
employs five UNO graduates in its 40-person IT department, as well as many
others throughout the company.
Johnson says the security audit underscores the value that
the college, its faculty and students offer businesses in metropolitan Omaha.
"When I have people come in from out of town to visit the
newspaper and the city, PKI is always one of my stops," he says. "It is so far
ahead of most other colleges. People are in awe of the facilities and the resources
that the school makes available to the community.
"Partnering with IS&T has proven time and again to be
a wise decision."
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IS&T interns excel at Omaha software
firm
Seven years ago, when it was suggested that the principals
at Baldwin Hackett & Meeks Inc. (BHMI) consider hiring interns, they
weren't quite sure what to expect.
"We wondered what kind of assignments we could come up
with that would be of use to them and yet still accomplish our goals," recalls
Michael Meeks, senior vice president of the software applications development
corporation (pictured with Lynne Baldwin).
The answer? Give the interns from
the College of Information Science & Technology (IS&T) at UNO and other
universities the opportunity to work on challenging assignments similar to
those delegated to the 65 full-time employees at the firm's Corporate
Development Center in Omaha. The assignments are scaled to fit with students'
academic demands, yet are meaningful contributions to projects.
The results have been impressive, says Meeks. "This is a
fairly complex development environment that we throw them into. They have faced
a wide range of pretty demanding work, and they've done well."
For example, interns at BHMI have:
• Built a measurement harness to drive software and gauge
its performance in detail;
• Conducted volume testing to define performance targets;
• Developed user and Web interfaces and configured
software simulators;
• Made detailed presentations documenting their work to
various groups at BHMI.
Large scopes, teamwork
"When interns come into some companies, they get
bite-sized projects that they can complete quickly and move on," Meeks says.
"Here they get to participate in projects of a large scope, with lots of people
working in teams. In my opinion, finding out what it takes to work as a team is
the biggest eye-opener they can get."
Real-world projects yield rewards for the interns, the
businesses they serve and the university.
"We have hired several former interns," says Lynne Baldwin,
Ph.D., president of BHMI. "In turn, the university has tapped some of our
interns as research and graduate assistants. It has been a beneficial
relationship to everyone involved."
Baldwin founded the company in 1986 with her husband, Jack
T. Baldwin, Ph.D., who currently serves as chairman. Meeks is a 1979 UNO
graduate, having earned a bachelor's degree in computer science. He was
recruited to join the firm in 1987 by Lynne Baldwin, who had served as his
advisor at UNO.
Meeks gives the company its technical direction, helping
direct and manage the methods BHMI uses to develop software for clients that
include the Federal Aviation Administration, MCI, Greyhound Lines and Union
Pacific Railroad.
The majority of the interns BHMI hires are from the Peter
Kiewit Institute and UNO. The quality of the applicants sets them apart, Meeks
says.
"It's been nice to see people come in fairly up-to-date on
the latest technologies," he says.
The skill sets that BHMI looks for when considering
internship applicants include object-oriented design and development, knowledge
of relational databases, understanding Web technology, and performance testing.
"Whether it's JAVA or C++, Oracle or DB2 isn't really the issue," Meeks says.
"That they understand the concepts is more important."
Ultimately, being able to function and produce as a member
of a team may be the most sought-after quality, he says. "Managing large bodies
of software with multiple people working on it—even basic exposure to that
would benefit them."
And benefit BHMI and the other business partners who put
IS&T interns to work.
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Students of 'Attic' preserve historic event
on Web
The Attic, a group of UNO College of Information Science
& Technology students who have an interest in Web design and multimedia
presentation technologies, is documenting for history the Sunpu Gate project at
Lauritzen Gardens-Omaha's Botanical Center.
The Sunpu Gate (pictured) in place at Lauritzen Gardens is
a replica of the entrance gate at the Sunpu Castle in Omaha's sister city,
Shizuoka, Japan. It commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Omaha Sister
Cities Association relationship with Shizuoka.
Initially tasked with designing, hosting and updating data
on the Sunpu Gate website (www.omahasunpugate.org), the students of The Attic
have taken their work a step further by permanently recording for future
generations of Japanese and Americans the construction and installation of the
gate and the dedication ceremonies.
Zac Fowler, Sunpu Gate project
manager at IS&T, says documenting the gate's construction through words and
extensive photos placed on the website has allowed people in Omaha and Shizuoka
to share the experience. Content is provided by Mel Bohn, vice president of
communications for the sister cities association; photos are provided by Bohn
and Omahan Steve Adams; IS&T senior Tim Hemmer designs the page layout and
the graphics.
"We also produced a video slideshow that was shown during
the dedication luncheon October 1," Fowler says. "The slideshow was put
together to show each stage of the construction process using photos taken by
Mel and Steve. Copies of the website and slideshow were sent to Japan by Larry
Uebner, chairman of the sister cities association."
Fowler, who serves as project manager for the Lewis, Clark
and Beyond Web project (www.lewisclarkandbeyond.com), a collaboration between
the Peter Kiewit Institute and the National Park Service's Lewis & Clark
National Historic Trail, says the Sunpu Gate site was the first start-to-finish
project for The Attic.
"The Attic is a collection of students, both undergraduate
and postgraduate, who have or are learning skills in HTML, PHP, Flash, MySQL,
XML, GIS systems, video editing, audio production and 3D modeling, to name a
few," he says. "They take on Web site projects for non-profit organizations in
the community.
"The intent is to research new ways to use technologies
and present information in an interesting and understandable form, while
preserving data relationships across multiple platforms and systems." He says
students of The Attic are proud of their work with the Sunpu Gate project.
"Websites come and go, but what we've done is help produce a permanent record
of an historic event."
More information about The Attic can be found at http://attic.ist.unomaha.edu.
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Innovations in technology are changing lives around the
globe. In Ecuador, Brazil and Peru, the establishment of informal "cyber cafés"
are extending the reach of information and communication technologies to all
ages and classes of people.
In Africa, farmers have a better chance of selling their
produce for a profit by checking crop prices at a centrally located kiosk
connected to the Internet.
In Pakistan, a street merchant
with cell phone in hand can type text messages while hawking grilled kabobs to
passing shoppers.
Many of these startling adaptations of technology are
being made known to the world through the pages of the Journal of Information
Technology for Development, a collaboration of the Commonwealth Secretariat, an
International Development Funding Agency in the UK, the Peter Kiewit Institute
and the College of Information Science & Technology (IS&T) at UNO.
Dr. Sajda Qureshi (pictured), associate professor at
IS&T, serves as editor-in-chief for the quarterly journal. Begun 22 years
ago by a professor at Oxford University in England, the journal is a forum for
the research and application of Information Technology (IT) infrastructures in
emerging economies and their relationships with the developed world. It is the
first journal to explicitly address global information technology issues by
publishing social and technical research on the subject.
Maintaining the journal's high standards is a group of
associate editors that includes Dr. B.J. Reed, dean of the College of Public
Affairs and Community Service at UNO; Dr. Peter Wolcott, associate professor at
IS&T; and academic representatives from: Washington, D.C.; Boulder, Colo.;
Cairo, Egypt; the United Kingdom; and, Norway.
They are supported by an editorial board that includes
Drs. Lyn Holley of the Department of Gerontology at UNO and Gert-Jan de Vreede
of IS&T, plus professors and administrators from the United States, China,
Canada, Pakistan, England, Finland, India, Norway, Australia and South Africa.
Each issue of the journal is a collection of compelling
articles that document IT developments throughout the world. One of the
journal's goals, according to Qureshi, is providing a focal point for the
generation and application of IT resources that will economically benefit
regions around the world. By publishing papers that examine theory as well as
practical methods, the journal can play a major role in the sharing of
resources and knowledge that ultimately can improve commerce, communications
and IT research throughout the world, she says.
"This journal has had a big impact over the last 20
years," she says.
That impact continued in November as a delegation from the
journal and IT faculty from UNO attended the World Summit on the Information
Society in Tunis. The UN General Assembly by resolution in 2001 endorsed
holding the summit in two phases. During the first phase, a list of Millennium
Development Goals called the Geneva Plan established the foundation for an
equitable Information Society. The second phase, the meeting hosted by the
Government of Tunisia, explored putting the plan into action.
"Attending the meeting in Tunis and representing the
journal and UNO is really important for us," Qureshi says. "It is important for
Nebraska, and it is important for the perception abroad about Americans."
To be published in the journal is not an easy task. Once
submitted, papers are put through an exhaustive review process. Authors are
provided detailed evaluations, and if their article is deemed to have promise,
they can make revisions and resubmit.
"We will work with authors through as many rounds of
revisions as necessary," Qureshi says. "I'm very proud of the associate
editors, as they put considerable work into ensuring that papers meet the high
standards of quality and relevance."
She knows how difficult the process can be.
Editor-in-chief since 2003, Qureshi prior to her appointment had submitted her
own work to the journal—and was honored to have it published.
The standards maintained by the journal, as well as the
cutting-edge nature of the articles it publishes, have yielded respect not only
for the publication and the authors, but also for UNO.
"The international recognition this journal receives opens
up international opportunities for our students here," says Qureshi. "Sets of
skills are different in Malaysia and Singapore than here in the U.S. Learning
the effect of Information Science in those countries makes our students' skills
more portable to the rest of the world."
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