October 29, 2010
Innovative Systems conference set for Nov. 4-6
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Registration is open for the Southern Illinois University Innovative Systems 2010 conference.
The student-run, technical-professional conference is Nov. 4-6, with many events taking place in the Engineering Building on campus, and keynote addresses at the Student Center Auditorium. The conference is free, with a $10 fee for conference meals.
The conference brings senior industry leaders in business, technology, science, engineering and other areas to campus to share their expertise and to discuss key current industrial developments and future trends. In addition to the keynote addresses and lectures, the conference features workshops, tutorials, panel discussions and other presentations. Students have opportunities to participate in the conference in sessions dedicated to student papers, project demonstrations and research posters.
Speakers include:
• Viswanath Annampedu, technical group lead, digital design, LSI Logic
• Alain Bourdeau de Fontaney, professor and researcher, Columbia Institute of Tele-Informatics
• Giampiero Campa, technical evangelist, MathWorks Inc.
• Jim DeBelina, marketing consultant and CEO of Hengsoft Inc.
• Vijay Gurbani, chief SIP Architect, Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, Inc.
• Dewayne Hendricks, CEO, Tetherless access
• Faisal Ishtaq, senior researcher in computer vision, Motorola Research and Development
• Dan Korte, president of the Defense Aerospace division of Rolls Royce, Inc.
• Arsenly Kozlov, founder, KAA Greening Fund
• Venkata Majeti, CEO, Loment Inc.
• Nathan Nobbe, founder and CEO, Moxunne LLC
• Amit Sethl, management consultant, Z. S. Associates
• William Sommerville, senior electrical engineer, United Solar Ovonic Inc.
• Hans-Christoph Steiner, co-founder, Pure Data Extended
• William Tingle, vice president, information technology, Enterprise Holdings
• Paolo Tosolini, social media and online video consultant, Microsoft USA
• Theron Trowbridge, funder, Crash Space Los Angeles
• Curt Wilson, network security officer, SIUC
A full schedule of events is on the website at http://innovativesystems.siu.edu.
Anil Mehta, SIUIS co-founder and a doctoral student in engineering at SIUC, said the days leading up to the conference have been busy ones for the entire team.
“It’s like raising a child,” he said. “It’s keeping us constantly busy, and we love it.”
Mehta expects approximately 500 people to attend the conference. He noted that the conference provides a rich networking environment for students ready to enter the job market, and an opportunity for students to learn more about new directions and possible career paths in their fields. Past conferences, he said, have directly contributed to SIUC students gaining internships, research grants and employment.
“The program aims to host quality discussions involving industry leaders and students from many majors,” he said. “We hope to provide students with an opportunity to interact with leaders in their fields, while informing them of the latest trends in the marketplace. Such interaction also exposes the strengths of the University to pioneers in the industry, opening up dialogue for investments, collaborative research, student hires and more.”
The conference team hopes to bring in students from area high schools and community colleges as well.
“This is a recruiting gold mine for SIUC,” Mehta said. “This conference can bring students to SIUC, and then they see the campus and learn about the opportunities available here.”
Future conferences, he said, will invite more student competitions and projects, particularly in science, engineering and business.
Mehta thanked the students and faculty members both present and past who worked as a team to make the SIUIS conference a reality. H noted they are all proud of their success, and committed to improving, expanding and continuing to bring the conference to campus.
Motorola Foundation, the SIUC Sustainability Council, and Synopsys are sponsors of this event.