DOHA, QATAR – Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar organized the inaugural Undergraduate Conference in Information Systems as a forum for undergraduate students with an interest in information systems to present their work and engage in relevant discussions with peers, faculty and experts in the field. The Association for Information Systems (AIS) Student Chapter at Carnegie Mellon Qatar hosted the conference, and Carnegie Mellon Qatar Academic Affairs sponsored it.
“The Carnegie Mellon Qatar student chapter of the Association for Information Systems undertook this conference soon after its founding as a way both to reach out to the broad information systems community in Qatar and the region, as well as to highlight the benefits that many individuals and organizations receive through the use of information systems and technology,” said Daniel C. Phelps, PhD, MLIS at Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Program Chair of the conference. “We expect that the attendees will walk away with a better understanding of the breadth of opportunities in information systems as well as ways that information systems can have an impact on an organization’s operations.”
The conference program was organized under the theme of “promises and pitfalls of information communication technology” (ICT), addressing the impact the new trends in the field have had on the way people and society interact in the world today. Undergraduate students from Qatar and the region were invited to submit research projects based on this theme, evaluating the effect of ICT solutions currently in practice. Topics covered included web security and privacy concerns, user generated content, global IT projects and outsourcing, sustainable information systems and the use of new media as a marketing tool for business. The conference program was a collaborative effort with input from faculty and staff at Carnegie Mellon Qatar, Qatar University, the American University of Sharjah and Bahrain Polytechnic
The two-day schedule started off with a networking event for the participants followed by a day of presentations, poster sessions and workshops. Orlando M. Erickson, IT Manager of ExxonMobil Qatar, was the keynote speaker of the conference. The conference attendees came from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds.
“UCIS allowed me to bring out my work in security and knowledge management to the academic community. I was intrigued by the kinds of questions the attendees asked, and this allowed me to reflect on my work,” said Varun Arora, Information Systems major at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “I thoroughly enjoyed the keynote address and the workshops. There was a lot to be learned.”
The conference will be an annual event, with the goal to advance knowledge in the use of information technology to improve organizational performance. For more information, visit the website: qatar.cmu.edu/571/ucis.
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With more than a century of academic excellence and distinguished research, Carnegie Mellon University is a leader in education with real-world applications. Consistently top ranked, the University has more than 11,000 students, 84,000 alumni and 4,000 faculty and staff globally. Core values of innovation, creativity, collaboration and problem solving provide the foundation for everything we do.
At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon joined Education City in 2004. Here, Qatar Foundation created a unique center for scholarship and research that is the ideal complement to Carnegie Mellon’s mission and vision. Students from Qatar and 30 different countries enroll at our world-class facilities in Education City. Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers undergraduate programs in business administration, computer science and information systems. Learn more at qatar.cmu.edu.
