Thirteen teams from six universities across the Midwest are coming to campus to present each of its senior capstone projects, as well as work on a business case study to present to a panel of judges.
Competition Schedule
Friday:
- The event will start with registration and a reception Friday late afternoon, followed by a dinner and keynote in the evening.
Saturday:
- Students will present their projects to a panel of judges. Students will be provided a case at lunch to analyze and recommend a solution. Presentations begin at 9 a.m in AJ 225
Sunday:
- Students will present their case solutions to a panel of judges at 9 a.m.in AJ 225
- An award ceremony will be held in LB 125 after case presentations
Source: Ball State Website
Rui Chen, an associate professor of information systems, is organizing the competition. Chen said the competition will give participants the chance for professional input.
“It’s an opportunity for students to show off and demonstrate what they know and also for them to get industry feedback,” Chen said.
The competition is open to students in information systems, management information systems, information technology, software engineering and computer science.
In the case portion of the competition, teams will be given a business problem the afternoon of April 16 and have to present a solution the next day. Each team needs to address the problem and see how technology can be used to help.
Chen said having people study information systems is important, because business people may need to use technology to solve a problem, but they don’t understand how to use it. Computer science majors know technology, but don’t understand the business problem.
“IS [information systems] is the middle man between the business world and the technology world,” he said.
Trevor Bly, a senior human resource management and computer information systems major, is participating in the competition. He said he is looking forward to presenting the project he has been working on all year.
“I have spent a lot of time and energy on this project, so it’s fun to go ahead and compete with other teams and see what everyone else has been doing,” Bly said.
Students, especially those in COMM210: Fundamentals of Public Speaking, may benefit from attending the presentation because they will get to see polished presentations, Bly said.
Chen said one of the reasons the competition began was to help boost the image of the ISOM program and the university.
“We are always looking forward to opportunities that would allow us to grow bigger and better,” Chen said.
Depending on resources, the competition has the potential to grow into a national event, he said.
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