CMUQ hosts second annual information systems meeting

Speakers at the conference

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar has held its second annual Undergraduate Conference in Information Systems (UCIS) under the theme "Promises and Pitfalls of Information Communication Technology” at the university’s campus in Education City.
The conference, hosted by the Association for Information Systems (AIS) student chapter, is a platform for aspiring information systems students to present their work and engage in relevant discussions with peers, faculty members and experts in the field from around the region.
The forum provided students with a unique opportunity to foster their knowledge in the information systems field and widen their scope of knowledge in general.
"The importance of this event is that it acts as a unique chance for students to discuss and present their work to a larger number of students and audience, also this conference is a great way to involve students more, in academics, research-based and innovative activities,” CMU information systems assistant teaching professor and the conference programme chair Daniel C Phelps said.
According to him, the conference was consistent with CMU’s mission to produce new knowledge through research, refine the desire among students to produce high quality work that is reflective of their critical thinking, and to foster the exchange of ideas.
"It is designed to encourage students to engage in appropriate and relevant knowledge creation, either through research or other academic activity. The integration of information systems professional presentations both inform the students and create opportunities for collaboration among students and universities,” he said.
"This conference is a great opportunity for the students to live the mission of the university. Regents’ professor of the University System of Georgia and J Mack Robinson distinguished professor of Information Systems, who is a leader in the information systems research community and the conference keynote speaker, professor Detmar Straub provided an academic view of IS, while other local professionals, also offered their views of IS as it is being practised locally,” Phelps said.
Topics covered at the conference included web security and privacy issues, human generated content, mobile and web-based applications, usability and user interfaces of applications, ICT in business, governance, commerce and social networking global IT projects and outsourcing, and sustainable information systems.
The conference programme was a collaborative effort with input from faculty and staff at CMU, Qatar University and the American University of Sharjah.
Undergraduate students from different universities in Qatar and the region, including the American University of Sharjah presented different short and research-based topics that they have worked on during the course of the academic year.
Other interactive programme included workshops, presentations and poster sessions.
"I believe that this conference is a great opportunity for IS students to widen their scope of knowledge in the field. I believe that it has given me a life-time opportunity to present my topic, which is "tele-presents” (a form of technology to enhance communication between different campuses, that is between Doha-Pittsburgh campuses) in front of a big and well-informed audience,” CMU student Reham al-Tamime said.
The Information Systems programme at CMU is an internationally-recognised Bachelor of Science degree for students who want to understand and solve information problems for organisations. 
Information about the programme can be had at http://www.qatar.cmu.edu/88/is.