MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and digital transformation will be the key topics of discussion during an upcoming free, two-day conference hosted by the Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University.
Targeting students of all disciplines, faculty, industry professionals, and community partners, “Tech Vision: People and Technology Shaping Tomorrow” will be held Thursday and Friday, April 10-11, at the Miller Education Center, 503 E. Bell St.
The conference mission is to bring together these stakeholders to exchange insights on the evolving people-technology ecosystem and its impact on the workforce, organizations and society. It will feature a mix of faculty and guest speakers, panels and more, beginning at 8 a.m. each day and ending at 4:30 p.m.
Organizers encourage attendees to attend for either a half day, a full day, or two full days — or whatever sessions fit your schedule. But with limited seating and breakfast refreshments and lunch provided for midday sessions each day, registration is required at https://forms.gle/q31U7M1vKc1XVwJt5.
‘They are the future workforce’
The conference is the brainchild of Sam Zaza, associate professor in the Department of Information Systems and Analytics, who developed the idea for the conference as part of her participation in the Leadership on Deck faculty development program through the Provost’s Office.
Zaza said the conference is student-focused because “they are the future. They are the future workforce, so I want them to be informed.” The conference will provide opportunities for students to showcase their work through poster displays or presentations about their research (with industry judges awarding prizes to the top three winners) as well as networking with industry partners.
“Technology is really part of our daily life, not just our work life,” Zaza continued. “All majors use technology. I cannot think of any major that does not use technology, so it’s targeted for all students, all industry types, all community partners to come and see what the conversation is surrounding that.”
Zaza applauded the hard work of the other conference planning board members, particularly Kristie Abston, associate professor of management and “driving force” of the conference, along with other members include Murat Arik, management professor and director of the Business and Economic Research Center; Keith Jacks Gamble, economics and finance professor and director of the Data Science Institute; and Kim Sokoya, management professor and associate dean in the Jones College of Business.
“This free conference is a gathering for those who are interested in the evolving relationship between technology and people,” noted Abston. “We have a robust, engaging program for this inaugural event!”
First day guest speakers on Thursday, April 10, will include Josh Byrd with Copient.ai at lunch and Stephanie Dedmon, CIO for the state of Tennessee, that afternoon. Speaking that morning to lead off the day’s focus on cybersecurity is Scott Augenbaum, a cybercrime prevention trainer.
As chief growth officer for Copient.ai, an AI-powered conversational training platform, Byrd brings over 20 years of go-to-market strategy and storytelling across diverse fields including AI, health care IT, startups, commercial electronics, real estate, and music business. His unique path gives him a wide set of experiences, both traditional and modern, to draw from to create impactful strategies that drive new business opportunities and predictable revenue growth.
Dedmon was named CIO for the state of Tennessee in October 2018. In this role she is responsible for all operational areas of the state’s central IT organization, Strategic Technology Solutions. This includes managing the team’s IT service delivery, technical infrastructure development and support and customer service management and a workforce of almost 1,200 IT professionals.
“Stephanie will talk about her career, the public sector, the various project initiatives at the state level, which are many, and the skills needed for these careers,” Zaza said. “Josh will talk about the impact of AI on industry and what he’s seeing, what he forecasts. As for students … he thinks that in coming years, the thing that will distinguish higher education institutions is that we’re going to build not a workforce, but actually entrepreneurs. Everybody will be more on the entrepreneurship side.”
Impacts of AI on workforce, classroom
The second day on Friday, April 11, will be AI-focused featuring presentations by various MTSU faculty including Joshua Phillips from Computer Science; Todd O’Neill from Media Arts; and Gamble. They’ll discuss the impacts of AI in the classroom and trends in their professional areas. Students can also participate in a workshop about using AI tools.
“(Gamble) is going to go over some tools and how we use them and their applicability,” said Zaza, who plans for the conference to continue annually and even expand.
“I want to bring industry community partners to meet our students, to show off their work,” Zaza continued. “My ultimate goal is that to bring other universities as well, and to have the whole ecosystem in the region — higher education institutions, industry, community partners, the state — I want the whole ecosystem in the region to come and talk together about technology, its impact, and how we can move forward together.”
For off-campus visitors attending the event, reserved parking will be available in the surface lot off Highland Avenue. A campus parking map is available at https://bit.ly/MTSUParking and more information is available at https://mtsu.edu/parking/.
Students can ride the green Raider Xpress shuttle that runs from the northwest portion of campus to the MEC. The Raider Xpress Map shows the current bus routes with construction detours.
Conference sponsors include the Data Science Institute, University Provost, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, Department of Information Systems and Analytics, Management Department, the Jones College of Business, Business and Economic Research Center as well as multiple industry partners such as Fortinet.
For more information, contact Abston at Kristie.Abston@mtsu.edu or Zaza at Sam.Zaza@mtsu.edu.
— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)
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