Frontiers in Technology

The Frontiers in Technology seminar series presents cutting-edge research and up-coming trends in engineering and the biological sciences.

Stephen Boppart

Stephen A. Boppart is one of the lead researchers in Biomedical Imaging Technology. He and his colleagues described their approach to innovation as "Bench to Bedside and Back Again." This system provides the researchers continual feedback and helps them modify their technology quickly to suit consumer needs. Their OCT technology has been shown to be more effective and sensitive than X-rays. They have focused on improving existing technology with their new technology to decrease FDA-approval time.

Robin Kaler

January 25, 2008 Robin Kaler received bachelor and master degrees in broadcast journalism, and an executive MBA from Illinois. She currently serves as assistant chancellor for public affairs for the University of Illinois.
Kaler spoke on managing “crisis communication.” The lecture provided insight behind spotting a potential crisis and ways to identify resources to deal with crises. She also discussed ways to prepare for media interviews.

Kathryn Rybka

February 1, 2008 Kathryn Rybka serves as a lecturer associated with the University of Illinois and was previously the Director of Marketing for the Illini Union, ran a management communications agency, supervised a comprehensive marketing program for a large retail advertiser and taught advanced creative strategy courses at various universities.
Rybka gave two very informational talks on audience analysis and communicating change within an organization. The former focused on identifying and targeting audiences and the proper associative positioning one should take when speaking in front of groups of people as forms of important business strategies. The latter revolved around evaluating area for potential change and how to conduct the changes from various positions within a company. Rybka also discussed ways to mitigate existing barriers to change.

Steve Sonka

 

February 8, 2008 Steve Sonka serves as a Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, as well as the Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement at the University of Illinois. His areas of interest are the strategic changes associated with the growth of biofuels, with emphasis on global food and agricultural systems.
Sonka gave a lecture to our program concerning the rise of demand for ethanol and soybeans from corn grain used in today’s biofuels. He also discussed the required changes in processing and transportation that such a disruption would necessitate.

3i InfotechFebruary 11, 2008 Arvind Gupta has an electronics engineering undergraduate degree from IT-BHU, masters in Computer Science and a MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a PhD in Technology Management. Mr. Gupta has worked for companies such as Citibank, Oracle and Ernst & Young. He is on the board of directors of apnacard.com, Highlander Systems and e-enable technologies, New Delhi. He has consulted for major Fortune 500 companies around the world and his areas of expertise include e-Commerce, Business Intelligence, Supply Chain Management and Technology Strategy & Planning. He is currently on the Global Operating Board of 3i Infotech Limited, a global information technology firm, and heads the Business Intelligence and Enterprise Consulting Practice.
Gupta spoke to our students about the importance of knowledge management and business intelligence for both startups and established firms. He also reiterated how technology must work within a business environment and how customer relations management and enterprise resource management can bolster the success of a firm.

John Rogers

February 15, 2008 John Rogers is one of the University of Illinois’s most decorated young professors. He is a professor of Material Science and Engineering on campus, and lectured on the various aspects of starting a technology based company. Rogers and his fellow researchers have been working on the idea of electronic paper – specifically electronic ink. This would allow companies to use thin plastic screens to display information. This technology shows promise for many future inventions, from PDAs that can be rolled up into a pen cap to displaying a patient’s vital information directly on the gloves of the surgeon performing the operation.

Instructional FacilityFebruary 21, 2008 Mark Talbot is the Project Manager for the Business Instruction Facility currently under construction just west of the University of Illinois Business Quad. Mr. Talbot spoke to our program and provided insight behind the daily roles and responsibilities of a project manager.
A tour of the building construction was provided by Mr. Talbot, as well. Approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees in July 2005, the Business Instructional Facility is the most visible element of the Investing in Excellence campaign that is also raising funds to double the College's endowment for named chairs, programmatic initiatives, research support, and student scholarships and fellowships.
Greg Northcraft

February 22, 2008 Gregory Northcraft is a decorated professor of Business Administration and Executive Leadership at the University of Illinois. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Stanford and has taught at several notable universities across the United States. Northcraft held a workshop on “The ABC’s of Negotiation.” By understanding how to create and claim value through the management of the flow of information, the students learned how to manage conflict and satisfy underlying interests for both parties through workshop participation.
Dennis Beardman

February 29, 2008 Dennis Beard, a CPA and adjunct lecturer in the Department of Finance earned his bachelors’ degree in accounting from Millikin University and an MBA from UIUC. Dennis is currently a partner with Blakeman and Beard, LLC, a business and tax advisory services firm and Venture Partner of Open Prairie Ventures, a Central Illinois-based early stage technology venture capital firm.
Beardman spoke to about the venture capital industry through insight and experience from his time with Open Prairie Ventures. Dennis stressed the significant portfolio return opportunities with venture capital in comparison to other investment means, such as the stock market. 
 

March 7, 2008 Rama Mulukutla has a B.S. in Civil and Transportation Engineering and a M.S. in Geo-Spatial Information Engineering and is currently enrolled in the Executive MBA program here at Illinois and works as a GIS Application Developer and Consultant for ATS Professional Geographical Information Systems. Before joining ATS, Rama was a technical analyst and consultant with ESRI in Redlands, California where he worked in their professional services division. He was responsible for developing and managing sophisticated Web-based GIS applications and projects.
Mulukutla took the opportunity to inform the students on how geographical information systems provide tools which give spatial analyses that can be used to gain useful business intelligence from existing data and make more informed business decisions.  Rama spoke about the versatility of the technology in that it can be utilized across multiple corporation platforms – marking, advertising, strategic management, operations, etc.