We began the school year with a networking open house where all students were invited to meet with the CIO and his associates. They introduced themselves, and the students described what they hoped to achieve this year as part of the MIS Executive in Residence program. They presented an overview of topics and what the hoped the students would gain.
I reached out to students to let them know that there is an opportunity to be mentored by executives from US Steel and encouraged them to sign up. Please contact me at kxn9@psu.edu for more information. Fifteen students signed up and were connected with the executives already. The first meeting with the five executives and the students was via phone or Zoom. The executives gave the students some tasks to complete before their next in-person meeting. They also reviewed the students’ goals and resumes and provided feedback.
The next meeting on campus was when the US Steel executives presented current technology issues to the students which emphasized Digital & Automation such as EDI, OCR, Software Robots, and Machine Learning, which included demonstrations. Everything was very well attended by Behrend students. The mentors then had face-to-face meetings with their mentees and were provided with feedback and suggestions for personal branding and competitive advantage. One student successfully obtained an internship position, which he intends to work there full time after graduation. The company accommodated him in allowing him to work remotely. They provided him a laptop and he is accessing their system to conduct script testing. Another student will begin an internship with them soon.
The next presentation and interactive activities involved Cybersecurity. The CIO and a few of his executives along with his cybersecurity team came to Behrend and held a cybersecurity escape room in our school’s interactive behavioral lab. Fifty students attended the sessions, which were held from 10:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. If there were more sessions, I am sure there would be more attendees. It was great fun and a good learning opportunity. At 3:30 p.m. there was a hacking demonstration to demonstrate the issues and impact relative to hacking. Throughout the day while the cyber team was doing the escape room, the execs were conducting in-person meetings with their mentees. At 4:30 p.m. there was a networking event with all the USS team and students with additional demonstrations relative to cybersecurity.
US Steel will present Oracle at USS along with Data analytics and visualization and examples of the use. We are planning a field trip hopefully in April where students will have the opportunity to tour the data warehouse, IT complex and the manufacturing facilities, which is a few miles long. We are working on that now.
This has been an awesome experience for the students. They have learned a great deal and are much more enthused about future EIR opportunities. In surveying the students in class about whether this should continue, whether it in enhanced their learning and if they will enthusiastically participate, the overwhelming majority was positive. USS has taken their time and resources to make these valuable experiences. Photos below feature the recent MIS Executive in Residence events.
Steve Bugajski, chief information officer at US Steel, presents to students on February 4
Student enjoy their time in an Escape Room Session
Students learn about cyber security during an interactive session featuring executives from US Steel
Sincerely,
Dr. Kathleen Noce
Teaching Professor of Management Information Systems