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New MIS faculty bring expertise in healthcare, social media, analytics and machine learning

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Sezgin Ayabakan (Ph.D., University of Texas, Dallas), JaeHwuen Jung (Ph.D., University of Minnesota), and Konstantin Bauman (Ph.D., Moscow State University) join the MIS department as Assistant Professors in fall 2017.

Sezgin AyabakanDr. Ayabakan, who was previously an Assistant Professor at University of Baltimore and faculty fellow at the Schaefer Center for Public Policy, is researching healthcare by applying analytics to analyze very large data sets from hospitals. He will apply his analytics background and practical experience working with big data to teach the MIS department’s award winning GenEd Data Science course. 

JaeHwuen JungDr. Jung, who recently completed his dissertation, is examining the role of incentive structures in online and mobile forums using field experiments. Dr. Jung will apply his industry experience in the telecomm industry as well as research on social gaming and networks to teach Analytics to majors and minors across the Fox School.

Dr. Bauman, who was previously a research scientist at New York University, is a machine learning expert focusing on researching recommendation systems. Dr. Bauman will apply his extensive technical expertise including industry experience as a software engineer to teach programming in the nationally ranked BBA in MIS program. 

Dr. David Schuff is the new MIS Department Chair

David SchuffThe Fox School of Business is excited to welcome Dr. David Schuff as the new chair of the Department of Management Information Systems (MIS). Since joining the faculty in 2000, Schuff has played a major role in elevating the reputation of the department through his exceptional teaching, research, and leadership.

David’s service to Fox and the MIS department has been invaluable since his arrival nearly two decades ago, said Dr. M. Moshe Porat, Dean of the Fox School. His creation of the Temple Analytics Challenge, for example, demonstrates the value he places on interdisciplinary research and experiential learning activities. I am confident the department will continue flourishing under David’s leadership.

Schuff’s research interests include the application of information visualization to decision support systems, tools for self-service business intelligence, and the impact of user generated content on organizations and society. He has published over 40 journal articles, many in top research publications, such as Management Information Systems Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, and Information & Management.

In addition to teaching in the MIS department, Schuff has taught in the BBA, MBA, and Executive MBA programs at the Fox School’s campuses in Colombia and Japan; and he was the founding academic director of the Executive Doctorate of Business Administration program. His course topics include data analytics and information systems strategy, and he has won numerous awards, including the Musser Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the MIS department’s teaching award. (He won the latter 13 times—more times than any other faculty member.)

Dr. Schuff’s accomplishments as a founding faculty member—and especially his commitment to teaching excellence—make him extremely well qualified to take on this role, said Dr. Munir Mandviwalla, who preceded Schuff as MIS department chair. I am confident he will take the department to even higher levels. It has been a privilege serving the department since its founding in 2000. I look forward to concentrating on leading the Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT) to further enhance industry engagement.

Schuff’s impressive history with the Fox School gives him a unique ability to lead the MIS department into the future.

I am proud to serve as chair of the MIS department, said Schuff. Together we’ve built an amazing foundation of highly ranked undergraduate and graduate programs with a vibrant faculty of excellent teachers and top-tier researchers. It will be exciting to see where the future takes us as we create new academic programs, explore new areas of boundary-spanning research, and continue to grow as a leading department.

Yusuf G. Mandviwalla endowment

Yusuf G. MandviwallaThe new Yusuf G. Mandviwalla endowed scholarship fund will provide financial support to undergraduate students majoring in MIS who have both financial need and high academic performance. The $50,000 endowment, which includes a match from the Fox School, was created by Munir and Nazneen Mandviwalla in memory of Munir’s father Yusuf G. Mandviwalla.

According to Dr. Mandviwalla “my father was a successful entrepreneur who believed in providing educational opportunity regardless of background or means, and supported many young people during his lifetime in Pakistan.”

“I am pleased to create this scholarship in his memory to give back to the MIS community,” said Mandviwalla, who is the outgoing chair of the Department of Management Information Systems, which he founded in 2000.

In addition, an anonymous donor has made a generous gift to establish an endowed scholarship which, when fully funded, and matched by the Dean’s special matching gift program, will endow another MIS specific scholarship fund of $60,000.

From Bridge Repair to Elderly Patient Care, MIS seniors debut innovative solutions in capstone projects

MIS Capstone Winners 2017After years of hard work and study, MIS seniors always have a lot to show off at the Fox School of Business Management Information Systems Capstone Project Showcase. The most recent Showcase, held at the end of April, was no exception: The 17 teams of seniors that gathered to present their final projects unveiled everything from a medical app designed to help doctors track elderly patients’ health regimens to a personalized news aggregation service to an improved search function on Temple’s course database.

The MIS Showcase is a unique opportunity for students to combine all of what they have learned in class with their own entrepreneurial skills, says Fox IT Advisory Board Chairman Bruce Fadem, who oversees the Mentoring program for IBIT. “This year’s teams showcased a wide range of exciting ideas and demonstrated the value of their education with professional business plans and excellent presentations.”

The winning team, selected by a panel of judges, designed an app that tackles the problem of evaluating the maintenance needs of bridges. “On average,” the team notes, “it takes an expert three to six weeks to properly assess a bridge’s structural needs and report these findings to the local government.” Their solution, the app they call Floating Bridges, combines 3D mapping drones, bridge-assessment algorithms and augmented reality to provide local governments with a more efficient, less expensive way to survey and prioritize problem bridges “on a yearly or even monthly basis.”

The team, which included Alexandra Iacovetti, Nicholas Rivera, Bridget Silk and Benjamin Sulaiman, won $500 for coming in first place — though the entire Capstone process has been rewarding in itself, Silk says. “We really benefited from bouncing ideas off each other,” she adds. “It was an awesome experience to end the year with.”

The Capstone projects are often cited by students as one of the highlights of the MIS experience. The opportunity to put so many skills and practices to the test (not to mention the chance to flex their creative muscles) in a competitive setting is both fun and helpful in terms of prepping for life outside of the Fox School.

“The project created an opportunity to fully develop and pitch a real, live platform that addresses a problem,” says Kate Morrison, whose team, District One Sports, created a one-stop digital resource for high school sports stats. “Going through this process end to end created more passion, teamwork and ownership than any other group project I’ve worked on, and it was a beneficial transition from the teaching/learning environment into the professional workplace.”

The full roster of projects presented at the April event included:

Solutions to Medical Non-Adherence
A digital solution for health-care providers, pharmacies and patients to insure that patients are taking their medication consistently and following correct procedures after leaving the hospital.
Team: Michael Ingram, Heather Makwinski, Joshua Michalik, Samantha Talarico
Mentor: Dale Danilewitz

Documed: Improving Patient Engagement
Real-time access for doctors to patients’ medical records to help improve diagnosis and treatment.
Team: Johnathan Holland, Jeremy A. John, Alan Kim, George Raymond
Mentor: Matt Winter

WorkFit
An application designed to motivate people to make exercise a priority, using social tools, games, geolocation and goal suggestions.
Team: John Kerin, Matthew Leaver, Sara Monahan, Thompson Nguyen
Mentor: Ben Hasan

CaParkLee
An application that measures the core body temperatures and heart rates of elderly patients, aiming to help doctors track their patients’ regimens.
Team: Leor Capunitan, Thomas Lee, Chris Park
Mentor: Jeff Hamilton

Social Academic Studying Solution
A web-based solution for connecting students who have similar courses and curriculums, aimed at enabling collaborative studying, as well as helping students manage deadlines and study hours.
Team: Evan Chiao, Kin Lee, Connor Gawlik, Mike Dennis
Mentor: Satbir Bedi

District One Sports: Simplifying High School Sports Statistics
A one-stop digital resource for reporting and viewing high school sports scores and statistics.
Team: Rob Higgins, Kate Morrison, Rhea Prabhu, Ben Shaffer
Mentor: Sondra Barbour

Airline Entertainment
A digital platform providing airline passengers with in-air and terminal entertainment and gaming options.
Team: Stephanie Cheng, Tyler Gaber, Kevin Santoni, Dario Trabucco
Mentor: Sunil Misra

Vulpine Analytics
An analytics tool to help provide employees with information and insights about the connection between their wellness and their productivity, helping them balance health habits with performance at work.
Team: Derek Gibbs, Eric Koeck, Erika Nixon, David Yastremsky
Mentor: Paul Amorello

VisRecs
A visual-recognition application that harnesses unstructured data hidden within images, videos. and gifs uploaded onto social media and/or the Internet, and helps structure it into meaningful ideas.
Team: Dominick Falco, Alex Korjeski, Alex Meyer, Louisa Carleton
Mentor: Niraj Patel

SpotaGuide
A platform that connects travelers with personalized, low-cost tour itineraries.
Team: Phil Tocci, Kevin Vong, Anthony Vu, Brian Wallace
Mentor: Bruce Fadem

Floating Bridges
An application that combines 3D mapping drones, bridge-assessment algorithms and augmented reality to give experts a cost-effective way to assess a bridge’s structural needs.
Team: Alexandra Iacovetti, Nicholas Rivera, Bridget Silk, Benjamin Sulaiman
Mentor: Joe Spagnoletti

Newsence
A system for aggregating multiple news sources and customizing them in a fashion that fits into each user’s lifestyle and preferences.
Team: William Agentowicz, Brandan Mackowsky, Eugene Tartaglione, Adama Traore
Mentor: Sukumar Narayanan

Gamer Connect
An application that allows gamers across all platforms (Xbox, Playstation and PC) to find one another and form teams based upon their respective skill levels.
Team: Andrew Fiss, Tyler Urquhart, Elijah Jamison, Kyle Domsohn
Mentor: Shariq Khan

DDesignate
A ride-sharing application in the vein of Uber/Lyft that helps users avoid driving while intoxicated, while providing a way for the user to get his or her car home safely.
Team: Rob Lesnik, Kyle Matusik, Jonathan Plugaru, Casid Sohou
Mentor: Andrew Porter

Esperanza Database Consolidation
A database-consolidation tool for merging and centralizing data from the non-profit Esperanza to allow for better and more streamlined marketing and communication efforts.
Team: Danielle Buerger, Kevin Hamilton, Leeya Ressom
Mentor: Jon Scott

BookLit
An application aimed at third-grade students within the School District of Philadelphia, focused on improving reading skills via online competition, incentives and reading comprehension quizzes. Teachers are able to track students’ improvements.
Team: Andi Agolli, Jeffrey Craskey, Mohit Patel, Urvesh Patel
Mentor: Andrea Anania

Course Search
A search function that allows Temple students to look for any class in the Temple database based on keywords/categories that pertain to class topics or subtopics.
Team: Quy Le, Kevin Diem, Darpan Patel, Michael Black
Mentor: Chris Cera

MIS students win big at the National AIS Student Leadership Conference and Competition

AIS Competition 2017

Two MIS student teams won big at the Eighth Annual Association for Information Systems (AIS), Student Chapter Leadership Conference and Competition, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, April 13-15, 2017.

1st Place – AmerisourceBergen Analytics Challenge (Analysis Track)

2nd Place – Security Case Study

The above two competitions included two phases. In the first phase, student teams submitted entries virtually. The finalists were chosen from the virtual entries and invited to present their work for another round of judging at the above conference. Other finalists included University of Georgia, Roger Williams University, University of Cincinnati, University of Michigan, Florida International University, Brigham Young University, and others.

Straub and Pavlou ranked 12th and 22nd worldwide

Detmar StraubDetmar W. Straub, Institute for Business and Information Technology Research Professor, was ranked 12th worldwide and Paul A. Pavlou, Milton F. Stauffer Professor and Senior Associate Dean, 22nd according to a new cumulative (‘lifetime’) research citation ranking termed the ‘h-index’ that measures both productivity and impact.

The study, published by the University of Arizona, analyzed the research of about 400 information systems scholars worldwide. In the analysis, Dr. Straub received an H-index of 61, while Dr. Pavlou received 49.

Paul PavlouPreviously, Dr. Pavlou was ranked first in the world for publications in the two top Management Information Systems (MIS) journals, MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research. Thomson Reuters has recognized him as one of “the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds.”

Dr. Straub, is past two-term Editor-in-Chief of MIS Quarterly, recipient of the prestigious lifetime LEO award from the Association for Information Systems (AIS), and has been a keynote speaker more than 20 times in academic conferences worldwide.

Alumnus, industry leader to steer ITACS graduate program

The Master of Science in IT AuditingKapish Vanvaria and Cyber-Security (MS-ITACS) program at Temple University’s Fox School of Business provides students with the latest practices in the field with the help of an advisory council composed of industry leaders.

The Fox School strengthened that mission with its recent appointment of Kapish Vanvaria, management consultant with Ernst & Young LLP, as the program’s advisory council chair. A Temple alumnus who studied Accounting and Management Information Systems at the Fox School, Vanvaria first established a commitment to the program when he became a member of the ITACS advisory council two years ago. In accepting the chair position, Vanvaria’s role will include leading the program’s strategic growth and curriculum development, and ensuring a strong student placement within the technology and cyber industry.

I’m passionate about education. It’s one of the few things in life that has no expiration or devaluation, and therefore is one of the best self-investments,” said Vanvaria. “With a strong agenda and vision, we can make ITACS a global program that will elevate the Fox School’s brand and allow others to see Temple as a talent factory for technology and cyber security resources for many of the leading organizations of the world.”

ITACS program director David Lanter, an Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at the Fox School, sought an advisory council chair with significant industry background who would be able to draw from his or her personal networks and utilize corporate resources. Lanter found that in Vanvaria.

“Kapish has been an enthusiastic and valued contributor to the start of the ITACS program (in 2011) and a key player in the current successes,” said Lanter. “We are optimistic he will do as much and even more to help guide the future evolution and success of the program.”

In addition to ensuring that Fox School students have a seat at the table in the development of the program, Vanvaria said he hopes to reach out to different organizations for insight on what they are looking for in future employees.

I want to go to these companies and governmental organizations and ask, ‘Does our curriculum match what you’re looking for, and if not, what can we do?’” he said. “We already do that within the advisory council because we have good representation of startup through Fortune 50 companies, but I know we can do more. I’m looking forward to that.”

In light of all the excitement around his appointment, Vanvaria said he wants to make one thing clear: the success of the council boils down to collaboration. “In becoming the chair, this is not going to change our advisory council from the standpoint of it truly being a team sport,” he said. “The program’s success is dependent on all of us joining together to consistently elevate the brand. Two years from now, I want to look back and say, ‘We made a difference.’

Alumnus exceling in digital marketing industry

Lauren MorenoLauren Moreno’s undergraduate education spanned fine arts, journalism, and art history. In search of a graduate program that would enhance her sales and marketing career, Moreno chose Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

In February, Moreno earned a Master of Science degree in Digital Innovation in Marketing (DIM), as part of the online program’s first graduating class. “I wanted a graduate program that offered the business school background that I didn’t get from my undergraduate degree, while complimenting my work experience,” said the 31-year-old Moreno. “I decided the DIM program was what I was really passionate about and thought that should be where I’d put my energy.”

Moreno co-founded Team 624 Communications, a digital branding, social media, and content marketing firm for which she serves as creative director. The Digital Innovation in Marketing program, which can be completed in 16 months, enables students like Moreno to flourish in a collaborative environment that fosters an understanding of the digital marketing industry.

It’s always changing,” said Moreno. “As professionals, we need to keep learning and challenge the practices we’re using. If you’re not paying attention to where your engagement is coming from and what type of content is working, it won’t take long before marketing efforts are diminished.”

With the help of an advisory council comprised of digital innovators who are currently in the industry, students in the DIM program are offered a curriculum that coincides with what is part of the professional landscape.

The overall mission of our program is to create the next generation of digital marketers,” said Amy Lavin, director of the Digital Innovation in Marketing program. “In today’s digital economy, it’s not enough to just be a marketer. It’s not enough to just be technical on the marketing side. We give the students in our program the ability to understand both sides.”

The MS in Digital Innovation in Marketing is offered jointly by the Fox School’s Management Information Systems (MIS) and Marketing and Supply Chain Management departments. In January, the MIS department’s graduate programs earned a No. 16 ranking in the country from U.S. News & World Report — a feat that Lavin said validated what the program has to offer.

You can complete any kind of Google search right now, and you know this market is hot,” said Lavin. “In this program, we’ll give students the skills they need in order to be successful. As the marketplace opens up and people realize that they need this skill set, we’re going to continue to grow our MS in Digital Innovation in Marketing.”

Currently, Moreno remains focused on utilizing the tools she has taken from the program to grow Team 624, alongside her business partner, Kaitlin Cleary. “We want to meet our next goals by identifying potential revenue streams,” Moreno said. “We’re looking at offering trainings, workshops, online courses, and like we learned in the program, really using technology to our advantage to reach more people.”

MIS graduate programs continue to earn stellar rankings

Top 20 MS ITACS DIMFor the third consecutive year, U.S. News ranked the Fox School as one of the nation’s top-20 providers of graduate business programs in information systems. The Fox School’s Management Information Systems graduate programs continue to receive stellar national rankings from U.S. News & World Report. The programs include the Master of Science – Information Technology Auditing & Cyber-Security (MS ITACS), and the recently launched Master of Science – Digital Innovation in Marketing (MS DIM). The above programs were ranked 16th in the nation.

MS DIM, a collaborative effort between MIS and Marketing, produces leaders in driving technology-enabled transformation of the marketing function. The 100% online program for domestic working students provides high engagement and professional development on an innovative proprietary online platform. The program started with 32 students in the first year, grew to 37 in the second, retained 94%, and graduated 91% of the first cohort in 16 months. In contrast, the graduation rate of ranked online US News MBA programs is 63%. A 14-member industry council chaired by Lori Greene, Founder LPG Enterprises, guides the program.

MS ITACS, started more than five years ago in close collaboration with industry, was one of the first to be aligned to the ISACA model curriculum which leads to the internationally recognized Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). ITACS also offers a unique cyber-security track aligned to the Information System Security Professional certification (CISSP),that emphasizes strong technical skills in the context of risk analysis, threat identification, remediation, communication, and governance. ITACS has grown rapidly to 90 students in fall 2016 and features close to 95% cumulative placement and CISA or CISSP exam pass rate. A 16-member industry council chaired by Kapish Vanvaria, Manager, EY, guides the program.

MIS earns top world rankings for research productivity

Over the last five years, the Temple University Fox School Management Information Systems (MIS) Department has been ranked number 1, 2, or 3 in the world for research productivity in top ‘A’ journals by the Association for Information Systems.

In the 2016 update of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) Research Ranking Service, Fox MIS was ranked number 2 for publications in Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ) and Information Systems Research (ISR) for the 2014-2016 period.

Previously, Fox MIS achieved the number 1 rank in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2010, while receiving the third rank in 2011.

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