Students win top IST honors in University-wide competition

Seven Penn State Beaver students took first place with a $2,500 prize in the recent Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology's (IST) first University-wide competition for seniors. Team members were Chris Allias, Lauren Blackburn, Brian Campbell, Stephen Miller, Jim River, David Walker, and Kim Wilson. Kay Wijekumar, assistant professor of IST, oversaw the team's project development and completion. Beaver competed against students from University Park, Worthington Scranton, and Lehigh Valley. Each team was asked to outline, analyze, and solve an information technology question as part of the IST capstone course "IST Integration and Problem Solving." Beaver's winning project was the design of a custom solution to FedEx Ground's change management process. Team members had to integrate four of FedEx Ground's unrelated products used in controlling modifications made by hundreds of programmers. The team developed a unified solution that will document changes, institute an electronic approval process, and improve security. A panel of judges scored the students on their technical solutions, quality of written materials, project management document, and thirty-minute presentations. The $2,500 prize was donated by Penn State alumus Jeff Crown, a partner in Boston-based Aqueduct Partners, which is a consulting company providing revenue acceleration, merger, and acquisition services. For more information about the award-winning IST program at Penn State Beaver, contact Wijekumar at kxw190@psu.edu or contact the Beaver Admissions Office at (724) 773-3800.