Innovative IT on display at trade show

Oct 18, 2005

Manipulating a robot through a website will be just one of many exciting projects on display this week (Thursday 20 October) when the next generation of Information Technology professionals show off their skills at a trade show to be held at the University of Wollongong.

The software engineering projects have been developed by final year students from UOW's School of Information Technology and Computer Science (SITACS). The trade show will be opened by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Operations), Professor John Patterson, and will feature a keynote address by Mr Paul Russell from IBM's OzLabs Research Centre in Canberra.

SITACS Head, Professor Philip Ogunbona, said final year students were required to work in teams to create projects for the trade show, and demonstrate them to industry representatives and the public.

"The students demonstrate their software engineering skills through this project, but they are also required to create websites and other marketing material to explain and promote what they have built,"? Professor Ogunbona said. "It is a really worthwhile exercise in preparing students for the workplace."

"It also gives students the chance to impress industry representatives and prospective employers."

SITACS graduates from previous years are working for some of the world's biggest IT companies including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Network Appliance and IBM, or in IT roles with corporate leaders such as KPMG, Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank and the National Australia Bank.

The annual trade show is a key annual event for SITACS, which is UOW's biggest school with in excess of 1200 students.

SITACS also has an international reputation for its strong research focus and associations with local, national and international industries, including BlueScope Steel, Telstra, Motorola, Apple, Pillar Insurance, Nortel, and the Directorate of Science and Security.

When: Thursday 20 October at 1pm

Where: University Hall, UniCentre

For more information contact Daniel Saffioti on 4221 4357 or visit: http://www.itacs.uow.edu.au/tradeshow

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128