September 2008 Archives

Who is Dr. Chao-Hsien Chu ?

By RACHIDA F PARKS on September 26, 2008 2:17 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
 

Who is Dr. Chao-Hsien Chu ?

 

Born and raised in Taiwan, my advisor Dr. Chu obtained his bachelor degree in Industrial Engineering with Distinction from Chung Yuan University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Management. Taiwan, not to confuse with China, is country on its own and technologically more advanced than China.

 

 

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In 1980, Dr Chu moved to the United State to pursue a PhD degree from the Smeal College at the Pennsylvania State University with specialization in Operation Management and Management Information System. When I asked Dr. Chu Why this shift in major, he replied it is not so much a shift but a continuation of his background. By specializing in Operation Management, he felt a stronger foundation due to his background in Industrial Engineering and thus contributed more. Dr. Chu Academic journey in academia demonstrates his everlasting curiosity and hunger for more knowledge. He believed in the vision of the i-schools by joining IST at its inception in 1999 and by being the founding executive director of the center for Information Assurance.

 

Dr. Chu is happily married with two college children. His daughter is pursuing her degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT while his son is pursuing a degree at John Hopkins in Piano.

 What surprised me to learn is that Dr. Chu costumed built his house to accommodate the two pianos he have. Humm, I always thought of him as having nothing to do with arts much less 2 pianos!!!

 

Dr. Chu claims he has no hobbies though I believe he enjoys walking because he walks 20-25 minutes to IST everyday. He confesses that is the best time of his days because he keeps talking about his scenarios/cases/theories and I suspect that is when there inception take place. Despite the fact that he claims that his wife "makes" him take care of the lawn, I again suspect that he enjoys it very much. Oh Boy, I have been reading too much lately that I started to apply everything I read to others' behaviors so I think when it comes to hobbies, Dr Chu says one thing and does another thing: isn't there some analogy to one of the theories covered last week in 531 about individuals' intentions and actual behaviors!!!

 

Until next blog..... ZaiJian (goodbye)

 

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What is IST?

By RACHIDA F PARKS on September 19, 2008 11:20 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

I never thought of the existence of a college, with more than 30 faculties and several hundred students, not having departments. The first thing that would come to one's mind is luck of structure. Is that a good or a bad thing?  But I concur with Heidi' position about human's being used to organization and taxonomies.  Within IST there is a subtle structure based on tracks that allows student to "specialize" in certain research area without being "locked" in a particular one. however, just like Miao, I agree that there should be a little more guidance for undergraduate students who are still trying to define where they belong and may get lost in the variety of choices and flexibility.

 

You can tell that I spend some time reading other's blog and I actually found Nick's blog about the flavor and history of IST very informative. I knew that IST, unlike some other i-school, started from scratch with no influence from the library of science or computer science but I definitely enjoy the background and history surrounding its formation through Nick's Blog. A quick look at the IST website through the matrix research area of our faculty give a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary flavor  in this school.

 

With an MIS background, IST seemed to me like to the logical continuation and a step up to more technical need while still keeping my ties to people and organization. I am a member of the security lab where our focus is on e-healthcare issues and RFID. What draws me to this area is my industry experience in healthcare within the department of Defense. My interest is not purely a technical but also with a business and a social aspect that I the center seem embracing.

LET'S DISH ABOUT LOVE, JOBS, AND SHOES. ...Shine from Yahoo

By RACHIDA F PARKS on September 18, 2008 1:43 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

I logged in to my yahoo account with my sleepy eyes, isn't it the first thing we do in the morning (check out emails!!!). I would have usually deleted this email, but the title was intriguing "Check out Shine, Yahoo's new site for WOMEN". Being a woman, that is definitely attractive but being an IT gal, I started thinking what part of the triangle was it used to put this site together. They definitely have the people aspect in mind (women), the layout and information displayed is personalized with my login name, temperature in Orlando, FL (I need to update my profile) . It is quiet obvious from the later information that they are using the yahoo profile and filtering based on gender and then customizing the login page with ones' location, horospcope and other...any one checked it yet. Will you be tempted to make it your default yahoo page, find it useful...or it is just a gimmick to get us to buy more shoes (not literally, just being sarcastic).... what do you think?

Check it out : http://shine.yahoo.com/

Why an I-School?

By RACHIDA F PARKS on September 8, 2008 12:44 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

During my "hunt" for a reputable school and a great program to pursue my PhD, I came across Penn State and Information Sciences and Technology school in particular during a conference exhibition. I gave it good consideration based on the school's reputation and the quality of publications. When I received acceptance from Penn State followed by four other reputable universities (all from the Colleges of Business), My homework to find out more about I-schools and make the right decision started. For three month, I began a journey of collecting, analyzing, comparing and contrasting data from both camps. I approached few friends and University professors who would shed more lights. The findings of my "interviews" were quiet interesting but the most surprising was the support of some of my business professors toward this inevitable and necessary move of collaborations of expertise that constitute the foundation of the I-model.

Information Schools or I-Schools have recently been formed integrating several and diverse fields such as Computer Sciences, Psychology, Law, Library Sciences, MIS, Human computer Interactions and others. While traditional fields and colleges do not communicate and collaborate with each other, I-Schools on the contrary are based on integration and a model of collaboration that is centered on Information, Technology and People. All I-schools embrace different variations of this model nonetheless they all focus on the interdisciplinary nature of their research. Different weights and focuses give each school a unique "flavor".  Some I-schools are truly more interdisciplinary such as Penn State, Others have the Library of Science, Computer Science or Education flavor embedded.

After the huge endorsement from my professors and a perfect match of my research aspirations in security  and healthcare within IST, the final decision was obvious and inevitable...and that's how I made to Penn State...How I actually made it literally from Florida to State College, PA is another long blog where I got lost in the mountains for two hours with deers staring at me  ... Did I forget to say I was using my GPS!!!

Resources:

http://www.ischools.org/oc/index.html

http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Apr-06/index.html

Zhang, P., Benjamin, R., Understanding Information Related Fields: A Conceptual Framework

Sawyer, S. "I-Schools:Mice Roaring or is the ffuture Now Arriving?"

 

Languages, Communication and Information

By RACHIDA F PARKS on September 3, 2008 11:12 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

At early age, I developed a passion for languages. I wanted to understand people from different cultures and read books written in their original languages.  By the age of 20 , long time ago :), I managed to speak five languages. Thanks to the impressive developments in information, I shifted my passion toward "Computers", "Information" and how I can communicate effectively using these media.

 

I try to combine success with my passion and that why I chose to pursue a career in Academia with focus in research with endless learning and communication.

Industry and Academia experience

By RACHIDA F PARKS on September 3, 2008 11:09 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Morocco and a Master's degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Central Florida as well a couple of IT certifications: Oracle Database Administrator certification and Microstrategy certification.

 

For the last 10 years, I have been working in the industry as well as teaching or taking classes. My industry experience includes a Database Administrator/Developer position with the Department of Defense, an Oracle Systems Analyst position with NBC Universal Studios, Senior System Programmer at UCF and managing the IT department in a telecommunication brokerage firm that I co-owned.

 

My academia experience revolved around teaching Systems Analysis and Design, Database Design and Development, Networking and Information systems management courses at a couple of local community colleges in Orlando as well at the University of Central Florida.

 

Check my websites:

[1] http://www.bus.ucf.edu/rparks/

[2] http://www.casacomm.com/

[3]http://faculty.valencia.cc.fl.us/rparks5

[4] http://www2.scc-fl.edu/rparks/

 

Who am I?

By RACHIDA F PARKS on September 2, 2008 12:37 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

My name is Rachida Parks and I am a PhD student at the Pennsylvania State University majoring in Information Sciences and Technology.

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I just moved from Orlando, Florida about a month ago. I know what you gonna say... what was I thinking... I am looking forward to all the winter sports' activities but not so much bundling up in five layers... I love traveling, Sports (Aikido and Yoga) and cooking (when I have time).

 

I have passion for different cultures and languages and I proudly managed to speak fluently five languages but I am still faithful to my computer languages too J

 

email me

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