Welcome to another exciting year in the Department of Information Systems at UMBC. As we begin the fall semester, I am energized by the momentum across our department and, most importantly, by the expanding opportunities we are creating for our students. The future of education and technology continues to evolve rapidly, and our goal is to prepare students not simply to respond to that change, but to help shape it.
This fall, we are excited to welcome two new faculty members to our department, George Dimitoglou, Ph.D., and Justine Rawal, Ph.D. Their expertise and commitment to teaching will strengthen our programs and provide our students with new perspectives and opportunities to learn.
One of the highlights of the past year was the continued success of our Career Talks series. Across 16 events, 25–40 students attended each session to hear directly from alumni, industry professionals, and community partners. Topics ranged from nonprofit technology, health IT, cybersecurity, and the gaming industry to women in technology, entrepreneurship, and professional skills such as knowing your audience. Speakers and organizations included professionals from Oracle, Qualcomm, Precise Software Solutions, AT&T, Google, Booz Allen Hamilton, the National Institutes of Health, and many others. These conversations have helped students better understand the many career pathways available to them and make connections with professionals who have traveled those paths themselves. We are excited to continue building on this successful program this fall.
We are also looking forward to hosting our first IS Research Showcase in November. This intentionally small and intimate event will bring together faculty, students, alumni, and community partners to hear about and engage with the important research being conducted across our department. It will provide an opportunity to highlight the creativity and impact of our research while strengthening connections between our academic community and the broader communities we serve.
This summer, we also launched the IS Network, connecting students with alumni and industry professionals for mentorship, career conversations, and hands-on experiences. Students had opportunities to participate in job shadowing, short-term projects, coffee chats about career pathways, office and lab tours, informational interviews, mock interviews, and resume reviews. The response to this initiative has reinforced the value of creating meaningful connections between our students and the professionals who can help them navigate their next steps.
The department also benefits from two active student organizations that strengthen our sense of community beyond the classroom. Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) regularly brings alumni and industry professionals to campus to share their experiences and lead short, informal workshops and presentations on relevant topics. The IS Social Group, led primarily by graduate students, creates opportunities for students to connect through social and informal networking events, including its well-attended annual end-of-year picnic.
As we look toward the year ahead, I am particularly excited about the continued growth of our department. Our faculty are pursuing research that addresses important challenges in technology, society, and human experience, while our growing network of alumni and community partners is creating new pathways for students to learn, explore, and build their careers.
I would like to mention just a few of the many accolades our faculty received recently:
- Jianwu Wang, Sanjay Purushotham, and Michael Brown received a NSF CyberTraining grant: “Training of AI + Atmospheric Science with Focuses on Reproducibility, Uncertainty Awareness and Scalability”;
- Edward Dillon secured an NSF award as Co-PI with Dr. Rebecca Williams (CSEE, UMBC) and Dr. Stephanie Lunn (Florida International University) for “Collaborative Research: CER: Training and Learning for Emerging New Technologies with AI (TALENT-AI);
- Vandana Janeja becomes a Member of the Computing Research Association (CRA) Computing Community Council;
- Houbing Song appointed as Founding Chair of ACM Emerging Interest Group on Trustworthy and Responsible Systems (EIGTRUST), 2026-2028.
There is tremendous potential ahead for our field, and I am proud of the community we are building together. I look forward to seeing what our students, faculty, alumni, and partners accomplish in the year ahead.
Zhiyuan Chen, P.h.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Information Systems, UMBC