Spring Quarter Newsletter 2024: Program Updates

Over the last two quarters, all of our programs have put in the work and racked up some amazing achievements! Read more to get a glimpse of some of the most recent projects from our wonderful students, staff, and faculty—as well as the incredible results from our recent New Venture Competition finals. 

MTM (Master's in Technology Management) Program

Winter Quarter was full of engaging learning opportunities for our MTM students, both in and out of the classroom. Our amazing Career Services Team, Joni Hoadley and Matt Bartos, hosted three events to provide insight into careers and hiring at tech-driven companies: January’s Product Management Panel, February’s Recruiter Panel, and March’s Virtual Alumni Roundtable. Through coursework, MTM students gained in-depth knowledge about marketing fundamentals, communication, data and decision analytics, and strategy for technology-driven companies. Students also began work on their field projects with Deckers, SecureDocs, and Teledyne FLIR, using their skills in technology management to generate solutions to real-world problems. The department also welcomed the new Executive Director of MTM, Dr. Erin Nerstad, who is eager to get to know our amazing network of MTM friends and alumni. Please email her at Click here to show mail address to discuss opportunities for collaboration or engagement for our talented emerging tech leaders! 

Ph.D. Program

Ph.D. students Roni Shen and Sienna Parker published a paper earlier this year with Professor Paul Leonardi in the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior. The paper was on how remote work is changing the world of work, a timely and relevant topic in the wake of COVID-19. Roni also had a paper accepted to the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) conference this summer in Milan, as well as to the Academy of Management (AOM) Conference in Chicago. This paper, which draws on ethnographic data to examine how algorithmic predictions provided by automated robotic milking machines are changing farmers' expertise and how they make decisions on the farm, was selected to be published in their Best Paper Proceedings, as well.

Ph.D. Student Brandon Lepine attended the Interpretive Data Science (IDeaS) Conference hosted at the University of Alberta last month. There, he presented on joint work with Matt Beane that explores how Generative AI tools like ChatGPT affect the process of learning complex skills, such as programming in Python. They hope this work will shed light on how individuals and organizations can productively engage with GenAI tools to develop competencies in new domains, ultimately fostering  collaboration and creativity.

We are also excited to announce that we will be welcoming two new PhD students to our program in Fall 2024, and are looking forward to introducing them in the next newsletter.

Undergraduate Certificate Program

Our certificate program continues to thrive, as we get ready to celebrate approximately 200 certificate recipients!  With changes to the certificate program beginning in Fall 2024 that will make it easier for students to complete the coursework, alongside their major, we hope to see a lot of growth in the coming year.

Please check out the link here to learn more about the changes to our certificate program!

New Venture Competition

Congratulations to the 2024 New Venture Competition first place winners, EyeClimate. Click to read more about the winning team and all of the NVC finalists, and see more about the rest of the Competition results on our own website page here.