Wilmington Information Technology eXchange (WITX) brings together the Wilmington area’s information technology professionals and UNCW students and faculty to exchange and share the latest technology trends. This year’s event will be held on the afternoon of April 12 in the Computer Information Systems Building. This event, now in its 13th year, is specifically designed to engage the Wilmington area IT community with the university. Key participants are leading technology firms in the region, technology entrepreneurs, and UNCW students and faculty. The sharing of ideas and networking between educators and practitioners is a major focus of the event.
 
The theme for this year’s learning exchange is understanding business and data analytics. Firms are struggling, as they are “data rich” but “information poor.” The challenge is that organizations are collecting more and more data on a daily basis, but analyzing that data in a meaningful way remains a hurdle for many firms and for our students. 
 
This year’s keynote speaker, Anne Buff from SAS, will be discussing how firms can reach their data potential. Buff is a business solutions manager and thought leader for SAS Best Practices, a thought-leadership organization at SAS Institute. Her energy, excitement and enthusiasm for all things data is designed to grab participants in ways they never expected, leaving them refreshed and ready to take on the toughest of data issues.
 
To help grow the knowledge of our students as well as the business community, there will be three sessions at this year’s WITX that are dedicated to increasing an understanding of business and data analytics for our participants. There will also be sessions on data preparation and data insight. Other sessions at WITX will include talks about securing the data center in your pocket (your smart device), and building a responsive website to render properly on any device. In addition to the informational sessions, student, faculty and industry officials will be sharing their research and seeking input from the community on topics including eye tracking, virtual and cloud machines, and developing 3-D applications.
 
The event is a sponsored by the IT advisory board for the information systems degree in the Cameron School of Business as well as the computer science department in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNCW. The public is invited to participate. More information can be found by visiting: http://uncw.edu/witx.
 
Robert T. Burrus, Jr., Ph.D., is the dean of the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, named in June 2015. Burrus joined the UNCW faculty in 1998. Prior to his current position, Burrus was interim dean, associate dean of undergraduate studies and the chair of the department of economics and finance. Burrus earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in mathematical economics from Wake Forest University. The Cameron School of Business has approximately 60 full-time faculty members and 20 administrative and staff members. The AACSB-accredited business school currently enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate students in three degree programs and 200 graduate students in four degree programs. The school also houses the prestigious Cameron Executive Network, a group of more than 200 retired and practicing executives that provide one-on-one mentoring for Cameron students. To learn more about the Cameron School of Business, please visit http://csb.uncw.edu/. Questions and comments can be sent to [email protected].