IBIT

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Sondra Barbour appointed IBIT Advisory Board Chair

Sondra L. Barbour, Retired Executive Vice President, Information Systems & Global Solutions, Lockheed Martin Corporation

In her newly appointed role as Advisory Board Chair, Sondra L. Barbour aims to continue strengthening IBIT’s student development, research, and industry partnerships.  

Since starting as a founding board member in 2005, I have focused on raising awareness about the quality of the education students receive and the career paths they can pursue. In recent years, we have also prioritized mentoring students and connecting them to industry executives, as well as researching emerging technologies.

She is proud of the launch of the Digital Innovation Foundry, where “industry and the school come together to work on solving really tough real-world problems.” Barbour also helped to start IBIT’s Executive-in-Residence program, which connects students, faculty, and senior industry leaders.

Throughout her career at Lockheed Martin, Barbour gained extensive technology leadership experience, from information systems design and cybersecurity to supply chain oversight and risk management. Fortune magazine selected her twice as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” She is a Temple University Fox alumna, with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Accounting.

Barbour brings notable experience to the chair position, with past and current board service at NiSource, AGCO, Perspecta Inc., and 3M Company. She intends to build on the legacy of former founding chair Bruce Fadem.

I’m very excited that Bruce is remaining as a board member. He did a great job establishing a formal structure for the board, and we’ll continue operating like a corporate board to make the best recommendations.

Noting that leadership change is always a good moment for reflection, she plans to engage board members for their insights on IBIT’s future.

I want to ensure everyone has a voice and they’re heard. The members of this board are tremendous, with a huge amount of experience and diverse industry perspectives. We all have something significant to contribute.

Learn more about Sondra Barbour

PRO Platform receives Patent

“System and Method for Quantifying Professional Development” – U.S. Patent No. 11989679 was issued May 21, 2024 listing the IBIT and DIF team of Munir Mandviwalla, Manoj Chacko, and Laurel Miller as inventors.

The patent is on how the PRO platform structures, motivates, and measures student and employee development in universities and corporations. PRO develops students, a goal that all universities have but few have found a way to motivate and systemize beyond course work and GPA. See: “A System to Structure, Measure, and Improve Student Development,” IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

PRO is housed in IBIT’s Digital Innovation Foundry (DIF), which applies Design Science Research. PRO was the first DIF project, serves as DIF’s anchor tenant, and led to the DIF endowment.

PRO Community, LLC is a 2020 spin-off co-founded by the patent inventors and Niraj Patel with support from Steve Nappi and Niraj Muni in Temple’s Office of Technology Commercialization and Business Development.

San Jose State University’s School of Information Systems and Technology, is the first licensee with more than 2000 student users since 2018. Temple’s Kornberg School of Dentistry, led by Dean Amid Ismail signed on in 2022. University of Scranton’s Kania School of Management led by Dean Mark Higgins and Associate Dean Murli Rajan just signed on.

Earlier versions prior to PRO evolving into a complete product were licensed by Scholastic Corporation, Georgia State University, Loyola University Maryland, and KIPP Philadelphia Schools.

PRO started in Temple University’s Management Information Systems (MIS) department in 2008. Temple MIS is the living lab for the platform, which has impacted more than 4,000 MIS graduates.