In 2016-2017, dozens of experienced IT executives served as sounding boards and advisors for MIS capstone projects. IBIT matched 36 industry executives to MIS student projects.
The goal of the IBIT Mentoring Program is to match experienced executives with student projects. The senior executives are usually members of the Fox IT advisory board or employees of IBIT member firms. The role of the mentor is to work with a team of students and provide ideas, feedback, and act as a sounding board for challenges and problems. The mentors also serve as judges for the final project competition, where students semester-long projects are evaluated during final presentations.
The benefit for mentors is the opportunity to engage with outstanding students; the benefit for students is the chance to leverage the experience of senior executives. The IBIT mentoring program is chaired by Bruce Fadem, Chair of the Fox IT advisory board.
In spring 2017, the winning team was “Floating Bridges”, an application that combines 3-D mapping drones, bridge-assessment algorithms and augmented reality to give experts a cost-effective way to assess a bridge’s structural needs. Team members Alexandra Iacovetti, Nicholas Rivera, Bridget Silk and Benjamin Sulaiman were mentored by Fox IT advisory board member Joe Spagnoletti.
The fall 2017 winner was My.Di, a tool for monitoring digital identity. The team, composed of Kimberly Eastlake, Mia Jardine, Noah Mercado, Ryan Pace and Nodir Zakhidov, was mentored by Sondra Barbou, the inaugural recipient of the Fox IT Award for Distinguished Alumni.
