International Computer Science and Technology Conference

National University and AITP – San Diego partnered to present the 2008 International Computer Science and Technology Conference at National University's "Spectrum Campus" in San Diego – April 1 - 3. Mission Accomplished! – What was the mission? Create a conference that blends the interests and participation of the academic and business communities. Our National University President, Dr. Dana Gibson was the conference opening speaker followed by keynote speakers Mark Johnson, Oracle VP Marketing and Business and Dr. Peter Arzberger, USCD, Chair, Pacific Rim Application and Grid Middleware Assembly (PRAGMA) Steering Committee.

The Conference supported three Tracks – Business Technology Solutions, Computer Science, and Database Technologies.  The individual track featured speakers were: Dr. Subhas Misra, Computer Science, Mr. Todd Walter, Teradata Database, and Mr. Norbert Kubulis, Technology Solutions. Refer to our website: www.icstc.org for details on each of these track information.

On the academic side, nearly 200 papers were submitted from around the world – among them were papers from Canada, India, Lithuania, Nigeria, China, Australia, Korea, United Kingdom, and the US. Approximately 75 were accepted for presentation. To cap off the conference, each Track announced the "Best of Track" papers/presentation based on the presenter's content and applicability.

Looking to the business side, AITP general members and the AITP CIO Roundtable assembled a collection of presentations and panels on Virtualization, Data Protection, Green Computing, Regulator Compliance, Strategic Management and Business Process Management. In addition sponsorships and presentations were supported by national organizations like Oracle, Sun, and Teradata, as well as by local businesses, including Datel Systems, GigaKom, AValonRF, GTC Systems and Hershey Technologies. In addition, these and other businesses provided sponsorship and vendor exhibits.

Besides the presentations in the Tracks, there were three extracurricular events – the Dinner Keynote was delivered by Dr. Lee Whitt, Senior Scientist at Northrop-Grumman, who spoke on "Second Life" and the use of a virtual community to support a variety of business functions.

On the second evening, attendees were treated to a "behind the scenes tour" of the San Diego Super Computing Center (http://www.sdsc.edu/) at the University of California, San Diego campus and a private showing of the many technology-enriched projects being carried out at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (http://www.calit2.net/about/index.php) center co-located with the SDSC.

Throughout the conference, Scott Draughon broadcast his "My Technology Lawyer" web radio show, where he interviewed "on the fly" panels of three – composed of conference organizers, presenters, sponsors and vendors. The broadcasts are available on his site– http://www.mytechnologylawyer.com/

The overwhelming response from the attendees, exhibitors and sponsors was the same – "This was really GREAT, and we're looking forward to next year." (That would be the week of March 30, 2009. – Mark your calendars now and visit http://www.ICSTC.org to see postings from this year's conference.

ICSTC Conference Planning Committee
John Bugado - Conference Chair
Mohammad Amin - Database Track Chair
Arun Datta and Peter Dey - Computer Science Track Chairs
Chuck Brown - Business Technology Track Chair
Albert Cruz, Event Manager, and Farah Marvasti, WebMaster
Michelle Bright - Pre Conference Workshops