Annual ICT Summit Focuses on ‘Technology for All’

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The annual Information and Communication Technology Summit is slated for Thursday and Friday, March 22-23, on campus, featuring noted tech leaders, a Demo Day and career networking event.

On Thursday, events get underway with a Demo Day from 4-6 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge. UMass Amherst students, faculty and alumni-run start-ups will present their businesses, ideas and prototypes. A reception will follow.

From 6-8 p.m. Thursday, there will be a career/professional networking event in the Cape Cod Lounge for all interested students and faculty advisors. The event will be moderated by Traci Hess, professor of information systems operations and information management.

On Friday, the day starts with a tech fair and exhibition and workshops. At 11:30, Nolan Bushnell, often considered the father of the video game industry who founded Atari and Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater, will speak on “Opening the Game Business to Everyone” in the Student Union Ballroom.

Following lunch, a panel discussion on “Is Technology for All” will take place in the Student Union Ballroom featuring Bushnell; Vanessa Martinez, a member of the UMass Amherst Graduate Women in STEM; Christopher Perry, professor of media arts and sciences at Hampshire College; and Laura Scholl, who graduated from UMass in 1980 and is an assistant professor of design and digital art at Newman University.

At 2:30 p.m., the summit will conclude with a conversation with Ryan Leslie, Grammy-nominated recording artist, multi-platinum record producer and CEO of the intelligent messaging platform SuperPhone, who will discuss “Success at the Speed of Communication” with Bianca Surjawan, who graduated from UMass in 2016 and works for Disruptive Multimedia.

Pre-registration for the summit is encouraged. The summit is sponsored by the College of Information and Computer Sciences, Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst Libraries, innovate@UMass Amherst and the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship.