Spring semester brings notable honors, new activities, and memorial scholarships

As the second half of school continues, movers and shakers in IT are bringing home prominent awards, and there are many exciting opportunities to grow and excel.

As the spring semester continues, movers and shakers in IT are bringing home prominent awards, and there are many exciting opportunities to grow and excel. Read on to learn more.

W. P. Carey researchers bring home prestigious award

A research paper co-authored by W. P. Carey students and faculty was awarded best paper at the 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). The world-renowned conference is held annually for information technology and systems academics and professionals.

HICSS selected one winner out of the 1,327 total submissions, 637 papers accepted at the conference, and 25 papers nominated. The winning paper, “Moral Hazards and Effects of Enhanced Monitoring Systems in Online Labor Markets,” was coauthored by PhD student Chen Liang; Assistant Professor of Information Systems Yili (Kevin) Hong;, and Professor of Information Systems and Associate Dean, China Programs Bin Gu. The paper investigates how IT-enabled monitoring systems mitigate moral hazard in an online labor market and their effect on market competition, Hong says. The research team’s results suggest that IT-enabled control systems have a significant impact on alleviating moral hazards, reducing agency costs, and facilitating market competition.

“I feel lucky that our paper received the award because of the fierce competition, and it’s great that it got good feedback from the audience,” Liang says.

“It’s rare for a second-year PhD student to have a paper accepted by a leading information systems conference, much less win the best paper award,” says Gu. “Hong is also a young superstar in the department, receiving eight top journal publications in just three years. As a co-author to Chen and Kevin, I am very proud of their success.”

Two other papers by W. P. Carey researchers received recognition and were nominated, including:

• “If You Let Them Build It, They Will Stay! An Empirical Study of Add-on Content and User Engagement,” by Irfan Kanat, Kevin Hong, Bin Gu, and Chair of the Department of Information Systems Raghu Santanam
• “Designing Effective Performance Feedback Notification Systems to Stimulate Content Contribution: Evidence from a Crowdsourcing Recipe Platform,” by Kevin Hong, Nina Huang, Bin Gu, Gord Burtch, and Chen Liang

DISC club members do community service

The Department of Information Systems Club (DISC) has many events for the remainder of February and March to help students prepare for a career, serve the community, and have fun.

Club members will visit Feed My Starving Children to fill bags and boxes of food to send to hungry kids around the world. “DISC’s goal is to have at least one community service event each month that is different from the regular computer drop-in classes on Wednesday nights at the Tempe Public Library,” says DISC President Vi TranLe. Also next week, DISC will host a Women in Technology event with Deloitte and tour SRP.

Events in March include a meeting with KPMG, club elections for next year’s DISC e-board, game night with Protiviti, a case study with PwC, as well as the regular volunteer community instruction program on Wednesday nights at Temple public library.

Check out DISC’s event calendar for details: http://asudisc.org/calendar/

Scholarship dedicated to professor’s late father funds ROTC students

The Col. James Patrick McCarthy Memorial Scholarship is awarded to five sophomores in the Air Force ROTC Detachment 025 each year.

The sophomores must have a good GPA and formal commitment to the Air Force to be considered for the scholarship, says Matt McCarthy, the colonel’s son who created the scholarship.

McCarthy, a principal lecturing professor in the CIS department, says the award is meant to honor his late father and help those following in his footsteps. “It’s a good way for my wife and me to help out,” he says.

Professor McCarthy and his wife, Nancy, choose the recipients and have already awarded the scholarship to 10 students. The recipients can use the funds for tuition, books, and almost any other education-related needs.

Col. McCarthy was a fighter pilot in the Air Force. He flew 157 combat missions in Vietnam, and was awarded the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross multiple times, and the Bronze Star Medal. “And he was a really funny guy,” Professor McCarthy says.

Check out the Air Force ROTC and the Flying Devils’ website for more information: https://afrotc.clas.asu.edu/home