Connectivity, Robots and a New Reality
January 21, 2020
by Valerie Cimarossa, Vice President, Marketing & Technology
by Valerie Cimarossa, Vice President, Marketing & Technology
Jacob Glass and Ceara McSherry have gone a long way since graduation... literally, a long way in their travels across the globe. From zip-lining through the rain forest to chasing shipwrecks off the coast of New Zealand, these two have documented an exciting voyage since leaving campus, capturing their adventures and beautiful surroundings. As they come to the end of their journey, we sent them some questions about life after UAT. Read on.
UAT students created a virtual escape room for their Student Innovation Project, and Phoenix is buzzing about it!
by: Valerie Cimarossa, UAT Vice President of Marketing & Technology
Last summer Mattel released a new line of scientist Barbies co-designed with National Geographic and ecologist Nalini Nadkarni. The line includes Barbies featuring scientific careers such as a marine biologist, astrophysicist, photojournalist, conservationist and entomologist. This isn’t Barbie’s first STEM career. In past years Barbie has worked as a computer engineer, a Mars explorer, an architect, a game developer and most recently a robotics engineer. But what impact on our young people, with career aspirations as big as their imaginations, does this really have?
Dr. Mark Smith, Professor and Program Champion of Business Technology, has been throwing UAT students to the sharks for 4 years through his “Mark Tank” program. Held at the end of each semester and upon completion of the Business 200 course, students are mostly competing for entrepreneurial bragging rights, but those presenting also get exposure to area professionals who judge the competition—and the people that choose who swims away a winner.
Meet Drew Foster, Animal Curator at the Phoenix Zoo and Adjunct Associate Professor at UAT. It’s well-known that UAT tech classes are hands on, but many don’t know that our expert adjuncts also bring other real-world experiences to their classrooms, and Drew has done that in an exciting way through his Animal Diversity class.
Read how bringing zoo animals into the classroom has made for greater learning for UAT students, and see what’s ahead for Drew’s spring courses.
When you want to know about computer science, the best person you can ask—of course—is a scientist! So, we sat down with Dr. Jill Coddington, Advancing Computer Science (ACS) Program Champion and Professor, to talk about Computer Science Education Week.
At UAT, a Student Innovation Project (SIP) is a culmination of an undergraduate student’s hard work on a specific assignment relative to their degree and technological field of study. A SIP is similar to a Capstone or Master’s thesis but with an agile, new-age approach to developing a student’s career-readiness.
In late November, UAT students participated in the Good Morning IoT Contest, the 3rd Delos AI Coding Contest for Westworld. For AI students, it was an opportunity to turn their dreams into reality, as Delos was looking for AI (Artificial Intelligence) coders for Westworld, and contest winners are considered for these positions.
Drones are always a hot item on holiday tech wish lists, so we checked in with Jacy Smith, our Business Development Specialist for Perimeter83, to review a few of UAT's drones.
With the Christmas countdown on, the tech-savvy and their parents may struggle to find a gift cool enough for those who can already design their own game or program a robot. But don’t worry, we got you. We interviewed the President of University of Advancing Technology, Jason Pistillo, for this year's hottest gifts to ensure your ability to knock your recipient's plushy Star Wars-themed socks off.
The U.S. Census Bureau is preparing for the 2020 Count, and the City of Tempe is joining their efforts to spread awareness and highlight its importance. On Friday, Nov. 15, student creatives and community storytellers met at the Tempe History Museum for Tempe Creatives for the Count, a collaborative event held to brainstorm and design digital content and messaging that will spread awareness about the 2020 census.
On Saturday, November 9, 2019, approximately 100 students from across the Phoenix area came to UAT’s campus for CodeDay, a 24-hour marathon to test their skill in app and game design. Students of all experience levels teamed up and worked all night long, learning from mentors and presentations along the way. “We provided sessions for them to learn about different coding languages, as well as actual applications like GameMaker, Construct, and Unity,” explained Kathy Mitchell from State Farm, one of the main event sponsors.
UAT would like to take a moment to thank our active military and veterans for their courage, sacrifice, effort, time, and service to our country. Our 100% STEM university is dedicated to providing our military friends with an innovative higher education, ongoing support through giving and community engagement, and pathways for achieving success. On Veterans Day, we find it most appropriate to honor our original veteran and UAT’s founder, Dominic Pistillo.
Local High School and College Students Team Up at UAT for 24 Hours of Innovation
In honor of Veteran’s Day approaching, the military-friendly University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is hosting an open Military Appreciation night on Thursday, November 7th from 5 - 8 pm to honor and thank those that are actively serving or have served for the U.S. military.
University of Advancing Technology is excited to announce that eight of our students earning cyber security degrees will be competing in the 2019 Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC) Regionals event October 11-13th. Although UAT's on-ground campus is physically located in Tempe, Arizona, our cyber security students have been invited to compete with the Northeastern Regional group hosted at Penn State University.
by Taylor Nakakihara
On Tuesday, October 8th we celebrate the achievements of women in STEM on Ada Lovelace Day. UAT takes pride in our support of girls and women in tech. We collaborate with the Girl Scouts of Cactus-Pine and the Boys and Girls Club on the development of STEM curricula for their organizations. It is our pleasure to continually support the events and efforts of Girls in Tech, Girls Who Code, Girls Rule Foundation, ISAACA She Leads Tech, Women Techmakers, Phoenix Women IT Unite, and more.
by Jayson Goetz, Contributor
As the digital age progresses, technological innovations push 'smart' goods into more and more facets of our daily lives. From voice assistants to kitchen appliances connected through the 'internet of things,' these breakthroughs continually bring us unprecedented convenience and ease of use—and it becomes difficult to picture getting through our daily tasks before these technologies were available.
UAT builds grads with the most technology advanced skills who enter the AZ workforce more practiced in building solutions than anyone.
Fall semester is right around the corner and in just over a month new freshman will arrive on campus excited, nervous and full of ideas and expectations. One of UAT's best attributes is its ability to make everyone feel welcome and like family. Our campus isn't full of fast food chains and shopping malls, but it's jammed packed with tech and intelligent, creative people not only attending but also making UAT their career and home for educating other like-minded individuals.
UAT Provost Dr. David Bolman (left) recognizes the dedicated Experience Leaders (EXL) who make new students feel welcome on campus. Because they successfully completed one full year of service, they are receiving a coveted letter of recommendation from Provost Bolman that will go into their portfolios. EXL leaders are enthusiastic, outgoing student leaders who apply and are selected by UAT to help familiarize new students with the campus, share insights about life at UAT, work on-campus events, and help them begin to feel connected and at home.
Along with EXL members, you can also find other student workers giving tours, working the front desk and other departments on campus. Almost every Monday you will see UAT staff and faculty walking around with black UAT shirts that say mentor. Each Mentor Monday students are encouraged to engage with faculty and staff outside of the classroom setting and learn more about "the real world" or career paths in tech, or even how to make the best ramen bowl on Thursdays in the UAT restaurant.
There's a reason why alumni come back and sit in on classes often and how quickly that anxious freshman feeling is only a memory. So if you're new on campus this fall and you don't know where something is or you have a question -- just ask someone.
TEMPE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - Using the phone application “FaceApp” has blown up on social media over the past week. But experts are warning that the fun of instantly aging a person’s photo can come with a catch.
When navigating your career, there’s a breadth of tools at your disposal as a hero in this adventure. In this talk, Erin will unpack the inventory she’s collected to help prepare you for the journey ahead.
The next generation of technology innovation begins the day students set foot on campus at the University of Advancing Technology. This technology college offers a technophile’s dream environment where innovation and passion for advancing technology are synthesized with the best of faculty and technology resources.
Do you know how visual effects are made? Green screen filming is made possible through digital visual effect applications like Nuke, a node-based composting toolkit.
Everyone has seen a hologram before. This special effect typically reserved for futuristic action movies can now be found in furniture.
Daryl Garcia, a natural builder, problem solver and hands-on worker, decided to take his Student Innovation Project (SIP) to the next level by merging leading technology and unique furniture pieces.
Playing online video games is like running through a minefield of curse words. Watch Your Language is a tool kit trying to make the gaming experience more family friendly.
This Student Innovation Project (SIP), created by duo Rocky Vargas and Michael Shepherd, monitors what players are saying and flags inappropriate words. Rocky explains, “Our innovation claim is that gameplay is intensified by turning to foul language gamers use into a mechanic for punishment.”
There isn’t anything for gaming that uses speech recognition this way. If Watch Your Language detects vulgar words, alarms sound and the monitor will display the word. This mechanic is meant to monitor in real-time and can be universally used because there is a coded element that can be written for any word.
Because of the code, this technology can expand into more than just the gaming industry. Software and other technologies written in code can apply Watch Your Language if it’s compatible with a microphone.
Rocky wrote the original code to detect specific words and activated the streaming portion of this SIP. Michael polished the code and hooked it all up.
Do you want to drive the future of games? Check out UAT’s Game Programming degree.
Looters of the Arcane is a post-modern survival horror game where players travel to past eras to find mysterious objects. With the use of a Time Sphere, players can collect these objects for the antiquities company they currently work for in the distant future.
After experiencing the lengthy task of adding incoming, first-year students to a database by hand, Adam Morris took his experience working in the Cyber Warfare Range to improve administrative work.
Terra Cooke
Have you run into this orange feline before? Max, the campus cat, is commonly seen prancing through the Quad. Because of his frequent visits, students decided to adopt him! Max loves lounging around in the grass, rolling in the gravel and following students for belly rubs and savory treats.
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) students love unwinding with video games after a long day of classes and studying. Students thrive when they have a healthy school-life balance and playing cult classic video games is one way they relax while out of class.
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is known for innovation—students take that to heart and are even inspired to rearrange their dorm rooms because of it. Ross Hall, Kevin Albregard, Darren Palermo and Andrew Weisenberger are a group of suitemates who decided to convert their connected bedroom suite into a sleeping room and a game room.
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) boasts of many interesting clubs, including Kendo Club! Kendo is a type of traditional Japanese martial art that originated from swordsmanship. Through the combination of physical activity and teachings of self-restraint and discipline, students learn the basics of swordplay and respect for the opponent. Practices are every Friday night and comprise of activities such as defending against a constant attacker, armored first strike and verbal lessons.
Innovation is dripping from every corner at University of Advancing Technology (UAT), so it’s not surprising that the residence hall features five different Think Tanks. Congregate and create new friendships in the Think Tank closest to you. With technology at every student’s fingertips, it’s no wonder innovations to improve the world are constantly being discovered. AT UAT, students have the freedom to be visionaries to explore and test the unknown.
Camaraderie between teachers and students is huge at University of Advancing Technology (UAT). This is especially evident in the Commons, where students and teachers alike join study parties, collaborate on projects and run scrum sprints.
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) students love bonding over food. From roasting hotdogs with knives to using chopsticks in untraditional ways, students are always coming up with innovative ways to prepare food. Whether it’s for a laugh or a cuisine craving, the kitchen is where the party is at! Join fellow dormmates and friends for chips and salsa or hand-tossed pizza. Good friends = good food.
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) students love having breakfast together. One fan-favorite show, The Price is Right, draws everyone around the waffles. Socialize with your classmates and show off your market pricing knowledge when you “come on down” to breakfast.
Curious about a career in tech?
Businesses of all shapes and sizes rely on digital and social media to connect with customers. University of Advancing Technology's (UAT) Digital Marketing bachelor's degree combines technology skills with marketing, target awareness and messaging in a field that is both analytical and creative.
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) was founded on the basis of creating an institution to incubate and train individuals to become leaders in technology.
For over 35 years, UAT has continued to evolve, grow and move right along with high-paced technology fields that have been created out of necessity and demand. UAT's innovative degrees are at the forefront of the revolutionary age with degrees in Cybersecurity, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Game Production, Software Engineering, Robotics and more.
Physicist, engineer, inventor and honorary father of geeks – Nikolas Tesla was famous for numerous inventions but most notably the first alternating current (AC) motor and developed AC generation and transmission technology. According to the History Channel, “Though he was famous and respected, he was never able to translate his copious inventions into long-term financial success—unlike his early employer and chief rival, Thomas Edison.”
The University of Advancing Technology has been named the small/medium Businesses of the Year by the Greater Phoenix Chamber during the 32nd Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon held Thursday, May 23 at the Sheraton Grand Phoenix.
The Animation Career Review has been researching and ranking the nation's top schools for aspiring animators and game designers since 2012. UAT's Bachelor of Arts in Game Design is ranked in the top 20 game design BA programs nationally, top 10 in the Southwest and #1 in Arizona.
On May 2nd, President Trump signed the Executive Order on America’s Cybersecurity Workforce, recognizing the country’s information security professionals as a “strategic asset that protects the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life” and recognizing the need to enhance the mobility and professional development of the cyber workforce across the United States.
The University of Advancing Technology is gearing up to host another CodeDay, a worldwide, 24-hour event that brings student programmers, artists, designers, musicians, actors and learners together to build apps and games. The fun begins at noon on May 25th and ends at noon on the 26th.
University of Advancing Technology May 2019 honorary doctorate recipient Dr. Rebecca Wynn likes to go fast. As the Head of Information Security and Data Protection Officer (DPO) at Matrix Medical Network, Dr. Wynn leads the overall security strategy, security architecture development and security programs. She is always working on multiple projects at the same time, finding new ways to leverage cutting-edge risk management tools, machine learning and artificial intelligence to narrow the gap between a specific event detected on the network and first responders receiving actionable data.
We need more women in tech because we need more people in tech. Arizona has 7,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs. The U.S. has hundreds of thousands of vacant technology jobs, which cost the economy billions of dollars. So, how do we attract more female computer scientists, data analysts, software engineers and infosec professionals?
More than 30 million people around the world watch 5 billion YouTube videos every day. That’s a huge audience with a big appetite for video content. Video has always been a powerful marketing tool and one of the most engaging types of content. Students and job seekers—especially those in creative or competitive fields—can capitalize on the growing demand for video content by creating a YouTube channel that supports their personal brands and establishes them as thought leaders.
Somehow, “You’re hired!” sounds better than the proverbial “Thank you for your service.” Veterans sacrifice a lot to serve and protect our country—time with their families, hobbies, careers, and sometimes their health or even their lives. After they’ve served, they face a big decision: What’s next? One viable option is a career in technology.
When Holly Sheppard graduated from the University of Advancing Technology with a degree in multimedia and digital animation, she immediately started working as a 3D artist—in a lab. She used her skills in Unreal Engine to create simulations and models of restricted areas of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
For the first 15 years of Lynn DiGiacomo’s illustrious career in the gaming industry, she was the lone woman on the dev team. Then in 1995, she accepted a job at Sony Imagesoft, where she met Holliday Horton, the art director for the leading franchise title NFL GameDay. “Holliday paved the way with pipelines and processes for nearly all of the professional franchise titles that Sony produced at the time.” Working with Holliday spurred a streak of inspiration and innovation in Lynn. Now, she is surrounded by inspiring female game developers at the University of Advancing Technology, where she teaches game art and animation.
We seek out and partner with top tech execs all over the Valley. In fact, we’re so committed to advancing tech in Arizona that we started Perimeter83, a one-of-a-kind training for businesses and technology startup coworking space nestled right inside the UAT campus.
University of Advancing Technology alumnus Raymond Blackwood makes software that runs colleges. He geeks out about solving higher education problems through technology to ensure that colleges and universities of all sizes have the tools and processes necessary to manage student lifecycles as efficiently as possible. He also travels 40 weeks out of the year, collects Star Wars comics and takes his boat out on the water as much as he can.
Navigating Instagram in the 21st century with all of the rinstas, finstas, flop accounts, "models" and crazy comments can be tough. But Instagram can be an incredibly helpful tool when building your personal brand, growing your business or job hunting.
Arizona businesses face evolving privacy laws, enforcement practices and cyber crimes. That’s why the Phoenix Business Journal invited some of Arizona’s leading cybersecurity and legal experts to discuss the cyber problems facing Arizona’s businesses and offer solutions at the Cybersecurity Forum earlier this week. The University of Advancing Technology has been teaching cybersecurity for more than 20 years, which is why the PBJ team invited UAT Provost Dr. Dave Bolman to moderate the panel discussion for the second year in a row.
The University of Advancing Technology is honored to be one of 8 local businesses recognized by the Greater Phoenix Chamber for its contributions to the Greater Phoenix business community as a 2019 IMPACT Awards winner in the Economic Driver category.
Provost and longtime professor at University of Advancing Technology (UAT), David Bolman, is moderating a Phoenix Business Journal forum that will be discussing the state of cybersecurity and the rise of the tech community in Arizona.
Robots and space exploration always fascinated Lynne Nethken, but she chose to study business anyways. “I didn’t know a career in robotics was an option for me,” Lynne said.
Greck Santiago likes to build things—robots, circuit boards, microcontrollers. Naturally, when he came to the University of Advancing Technology to study robotics, he thought he would graduate and get a job as a robotics engineer. Then he discovered software engineering and embedded programming and realized that building cool things didn’t necessarily involve hardware and wires.
Commentary: Dr. Natasha Vita-More
Professor, Undergraduate and Graduate Programs
University of Advancing Technology
On Saturday, February 15, UAT’s Cybersecurity team participated in the Western Regional Cyber Defense Competition. UAT’s team was made up of 8 students, all taking on different roles as team members.
To set up for the competition, I arrived at 9:00am and ran a check of the team members and their titles by checking off the list provided to me by Dr. Brandon R. Brown, the Director of WRCCDC. To be on the safe side, and just in case we came in with a high-ranking, I checked off each student’s name and requested to view each team member’s ID. Below is my check off list:
Right now, there are 7,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in Arizona alone. Nationally, we need an additional 400,000 security analysts, network engineers, vulnerability researchers, pen testers and other professionals to fight cybercrime and protect data. The Obama Administration estimated that the US would have 1.4 million computer science jobs by 2020—but only 400,000 computer science graduates to fill them.
How do you make a Virtual Reality (VR) Movie? I’m sure you’ve tested out a VR headset, whether it be a game or a short film, and thought, “Wow, this is pretty cool! But how do they do it?" How do they make it so realistic, how do they place you inside the game or the film? What goes into making a VR movie?
Earlier this week the Arizona House of Representatives invited University of Advancing Technology Provost Dr. Dave Bolman to the Capitol to present on technology trends and workforce needs in Arizona.
I’m still geeking out about the cool new tech I encountered during my annual safari to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Like all CES events, CES 2019 showcased new tech toys pipelined for 2019 and alpha versions of what companies think will be cool and useful for the next few years in that signature big, flashy CES style.
I experienced tons of edgy, unique and, at times, borderline weird tech at CES 2019. But most vendors at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show presented products that aim to seamlessly infuse connectivity and artificial intelligence into people’s homes and lifestyles. The volume of inventions that focus on using these technologies to improve human’s lives and experiences nearly doubled from 2018. Entire halls encompassing hundreds of thousands of square feet were dedicated to this pursuit.
Eighty precent of jobs are not posted online. So how do you find those open jobs and the hiring managers? An over-looked way to network with industry professionals or like-minded individuals is to join a group. Hiring managers specifically look for people who proactively contribute to their community, present at events and mentor others. But the benefits of joining a group go beyond just networking. Groups give you the social life that many people may leave behind due to their commitments to work/family/school.
Students in math classes across the world often ask, "When am I ever going to use this?" No one asks that question in Professor Heather Peters' Business Math class at the University of Advancing Technology, where students learn life skills that they can actually use.
Embark on a quest to find your people. No longer feel lost in the crowd. At University of Advancing Technology, you will find fellow geeks who speak programming, cyber, gaming, esports, and cosplay.
Join us on 1/25/2019 and EXPERIENCE UATx.
See why we believe it is the right choice for for future students interested in technology. Potential students have the opportunity to meet the faculty, tour the campus, play in our technology labs, and stay overnight in our dorm.
Garrett Reuscher gets a kick out of surprising dental hygienists when he refers to his teeth by their number. Garrett has picked up a lot of medical terminology since he started working as an educational applications developer at a Western University of Health Sciences university, where he develops games and simulations to train medical students.
Most college applications require an essay, which can intimitate and discourage some, but that's good news for go-getters like you! Following a few best practices will help you write a college application essay like a boss (and maybe even earn a scholarship and save a lot of money).
Even if you're not interested in marketing and advertising, the one newsletter (aka: boring email in your inbox you don't remember signing up for) worth checking out once a year is the Think With Google: Year-End Search Trends issue.
Advancing Computer Science Professor Tony Hinton started coding when he was 12. But one boring computer class in college almost broke him. “It made me second guess whether I wanted to work with computers or not,” Tony lamented.
Cybersecurity may seem like an intimidating and overwhelming concept for people who do not know much about technology and information security, but others live for the challenge of deciphering the unknown and protecting the vulnerable. And that challenge excites and motivates UAT alumna and risk and compliance manager Terra Cooke.
This blog post was originally published on the ExpressVPN blog.
Tempe, Arizona - October 29, 2018 - On November 5 and 6, 2018, University of Advancing Technology (UAT) hosted the VR for Good 2018 Summit, sponsored by VR Voice and Baltu Studios.
Over recent years, many leaders of the tech revolution have celebrated the life of Alan Turing's. For his 100th birthday, Google made a Turing Machine Doodle. Wired has a retrospective on Turing's influence on computing, and a discussion of the validity of the Turing Test for machine intelligence.
In my short time with UAT, I have been fortunate enough to interact with talented students, incredible professors and some top-notch industry professionals. The knowledge they have in STEM is awe-inspiring, but at the end of the day, to be successful in any industry, you must possess more than just technical skills.
Study International News, an Independent news site focused on international students studying in the US, recently wrote an article about the relevancy of Virtual Reality in today’s society.
UAT attended CactusCon 2017 in the Robotics Village on Saturday, October 1, at Phoenix Convention Center.
The Arizona Science Center is blowing up the night for a special adult-only event featuring a twist on science demos and experiments, a high energy DJ, specialty drinks and a presentation on "Animation and Virtual Reality" by UAT Game Studios Professors Jorge Portillo and Ben Reichert, who just returned from a week at E3, the Electronics Entertainment Expo in California.
John Goodall arrived at UAT like many freshmen, with a very specific career goal of becoming a 2D concept artist. Then he discovered 3D art. “I realized that was my home,” John said. “A lot of the pipelines for 3D art are the same or similar to real-time and pre-rendered projects,” he added.
Google has announced their search results algorithm this week will start taking into consideration copyright renewal notices. According to Amit Singhal, Google's SVP of Engineering, “Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results." That means Google is once again cracking down on duplicate content across the web.
UAT held the 2nd Annual Cyber Security Open House on Thursday, Oct. 12, in conjunction with the national cause, Cyber Security Awareness Month.
The web service BrandYourself (check it out!), correctly identifies the three pillars of successfully creating a personal brand:
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) now offers the option to earn a professional certificate in technology-centric disciplines. These certificate options derived from the reality that local business is starved of technology talent and as such find themselves having a difficult time scaling for growth. As a long time partner meeting the needs of business demands, UAT is seeking to impact sector growth head-on. These certificate options afford business owners and executives the ability to grow their company while offering employees seeking career advancement opportunities an affordable option to add professional development to their resume.
We recently invited UAT alumnus and ArenaNet 3D Environment/Prop Artist William Tate to share his career story with our game development students.
I hear all the time about how the young adults of today lack specific traits that have been deemed necessary for success in corporate culture by previous generations. I always find these comments humorous as every past generation finds a way to demean the younger generations for what they perceive as faults. As someone who has worked in traditional corporate culture, operated his own business and now teaches young adults in academia, I tend to favor the younger generations.
