Collecting Hardware

PROVO, Utah – Apr 24, 2018 – Hard drives and motherboards weren’t the only hardware at the annual Association for Information Systems Student Chapter Leadership Conference: BYU Marriott School of Business information systems students took home one second-place and two first-place trophies as well.

Eight BYU Marriott students attended the three-day conference, held at the University of Texas at Dallas. The conference included industry workshops, company tours, and the presentation of the competition awards.

“The competition keeps getting tougher and tougher,” says Tom Meservy, associate professor of information systems. “I saw more built-out systems and prototypes, practiced presentations, and polished students from across the nation than ever before. We had a great time, and the students did exceptionally well.”

One group of students developed the first place strategy to improve the shipping industry using blockchain technology. They created an integrated software to track packages from all delivery services on a single website. Team members included Eric Clinger from Idaho Falls, Idaho; Shayla Gale from Camas, Washington; Remington Steele from Bloomfield, New York; Bryce Trueman from Rocklin, California; and Katy Vance from Ridgefield, Washington.

“When we won, I felt a mixture of shock, excitement, and gratitude for my teammates and professors,” Vance says. “I am thankful for the opportunity to learn and grow during this entire process.”

Vance also teamed up with Stephen Godderidge from Farmington, Utah, to develop Press On, a system for elderly adults that sends a preconfigured text for help to a nearby relative—all at the push of a button. The use of cloud services, serverless computing, and Internet of Things technology makes Press On cheaper than most alert systems on the market; the system won the team first place.

Another BYU Marriott team found success in its presentation about how company analytics influence customer choices. Clinger, Trueman, and Alex Spruill, a junior from Idaho Falls, Idaho, wowed judges with their research paper about the cycle of company/customer interactions in regards to product recommendations. The team took second place for their efforts.

At the conference, the students also accepted the Distinguished Chapter Award for the BYU AIS chapter, which added to their collection of shiny new hardware. In addition to the accolades, the conference provided students with opportunities to network and expand industry knowledge.

“Exposure to new people and new technologies will benefit me going forward,” Clinger says. “This conference was a taste of what work is going to be like in the future.”

The BYU Marriott School of Business prepares men and women of faith, character, and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Named for benefactors J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott, the school is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. BYU Marriott has four graduate and ten undergraduate programs with an enrollment of approximately 3,300 students.