2020 Newsletter Editions

Iván Rodríguez-Conde, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science U.A. Little Rock “ALEXA, TELL ME about the Internet of Things.” That’s probably an interview for the future, but for now we prefer to hear about IoT from an expert in the field. As a researcher, Iván Rodríguez-Conde specializes in the connection between humans and machines, […]

LESSONS THE PANDEMIC TAUGHT MEIf you’re responsible for technology in Arkansas schools,the past eight months have been a mixed message DON BENTON,Assistant Commissioner, Research and Technology,Arkansas Department of Education MY WHOLE CAREER has been about educational technology. Of course, as I embarked on this journey 27 years ago, neither I nor anyone else had any

IF YOU’RE READING this, you’re likely in an IT occupation. If so, I’m asking you to recommend to two others who aren’t that they should consider pursuing a career in IT. There are some 60,000 IT jobs in the state of Arkansas, and right now approximately 5,000 are going unfilled. This isn’t static data—the number

Lonnie Emard,Apprenticeship Director WE ARE NEARLY a year into this apprenticeship rollout in the state of Arkansas, and over that time a couple of things have proven to be true. One is that employers have begun to grasp the full impact of this non-traditional hiring strategy, in which a broader pool of diverse candidates—maybe those

THE PHONE CALL YOUDON’T WANT TO GET But if you need it, you sure don’t want to miss it Jim Womble,Executive Vice President and Board Member,First Orion UNFORTUNATELY, CONTACT TRACING remains a very relevant subject these days. With COVID numbers rising in many states, even as we head into the winter flu season, it’s more

MEET ZANDER PROPES Age: 24 Hometown: Conway, AR Apprenticeship: Lost Forty Brewing MY BACK STORY I grew up in Conway. Actually, my parents were divorced so I kind of switched back and forth. Dad lives in Little Rock, Mom lives in Conway. I lived with my dad through high school. MY EDUCATION I went to

Scott Anderson, Executive Director, Forge Institute’s American Cyber Alliance WITH OCTOBER BEING Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we sat down with the recently named Executive Director of the American Cyber Alliance, a program powered by Forge Institute and dedicated to building public-private partnerships to reduce cybersecurity risks through training and collaboration with stakeholders in business and government.

THERE’S A LOT going on in the technology world in Arkansas, and come early November you’ll have a new way to keep abreast of what’s happening. That’s when ACDS will launch our new podcast series called “Empowered by Tech.” Co-hosted by data scientist Dr. Elizabeth Parker and radio veteran David Wallace, these bi-monthly podcasts will

SOMETHING VERY BIG and very exciting happened in Newport, Arkansas, last week—the opening of the Tech Depot, an information technology apprenticeship academy, in Newport’s historic Iron Mountain Train Depot. Elsewhere in this newsletter G.B. Cazes tells how the Tech Depot came to be; my purpose here is to tell how ACDS will be involved in

MEET SOUKSAVANH PHOMMAVONG Age: 38 Hometown: Fort Smith, AR Apprenticeship: Simmons Foods MY BACK STORY My family is actually first generation American. We immigrated from Laos in 1986, when I was 6. We were first in Dallas, and I spent the years from kindergarten through third grade there. Then my family moved to Fort Smith,