Albert, Laura

Laura Albert

Address:
College of Engineering

2018 Session

Title: Advanced Analytics for Emergency Response
Description:
What does successful IT facilitate and promote on our campus? Hear UW Industrial and Systems Engineering professor Laura Albert will talk about how engineers use advanced analytical models to solve problems and design systems, and how information technology plays a role in engineering research.
She will provide an overview her discipline of operations research and advanced analytics and will discuss its wide ranging applications, focusing on her research that addresses problems in emergency response.

Biography

Laura Albert, Ph.D., is the Assistant Dean for Graduate Affairs in the College of Engineering and an Associate Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests are in the field of operations research, with a particular focus on discrete optimization with application to homeland security and emergency response problems. Dr. Albert’s research has been supported by NSF, DHS, and the Department of the Army, Sandia National Laboratory, and she has been awarded an NSF CAREER award. She has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications in archival journals and refereed proceedings. Her research has been awarded several honors, including four best paper awards. Dr. Albert is the INFORMS Vice President for Marketing, Communication, and Outreach. She is the author of the blogs “Punk Rock Operations Research” and “Badger Bracketology.” You can find her on twitter at @lauraalbertphd.

Arneson, Vickie

Vickie Arneson

Email: vickie.arneson@wisc.edu

Address:
IT Human Resources- Policy and Planning

Biography

Vickie has over twenty-five years of experience working in operations management and human resources. Having been involved in growing a regional restaurant chain from one store to over forty, Vickie understands first-hand the challenges businesses face hiring and retaining quality staff. Vickie’s experience has shaped her philosophy of how human resources and managers can partner together to create workable solutions to complex problems.

Ballard, Jeff

Jeff Ballard

Email: ballard@wisc.edu

Address:
Computer-Aided Engineering Center

2018 Session

Title: What is it like to get a graduate degree while working full time?
Description:
How hard can it possibly be to get a graduate degree from the UW while working full time? We work at a University after all… this should be easy right? …straightforward? I mean, people do this all the time, right? (Answers: it depends, no, not really, and not super often)
Come hear the tale of adventure, excitement, and lots of stress that involves my process of getting a PhD from Computer Science while working for CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering). Consider yourself warned: this tale is not for the faint of heart.
In this talk I’ll discuss topics like:

What is it like going to “part” time grad school at the UW while working full time? (and learn why part is in quotes)
What options are there for having your employer pay for some/all of your schooling? (and learn how at the UW this is a trick question!)
For what you might have to foot the bill, what are some strategies to reduce costs?
If you already have problems with Work/Life balance what happens when it’s Work/School/Life?
Learn just how closely you’re going to need to read the guidebook for your department. (and how you can’t just rely on what I’m saying)
Bonus round: Can you get an overload appointment and teach a class while working full time? (despite insistence that this is impossible, empirical studies prove otherwise)
If nothing else, come learn about the “simple” the three mountains one climbs to get a PhD.

Biography

After 10 years of working for University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jeff knew if he was going to get his Masters degree, he should get going. After the Masters degree he thought, “”that wasn’t so hard… how hard can a PhD be?”” If Jeff is lucky, by the next IT Professionals Conference, he’ll have his PhD from the UW Computer Science department in the area of Databases. At this point Jeff’s ABD (all but dissertation), which qualifies him to drive a cab in Madison, so he has possible career opportunities.
At his day job Jeff is a professional computer herder for the Computer-Aided Engineering Center. His specialties include wrangling Linux, VMWare, networks, open-source beasts of various sizes, and coordinating with his fellow ranch hands to keep the College of Engineering’s IT working. Jeff is the Program Committee Chair for the 2018 IT Professionals Conference.

Barnet, Steve

Steve Barnet

Email: barnet@icecube.wisc.edu

Address:
Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (IceCube/WIPAC)

2019 Session

IceCube Computing – Behind the Scenes Tech

2018 Session

Title: Big Data on Ice
Description:
IceCube is a neutrino detector located at the geographic South Pole. It records neutrino interactions and is designed to search for the highest energy neutrinos from astrophysical sources. The instrument itself comprises over 5400 individual sensors that collectively capture about 1 Terabyte of data per day.
This talk will provide an overview of the storage and data handling systems deployed to deliver that data to our physicists for analysis and ultimately publication.

Biography

Steve Barnet is a Senior Systems manager for the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC). He has been with the IceCube project since 2005 at the beginning of construction. During that time, he has worked on the computing, storage, and infrastructure systems that provide the foundations for data analysis. He has deployed to the South Pole twice during that time.

Blasinski, Matt (Biz)

Matt (Biz) Blasinski

Credentials: (He/Him)

Email: matt.blasinski@wisc.edu

Address:
Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
Email Systems Engineer and Developer

Biography

A graduate of UW-Madison’s Computer Science department, Matt Blasinski has been part of the messaging and electronic collaboration tools team at UW’s Division of Information of Technology (DoIT) for over 18 years. During that time he has built a variety of provisioning and management tools for the messaging systems offered by DoIT. Matt is currently moving many of these tools to the cloud so that they are more portable, reliable, and maintainable and so that changes reach customers quickly and easily. Outside of work, Matt is an avid cave diver where he puts his experience managing redundant systems, precise planning and attention to detail, and teamwork to good use outside of information technology.

2021 Session

Lunchtime Communities of Practice (CoPs) Drop-In Session

2019 Session

Exposing Impostor Syndrome: Answering the 5 Ws about Impostor Syndrome

2018 Session

DevOps, Diving, or Death….Choose 2!

Chhabra, Pallavi

Pallavi Chhabra

Email: chhabra2@wisc.edu

Address:
UW Madison, Curriculum and Instruction

2018 Session

Title: Collaboration with Tech Tools
Description:
Do you like collaborating with peers, friends, family? What kind of collaborations do you do?
This presentation will focus on looking at a few cases where technology tools have been successful in bringing ideas, synergies, and ultimately people together as a community.

Biography

Pallavi Chhabra is a doctoral candidate in the department of Curriculum and Instruction at University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her research interests are educational theory, use of technology in teaching, dispositions of teachers, representation in media, and mixed research methods.

Cook, Crague

Crague Cook

Credentials: (He/Him)

Email: crague.cook@wisc.edu

Address:
Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
Application Infrastructure Services (AIS)
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Service Lead

Biography

Crague Cook has been involved with supporting customer-facing technologies and IT infrastructure in higher education for over a decade. Currently, Crague serves as an Identity and Access Management (IAM) Team and Service Lead within the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) with a focus in Active Directory.

2022 Session

Resources for (New and Existing) UW-Madison IT Professionals

2021 Session

What is Networking and How Can I be Better at it?

2018 Session

What it Means to be an IT Professional at UW-Madison – Continuing the Discussion

Cooper, Derek

Derek Cooper

Credentials: (He/Him)

Email: derek.cooper@wisc.edu

Address:
Morgridge Institute for Research
IT Technical Manager

Biography

Derek has over 25 years of varied experience in IT ranging from engineering systems for very large corporations, to delivering over 4000 face hours of instruction (Teacher of the year, 2003, Corinthian Colleges). Additional experience gained directing the IT of a community college in Virginia for 5 years and currently instrumental in building the IT and staff from the ground up for the soon to be 8 years old Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. The DiscoverIT staff currently has 10 FTE and 10-12 student interns. Currently over 50% complete on a Doctorate of Educational Leadership which is helping to further enhance a culture of transformational leadership.

2024 Session

The DataVault: A Comprehensive, Project-Focused Approach to Research Data Management

Craft, Em

Em Craft

Credentials: (She/Her/They/Them)

Email: em.craft@wid.wisc.edu

Address:
Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
Research IT Manager

Biography

Em has over twenty years of IT experience at UW-Madison, where she also earned both a BS in Computer Science and JD in Law. She currently coordinates the operational needs of WID researchers, provides computing and data management guidance, and manages a variety of short and long-term IT projects. Her current role has helped her learn to build and maintain successful, creative teams of collaborators.

2023 Session

Standardize Information with Forms

2024 Session

The DataVault: A Comprehensive, Project-Focused Approach to Research Data Management

Dagnon, Tamra

Tamra Dagnon

Email: tamra.dagnon@wisc.edu

Address:
Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
Project Management Office

2019 Session

SPRINT! Tackle big problems in a week

2018 Sessions

Session 1
Title: Don’t Panic! Success is a bigger target than you think
Co-Presenters: Robert Merrill, Shannon Larson
Description:
Someone has handed you a project—actually just an idea and a deadline—and you’re not really a project manager or business analyst. How can you set everyone up for success, without losing your minds in the process? This panel discussion with two BAs and a PM from the CIO’s Office PMO will leave with you some essential concepts and pro tips to help you get from almost zero information to a scope, some high-level requirements, and a realistic budget and schedule that tilt the odds of success
in your favor.
Key Session Takeaways:

Success – What is the real problem or opportunity?
Scope – Agreeing on what we’re not doing (and doing)
Requirements – Understanding and describing possible solution capabilities
Estimating – effort, budget, schedule, and what if it won’t fit?

Session 2
Title: The SIPOC tool: How to create a visual model of a high-level process
Description
This flash talk will provide an overview of a simple tool you can use to collaboratively document a high-level business process. The SIPOC is invaluable in aiding project scope discovery and quickly bringing people to a common understanding.

Biography

Tamra Dagnon joined the UW–Madison Project Management Office as a Senior IT Business Analyst in
2015, from John Deere Financial in Madison and Des Moines. Beginning in marketing, Tamra changed
careers to IT while with Deere, serving as a Project Manager, Test Lead, and Product Manager before
settling on Business Analysis. Tamra then led project and requirements definition efforts on many
projects, from the very small to extra-large, multi-year implementations. Tamra holds one of the first
500 Certificates of Competency and Business Analysis™ (CCBA®) from the International Institute of
Business Analysis™ (IIBA®).