Posted on February 19, 2015 by KC Gonzalez

Recognizing the value of big data to businesses today, the UTSA College of Business is hosting “Big Data, Big Challenges,” a daylong symposium on March 17 dedicated to sharing recent knowledge and experiences in big data within the areas of business, cyber security, healthcare and visualization.

Calling in a star-studded lineup of national, regional and local speakers, the symposium will provide a wide range of perspectives from industry, government and academic experts for both general business audiences as well as analytics and security professionals.

“Leveraging UTSA’s strength in cyber security and cloud computing, the College of Business has identified Big Data as a key strategic priority and academic initiative,” said Gerry Sanders, Dean and Bodenstedt Chair in the College of Business. “This symposium shares cutting-edge insights in the ever-changing field of big data,” Sanders said.

Keynote speakers include New York Times bestselling author Bill Tancer, general manager for global research at Experian Marketing Services. With more than 15 years of marketing, market research and corporate strategy experience, he leads a team of research analysts providing research and insight into online consumer behavior and the application of online competitive intelligence.

JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, professor of media arts and technology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, is a leading expert in scientific visualization. She is the founder of the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology and developer of the AlloSphere, a three-dimensional way to see and interpret scientific data. Her TED talk on this subject has received more than half a million views.

Rounding out the lineup is Richard Thieme, an author and technology commentator who has presented at DEF CON for 19 years. He will discuss technology-related security and intelligence issues and how to redesign ourselves to meet these challenges.

“The symposium highlights how big data is being used to maximize knowledge across industries as well as illustrates the impact that data analytics has had on companies and products,” said Hamid Beladi, associate dean of research in the College of Business.

In addition to the keynote speakers, four panel sessions will be held in the areas of Big Data Applications in Cloud and Cyber Security, Big Data Analytics in Business Enterprises, Bioanalytics and Healthcare and Big Data and Visualization.

The symposium begins at 8 a.m. and concludes at 5 p.m. with a networking reception. The event is open to the public and registration is $75. Registration and additional programmatic and speaker information is available online. 

Symposium sponsors include the UTSA College of Business, the UTSA Office of the Vice President for Research, Consumer Orbit, Giles-Parscale and the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute.

— KC Gonzalez