The
3-day seminar series in our class, EM-TECH, is mainly about the implications of
emerging technologies that are present in different fields. According to
Merriam-Webster, the term emerging can be defined as to becoming known or
coming into being through evolution. Topics or discussions are different from
each group which makes it more interesting for the audience, however my
reaction on each seminar will be further discuss later. I believe that the most
important aspect in going through these kinds of seminars is that the audience
have no choice but to learn more. A similar approach is done by Factset, a financial
data and software company, wherein employees are required to give a “Tech Talk”
every week to simply increase their knowledge or know-how in the industry.
On July 12, 2012, it was the first
group who conducted the seminar about Emerging Technologies in the IT industry.
Their speaker was an accomplished and brilliant professional, Mr. Wilfredo
Bercasio. Topics of the seminar include the job opportunities of an IT
graduate, particularly the software engineer, software scientist, protocol
programmers, compliance and governance professionals, risk management
professionals, cloud service provider, power consolidator and distributor, the history
of convergence of power, data and communication, and lastly, some samples of what
we should expect to be developed in the future are discussed. Mr. Bercasio
stated several emerging technologies such as implementing a single line connection
in houses that consists of cable, phone, data and power. The advantage of this
is to lessen the use of copper wires and to save electricity. I find the
seminar fascinating as it is really related with my course and what got me
listening to the speaker was his credibility. I think it is easier to listen to
someone who has accomplished so much already. About his talk, he clearly discussed
the difference between a software scientist and a software engineer. A software
scientist is the person who creates new languages, protocols and mediation
linkages. Software Engineer on the other hand, designs software or applications
using the new languages, protocols and mediation linkages. This was very
helpful in our industry because this gave us an insight on the opportunities we
have in our career path.
Group 2’s seminar was about Emerging
Technology in Pharmaceutical Drug Testing. The speaker was exceptional in her
achievements; Ms. Olga Santos is the current Head in the Analytical Chemistry
Department of Unilab laboratories, Inc. A generic drug can be defined as a
medication whose active ingredients, dosage, safety, route of administration,
quality and effectiveness are identical to that of its brand-name counterpart. Some
of the basic pharma drug testing includes the quantitative stability assay,
dissolution testing, biavailabilty / bioequivalence testing and clinical studies.
The speaker also mentioned few instrumental methods of analysis such as UV
Spectroscopy, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Mass Spectroscopy, High
Performance Liquid Chromatography and Gas Chromatography. Overall, I did learn
a thing a two in the seminar such as the usage between branded drugs and
generic drugs, however, as the seminar continues as I was not able to follow.
There are too many technical terms that the speaker was not able to explain well
and as I remember, the slides were not in proper sequence, making it more
difficult to take down notes. Although in my perspective, I have learned how
significant it is to be part of the pharmaceutical industry because of the
number of lives affected by their products. The industry should ensure that
they can meet proper quality standards, as well as providing safe and effective
drugs to the public.
Group 3 was about Events Management,
the main speaker of the seminar was Alvi Javier. Basically, the seminar focuses
on their company, ‘iConceptualize’, the background of the industry, the common
technologies used and the kind of events they can accommodate. Events are
defined as the public assembly for the purpose of celebration, education,
marketing or reunion. Events can be classified on the basis of their size, type
and context. Kinds of Events are divided into two parts, below the line and
above the line. Below the line events is a common technique used for “touch and
feel” products wherein consumers will rely on immediate information rather than
previously researched items. Some examples of below the line events are social
/ life – cycle events, education and career events, sports events,
entertainment events, political events, corporate events and religious events. Above the line, on the other hand, is the type
of advertising done through media such as television, cinema, radio, print and
out-of-home to promote brands or convey a specific offer. Examples of above the
line events are the use of print, radio and television. In my opinion, it was
good that the speaker mentioned the background of events management, what are
the common tools that are used and the likes. However, I think that the speaker
lost track of what the objective of the seminar is, and that is to introduce an
emerging technology. He focuses more on how the events management takes place
and how to set up an events marketing company. On the positive note, I did gain
knowledge from the seminar. As an IT student, I can develop certain mobile
applications or software that would help the marketing and advertising industry
in creating illustrations, commercials, poster and other presentations using
smartphones. This will lessen the purchases of expensive technologies used in
promoting brands or events. It will also help the marketing and advertising
industry to utilize their resources up to the maximum level.
Group 4 presented a very short
seminar about Robotics. The speaker was Jim Yu, a Junior Microsoft Student
Partner. Robotics is an electro-mechanical machine that can perform tasks
automatically or with human guidance based on its programming. Types of robots
include humanoid, android, hexapod, industrial, military, service/domestic,
agricultural, entertainment and education. It was very resourceful for the
speaker to bring one type of robot and demonstrated it in the class. It was a
type of robot that can be built by students and is controlled by a microcontroller.
Emerging technologies in the field of robotics include surgical robot,
self-reconfiguring modular robot, modular transforming robot, swarm robots,
powered exoskeleton and kuratas. I think the topic of the seminar was great but
it was not further elaborated because the presentation only lasted for less
than half an hour. As a student pursuing an IT career, the seminar was very
helpful and relevant because the programming tools that we have learned in
school can be applied in the development of robotics. The increasing number of
countries using robotics only shows that Information Technology is continually
growing.
Bioinformatics was the discussion of
Group 5, the speaker is Neil Bretana. Bioinformatics is a multi-disciplinary
field which refers to the application of computational techniques in order to
organize, process, and analyse biological data. Importance of learning
bioinformatics include knowing the details of biological pathways, identifying
new protein targets and aiding in drug development. Studying bioinformatics are
present in Mathematics, Biology and Computer Science. Mathematics covers topics
on probability, statistics, discrete mathematics, distribution functions,
linear algebra and geometric functions that can all be found in bioinformatics.
Biology can cover the protein structure, DNA structure, RNA structure, protein
modifications and signalling pathways of biochemistry. Lastly, Computer Science
is also connected in biochemistry, phases such as the data collection, data
storing, pattern detection, machine learning, data mining, visual modelling,
simulation, and data modelling and prediction are involved. The speaker was
able to explain the topic very well because he has a background in studying
Bioinformatics and has done several research cases concerning this topic. The
outline of the presentation is complete and was presented clearly. As an
Information Technology student, the role I have in Bioinformatics are substantial
because I can develop web applications and software for offering biological
data and tools to the scientific community, improve the analysis of biological
data and storage. Career in Bioinformatics can be any of the following: Project
Manager, Project Consultant, Web developer, Web designer, Database
Administrator, Database Curator and Research Analyst.
The last seminar was about Kinect,
the speaker was Michael Peña. Kinect is Microsoft’s motion gaming system for
Xbox 360 game console. With this device, it can sense gesture recognition and speech
recognition. Using Kinect could eliminate the use of controllers that manually
directs commands to the system. The seminar was very interactive and it made
the audience listen intensively. Whenever the speaker tries to make a point, he
explains it well and at the same time demonstrated it using his own Kinect. As I remember, the speaker did program in
front of us using a popular programming editor, similarly in developing Android
applications, it has an emulator which enables the user to see what dimensions
and expected output of the program will be made. In relation to an Information
Technology student, the topic was appropriate because we can further improve
the existing tools and software using components of Kinect that were already
developed. These features include face and gesture recognitions. In order to
make an application in Kinect, one has to know some programming languages such
as C++, C# and VB, although it was not part of our curriculum to learn these
programming tools it would be easy to learn these since we already have a
background in programming.
In conclusion, the seminar series was a
great opportunity for graduating students to learn more about the possibilities
of working in a different field and how these emerging technologies will affect
us in the career path we have chosen. I hope that the next seminar in EM-TECH class
would be conducted in a bigger classroom or venue to accommodate more students
that are willing to participate in the discussion.
