Advancing Technology Feed

The Animation Career Review has been researching and ranking the nation's top schools for aspiring animators and game designers since 2012. UAT's Bachelor of Arts in Game Design is ranked in the top 20 game design BA programs nationally, top 10 in the Southwest and #1 in Arizona.

 

The goal of the Animation Career Review is to "give students and their parents access to ample information so they can make an informed decision about the school they choose to attend and the program they pursue."

 

The criteria for the rankings encompasses:

 

• Academic reputation
• Admissions selectivity
• Depth and breadth of the program
• Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness
• Geographic location
• Employment data

 

One of UAT's top game design grads is 2018 alumnus Eric Fernald, who landed his dream job and bought his dream car immediately after he graduated. Eric works as a game scenario designer at CGI, where he works with the latest software and hardware in game development such as VBS3 and Unreal Engine 4 to create training video games, battlefield visualizations and battle scene reenactments for the United States military.

 

{% video_player "embed_player" overrideable=False, type='scriptV4', hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, width='640', height='360', player_id='9751700385', style='' %}

      Eric Fernald's Demo Reel

 

"I choose UAT because of the intimate campus setting and constant addition of new technologies on campus," Eric said. He cites hands-on classes such as Game Production Studio, tough-love professors like Matthew Marquit and solid support from the Career Services team as reasons for his success. 

 

UAT game design alumnus Tyler Feddeler recently landed his first job at a AAA studio as a lighting artist at 343 Industries, where he works on a little game called Halo. Even though his degree is in game design, Tyler got to take art and animation classes during his time at UAT too. It took him a while to discover his niche in lighting, but once he did, he went all in on it. 

 

Electronic Arts (EA) assistant producer Brandon Kidwell graduated from UAT with his bachelor's degree in game design in 2013. He has worked on multiple AAA titles, including the mobile game Madden NFL Overdrive. He built the 2018 Madden Feast program, which lead to high player sentiment and one of the highest revenue days of the year. 

 

Want to be like Eric, Tyler and Brandon? Check out our Game Design program today!

On May 2nd, President Trump signed the Executive Order on America’s Cybersecurity Workforce, recognizing the country’s information security professionals as a “strategic asset that protects the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life” and recognizing the need to enhance the mobility and professional development of the cyber workforce across the United States.

 

“With the right kinds of protections and the correct ability to respond when things do go wrong, a strong cybersecurity workforce reduces risk, fear and uncertainty in the world allowing for better global interaction and business expansion,” said Dr. Greg, Miles, University of Advancing Technology Cybersecurity Program Champion and Peak Security Principal.

 

                              UAT Cybersecurity Professor Dr. Greg Miles

 

The cybersecurity workforce protects the critical infrastructure of worldwide assets in important industries such as power, water, transportation and defense. Furthermore, a strong economy occurs when citizens feel like things are moving in the right direction. “If the organizations that are protecting our critical data and access are successful in doing that, there is a better sense of peace and prosperity,” Dr. Miles said.

 

To strengthen the federal cybersecurity workforce, the Executive Order tasks the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to establish a cybersecurity rotational assignment program to “serve as a mechanism for knowledge transfer and a development program for cybersecurity practitioners.”

 

“The key for success of this program will be a well-defined set of criteria and training that personnel passing through the program will experience, plus resources to continue to develop after the individuals have gone back to their own agencies,” Dr. Miles said. Since many organizations rely on contract employees to support their cyber programs, DHS will also have to consider how contract personnel will be integrated in the program.

 

The program will use the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NICE Framework) as the basis for cyber skill requirements of program participants. To ensure consistency, the program will also “incorporate the NICE Framework lexicon and taxonomy into workforce knowledge and skill requirements used in contracts for information technology and cybersecurity services.”

 

“The NICE Framework is a ‘nice’ way to visualize an educational program that supports the goal of creating a skilled cybersecurity workforce,” Dr. Miles said. “UAT’s goals go beyond those requirements, by producing superior graduates that have shown demonstrated mastery, innovation and career readiness,” he added.

 

UAT cybersecurity faculty and curriculum developers map course content to match the NSA/DHS Center of Academic Excellence – Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) and NICE Framework requirements to show support and alignment with federal and industry needs and standards.

 

Do you want to join America’s cybersecurity workforce? Check out our cyber degree programs in Network Security, Network Engineering or Technology Forensics.

The University of Advancing Technology is gearing up to host another CodeDay, a worldwide, 24-hour event that brings student programmers, artists, designers, musicians, actors and learners together to build apps and games. The fun begins at noon on May 25th and ends at noon on the 26th.

 

Students of all skill levels are welcome. CodeDay hosts workshops and connects students with mentors to help them bring their ideas to life.

CodeDay

 

Why host CodeDay at UAT? "UAT's mission is aligned with CodeDay's mission: to give the next generation of technical and creative minds the opportunity to hone their skills, learn something new, and apply it to a real project," said Caitlin Derr, CodeDay Phoenix organizer and InfoArmor security analyst.

 

Do you want to help students fall in love with coding? Sign up as a volunteer today!

"Professionals have the opportunity to inspire the next generation of creators. You can take an idea and break it down into steps the team can follow to make it a reality. Share your skills building and designing, writing code, testing and debugging, and most important: problem-solving," Caitlin said.

 

Are you ready to take your coding skills to the next level and prepare for a future-proof career as a programmer? Check out UAT's Advancing Computer Science degree program. 

University of Advancing Technology May 2019 honorary doctorate recipient Dr. Rebecca Wynn likes to go fast. As the Head of Information Security and Data Protection Officer (DPO) at Matrix Medical Network, Dr. Wynn leads the overall security strategy, security architecture development and security programs. She is always working on multiple projects at the same time, finding new ways to leverage cutting-edge risk management tools, machine learning and artificial intelligence to narrow the gap between a specific event detected on the network and first responders receiving actionable data.

 

                          Dr. Rebecca Wynn 

 

But she doesn’t always get to go fast. It took her more than six months to get her first job in cybersecurity. When a friend told her about a possible position opening up, Dr. Wynn reached out to the director of information security at that company. She had to keep in touch for several months until the job finally opened up. Then she went through a lengthy interview process and made it on a short list of potential hires.

 

During that waiting period, Dr. Wynn spent her time learning and studying everything about the industry and information security. “I wanted to be ready to be a corporate asset immediately,” she said.

 

Women have a long road to climb in the cybersecurity world, and Dr. Wynn doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. That’s why she recommends that women stay on their A game because certain people will always be looking and waiting for their female colleagues to fail.

 

In order to get infosec jobs, women have to apply for them. Dr. Wynn has noticed that women routinely do not apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Men, on the other hand, “just go for it.” Dr. Wynn wants more women to do and think the same. “Stick to your dreams and go for them. Good things will follow with confidence,” she said.

 

What if you’re a student and not exactly sure what you want to do or how to find a job? Dr. Wynn has some homework for you. “Find out what sector energizes you and keeps you interested,” she said. Make a short list. Then reach out to alumni, members of the cybersecurity community or professionals who work at your target companies in your target positions. Try to set up 30-minute calls or meetings with at least five different people to get as much knowledge as possible. “Follow up with a thank you email, and always keep in contact,” she added.

 

Everybody makes mistakes and encounters people they don’t particularly like throughout their careers. Dr. Wynn makes mistakes daily, and working with people who aren’t “type A go-getters” can be challenging for her. “The goal is to keep level headed and treat everyone with the same respect and professionalism,” she said.

 

Dr. Wynn’s favorite part about her job is being able to go home at the end of the day and knowing that she made a difference. She believes that talents develop naturally when they are nurtured, so she recommends seeking out companies that appreciate hard work and talent and offer the opportunity to move up. “Never settle for not being the best you can be,” she said. Dr. Wynn sure doesn’t.

 

Do you want to become a cybersecurity thought leader like Dr. Wynn? Check out our network security degree program today!

We need more women in tech because we need more people in tech. Arizona has 7,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs. The U.S. has hundreds of thousands of vacant technology jobs, which cost the economy billions of dollars. So, how do we attract more female computer scientists, data analysts, software engineers and infosec professionals?

 

Communicating the value and need for soft skills in STEM fields might convince some women who feel like they don’t have a natural talent for technology to consider careers in tech. “I think some women see STEM careers as being more about hard math and science than the current and future reality of tech jobs being more about creativity and collaboration,” said Dr. Dave Bolman, the University of Advancing Technology provost and member of the Arizona Technology Council board of directors.

 

Journalists, politicians and CEOs often lament the shortage of skilled technology workers. But in reality, a large contributing factor to the tech talent shortage is a lack of soft skills such as communication, teamwork, creativity, organization and flexibility.

 

The All-Female Cybersecurity Council of Arizona Board

 

“Thanks to socialization, women often have an already-developed-and-tested ability for understanding things from someone else’s perspective, predicting needs and working in teams,” said Haylee Mills, a senior cybersecurity engineer at Charles Schwab and the director of workforce development for the Cybersecurity Council of Arizona. “All of these things are what a DevOps methodology attempts to foster by focusing on user stories, how to develop for the user and how to do that as a team,” Haylee said.

 

Emphasizing soft skills upfront in technology job descriptions and the hiring process can attract more women to technology jobs, but in order to retain them, employers need to recognize their contributions. “I know many talented women who would thrive in tech who have just never been given credit for their ability to troubleshoot, organize and solve problems,” Haylee said.

 

Another way to attract and retain top female tech talent is to “focus on building things that people and communities value and make the world a better place for everybody,” Dave said. If research indicates that women naturally gravitate toward careers that help people over careers that work with things, then showing them how technology improves people’s lives can help peak their natural interests. Companies can also do more to bridge the gap between the people who make technology and the end users.

 

UAT Digital Media Professor Dapzury Valenzuela

 

University of Advancing Technology Professor Dapzury Valenzuela also points to a lack of female mentors accessible to young girls. Organizations such as Girls in Tech Phoenix are helping bridge the gap with formal mentorship programs and fun mentoring meetups. “There are also a lot of co-working spaces advocating for more female entrepreneurs such as Co+Hoots Founder Jenny Poon,” Dapzury said. “These cohorts and collaborative spaces are helping to foster awareness and providing education to aspiring and established entrepreneurs alike,” Dapzury added.

 

People—young girls included—like and remember stories. “One way to get girls excited about tech is to share stories of women like Marion Croak, who invented VOIP and holds more than 135 patents, and Lisa Gelobter, who invited animation on the Internet,” Dave said.

 

We need more buy-in from teachers, principals and parents for extra-curricular activities in STEM. “The more we can join forces with academia, industry and parents, the better prepared our students will be when entering the workforce,” Dapzury said. Haylee also suggests reaching out to and collaborating with high school girls who have "an affinity for art, anime and gaming." 

 

{% video_player "embed_player" overrideable=False, type='scriptV4', hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, width='640', height='320', player_id='9106474717', style='' %}

 

That’s why Dapzury helped launch Immersive Teaching STEAM Academy (ITSA) that teaches young girls and boys 3D modeling, robotics, game development, VR and coding through a fun and exciting project-based learning model. “When you expose children to hands-on STEM activities at an early age, they are more likely to connect those learning outcomes to possible career paths in tech,” she said. 

 

We’re headed in the right direction. “There is a large amount of talent in women, who may not have originally thought of tech or cybersecurity careers as an option, trying to reskill right now,” Halyee said. And every time Dave attends a middle school robotics competition, overnight game jam or science fair, he notes “at least half of the participants are energetic girls with confidence and great ideas.”

 

Do you want to educate and excite the next generation of computer scientists and cybersecurity analysts? Check out our jobs board today!

 

More than 14,000 people apply for Blizzard’s summer internship program. They hire around 100 interns. That’s a 0.71% acceptance rate. How do we know this information? Because we tweeted at their careers account. Twitter is an invaluable game dev job search tool. For example, Professor Clark’s nephew got his last three jobs at AAA studios from Twitter! In such a competitive industry, job seekers need to employ multiple tools and job search strategies to succeed.

 

UAT Students take on GDC 2019.

 

Another excellent resource for job-seeking game developers is the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and other conferences. “Do some research before you go to the conference,” UAT Game Development Professor Adam Moore said. Find out what positions each company is hiring for and what type of games they are working on. Don’t walk up to booths and ask questions that you can find the answers to online. “You don’t want to ask them what they’re looking for; you should already know. Talk about the skills that you have and the projects that you’ve worked on that show that you’re a good fit for their company,” Adam said.

 

Watch How to Crush It at GDC on our Facebook. 

 

UAT Game Programming Professor Mark Feldman is also a big proponent of IRL (in real life) events and conferences. Mark got his last job at Qualcomm by connecting with a tech recruiter at Siggraph, an annual computer graphics conference. He also attended Casual Connect Europe last summer. He traveled all the way across the pond to connect with Arizona-based TBN Studios Founder Jake Simpson, who presented on how they worked with Unity VR to create tools for Ready Player One.

 

 

The International Game Developers Association has a lot of helpful resources with 150 chapters worldwide. The Phoenix IGDA chapter is very active IRL and on Discord. They get together once a month to network and playtest. For more info on IGDA, reach out to Adam.

 

While a lot of truth exists in the saying, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” you still need a lot of talent, drive and dedication to make it in the gaming industry. A polished portfolio is the most important piece of the game dev job search pie. “My biggest mistake was not having a good enough art portfolio at graduation,” admitted Blake Bjerke, a University of Advancing Technology alumnus and environment artist at Cyan, Inc, the makers of Myst. It took Blake awhile to find his artist niche in environment art. “It’s important to find your focus and really start to practice and work it up into a great portfolio before you graduate," Blake said.

 

Some of Blake's work on the world Maray for the project Obduction. 

 

If you do 2D mobile art, then own it. If you want to be a character artist, then do not clutter your portfolio with level design or environment art pieces. Professor Feldman also recommends matching the game genres and styles in your portfolio to the style of the studio where you are applying. Just like you tailor your resume for specific roles, you can tailor your portfolio for specific studios.

 

Most hiring managers want to see at least four or five game-ready assets in a junior game developer’s portfolio. Include side projects to showcase your passion and commitment to your craft. Make sure you also explain how you did what you did. Help hiring managers understand your creative process and design thinking skills.

 

If you want to be a game developer, then you should make video games. “It’s one thing to create a piece of art or a level in a vacuum, but it’s something else entirely to actually develop it for a game,” Blake said. That’s why he encourages students at all levels to constantly contribute to projects.” Projects teach you about the constraints you’ll face, performance concerns, production pipelines, how art affects level design and more,” Blake said.

 

Not all game dev career paths are linear. “Being flexible is important,” Blake said. For example, UAT alumna Holly Sheppard started her career as a 3D artist making simulations and models at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. After working at an Arizona-based indie studio for a few years, she accepted at job at Scientific Games, where she works on slot machine games.

 

UAT alumnus Garrett Reuscher works as an educational application developer at Western University of Health Sciences, where he uses his skills in augmented reality and virtual reality to make training apps for medical students. UAT alumnus Charles Cozart started his career as a quality analyst at E-Line Media, where he moved into a gameplay engineer role after seven months! And UAT Game Art & Animation student Shelby Epley just accepted a job as a marketing assistant at the super cool Arizona startup SURF in the entertainment and advertising space.

 

Game developers have tons of transferable skills in UX design, technical project management, graphic design, animation and more!

 

Are you up for the game dev career challenge? Check out our Game Programming bachelor's degree today!

Somehow, “You’re hired!” sounds better than the proverbial “Thank you for your service.” Veterans sacrifice a lot to serve and protect our country—time with their families, hobbies, careers, and sometimes their health or even their lives. After they’ve served, they face a big decision: What’s next? One viable option is a career in technology.

 

Veterans are known for their work ethic. They have to make decisions in hectic, fast-moving environments and adapt quickly to changing technology, weaponry and methodology. Although the stakes aren’t as high at a tech startup or SaaS company, passionate people who work quickly and have discipline tend to rise to the top.

 

Knowing the types of people who succeed in the tech world and working on dev teams with several veterans at UAT made think that tech is a great fit for vets.

 

 

My friend Christopher Koon confirmed my theory. Christopher worked as a Radio Frequency Transmissions Systems Technician during his time with the United States Air Force. “That is a lot of words to basically say I worked on radios and satellites,” he said. Christopher’s time fixing technology inspired him to want to learn how to make technology.

 

Before Christopher joined the military, he questioned his intelligence and capability. “I got poor grades and had a hard time focusing,” he admitted. “But during my service, I learned leadership, attention to detail, teamwork, critical thinking and self-motivation,” he said. Now Christopher is a 4.0 student, pursuing two bachelor’s degrees and constantly pushing to be the best version of himself.

 

“I knew I wanted to learn from instructors with industry experience without sacrificing anything in terms of possible connections or the freedom to choose my own path,” Christopher said. He talked to a few developers and spent a lot of time on Google, considering the pros and cons of schools with game development programs. Ultimately, he chose to study game programming and computer science at UAT.

 

Christopher felt a similar sense of community at UAT that he felt in the Air Force, and he was impressed by the project-based curriculum and one-on-one attention from faculty and staff. “I have created several games that I am proud of, and I’ve made some great friends at UAT,” Christopher said.

 

@adobelife

 

In order to compete for top-notch tech talent, technology companies and startups also put a lot of thought into culture and community, something many veterans miss when they leave the service. For example, Adobe has an entire Instagram account dedicated to company culture. They also strive to hire veterans and celebrate them once they get there.

 

Christopher emphasized how much he learned about teamwork during his time with the Air Force, where he had to rely on his fellow service members and really got to know them on a personal level. Similarly, when you work on a dev team building software or making a video game, everyone has to work together to make it through sprints and ensure the code is bug free.

 

Many of Christopher’s friends joined the Air Force because they wanted to make the world a better place. That desire also drew Christopher to tech. “Global warming, world hunger, world peace and even medicine can all be solved, fixed or improved through the use of technology,” Christopher said. Technology is in everything from cars to coffee makers, and it isn’t slowing down. “Tech will constantly propel mankind forward,” Christopher said. And he wants to go along for the ride.

 

One day Christopher would like to get a job as a gameplay engineer at Amazon Game Studios, but right now he is focusing on graduating and shipping some indie titles.

 

 

Do you want to earn a future-proof technology degree—or two—from UAT like Christopher? Reach out to our Military Liaison Tim Kane today: tkane[at]uat.edu! (He is awesome.)

For the first 15 years of Lynn DiGiacomo’s illustrious career in the gaming industry, she was the lone woman on the dev team. Then in 1995, she accepted a job at Sony Imagesoft, where she met Holliday Horton, the art director for the leading franchise title NFL GameDay. “Holliday paved the way with pipelines and processes for nearly all of the professional franchise titles that Sony produced at the time.” Working with Holliday spurred a streak of inspiration and innovation in Lynn. Now, she is surrounded by inspiring female game developers at the University of Advancing Technology, where she teaches game art and animation.

 

 Lynn (center) and other UAT faculty. Art by UAT alumna Ashley Casarrubias.

 

Lynn worked on several other franchise titles and a few original IP titles for extreme games during her tenure at Sony. “During this time, Holliday was a consistent presence and leader in innovation,” Lynn said. Holliday’s support and mentorship helped Lynn climb the ranks to become a key innovator in Sony’s pipelines and processes too. Then, with Sony’s support, Holliday launched RedZone Games, but Lynn and Holliday remained friends.

 

After 7 years at Sony, Lynn moved back to Phoenix to join Arizona’s leading game dev studio Rainbow Studios (formerly THQ), where she did a little bit of everything. She worked on exciting titles such as Untamed and Reflex and used her skills in animation, modeling, rigging, concept art, pipeline optimization, tools integration and project management.

 

Rainbow Studios

 

Lynn never forgot Holliday’s role in her professional and career development, which inspired her to start teaching. “Now we both enjoy opportunities to give back to the community through instruction and mentoring,” she said.

 

The 2018 viral article about the toxic culture of sexism at Riot Games sparked candid conversations online and on campus at UAT. Throughout Lynn’s 40-year career, she has heard many stories of injustice. She believes the key to professional success is how one responds to these circumstances. Lynn recommends “having a voice for positive change and ethics when needed, speaking to the circumstances with integrity and positive influence in a professional manner,” she said. Lynn recognizes that speaking up doesn’t always lead to change. “If you speak up and are not satisfied with the outcome, then you can always look at other options,” she said.

 

 

Lynn encourages female developers to embrace the power of being a woman in a male-dominated industry. “Do not lose who you are in the chaos of competing. Know that each woman has a unique perspective,” she said. Femininity is only part of the equitation, but Lynn views it as an underestimated advantage because a lot of people in the industry do not understand it fully. “The best career advice I can give female developers is to just be you and enjoy your journey,” she said.

 

Want to learn how to make video games with Lynn? Check out our Game Art & Animation degree program today!

We seek out and partner with top tech execs all over the Valley. In fact, we’re so committed to advancing tech in Arizona that we started Perimeter83, a one-of-a-kind training for businesses and technology startup coworking space nestled right inside the UAT campus. 

 

What does that mean for our students?

 

Perimeter83 attracts tech entrepreneurs that utilize the entire UAT campus for meetings, scrum sprints and day-to-day operations. These technophiles have access to technology and in-house talent for production, development and mentorship. Along with being surrounded by like-minded tech entrepreneurs, Perimeter83 hosts forward thinking events from some of the valley’s top technology experts.  You can learn about where tech is going in 2019 at our next event; AZ Tech Forecast 2019.  This interactive panel discussion will explore the technology forecast and trends we can expect to see in Arizona in the coming year. Our panelists will feature:

 

Dr. David Bolman, Provost & Chief Academic Officer, University of Advancing Technology

Steve Zylstra, President & CEO, Arizona Technology Council

Chris Camacho, President & CEO, Greater Phoenix Economic Council

 

Discussion will highlight goals for education and economic leadership focused on keeping talent in Arizona and building our technology workforce. Our panelists' goal, as well at UAT’s, is to see Phoenix become the new Tech Valley. Representing three growth-oriented sectors (higher education, technology and economic development) in the Phoenix Metro area, each of our panelists brings decades of experience to this candid talk and Q&A session in UAT’s theater.

This gives our students and the public a unique opportunity to hear the insight, contribute to the discussion and take away some solid forecasting ideas about Arizona's 2019 tech horizon and beyond not to mention networking with Arizona’s top tech experts. 

 

When:

April 16^th, 2019 2:00pm to 3:30pm

Where:

University of Advancing Technology Theater
2625 W. Baseline Road, Tempe AZ 85283

 

Why:

Learn about where tech is going in 2019 and network with the Valley’s top tech experts

 

RSVP:

https://perimeter83aztechforecast2019.eventbrite.com

University of Advancing Technology alumnus Raymond Blackwood makes software that runs colleges. He geeks out about solving higher education problems through technology to ensure that colleges and universities of all sizes have the tools and processes necessary to manage student lifecycles as efficiently as possible. He also travels 40 weeks out of the year, collects Star Wars comics and takes his boat out on the water as much as he can.

 

                                           Raymond Blackwood

 

During his time at UAT, Raymond invented cool stuff, made movies with lightsabers and dabbled in hacking. He learned a lot about how to work with teams, communicate effectively and be open minded. Most importantly, he learned “how to use technology as a means to make people’s lives better.”

After graduating with his Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia, Raymond got a job in the UAT IT Department. Not exactly what he had in mind after focusing his studies on digital animation. But Raymond had a knack for improving and automating processes. He spent 13 years at UAT, where he managed a lot of technology projects and a lot of data.

 

Raymond’s experience in the UAT IT Department prepared him for his next career move at Campus Management Corp, where he is now the Vice President of Product Management. Raymond has continued to work on cool tech projects at Campus Management, where he collaborated with a team from Microsoft to release Dynamics 365 Higher Education Accelerator, which gives institutions access to an open source data model to rapidly build solutions for students, faculty, courses, test scores and more.

 

         CampusNexus Occupation

 

Campus Management encourages Raymond’s passion for automation. He created an application for students and advisors to identify jobs that students qualify for based on their program and major. He also helped build RENEE, an artificial intelligence chat bot and virtual advisor who engages students through text messaging, notifies them when important milestones are approaching and captures student feedback.

 

Raymond has learned a lot throughout his illustrious career in high tech. “It takes more than creating a great product; you have to convince people to use it too,” he said. He always recommends “testing the market’s appetite” and making sure that revenue goals and costs align. He also learned the hard way not to hire people just because you are friends.

 

Raymond’s advice to current students? “Enjoy the process of going to and being in college.”

 

Do you want to learn how to improve processes in a technology environment like Raymond? Check out our exciting technology degree programs today.

The University of Advancing Technology is honored to be one of 8 local businesses recognized by the Greater Phoenix Chamber for its contributions to the Greater Phoenix business community as a 2019 IMPACT Awards winner in the Economic Driver category.

 

Since 1987, the Greater Phoenix Chamber IMPACT Awards has honored two businesses—one with fewer than 250 employees and one with more than 250 employees—in four categories: Community Champion, Exceptional Innovator, Arizona Advocate and Economic Driver.

 

As the Economic Driver winner, UAT was recognized for "substantially contributing to the vitality of the Greater Phoenix community by creating new jobs and opportunities, advancing a new industry or revitalizing a business sector or neighborhood."

 

 

UAT is undoubtedly committed to building the Arizona technology workforce. "UAT brings more than 70 of its students from out of state, transforming them into world-class technologists and then linking them to Arizona business," UAT Provost Dr. Dave Bolman said. Since the University was founded in Arizona and only has one location on the Tempe-Phoenix border, we are able to respond in real time to the needs of the Arizona technology community.

 

The creation of Perimeter83, an on-campus coworking space and workforce accelerator, exemplifies the University's efforts to grow and retain local talent. "Since its launch in 2018, Perimeter83 has supported the launch, training and services needs of Arizona technology startups. "The result is increasing the talent pool for technology locally along with supporting the Arizona economy through a unique platform for innovation that blurs the lines of higher education and locally grown tech startups," Dr. Bolman said.

 

Most people don't realize that UAT has more coders under our roof than almost anywhere else in Arizona. As a small, private college that focuses solely on advancing and emerging technology disciplines, UAT generates top-notch tech talent that comes from out of state and disproportionality stays local to fill the workforce talent gap in STEM areas.

 

Furthermore, our innovative grads advance emerging technologies in spaces such as cybersecurity, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, IoT, smart cities, wearable technology, space tech and blockchain at the local level. And we do it faster than anyone else. Students can graduate at normal UAT pace with their bachelor's degree in 2.66 years.

 

 

We welcome all Arizona technology community members, entrepreneurs, small business owners, potential students or curious folks to visit us in Tempe. Learn more about our technology-infused campus or schedule a tour here.

Robots and space exploration always fascinated Lynne Nethken, but she chose to study business anyways. “I didn’t know a career in robotics was an option for me,” Lynne said.

 

 Robotics Engineer Lynne Nethken

 

After high school, Lynne enrolled in a business degree program. She felt bored. “And bored students don’t always get good grades or go to class.” So, she took some time off. She bounced around between jobs and worked in healthcare administration and tried the business school thing one more time until she decided to listen to her gut.

 

“I had this feeling that in the next 20 to 40 years, space exploration is going to be insane, and I wanted to be a part of it,” she said. She finally found the confidence to enroll in a robotics engineering degree program, where she flourished. She got to build cool stuff and broaden her skillset from day one.

 

“Watches, rockets, cars and coffee makers are all comprised of mechanical, electrical and software engineering, so when you study robotics engineering, you’re able to work on a wide variety of projects.” The ability to pursue passion projects and solve serious problems encouraged her to keep going.

 

She started out building robotic hands with Ardunio and Raspberry Pi. She developed wearable technology that used machine vision to help the visually impaired navigate their environment and made robotic sign language gloves for the hearing impaired. As a test engineer at Orbital ATK, Lynne developed ruggedized, consumer-grade flight systems data recorder prototype for LEO satellites. She also got to work on the eco cart project to convert a 2016 Chevy Camaro into a hybrid vehicle.

 

Then one day a friend asked Lynne if she wanted to participate in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition. A big fan of SpaceX, Lynne was in. Their first attempt, however, didn’t go so well. “Our design was too complex,” she admitted. The next year, Lynne stepped up as team captain and drove all over Arizona, recruiting a team of 100 students from four different Arizona universities.

 

 

The AZ Hyperloop Team had 11 months to design a new form of transportation, while juggling school and part-time jobs. “We lived in the lab, but we loved it.” That year, the team placed 8^th out of 1,300 teams from around the world. Lynne now serves as a mentor for the team, which still competes today.

 

Now Lynne works as a robotics engineer at the small Arizona startup 10 Imaging. The 10 Imaging team works out of Perimeter83, the coworking space on UAT’s campus. Their goal is to “bring awareness to every-day devises through the integration of artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing,” Lynne said. “It’s pretty cool stuff.”

 

Even though Lynne has a successful career in robotics and a highly marketable, technical skillset, she still deals with imposter syndrome. “Some women may feel like there’s no place for them in this male-dominated field or that they won’t be able to work on projects that they care about, but what’s great about robotics is that once you learn the fundamentals, you are equipped with the skills to pursue projects and solve problems that you’re passionate about,” she explained.

 

The desire to attract more women and under-represented groups to robotics careers inspired Lynne to launch Robot Factory, a hands-on educational robotics program for everybody, including middle schoolers, high schoolers, young children, parents and grandparents.

 

{% video_player "embed_player" overrideable=False, type='scriptV4', hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, width='640', height='360', player_id='7981840608', style='' %}

 

Robot Factory students build robotic hands, Mars rovers that use machine vision to navigate unfamiliar terrain and Harry Potter wands that can turn on lights and TVs. But they also learn how to be an innovator.

 

“There’s this perception that innovation comes from a random stroke of genius or a eureka moment, and it can, but there’s also a very systematic process that you can follow to develop solutions to everyday problems,” Lynne said.

 

Sign up for Robot Factory STEM classes here.

 

Learn more about the University of Advancing Technology's Robotics and Embedded Systems degree program here.

Right now, there are 7,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in Arizona alone. Nationally, we need an additional 400,000 security analysts, network engineers, vulnerability researchers, pen testers and other professionals to fight cybercrime and protect data. The Obama Administration estimated that the US would have 1.4 million computer science jobs by 2020—but only 400,000 computer science graduates to fill them.

 “The AZ tech community, like the tech community at large, is facing a huge talent shortage gap,” Carine Dieude, an entrepreneur and Arizona tech community advocate. “It’s not an easy career. It is crucial to provide support to a wider demographic interested in tech,” she added. That’s exactly what she is doing at Girls in Tech Phoenix.

 

Girls in Tech PHX partnered with a local Microsoft store to offer free YouthSpark Workshops for girls and boys ages 10–12. Students who attend these hands-on workshops learn about robotics, coding, public speaking, mixed reality and videography.

 

Middle schoolers and high schoolers who are ready to dive deeper into robotics, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things can check out Robot Factory. Robot Factory is an after-school program for students who want to break into the black box, build circuit boards, tinker with Raspberry Pi and learn real-world embedded systems programming skills with AZ Hyperloop Team Co-Founder Lynne Nethken!

 

{% video_player "embed_player" overrideable=False, type='scriptV4', hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, width='640', height='360', player_id='7459819297', style='' %}

Robot Factory

 

Lynne works as a robotics engineer at 10 Imaging, a technology company that brings awareness to everyday devices. The 10 Imaging team recently moved into UAT’s on-campus coworking space Perimeter83. UAT Robotics & Embedded Systems students have the opportunity to help Lynne with Robot Factory's STEM classes.

 

UAT also helps hundreds of Girl Scouts earn coding badges every summer. (And UAT faculty and staff buy all the cookies in the spring. UAT Bursar Renne Grauberger has the goods.) But how do we get more college students and working adults interested in computer science, keep them engaged and then get them ready for careers?

 

{% video_player "embed_player" overrideable=False, type='scriptV4', hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, width='1280', height='624', player_id='7459835363', style='' %}

 

Perimeter83 helps to close the gap between students and industry by bringing industry to campus. Insight Vice President of Global Business Transformation and IoT SME Curt Cornum just signed up for a designated desk space in the P83 Study. He brings an infectious energy to campus. 

 

UAT professors proactively partner with industry on real-world projects, which students can often earn credit for as a special topics course. For example, Dr. Jill Coddington’s computer science and artificial intelligence students are collaborating on an AI transcription project with a neurosurgery organization. “There are fun challenges as some of the medical terminology is not standard mainstream English words used every day,” Dr. Coddington said.

 

Carine and the rest of the fabulous Girls in Tech PHX team do a lot to engage and support the next generation of devs while they are in school and after they graduate. “Mentorship is not an everyday activity…it is a support system we can call on when we need help, advice or a new skill set,” Carine said. Girls in Tech PHX makes it easy for young developers and computer science students to connect with professionals who are already killing it in their fields online and in person.

 

University of Advancing Technology Provost Dr. Dave Bolman has also been thinking about adults who want to get into tech (or would be a good fit and don’t even know it) but already have degrees in business, communications, history, biology or psychology. “If you have a degree, you likely already know how to think, problem solve and bring ideas together in ways that make sense to people. You simply need the technical skills involved with securing information and writing software,” Dave said.

 

 

UAT’s innovative graduate and certificate programs address the lack of education options available to individuals who have degrees but want to retool their knowledge. Students can complete tech-intensive, 8-week modules such as Cloud Computing, Big Data, Algorithms and Patterns, Social Engineering, Information Assurance or Change Management as stand-alone units or combine multiple modules to earn a master’s degree.

 

Want to fight the tech talent gap and future-proof your career? Apply today!

Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and nanotechnology will transform everything from doctor visits to the legislative process to how we deliver goods and respond to disasters in the not-so-distant future. The climate continues to change. Seven and a half million people live here. Millennials buy too much toast.

 

 

Dr. Natasha Vita-More has been studying the future for more than three decades. She studies “what people are doing, what they are buying and how they are saving.” Or in our case today, not saving.

 

Future studies is all about watching the trends, following the marketplace and then adjusting the tools. What are those tools?

 

• Systems Thinking
• Systems Analysis
• Scenario Development
• Qualitative Data
• Quantitative Data
• Forecasting
• Backcasting

 

“Studying the future is crucial because we are going to live in the future. The future is tomorrow,” she said. The purpose of doing all this forecasting and analyzing is to help us prepare for the future—or futures.

 

“There’s not one future. There are many different futures because there are many different possibilities,” Dr. Vita-More explained. That’s why she approaches future studies from multiple perspectives and advocates for collaboration between scholars and scientists, “not just from the social sciences, but also from the hard sciences, business, technology, economics, philosophy and religious studies.”

 

Bots may have flooded Facebook feeds with fake news during the 2016 election and contributed to the fraught political divide in the United States. But what if an artificial intelligence machine could use algorithms and analyze datasets to determine the most favorable electoral and legislative outcomes for the people? “Imagine legislation based on voting rather than career politicians,” Dr. Vita-More suggested.

 

Robots are already using AI to analyze data from past operations to improve surgical accuracy and success rates. Soon even general practitioners will have access to AI’s transformative applications in the form of predictive analytics and pattern recognition to proactively fight obesity, diabetes or heart disease. It could lead to new discoveries in dementia and Alzheimer's research. We can explore questions like: “How can we back up memory to preserve someone’s identity?”

 

   Image: Ike

 

“Transportation is always changing,” Dr. Vita-More said. One Chinese company is developing a drone with a load capacity of 40 to 60 tons.China also has a track-less SMART train. And a self-driving trucking startup just raised $52 million. 

 

AI is clearly already disrupting multiple industries, but Dr. Vita-More suspects that nanotech’s day is on the horizon. She remembers hanging out with friends in the 90s, debating whether nanotech or artificial intelligence would arrive first. “AI just happened to come first,” she said.

 

Dr. Vita-More suggested that nanotechnology may enter the business sector as a tool for mitigating extreme nature. “Imagine nanoparticles forming swarms to put out fires or clean up oil spills,” she said.

 

Natasha also recognizes the alarm and potential negative side of AI. She referenced the open letter signed by Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and more than 8,000 others on the need for AI research. But according to Dr. Vita-More, the letter was also “a warning about existential risk…the destruction of our species” that would come from strong AI, or AI that “has self-awareness, learns from its own mistakes and is able to increase its own cognizance.”

 

{% video_player "embed_player" overrideable=False, type='scriptV4', hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, width='1920', height='1080', player_id='7441233080', style='' %}

 

But don’t worry too much. Dr. Vita-More believes that the human instinct for survival is “so strong that our species would not allow another life form to manipulate us and use us as batteries or fodder.”

 

Want to ask serious questions, study the future and learn how to lead the technology teams of tomorrow with Professor Vita-More? Earn your master’s degree in technology leadership at UAT.

Students in math classes across the world often ask, "When am I ever going to use this?" No one asks that question in Professor Heather Peters' Business Math class at the University of Advancing Technology, where students learn life skills that they can actually use. 

 

 

"I wish I had this class when I was 18," Heather said. She remembers having to call her mom when attempting to fill out the W4 form for her first job. "I had no idea what I was doing!" 

 

Heather uses different teaching techniques and real-world simulations to keep students engaged. It works. "Students are actually excited about mortgages and the stock market," Heather said.

 

 

For example, students pick a real house on the market, research different loan options and calculate the mortgage, interest and affordability based off starting salaries in their chosen fields. "It's really eye-opening for most students, especially art students who pick mcmansions." 

 

To help visual learners grasp budgeting, Heather kicks off the semester with a "bean & budgeting" activity. Each student gets 20 beans to spend on housing, personal care, food, transportation, recreation, insurance, etc. "Then life happens." Students lose seven beans and have to make tough decisions about how to allocate the remaining 13 beans. "It forces students to reevaluate how they spend their money and what they value," Heather said. 

 

 

Business Math students also learn how to do their taxes, invest in the stock market, pay off their student loans and write a check. 

 

Heather invites all students—not just Business Technology students who have to take it—to sign up for Business Math. "It will save you from having to call your mom during tax season!"

 

Thinking about college but not sure if you can afford it? Check out our free tuition net price calculator. 

 

 

 

 

 

Embark on a quest to find your people. No longer feel lost in the crowd. At University of Advancing Technology, you will find fellow geeks who speak programming, cyber, gaming, esports, and cosplay.

Join us on 1/25/2019 and EXPERIENCE UATx. 

See why we believe it is the right choice for for future students interested in technology. Potential students have the opportunity to meet the faculty, tour the campus, play in our technology labs, and stay overnight in our dorm. 

 

Interested in attending UATx?

 

RSVP now to reserve your spot and experience what it is like to be a student at the University of Advancing Technology. Call Admissions at 1-800-658-5744 to get started. 

Energize your passion for all things tech.

 

*All participants in The UAT Experience event must complete the waiver with emergency contact and parent or guardian information. Registration is limited to prospective students only and the first 50 participants at each event.

Garrett Reuscher gets a kick out of surprising dental hygienists when he refers to his teeth by their number. Garrett has picked up a lot of medical terminology since he started working as an educational applications developer at a Western University of Health Sciences university, where he develops games and simulations to train medical students.

 

Garrett primarily works with Unity, a tool he learned while earning two bachelor’s degrees in game programming and advancing computer science at the University of Advancing Technology. He works with a team to make apps and games for a variety of platforms, including WebGL, mobile phones, the HTC Vive, the AR platform Vuforia and the Microsoft HoloLens. He also gets to experiment with exiting emerging technologies such as haptic gloves and 3D printers.

 

 

“No matter what project I’m working on, I always learn new technical skills and new tidbits of medical knowledge,” Garrett said. While working on his most recent eye simulator project, Garrett learned that the eye has six different muscles. The project, a browser application that emulates the muscles and nerves that control the human eye, helps students understand how each muscle affects eye movement.

 

What’s next for Garrett? He is hoping for a virtual reality project: “Either a program for identifying surgical tools or an app to view Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) files in VR.” He also makes time for his passion projects, including a Pokémon fan game and strategy board game.

 

 

Garrett gained a lot of technical and programming skills during his time at UAT, and he learned a lot about teamwork and SCRUM in his game production studio classes. “Having courses that are structured like real-world work environments is the next best thing to an internship,” Garrett said. But he also appreciated the general education classes. “I’ve had a much easier time with public speaking and presentations after all of the professional development courses and workshops available at UAT.”

 

Garrett’s advice for current students? “Push yourself to do extra. Don’t stagnate. And make connections.” He remembers professors and staff members encouraging him to network while he was in school. He was hesitant at first, but then realized it works.

 

“Within the first six months at my job, I recommended one of my fellow UAT grads to come work with me. Had we never met, he might still be job searching.”

 

Do you want to learn how to make mobile apps and games that shape the future of education like Garrett? You can learn more about our Game Programming degree program here.

Most college applications require an essay, which can intimitate and discourage some, but that's good news for go-getters like you! Following a few best practices will help you write a college application essay like a boss (and maybe even earn a scholarship and save a lot of money).

University of Advancing Technology Assistant Registrar Emma Cahill's first piece of advice: "Brag about yourself!" UAT faculty and staff want to know what you're proud of and what gets you excited, but we can't get to know you if you keep all of your accomplishments to yourself. Did you build a computer when you were 9? Did you start a STEM club at your school? Did you maintain a 4.0 GPA while holding down a part-time job and playing two sports? Did you win a robotics competition?

 

Cahill, who has reviewed hundreds of college applications, emphasized the importance of being personal. We look for students who not only exceed academically but are also well-rounded. "Keep in mind that you are competing with others, which is why you need to make your application memorable," she said. Did you overcome hardship? Did you help raise your siblings or pay bills? Did other students bully you? Was math class really hard for you? How did you respond to those challenging situations?

 

Proofreading is imperative. Essays filled with grammatical mistakes make it look like you do not care. Students should always check a second and third time for spelling and punctuation errors. Ask a parent, friend or teacher to proofread. Another set of eyes always helps!

 

Challenge yourself to go beyond good grammar. Avoid filler words like "very" and empty words like "interesting." Replace passive voice (i.e. is, am, was, were) with action verbs. For example, "That class was my favorite" becomes "That class taught me to embrace the uncomfortable feeling of peers picking apart my writing. It made me a better writer."

 

Cahill also recommends making a plan and sticking to it. “It is almost guaranteed that an essay written in two hours will not contain all of the information that an applicant wants to include," she said.

 

Planning and proofreading are helpful tools, but if students really want to impress the review committee, they need to showcase their passion and personality. At UAT, the review committee considers may factors when evaluating applications, but your "why"—demonstrated in your essay—matters more than your GPA or test scores.

 

Apply today and wow us with your essay-writing skills!

Think With The Google: 2018's Year in Search

Even if you're not interested in marketing and advertising, the one newsletter (aka: boring email in your inbox you don't remember signing up for) worth checking out once a year is the Think With Google: Year-End Search Trends issue.

As a digital marketer and self-proclaimed Geek, I think the most important takeaway from this is how search continues to evolve from several specific keywords to conversational and personal queries. The other takeaway is the fact that Google is now 20 years old. Wow, what did we do 21 years ago? How did we survive?

 

 

But let's focus on the first takeaway about the evolving search trends and how they're changing. For example, back when Google’s voice started cracking and it became more and more awkward at family gatherings because it would wear Tool t-shirts and Doc Martens, users would enter searches with specific keywords such as: Ice Cube movie 1990s. However, today Google is evolving and becoming our assistant, not just some weird website that we used to “Get Lucky” on. Users are searching for information in their cars while driving, multi-tasking and using voice commands for immediate answers. Now those simple words turn into more elaborate and specific questions such as: Hey Google, at what point did Ice Cube stop being gangster and start making Disney movies?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forget typing, just talk to Google, and when it continues rebelling against the man by dropping out of college and “traveling abroad,” remind Google that it will be cut off as soon as its visa runs out and its getting deported back to Silicon Valley -- or in this case factory reset. 

 

I digress, however, this is more detailed and conversational evolution is important when you or your company might advertise on Google. Long-tail exact match keywords and broad match modifiers will continue to be great ways to convert high-intent searchers who use detailed questions when searching – because, you know, people (like me) have lots and lots of words to say.

 

Short story longer: How do you "search" throughout the day? Do you use Google Assistant? Still typing away? And for our society, the coming artificial intelligence and those pesky marketers, how will this continue to evolve?

 

Advancing Computer Science Professor Tony Hinton started coding when he was 12. But one boring computer class in college almost broke him. “It made me second guess whether I wanted to work with computers or not,” Tony lamented.

 

Tony spent an entire semester developing a fake HR system, “just to throw it all away at the end of the class.” That experience inspired him to build computer science curriculum around solving real-world problem such as increasing crop yields and streamlining systems administration.

“Coding is not like riding a bike,” Tony said. That’s why his ultimate goal is to assign projects that students “find so interesting that they continue developing them after the semester ends.”

UAT student Brandon Nay (far left) poses with the rest of the UAT Space Exploration crew.

 

For example, Advancing Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence student Brandon Nay didn’t have room for the UAT Space Exploration class on his schedule this semester, but he stayed up all night tweaking on-board electronics before a recent stratospheric balloon launch, developed a data graph twitch stream for the next launch and mentored elementary students in the K-12 program anyways.

 

Students in Professor Jay Carpenter’s class develop blockchain solutions for real-world problems. They also attend conferences with him and network with professionals at the Desert Blockchain Meetup he hosts on campus.

 

Advancing Computer Science Professor Stephen Gose.

 

Professor Stephen Gose integrates music into his Introduction to Python class, which Game Design student Kevin Albregard described as “less of a lecture and more of an immersive experience.” Professor Gose purposefully makes mistakes during class to test students. “When you catch him in the act, you feel this adrenaline rush and morale boost,” Kevin said.

 

READ: The Lovable Goofball We Call Gose.

 

With the evolving data privacy laws and precedent set by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it is also important to integrate the study of law and regulation into technology curriculum. All UAT students have to take Legal Issues in Technology. (But most of them probably wouldn't call it their favorite class like UAT Network Security alumna Tara Cooke.)

 

Students expect engaging, relevant content. They also expect instant feedback and answers to their questions, which is why UAT professors don't hide in private offices or labs. Instead, they sit in the commons area, where they help students with homework and get to know them.  

 

Technology will never stop evolving, and neither will UAT computer science curriculum. Professors proactively seek industry feedback, read a lot and spend their free time coding. According to Tony, “Full Stack won’t be Full Stack without AI in a few years.” That’s why UAT continues to reshape our technology curriculum to emphasize artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, mobile development and other trends that aren’t going away.

 

If you want to future-proof your career, then check out the Advancing Computer Science degree program at the University of Advancing Technology today.