Category Archives: awards and recognition

Dr. Peter Draus Wins 2021 TRETC Innovation in Education Award

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Dr. Peter Draus was the recipient of the 2021 Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference (TRETC) Innovation in Education Award! The theme of this year’s TRETC Conference was Next Level EDTECH.

Dr. Draus was nominated for the award by an RMU student, Danielle Wicklund (’20), now a graduate of RMU, having earned her BS in Business Administration (Accounting) and MS in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance in December 2020 via RMU’s 4+1 program. Ms. Wicklund noted that “During this challenging semester, Dr. Draus went above and beyond his methods of teaching and made online learning interesting & enjoyable. Thus, I nominated him and submitted a letter of recommendation.”

The application for the award included a video that was produced by Ms. Wicklund and Dr. Draus. During the closing ceremony at the TRETC Conference on January 18, 2021, the video was showcased as Dr. Draus was announced as the recipient of the Professor – Innovation in Education Award. The video that was showcased can be viewed here:

Ms. Wicklund commented about the award, “Aside from acknowledging Dr. Draus’ mentorship skills, it also reflects the high caliber of professors at RMU (specifically in the Department of Computer and Information Systems and School of Informatics, Humanities, and Social Sciences). This award is for the Colonial nation. I am proud to be an RMU alum.”

Congratulations, Dr. Peter Draus, on this stellar accomplishment!

RMU Recognized in Best Online Cyber Security BS Degree Programs by Learn.org

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RMU was named as one of Learn.org’s 2020 Best Online Cyber Security Bachelor’s Degree Programs, ranking in at #7:
https://learn.org/articles/best_online_schools_for_cyber_security.html

You can learn more about RMU’s Cybersecurity B.S. program here:
https://www.rmu.edu/academics/undergraduate/cybersecurity-bs

CIS Faculty Win Awards at EDSIGCON 2020 Conference on Computing Education

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Dr. Paul Kovacs
Dr. Wenli Wang

Dr. Paul Kovacs, University Professor of Computer and Information Systems, and Dr. Wenli Wang, Professor of Computer and Information Systems, received the Best Paper Award at the 2020 Conference on Computing Education (EDSIGCON) for a paper that they co-authored with Dr. Alan Peslak (Penn State University) and Dr. Lisa Kovalchick (California University of Pennsylvania). Their award-winning paper was titled “Effectiveness of Educational Delivery Modes: A Study in Computer Information Systems.”

Dr. Jamie Pinchot
Dr. Karen Paullet

Dr. Jamie Pinchot, Professor of Computer Information Systems, and Dr. Karen Paullet, Associate Professor of Computer and Information Systems, received the Distinguished Paper Award (Top 10%) at the same 2020 Conference on Computing Education (EDSIGCON) for their paper titled “Using Student Choice in Assignments to Create a Learner-Centered Environment for Online Courses.”

The EDSIGCON 2020 Conference was held virtually this year on November 4-7, 2020. Congratulations, faculty!

Dr. Pinchot and Dr. Cellante Win Distinguished Paper Award – Top 5% at CONISAR 2020

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Dr. Jamie Pinchot
Dr. Donna Cellante

Dr. Jamie Pinchot and Dr. Donna Cellante, both Professors of Computer and Information Systems, received the Distinguished Paper Award (Top 5%) at the 2020 Conference on Information Systems Applied Research (CONISAR) for a paper that they co-authored. The CONISAR 2020 Conference was held virtually this year on November 4-7, 2020.

Dr. Pinchot and Dr. Cellante’s paper was titled “Privacy Concerns and Data Sharing Habits of Personal Fitness Information Collected via Activity Trackers.”

Congratulations on this award!

Dr. Ping Wang wins Best Paper Award – Pedagogy at IACIS 2020 Conference

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Dr. Ping Wang, Professor of Computer and Information Systems, and co-author Dr. Hossein Zare (Johns Hopkins University) received the Best Paper Award – Pedagogy from the 60th Annual International Association for Computer Information Systems (IACIS) Annual Conference. The IACIS 2020 Conference was held virtually this year on October 7-10, 2020.

Dr. Wang’s paper was titled “Teaching Internet of Things (IoT) through Software Simulations with Packet Tracer.

Congratulations, Dr. Wang!

Department of Defense Cyber Scholarship Program Grant

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Dr. Ping Wang

Congratulations to Dr. Ping Wang!

The Computer Information Systems (CIS) Department has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). This grant will establish a new DoD Cyber Scholarship Program (CySP) at RMU to recruit and prepare cyber talent for the DoD cyber workforce and to enhance the national pipeline for qualified cyber professionals. The grant funding provides support for three (3) graduate student scholarships and for faculty research on cybersecurity education and mentoring. Students graduating from the CySP program will be placed and serve professional positions of cybersecurity within DoD agencies.

This award was possible as RMU is designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE) by NSA/DHS. This designation must be in good standing to apply for this competitive grant.

Dr. Ping Wang is the Principal Investigator (PI) of this grant project. The project period is 12 months and the grant is valued at $243,465. For 2020-21, three students have been awarded this scholarship. Each student will receive $68,660 (to cover full tuition & fees, living stipend, laptop computer, and textbook allowance) and is eligible to take up to 18 credits per semester.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Wang!

RMU Named in Best Masters’ in Internet Security Programs for 2020

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masters_internet_securityIntelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, announced their Top 30 Master’s in Internet Security Degree Programs for 2020.  Robert Morris University made the list for our Master’s in Cyber Security and Information Assurance.  This ranking was based on an assessment of 191 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program was evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment.

RMU Students win TRISS Scholarships

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TRISS Picture
Congratulations to Brandon Nelson, Christopher Cullen, and Kaden Mahsoob, who each won a $1,000 scholarship, awarded by the Three Rivers Information Security Symposium (TRISS) planning committee. Thanks to Professor Karen Paullet for her recommendation. Professor Paullet and the Top Secret Colonials have been active supporters of the TRISS the symposium and the TRISS Scholarship Program.

Dr. Laverty honored as AITP-EDSIG Fellow

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lavertyThe CIS Department congratulates Dr. J. Packy Laverty who was inducted as an AITP-EDSIG Fellow at the 2019 EDSIG Conference for Information Systems and Computing.  AITP-EDSIG Fellows are inducted in honor of their long-term, meaningful, and effective support of AITP-EDSIG in its mission to improve information systems (IS) education and foster the careers of IS faculty.

Dr. Laverty is a Professor of Computer Information Systems and Coordinator of Enterprise Systems at Robert Morris University.  Prior to his time at RMU, he held faculty positions at University of Pittsburgh, St. Vincent’s College, Community College of Allegheny County, and Carlow College. He has 35 years of professional consulting experience which includes working closely with IBM on its z-System academic initiative and curriculum. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Accounting and a MBA from Duquesne University. He received his Ph.D. in Academic Computing from University of Pittsburgh. In addition, he has obtained numerous IT-related certifications. During his 44 years as an information systems and business administration educator, he has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate classes including Linux, Java, IBM DB2, Unix, COBOL, Oracle, HTML, JavaScript, and MySQL-PHP, just to name a few.

During his time in academics, Dr. Laverty has established a consistent research record including publications and innovative outcomes assessment initiatives. He has consistently published in the Information Systems Education Journal and Issues in Information Systems journal, as well as presented his research at numerous international and national conferences. Dr. Laverty has been actively involved with EDSIG throughout the years serving as the workshop chair, publishing papers, making presentations, and always willing to help out wherever needed.

Congratulations, Dr. Laverty, on receiving this prestigious honor.