Tag Archives: awards

Dr. Jamie Pinchot Receives Ben Bauman Award for Excellence at IACIS 2025


Dr. Jamie Pinchot received the Ben Bauman Award for Excellence at the International Association for Computer Information Systems (IACIS) 2025 Conference in Clearwater, FL, on October 3, 2025.  (conference link here)

The Ben Bauman Award for Excellence honors faculty members who have demonstrated significant contributions and dedication to the field of information systems, including service to their university and community.

Dr. Pinchot was recognized during the ceremony as a distinguished academic who has taught at the university level for over 20 years with a teaching portfolio that spans undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses. Her scholarly research has focused on the areas of information privacy and security, mobile technologies, social media and online human behavior, and human-centered design in software development. Further, she has chaired 15 doctoral dissertation committees and served on an additional 33 dissertation committees during her tenure at RMU. Dr. Pinchot has also served RMU as Director of the Ph.D. in Information Systems and Communications and currently serves as Department Head for the Computer and Information Systems department, where she oversees 5 undergraduate programs, 6 Master’s degree programs, and the Ph.D. program. She has also served as Co-PI on two NSF grants and has been RMU’s representative for the National Center for Women & Technology (NCWIT). Dr. Pinchot’s full bio can be found here.

(left to right, Evan Kinney, Dr. G. Alan Davis, Dr. Natalya Bromall, Dr. Sushma Mishra, Dr. Jamie Pinchot, Dr. John Stewart, Shadrack Oriaro, Dr. Karen Paullet, and Amy Kulikowski)

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Pinchot on this award, honoring her impressive record of service as a teacher, scholar, and administrator in the field of information systems.

————

Congratulations to Stephen Mancini Productions

Beyond the Screen Film Festival has announced its 2024-2025 film winners. The prize for Best Debut Director and Best Historical Film went to the film Fedeltà: Soldati. Prigionieri. Directed by one of RMU’s faculty members, Dr. Stephen Mancini, and assisted by RMU student, majoring in Cinema & Photography, Payton Hostetler, who also shares in the recognition for this great accomplishment.

Produced by Stephen MANCINI Productions and filmed on location in Italy and Pittsburgh, Payton’s contributions to filming and editing have been integral to the film’s success. For anyone interested in discovering more about this award-winning film, including where to watch, please click here: https://stephenmanciniproductions.com/

Dr. Steve Mancini – Best Podcast Host!

The CIS department is thrilled to extend our warmest congratulations to our very own Dr. Steve Mancini on his recent achievement! Dr. Mancini has been recognized as the Best Podcast Host in the prestigious 2025 Communicator Awards for his engaging and insightful podcast, The Italian Impact.

This well-deserved win highlights Dr. Mancini’s dedication and passion for fostering connections both within our university and the local community. Through The Italian Impact Podcast, he skillfully brings attention to a diverse range of topics that resonate with students and faculty right here on campus, while also reaching out to the vibrant Italian community in Pittsburgh and beyond.

We encourage everyone to tune in and experience the award-winning podcast for themselves! You can find The Italian Impact Podcast on all your favorite listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also learn more and explore past episodes on the official website: https://italianimpactweekly.com/.

To see the details of Dr. Mancini’s award and all of the winners, click HERE

Let’s all celebrate Dr. Mancini’s fantastic accomplishment and continue to support his wonderful work with The Italian Impact Podcast! Congratulations, Dr. Mancini!


Dr. Kassa Wins Best Paper Award at ACMSE

Dr. Yonas Kassa has been honored with the Best Full Paper Award at the 2025 ACM Southeast (ACMSE) Conference, which took place from April 24-26, 2025, at Southeast Missouri State University. As the oldest continuously running annual conference of the ACM, ACMSE serves as a vital platform for students, faculty, researchers, and industry professionals to share their latest research across all facets of computer science.

Dr. Kassa’s award-winning paper, a collaborative effort with four other researchers, is titled “Secure Edge Computing Reference Architecture for Data-driven Structural Health Monitoring: Lessons Learned from Implementation and Benchmarking.” You can access the paper here.

Congratulations to Dr. Kassa and his co-authors on this significant achievement!