IBM-Duke Day Connects Students and Faculty with Opportunities
Duke ECE and CS co-hosted the half-day event, which brought IBM researchers together with Duke faculty and students
The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering and Duke Computer Science (CS) hosted an IBM-Duke University Day to introduce faculty and students to IBM, highlighting the technologies and solutions the company is developing with the career opportunities it offers. The event was also supported by the Office of External Partnerships.
The half-day event opened with remarks from Duke Partnership Executive & IBM General Manager Steve Robinson, Duke ECE Chair Hai “Helen” Li and Duke CS Chair Jun Yang.
Technical sessions followed with presentations from IBM technical executives including Raj Nagaratnam, IBM Fellow and CTO for Cloud Security; Suj Perepa, IBM Distinguished Engineer and IBM CIO Office, AI & Machine Learning CTO; Nate Earnest-Noble, IBM Quantum Research; and Suman Gopinath, CTO, Z Hybrid Cloud. Following each IBM talk, Duke faculty presented on their related research. Duke presenters included professors Tingjun Chen and Neil Gong from ECE with presentations on Cloud and Security, Jen Vizas and Mark McCahill representing Duke CODE+, and a presentation on Duke Quantum Computing by ECE professor Crystal Noel. The talks outlined areas of collaborative opportunities, with a call for funded faculty proposals at the end of the afternoon.
In parallel, various IBM teams provided an afternoon of activities for students, including networking and career information sessions. IBM hosted tables and demos in the Fitzpatrick Center Atrium on the many technologies and solutions being developed at the IBM Research Triangle Park (RTP) site, along with programs and opportunities that would be of interest to both students and faculty. Students learned about the immediate job opportunities and careers available at IBM in RTP (and around the world). The student information session topics included the IBM WebSphere Team (Cloud) – Building Solutions and Careers, an IBM Quantum Information Session, and an IBM CIO presentation. The afternoon student sessions wrapped up with a presentation on IBM Internship Opportunities.
After the technical and student sessions ended, faculty, students and IBM representatives continued conversations and networking with an eye toward future collaboration, engagement and workforce opportunities.