Industry Advisory Board
October 3rd Meeting Summary

Florida International University 
School of Computer Science

. Dr. Yi Deng, FIU SCS Director opened the meeting with introductions of
the Board members, SCS faculty, staff and students.

. After introductions Dr. Deng gave a powerpoint presentation providing an
overview of the School's accomplishments and directions. The presentation
also covered the role of the Board and how SCS will engage industry as 
a participant in our programs. (See materials).

. Sylvia Miner, FIU ACM Student Chair, give a powerpoint presentation
providing an overview of the School's student activities. (See materials)

. Mr. Steve Luis opened the round table discussions with the question
"What does the IT industry need from a Research University".

Board Member Suggestions:

1. Provide board members with the best 5 projects and the Board will
   provide a feedback on the quality and relevance to industry. Several
   Board members agreed that industry would be willing to participate in 
   projects of high quality and industry relevance. 
2. Include more industry representation in PhD committees.
3. Identify more companies to work with by participating in other
   organizations such as InternetCoast and the Miami-Dade Chamber of
   Commerce.
4. Establish stronger collaboration with other South Florida Universities
   to have a greater S.FL. industry impact.
5. Industry needs the University to assist in the search and discovery of
   new technology.
6. Quality of the SCS program and its students is much more important than 
   graduating a large quantity of students.
7. Strategy must be decided whether to focus on a few core strengths
   or to spread the resources around. The later is ineffective.
8. Board members felt that a Situation Analysis is needed to better
   understand what the SCS position in South Florida is and how best to
   direct resources to improve its recognition.
9. Geographical location of the University should be factored in since
   Miami is a gateway to Latin America.
10. Due to our concentration of Hispanic we are in a unique position to
    address industry needs in Latin America.
11. The school must focus on how it can be different and establish a niche
    for itself.
12. Many board members agreed with the objectives of the Board as stated
    in the charter. However, they felt that the School must first
    establish a situation analysis before a Board action plan would be
    pursued.
13. Industry can convey to the University where the market is, in terms of
    what customer needs are driving products/services.

. The board recessed for a ten minute break.

. Mr. Luis reconvened the members to discuss the Charter and Board
  leadership and objectives.

Board Actions:

1. Dr. Nicholas Bowen suggested that it was too early in the board
   development to establish the proposed charter.
2. Dr. Hanafy Meleis suggested and the board agreed that the Board should
   establish a chair to lead Board development.
3. The Board nominated and elected Mr. Harald Braun/Siemens to serve as
   Board Chair.
4. The Chair requested and Dr. Hanafy Meleis agreed to serve as
   Vice-Chair of the Board.
5. Mrs. Daisy Santana has offered to serve as Ambassador of the
   Board.
6. The Chair has tasked Dr. Yi Deng to provide the board with the
   following materials. The board members will review:

   a. Situation Analysis including strength, weakness, opportunities,
      threats. Risk assessment. Competitive analysis.
   b. School Vision.
   c. School Strategy.
   e. School Action plan.

   The action plan should follow from b,c,e and with agreement by the
   Board.

7. Mrs. Sanatana offered to lead an "Action" committee to develop the
   School Action Plan.

8. Pablo Mlikolta suggested that the board meet "virtually" via email to
   further progress the board agenda and not wait another 6 months for the
   next meeting to discuss these issues.

9. Mr. Roy Gerber suggested that more communication skills need to be 
   better developed in Computer Science students so that they can be 
   effective.

Dr. Deng's Suggestions to the Board:

1. Assist the School by being an advocate both internally to FIU and
   externally in the IT community and government.
2. Our next board meeting takes place concurrent with SCS program review 
   in April.
3. Followup on the FIU President's request to establish a committee,
   consisting of both local University Presidents and industry leaders,
   to discuss the impact of State fiscal policies in support of 
   Universities with Governor Bush. The committee would develop 
   suggestions on how to improve Universities impact to IT industry.
4. Assist with the School's desire to establish an endowed professorship
   position via industry financial support.

. The board recessed for Lunch.

. The board took a tour of the School's labs.
  Dr. Rishe, HPDRC
  Dr. Ege, Secure Software Architecture Lab
  Dr. He and Dr. Chen, CADSE
  Training Lab and programming competition.
  Dr. Giri, BioInformatics Research
  Eric Johnson, SCS Network.

. The board reconvened in the Board room for closing statements.

. The board adjourned.