Event Notices From February 8
Michigan Environmental Controls Co-Founder To Speak At Lawrence Tech: Kit Tomkow, vice president and co-founder of Michigan Environmental Controls Inc., will speak at the Entrepreneurial Lecture Series on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 5:45 p.m. in Lear Auditorium (T429) of the University Technology and Learning Center at Lawrence Technological University, 21000 W. 10 Mile Road, Southfield. The event, which is scheduled to run to 6:30 p.m., is free and open to the public. Tomkow, who earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Lawrence Tech in 1990, co-founded New Hudson-based Michigan Environmental Controls in 1994. He is a leading expert in control systems and systems integration for commercial, industrial, institutional, and educational buildings. MEC provides user-friendly building control systems that save energy and maintain comfort for the occupants. The Entrepreneurial Lecture Series is sponsored by WWJ Newsradio 950, the Great Lakes Innovation and Technology Report, the Lawrence Tech chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization, and the Legends entrepreneurial alumni organization.
AimWest Offers Program On Social Media Startups: AimWest, the association for technology professionals in the Grand Rapids area, will hold a new program, "Small Is The New Big," Wednesday, Feb. 22 at San Chez' banquet room, 38 W. Fulton St., Grand Rapids. The program begins with networking at 5:30 p.m. and the program starts at 6:15. Pretty much anyone can start a business, but who can really pull it through the difficult years and take their idea beyond infancy into adolescence? We've all heard the buzz on crowd funding, social entrepreneurship, Etsy, Kickstarter and 5X5 Night. How's someone with the idea, a lot of passion, grit, some duct tape -- but not a lot of money -- get traction and make an impact? Join us as we hear from these resourceful players who solidly work to make their businesses thrive. They may be small but they're the ones who are poised to bring real change to the economy. Whether you're just starting out or are muddling through the messy middle, come listen to success stories. Featured panelists include Brian Kelly of Brian Kelly Photography, Rick Beerhorst, artist and musician, of StudioBeerhost; Abbey Fowler, owner of 6.25 Paper Studio; Mike Morin of PomStudios; Ryan Knapp, founder of MadCap Coffee; and Remos Lenio of Hartwick Capital. To register, visit www.aimwest.org.
Merit Network Sets Spring MJTS Meetings: Merit Network invites all members to attend the spring MJTS meeting on Wednesday, March 21. You can attend at three different locations throughout Michigan, including a new southern Lower Peninsula location at Lansing Community College's West Campus. MJTS stands for "Merit Joint Technical Staff," a term meant to include all IT professionals from Merit's member institutions. The meeting will be held at the West Campus of Lansing Community College, 5708 Cornerstone Drive in Lansing, and will be streamed live to Bay De Noc Community College in Escanaba and University Center in Gaylord. Registration for all locations is available at www.merit.edu/mjts. This meeting will not be Webcast; it will be recorded and videos will be posted shortly after the meeting. Presentations will include the following and more: Brian Paige of Oakland University on the experience of providing support technology for the Republican debate hosted by OU on Nov. 9, which involved building an extensive wired and wireless network, installing hundreds of phone lines and providing temporary work spaces for the candidates and journalists; Mike Richardson from Regional Education Media Center 1 on the shared services and networking that REMC1 provides for many school districts in the Upper Peninsula; Fawn Callen of Western Michigan University on WMU's implementation of a 10G link to campus, including reasons for the move and what has been involved in the transition; and Robert Duncan and Michael Milliken from Merit on the backbone network and the REACH-3MC fiber project. The project is swinging into construction phase, and they will share information about progress, completed sites, equipment and future plans. Please invite others from your organization to attend the meeting, especially those who have interests in IT operations, shared services and 10G networking. As always, MJTS is open only to Merit Member organizations. Registration is free, and we ask that you register in advance.
MSU to host Web analytics program: Michigan State University will host a probram, "Finding The Right Things To Measure With Web Analytics," on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. As a user experience professional, how can you use web analytics data to measure how well a site works for users and show the effectiveness of your work? This presentation describes a method for cutting through the complexity of Web analytics by finding a way to link business goals to users' tasks and then to specific, measurable behavior in analytics. This will make Web analytics more useful to you and help you communicate more effectively with business stakeholders. Speaker Michael Beasley is the user experience team lead at Pure Visibility, an Internet marketing firm in Ann Arbor. He has built their UX practice and incorporated web analytics heavily into UX activities. The progrram will begin at 7 p.m. after networking and announcements in Room 151 of the MSU Communication Arts and Sciences Building. The cost is $5 for students, $8 for Usability Professionals Association members through Feb. 15 and $10 thereafter, and $15 for all others until Feb. 15 and $20 thereafter. Register at www.michiganupa.org/fresh/finding-the-right-things-to-measure-with-web-analytics.
Wayne State Sets Water@Wayne Seminar: Wayne State University is hosting its next Water@Wayne seminar on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 2:30 p.m. in the WSU Welcome Center auditorium located at the corner of Woodward and Warren avenues. The seminar is free and open to the public.The seminar will feature guest speaker Lynn Henning, a Michigan farmer and environmentalist. Henning was awarded the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize, an award often called the Nobel Prize for environmental activism. She received the award for her focus on water quality and fighting pollution from concentrated animal feeding operations. Henning will present what happens in a rural community from the effects of CAFO. These industrialized, corporate livestock practices began springing up in the 1990s. They pollute fields and farms with toxic sludge and fumes that cause severe illnesses and disease. Through her efforts, Henning has garnered the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency and has helped develop tighter regulations and stricter enforcement of environmental laws, ultimately leading to less polluted and safer communities. For more information, call WSU's Office of the Vice President for Research at (313) 577-5600.
Compuware Presents Live Customer Webcast: Compuware Corp. (Nasdaq:CPWR) announced a live customer Webcast featuring George Conklin, senior vice president and CIO at Christus Health, who will share real-world experiences and best practice approaches for ensuring that users in the health care system have the best application performance possible. Title:"CIO Insights: How to Optimize User Experience Across 60 Hospitals," the event takes place Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 11 a.m. Eastern time. For health services provider Christus Health, poorly performing applications are never an option. Just as medical equipment cannot fail, the applications supporting Christus Health must operate flawlessly. In order to avoid decreased clinical productivity, increased risk to patients and lost revenue, Christus employs an end-user perspective to application performance management. During this free webcast, attendees will learn what impact healthcare application performance has on customer experience and business goals; how the Christus Health IT and business teams optimize customer experience; and real-world best practices for improving user experience without slowing down your healthcare processes and procedures. Register at http://bit.ly/zKzh1k.
