Category Archives: Technology

Education in all phases of life is changing, and local technology businesses are leading some of that revolution.

Provo-based Imagine Learning is one of those that offer an individualized learning software platform. They cater their technology to English Language Learners and those struggling with math literacy in preschool up to high school. Because of the speed of technology, the company is growing at a significant rate, and expanding its reach further.

We reach about four million kids out there on a weekly basis, said CEO Joe Swenson.

Swenson explained that Imagine Learning does not replace classroom teachers. Through learning technology, teachers have more time and ability to reach each individual child, because the software can pinpoint exactly what concept a child struggles to understand.

In a regular classroom, especially with larger class sizes, you are losing kids at the top, and the kids at the bottom. Youre stuck teaching only to the kids in the middle. But digital education allows you to teach them all where theyre at, Swenson said.

The companys approach has made them very successful financially. Imagine Learning was founded in 2004 by a small group in a living room in a Provo home. From that start, the company now employs almost 500, with representatives in every state, and even a few countries. Swenson said the company annually does about $100 million in business.

Imagine Learning celebrated another milestone Thursday, holding a grand opening for their new offices on Park Boulevard in Provo. They moved into Qualtrics old digs during March. Their offices include a full production facility for their learning software including a content creators, animation area, a dedicated video team, fully outfitted recording studio, green room with a professional puppeteer, and even two virtual reality spaces.

But though success is good for the bottom line and for those employed there, helping individual children is the most important part.

The answer is the kids. We started by wanting to help kids, and thats what appeals to our employees. They dont care about numbers, but when I translate $1 million in revenue translates to this many kids helped, they get excited, Swenson said.

Imagine Learnings story is part of a bigger trend happening in learning technology today and its not just happening with youth. Utah has seen the growth of many local technology learning software businesses like Instructure, Pluralsight and Degreed that focus on creating individualized learning paths for lifelong learning.

According to a white paper by GSV Acceleration, Its a Breakout: Capital Flows In the Learning and Talent Technology Market, learning and talent technology has become a $75 billion technology sector, and is only expected to grow even further. The industry has boomed significantly in the past decade so much so that it is garnering venture capital funding like never before.

And Silicon Slopes is uniquely poised to be a leader in the sector. Just this week, thousands of educational and business technology minds gathered in Salt Lake City from all over the nation to discuss the learning technology industry at the ASU GSV Summit. With topics revolving around all aspects of lifelong learning and technologys role, the summit highlighted many Utah educational technology companies success.

Deborah Quazzo, founder and managing partner for GSV Advisors, complimented Degreed and Pluralsight for giving all types of professional learners ways to customize and implement learning that is unique to their needs.

Aaron Skonnard hit a nerve, he hit the right place, she said of Pluralsights co-founder and CEO. His business is the poster-child for what has to happen in the workforce.

With the speed of technology and the subsequent speed of change in todays workplace, workers need to be constantly learning, Quazzo explained. And what they need to learn has become more and more individualized. This is why education centered on custom learning paths is successful.

People are having to completely upskill or reskill, with some entire industries having to completely reskill, she said. You need to be a constant learner if you want to be active in todays workforce.

Jeff Weber, senior vice president of people and places at Instructure, agrees. Todays technology has necessitated the need for consistent training, but it has also made learning easier, and Weber envisions further expansion of technology in all areas of education.

Like Imagine Learning, Instructure focuses on creating interactive learning experiences for each user. While the companys work has netted them success they recently added a new office in Pleasant Grove Weber sees the benefits for all learners.

We like to say were building smart software that makes people smarter and makes the learning experience more engaging, Weber said. Personalized learning makes learning easier for students and teachers.

The classroom of yesteryear is changing, and Utah companies are some of those leading the charge. According to a 2017 National Education Technology Plan Update, Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education, these changes are needed.

It is now more apparent than ever that the courageous efforts of educators to embrace the role of thoughtful, reflective innovators who work collaboratively with each other and alongside their students to explore new learning models, new digital learning environments, and new approaches to working, learning, and sharing is essential if we want technology to be an effective tool to transform learning, wrote Joseph South, director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education.

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Learning technology in Utah is good business - Daily Herald

Still, investors are right to be bullish on the company's prospects at the moment. And while I wouldn't necessarily call myself bullish on the stock, in the spirit of understanding the long-term pros and cons of any investment, let's review Micron and the factors that could derail its ongoing rally. Let's call it the bear case from a bull.

Image source: Micron Technology.

How did Micron arrive at its current situation? More importantly, what drove the earlier implosion of its stock price that laid the foundation for the rally?

Let's start with the basics. Micron is one of the world's largest manufacturersof various types of memory semiconductors used in computers, smartphones, servers, and other similar items. The company largely sells two types of memory: DRAM and NAND. DRAM is common in computers and servers, and sales of this kind of memory chip made up 58% of Micron's sales last year.NAND memory is associated with mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and it comprised 37% of Micron's 2016 sales.

The memory market is highly competitive, and memory chips are a commodity, so the key to making money in this space is to keep a tight grip on managing supply. Doing so involves making accurate predictions about what demand will look like in the PC, server, and mobile markets -- not an easy proposition. Whenmemory demand is strong, companies enjoy pricing power and generate reasonable profits. But when demand softens, chip prices tend to crash across the industry, which can lead to dramatic losses among chipmakers.

That's what happened to Micron in 2016: Unexpected weakness in NAND and DRAM demand triggered an industrywide slump in chip average selling prices. Without the kind of diversified revenue stream to rely on that memory leader Samsungenjoys, the price declines annihilated Micron's profitability.

Data source: Micron Technology 2016 10-K. Numbers in millions.

Micron's stock has rallied over the past year because the market expects memory prices to rebound. The average sell-side analyst expects Micron's EPS to increase from $0.06 a year ago to $4.28 this year. However, the key question is how sustainable this return to profitability will be for Micron.

The near-term fundamentals are in Micron's favor, but history argues in favor of caution. Over the past decade, Micron has had a checkered history in terms of generating consistent profits, even as sales have soared.

MU Revenue (Annual) data by YCharts

More to the point, Micron has generated net losses in five of its past 10 fiscal years.Sometimes, such as during the financial criss, the losses seem understandable. However, weak chip demand caused Micron to lose roughly $1.2 billion in 2012,when the economy was recovering. The same could be said for 2016.

The bottom line is that investors need to know Micron has a track record of dramatic swings from profit to loss. That lesson seems to have been lost in the current bullishness around the stock.

In investing as in life, it pays to evaluate important decisions from as many angles as possible. To that end, Micron seems to have the wind at its back today, but history suggests things will change. Invest with caution.

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Micron Technology, Inc.: The Bear Case From a Bull - Bloomington Pantagraph

The 2020 census was supposed to be the decennial survey that finally embraced technology, a much-needed victory for the U.S. Census Bureau that, about a decade ago, suffered a costly setback in its attempt to modernize.

However, the agency is in danger of repeating the past by conducting the census the old-fashioned way, with pencil and paper.

Last week, the Commerce Department announced that the Census Bureau, the agency charged with collecting data about the American population, will soon be without its top official. Director John Thompson, who has led the agency since 2013, will leave the Census Bureau on June 30. His five-year term was slated to end in December.

The timing of his early departure is problematic as testing for the 2020 population survey begins in August. Thompson's exit leaves "a real leadership vacuum" at the Census Bureau, said Phil Sparks, a former census official who is now co-director of the Census Project, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C. He told the Washington Examiner that it typically takes about six months for a replacement to be chosen and go through the nomination process and that it's "not going to help" the agency if it lacks the "political clout" of its top advocate on Capitol Hill when the budget process for fiscal 2018 ramps up this year. An acting director will step in once Thompson departs, but it's not yet clear who that will be.

The Census Bureau is already facing the increasingly onerous task of making the 2020 decennial head count the first to rely primarily on the Internet and IT services. Thompson raised red flags last week when he told lawmakers during a hearing that the agency's new IT system, the Census Enterprise Data Collection and Processing (CEDCaP), is now expected to cost more than $300 million above the original estimate of $656 million, a jump of nearly 50 percent.

The agency's technology woes now are uncomfortably reminiscent of the problems it faced 10 years ago. Technical issues and delays during the 2008 test phase led the Census Bureau to abandon its push for census takers, who are sent out to collect data from people who didn't submit mail-in forms, to use handheld devices that could verify street addresses with GPS software in favor of relying on a paper, pencil and clipboard. This setback cost the agency an extra $3 billion.

Now members of Congress and watchdog groups are concerned about a 2010 census repeat.

"It's distressing to see the 2020 Census look like it's going the same direction as the 2010 Census," said Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, and chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, at a recent oversight hearing on the 2020 census.

Each decennial survey, which is mandated by the Constitution and is used to reapportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures, is more expensive than the last as the U.S. population rises and demographics change. The census cost $9.4 billion in 2000 and $12.3 billion in 2010, in 2020 dollars, and the cost of counting each housing unit has ballooned from $16 in 1970 to about $92 in 2010, in constant 2020 dollars, according to the Census Bureau.

CEDCaP is one aspect of the Census Bureau's push to modernize, which also includes allowing U.S. citizens to complete the survey online or by phone, providing mobile devices for field enumerators and streamlining field operations. The IT push would digitize much of the data collection process and help supplement information on U.S. citizens from other government agencies.

Thompson said the IT upgrade would "cost far less than repeating the outdated processes used in 2010" and would save $5 billion, containing the cost of the 2020 survey to $12.5 billion, a mere $200 million more than in 2010. A new cost estimate is expected this summer, but officials from the Government Accountability Office, as well as the Commerce Department Office of Inspector General, expect the bill to get higher.

In a recent report, the GAO praised the Census Bureau's innovations as showing "promise for controlling costs," but also cautioned that they "introduce new risks" due to a lack of testing of nearly half of its 50 IT systems. This year, GAO dubbed the 2020 census a "high-risk" government program because of its rising costs and IT issues. "Since 2014, GAO has made 30 recommendations related to this area; however, only 6 have been fully implemented as of January 2017," the report notes. The 2010 census was also deemed "high-risk" in the years leading up to it.

A key field test set to begin in August, the 2018 End-to-End Census Test, will take place at 700,000 households in Rhode Island, Washington state and West Virginia and will help the Census Bureau determine its readiness and plan for 2020.

Questions about CEDCaP's success weigh on the agency as it also faces a budget crunch. In April, Congress approved a $1.47 billion budget for the Census Bureau for fiscal 2017, and the Trump administration's proposal for fiscal 2018 calls for $1.5 billion for the Census Bureau's 2020 effort, which experts and advocates worry may be inadequate.

"If not properly funded, this is not going to be an accurate census," Sparks warned. The Census Bureau has already had to make adjustments over funding concerns. For instance, last year the Census Bureau canceled field tests and delayed the opening of field offices due to uncertainty over funding in Congress.

Sparks said providing a boost to the 2020 census effort could be an easy win for President Trump in a tense political climate or that it could look bad if he doesn't ensure adequate resources are provided. Asked if he had a message for Trump, Sparks' reply was: "You own the census for 2020."

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2020 Census costs put technology hopes in question - Washington Examiner

Never mind tracking steps and burned calories.

A recent initiative from Ochsner Health System uses wearable technology with built-in health-tracking features to help patients with chronic diseases better manage their condition in real time.

For health care providers like Ochsner, the success of efforts like this could have real results: Nationwide, chronic diseases are tied to 7 of 10 deaths annually, and the related treatment accounts for 86 percent of the nation's medical care costs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In addition to collecting up-to-date health data, wearable technology like smart watches and fitness bands can let some patients avoid an extra doctor's visit simply to collect a reading a convenience that serves as another potential incentive.

"These diseases are called chronic diseases for a reason: For most people, it's for the rest of their lives," said Dr. Richard Milani, Ochsner's chief clinical transformation officer. "Things about you change, so that now everything is peachy, but maybe the next month it's not, depending on what's happening in your life, and we need to be able to course-correct.

"It's a major convenience factor," he added. "We're making their lives easier, not harder."

For medical providers, embracing an already popular technology has advantages. In a survey last year of 1,000 people, the accounting firm PwC reported that 49 percent owned at least one wearable device, up from 21 percent two years earlier, while 36 percent had multiple devices.

Because data are gathered regularly in real time rather than during occasional checkups, medical staff can analyze them to help patients regulate their condition and improve their numbers.

Through a 2015 pilot program, Ochsner targeted high blood pressure, or hypertension, which occurs when blood is forced through arteries with too great a force.

In the U.S., one in three American adults has high blood pressure, which can cause blood vessel damage and increase the risk of a heart attack, stroke, kidney problems and death.

High blood pressure typically has been treated in a doctor's office, but some experts, including Milani, say that approach relies on a small and often infrequent number of readings, which restricts medical staff from making fast adjustments.

Walter Lane, an associate professor at the University of New Orleans who studies health care economics, said Ochsner was "definitely one of the early adopters" of the idea of using wearable technology to track health data.

"Around the country, there's some experimental things starting out, but I think Ochsner really is on the forefront of this," he said.

Ochsner's pilot program, which it boasts was the first of its kind in the U.S. that helped patients manage a chronic condition using an Apple Watch, tracked 156 patients with uncontrolled hypertension starting in 2015.

The group, which was identified by clinical visits within an 18-month span, used a home-based, digital-monitoring program to track their blood pressure. Using cuffs that were enabled with wireless technology, patients measured their blood pressure, and the readings were transmitted to their Apple Watch, as well as Ochsner's electronic medical registry.

The group's results were compared with those of 400 other patients matched by age, sex, body mass index and blood pressure who received standard care.

During the trial period, Ochsner monitored the patients in real time and made adjustments and recommendations as needed. The patients who used the cuffs averaged about 4.2 blood pressure readings each week.

After 90 days, Ochsner found that 71 percent of the digital-medicine patients had reduced their blood pressure to within a targeted range, compared with 31 percent of the control group. The findings were published this year in the American Journal of Medicine.

"We're engaging our patients more efficiently," Milani said.

Next, Milani plans to explore using the technology to monitor patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes.

To raise awareness about emerging technologies that could improve patient care, Ochsner has expanded its O Bar concept, which showcases popular health apps that are vetted by medical professionals.

The concept, a nod to Apple's Genius Bar, has expanded to four hospital facilities: the Ochsner Center for Primary Care and Wellness on Jefferson Highway, Ochsner Health Center in Covington, Ochsner Medical Center on the West Bank and Ochsner Baptist Medical Center in New Orleans.

More than 1,100 patients used the O Bar in 2016, the hospital said.

Andres Rubiano was Ochsners first patient to subscribe to the Apple Watch program.

Rubiano, 56, was surprised when he was diagnosed with hypertension in his early 30s. He wasn't overweight, didn't smoke, watched what he ate and had an active lifestyle. He tried medication, but his condition worsened over time.

A former Ochsner employee, Rubiano, who lives in Old Metairie, said his blood pressure readings have improved dramatically, which has given him "a tremendous peace of mind."

"The best part of it was they were monitoring me on a regular basis," he said, "and they were able to tweak my meds to the point where my blood pressure is no longer an issue."

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Ochsner using wearable technology to help combat chronic diseases - The Advocate

This week, we salute the techies who are leading the revolution by internet companies and bring you the new, improved YourStory website. Log in for a new reading experience.

Not so long ago, the tag of a techie was a coveted one. Being a techie and working in an IT company meant one was instantly elevated in their position in life.

If you lived in Bangalore in the 90s, it would have been difficult not to miss this transition. Armed with their computer degrees, young boys and a few girls from middle-class families were blazing a new trail. Though today the trail has run dry what with the mass layoffs and the H1-B visa row, the techie still remains the backbone of the new internet companies.

At YourStory, we accord the techies a special place. Every Tuesday, our in-house techie-at-heart Alok Soni dives deep into an individuals life to decode what makes them tick.

Most of the recently featured techies on the column believe that (programming) languages are mere tools used to solve a problem and they arent married to any single one specifically. They look at the problem and then see which one can solve it most effectively, and go ahead with it, observes Alok.

Since the column began, we have profiled more than 150 techies. Our this weeks techie is Ajey Gore. A commerce graduate from the University of Allahabad, he is a brilliant example of the fact that you dont need a formal degree to chase your dreams. Hailing from Banda in Uttar Pradesh, today hes the group CTO of Indonesias first Unicorn, Gojek.

Find out how he made this journey in the article titled: How a small-town commerce graduate became CTO of a multibillion-dollar company.

And if you want to read some more, you can always go here.

And speaking of techies, our very own led by the inimitable Gaurav Tiwari are burning the midnight oil to bring a new and improved YourStory website. We are still fixing a few things, so any feedback from our prized readers will be a welcome one.

Do sign up on the website, and help us bring you stories and content that you like to read.

Today is Mothers Day, and we have a big spread of stories brought to you by the HerStory team. A special story by Tanvi Dubey is the one where a few entrepreneurs recount their memories of growing up and the influence their mothers had on them.

Find out which entrepreneur calls his mother, Jhansi ki Rani in the story titled: My mom is Jhansi ki Rani: entrepreneurs remember their mothers.

We had some interesting new startups profiled this week by Sindhu Kashyap. In case you missed those you can read them here. But if you sign up on the new website there will be fewer chances of missing the new startup stories.

Next week looks like a lot of action after Paytms bid to acquire Freecharge. Stay logged in to read all about SoftBanks strategy, Snapdeals fate, Flipkart and Paytms growing ambitions, and much, much more.

Till next Sunday then.

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[Weekend wrap] Decoding the people behind technology and other stories - YourStory.com

by

May 12, 2017, 10:34 PM EDT

Pandora Media Inc. said Chief Technology Officer Chris Martin is stepping down, just weeks after the online-radio company introduced a new service to lure new users andfend off growing rivals such as Spotify Ltd.

Martinhas decided to move on from Pandora,the company said Friday in an emailed statement. He had been with the Pandora since 2004. Chris has been the centerpiece of engineering, helping to shape a team and culture that is the envy of our peers, according to the statement.

Pandora, based in Oakland, California, is counting on its new on-demand music-streaming service, Pandora Premium, to help the company reverse a streak of financial losses and a tumbling stock price. The company said this week its shaking up its board and stepping up efforts to find a possible buyer.

Shares of Pandora rose 3.4 percent to $9.82 on Friday. They have dropped 25 percent this year.

Pandora introduced the on-demand service later than expected and wont generate significant revenue from subscribers until the second half of the year, Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra said this week on a call with investors.

The company has said it can add customers because the market for paid streaming is still in its infancy. Yet more than 100 million people around the world are already paying for a music service of some kind, including more than 20 million people in Pandoras home market.

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Pandora Technology Chief Departs Weeks After New Product Launch - Bloomberg

MIT Technology Review

Massive ransomware infection hits computers in 99 countries BBC News ... receive mainstream support", such Windows XP, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2003. This means the NHS - which largely still uses Windows XP - can now protect itself from this attack at no extra cost, reports the BBC's North America technology ... Widespread Ransomware Attack Hits U.K. HospitalsMIT Technology Review Massive ransomware attack hits 99 countriesCNNMoney NHS workers and patients on how cyber-attack has affected themThe Guardian CBC.ca -NHS Digital -Securelist -New York Times all 955 news articles »

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Massive ransomware infection hits computers in 99 countries - BBC News

American democracy is in crisis. Part of that crisis has to do with technology. But theres another, often overlooked, factor at play.

Im a professor, so I think that fixing America starts with education. We can help improve our democratic processes by using technology to improve schools. I dont mean that we should put iPads into every school, or give every child a laptop. I mean something more fundamental: We should use technology to make sure every public school in America has all of the books, supplies, and learning materials that they need.

A shocking number of public schools dont have these basic tools. Without the basics, we cant properly educate the next generation of informed citizens.

Technology is the only way to keep track of how many students are in each school, and what books and supplies each teacher needs. A few years ago, I did an investigative project in which I looked at whether Philadelphia schools had enough books for their students. They didnt. The same people write the books and write the standardized tests; my not-so-radical suggestion was that the students needed the books to prepare for the tests. The average Philly school had only 27 percent of the books they would need to teach the students in the building. Since then, Philadelphia has allocated $36 million for new textbooks and curriculum materials, provided a new computer to each pre-K-12 teacher, and allocated $7.8 million as a one-time investment for additional supplies and educational materials for every school. Its a step in the right direction.

I know that books arent the whole story (I teach computational journalism). Students also need spacious, well-lit classrooms with working internet connections. They need safe schools with bathrooms that work and are cleaned regularly. They need unleaded water in school buildings with roofs that dont leak and grow mold. In too many cases, these basic needs are not met in Philadelphias public schools, nor in other major American cities.

A few more items at the top of my lets-improve-democracy wish list: We should pay public school teachers more, and hire more of them so class sizes are smaller. Teachers arent paid enough, and yet they are so dedicated that they spend their own money on supplies. (Thank you, teachers.)

We need to fix the copiers and printers in every school and keep them stocked with plenty of paper. If you are a school district that doesnt buy books and workbooks, and instead you make teachers teach using random stuff they find on the Internet, then you dont even provide a copier and printer that workwell, youve just created major obstacles to your students becoming educated citizens. If the copier doesnt work, the teacher is stranded. Broken technology hurts democracy.

I truly wish there were a single technological solution that would fix every problem in every classroom. Then, I could wave a magic wand and declare, Make it so! But public school is a complex system that doesnt really work without humans in the loop.

Weve certainly tried replacing teachers with computer-based training. It has not gone well. Have you attempted any of the online learning modules that kids get assigned? I have. Most are deathly boring. Or there are the modules that claim to be fun, where the creators package up a mundane, repetitive arithmetic task as some kind of animal flying around the screen or navigating some kind of ridiculous maze. Kids recognize this. This is the kind of fun that your mom means when she says its going to be fun to learn how to do laundry, or to clean the smelly, rotten leaves out of the gutters.

We need technology to run our schools. Not glamorous cutting-edge technology, but workhorse technology: databases, and staff to enter the data into the databases, and database administrators to keep everything running and do the load-balancing at the beginning and end of the semester when hundreds of schools are trying to enter in their updated inventory data simultaneously. We need more accurate budgeting that factors in everything a school needs, from pencils to laptops to tater tots. We could use artificial intelligence if that makes it seem more exciting. To investigate the book situation (and offer a solution) in Philadelphia, I built A.I. software. Its open source, and its available online, for free. School districts have not yet come knocking on my door, begging me to implement it so they can update their budgeting and inventory management processesbut hope springs eternal.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote: Educate and inform the whole mass of the people they are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. I believe this. And I believe that technology can help us make a better world. However, I dont believe that we need radically new, different technology to fix Americas public schools. We can start by fixing and funding what we already have.

This article is part of a collaboration with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

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Broken Technology Hurts Democracy - The Atlantic

On May 11, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe promised that automation would be a cornerstone of the commonwealths new economy.

Over the past three years, weve made tremendous progress to support this emerging industry, and well continue our efforts to cut red-tape and open the door for further growth, he said in a release announcing the launch of the Autonomous Systems Center of Excellence (ASCE).

The center will be operated by the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), a nonprofit corporation focused on creating technology-based economic development strategies to accelerate innovation. The ASCE will function as both a development and deployment system of all aspects of the autonomous systems industry. The announcment was made during the Xponential event held by the Associaion for Unmanned Vehicle System Internation.

The center also will operate as an advocate for the autonomous industry within the state. Virginia has already gotten started in the autonomy sector through its 2013 partnership with the FAA.

Per the release, Virginia ranks consistently among the top 10 of states positioned to reap the largest economic benefit from the onset of autonomous technology.

Virginia has already established itself as a leader in the autonomous systems industry, said Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson in the release. ... It is essential that we create an epicenter that drives collaboration, facilitates information sharing, and provides streamlined access to all of our world-class assets.

While not expressly mentioning autonomous vehicles, the new center may focus on the burgeoning technology. McAuliffe recently expressed his desire for Virginia to become the capital of automated vehicles, according to The Washington Post.

As states race toward autonomy and hope to get out in front of the disruptive technology, McAuliffe said he believes a mix of a well-educated workforce and lack of government regulations will propel his state as a leader of the pack. The state has chosen to create minimal regulations for the young industry in hopes that the open slate will attract manufacturers.

There are no local regulations at all. We do not have state regulations. The industry is too new, and I dont want us writing laws that could stifle innovation, he said while delivering the event keynote.

The opening of the ASCE will hopefully continue Virginias development as a hub of autonomous vehicles.

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Virginia to Open Autonomous Technology Center - Government Technology

CARAMORNINGSTAR/Sun-Gazette Graduates from the Pennsylvania College of Technology class of 2017 gather Friday in the Community Arts Center in Williamsport for the graduation ceremony.

The Pennsylvania College of Technology held the 2017 spring commencement ceremony at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport on Friday.

Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal, and I must say, I feel rejuvenated every May, said Davie Jane Gilmour, Penn College president.

But Penn College celebrates a little differently than other schools.

Now this is the time when most college presidents would stop you to say, please put away your phones and turn off the noise, Gilmour said. This is Penn College, and we are a college of technology. So Id like you to turn on your phones and Im going to take the first selfie of the day.

The crowd cheered as Gilmour posed on stage for her own selfie in celebration of technology with the graduates.

Elliott Strickland, chief student affairs officer, introduced the commencement speaker, Lauren Jayde Crouse, class of 2017.

Its not often that a student like Lauren comes around, he said. Shes one of the most evolved students weve ever had Because of her involvement and service, shes been consistently recognized by faculty and her peers.

Crouse also received the Presidents Award for leadership and service along with Morgan Nicole Keyser.

It amazes me all the hard work that we all put in to be where we are today, Crouse said.

She said she had considered dropping out her freshman year and that it had been a different time in her life. She credited her success to getting involved, and she said she would not be standing in front of everyone had she not done that.

She challenged everyone in the room to try to be a small light for everyone else.

Gilmour also presented an award she said she prefers to keep a surprise for as long as she can, the 2017 Veronica M. Muzic Master Teacher Award, to J.D. Mather, associate professor of engineering design and technology.

Its the most prestigious of our faculty tributes, Gilmour said.

She said the award has only been awarded 30 times with Mather being the 31st recipient.

Ive just been blindsided, said Mather. I want to thank my students Really, this is their award.

Gilmour also presented the 2017 Excellence in Teaching Award to Nicholas Stephenson, graphic design instructor. She said a second teacher will also receive the award in the ceremony on Saturday to be announced online at http://www.pctoday.pct.edu.

Teaching here at Penn College is an absolute joy, Stephenson said.

The Alumni Achievement Award went to Thomas J. Giannattasio, class of 2006, product manager for InVision.

Back in high school I was not the most studious person, I suppose. The only award my high school gave me was class clown, he said. Penn College sort of changed my trajectory.

Penn College will be holding two more ceremonies on Saturday.

The first ceremony for the School of Construction and Design Technologies and the School of Health Sciences will be at 10 a.m. with student speaker Madison L. Carts.

The second ceremony for the School of Business and Hospitality and the School of Transportation and Natural Resources Technologies will be at 1:30 p.m. with student speaker Robert E. Wood.

Both additional ceremonies also will be at the Community Arts Center.

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College celebrates graduation with technology - Williamsport Sun-Gazette