As the semester draws to a close, KnowIT salutes the students who have gone the extra mile to excel this year. As well, we congratulate Clinical Assistant Professor Kathleen Moser, who was honored by the university as the most outstanding student organization advisor of the year.

New research by a team of information systems and supply chain experts from the W. P. Carey School of Business shows that adding business analytics to the supply chain toolbox can make the process of evaluating supply chains easier, faster and more targeted.

Using data collected about bikes stolen on campus, students in the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MS-BA) program created a map for ASU Police showing where to patrol — on what days and what specific times — to prevent thefts.

Raghu Santanam, chair of the Department of Information Systems provides his readers with insight into the developments that have taken place in the IS field since the 1990s. Santanam also gives his readers some information on the direction of the future of IS.

Department of Information Systems Chairman Michal Goul provides insight into future program rankings.

Scottsdale-based Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has been making the famed Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars since the 1950s. But IT plays a major role in the day-to-day operations and its success as the world's leading guitar maker.

The numbers are compelling enough: 6,000 IT job opportunities posted on the Microsoft website alone, and another 11,063 from a quick search for “systems analyst” positions on Dice.com, a career site for the technology industry.

With any luck at all, there isn't a giant asteroid headed our way soon, but in the world of information technology, an extinction event may be on the horizon.

Telecom giant Sprint-Nextel recently decided about a thousand of its customers were just a little bit too demanding, so it went ahead and fired them. The remarkable move made headlines nationwide and since has left business analysts to ponder two questions. First, was Sprint justified?

In our last issue, Ajay Vinze and Raghu Santanam, both information systems professors at the W. P. Carey School of Business, discussed how principles of supply chain management might be applied to public health emergencies.