086-KM-98
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:Karen Morris
(949) 824-7913
NSF DESIGNATION RECOGNIZES UC IRVINEÃS BUSINESS SCHOOL AS NATIONAL LEADER IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
National Science Foundation Research Center at UCI to Form Industry-University Alliances With Unique Focus on Social, Economic Impact of Information Technology
Irvine, Calif., June 16, 1998óA research group at UC IrvineÃs Graduate School of Management has been designated one of six industry-university information and technology research centers in the nation by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Though there are more than 50 NSF research centers across the country, including the six focusing on information and technology, the UCI Graduate School of Management is one of only two business schools nationwide selected to house an NSF center.
The management schoolÃs Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO) is the only one of the national centers to focus on the social and economic impact of information technology.
The new NSF center will bring together nationally prominent faculty from UCIÃs business school and computer science department with researchers from participating corporations to study the impact of new information technologiesócomputers, telecommunications, multimedia and the Internetóon business, consumers and the workplace.
"We are extremely pleased to receive this national recognition of the UCI Graduate School of ManagementÃs research excellence and leadership in the field of information and information technology," said David Blake, dean of the management school. "With its strategic focus on information technology for management, the Graduate School of Management has risen to the ranks of the nationÃs top 50 business schoolsóthe top 25 for information technology MBAs. A National Science Foundation center at this campus elevates UCI to an even greater role as a national leader in information technology for management. It provides the opportunity to define a research agenda that directly impacts businesses and other organizations that are using information and technology to change the way business is done."
With $2.5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, the university and participating corporations, CRITO will conduct leading-edge research on how information technology is adopted, adapted and used by organizations and consumers. Based on research results, practical solutions and recommendations will be developed for use by industry partners. The founding corporate members are ATL Products, The Boeing Company, Canon Information Systems, IBM Consulting Group, Nortel Technologies, Rockwell International, Seagate Technologies, Systems Management Specialists and Sun Microsystems.
"WeÃre fortunate to have as founding members of the new center companies that are leaders in the use of information technology," said Kenneth Kraemer, UCI professor of management information systems and computer science and CRITOÃs director. "Corporate relationships are not newówe have used companies as sites for researchóbut we have never worked jointly with companies before. This alliance enables us to speed up the transfer of knowledge to industry and provides greater opportunities for studying the technology as itÃs applied."
As the $660-billion-per-year information technology industry reshapes the U.S. economy and transforms society at local, national and global levels, a national industry-university research center such as CRITO is urgently needed to examine the myriad impacts of the technology, Kraemer said.
"The technology changes so fast and becomes so complex that user organizations often arenÃt prepared to adapt it. They need a better understanding of what technology can do and how to manage it effectively. We plan to fill that need.
"CRITO is unique because, unlike other NSF industry-university centers at Cal Tech, Carnegie Mellon or UC Berkeley that focus wholly on technology, weÃre interested in user environmentsóhow technology is used and what difference it makes to organizational and individual performance. We study a wide range of environments, because, in addition to studying its impact on users, we want to understand the implications for the design of new products and for the management of new technology."
The new center will build on the body of research that has been conducted by CRITOÃs multidisciplinary faculty, which has made important contributions in such areas as the study of computers in homes and schools, management of information technology, the globalization of the Internet and the global production and use of computers.
The UCI Graduate School of Management is rated among the nationÃs top business schools for the research productivity of its information technology faculty. Collectively, CRITO researchers have garnered more than $20 million in funding from the National Science Foundation and other sources. The group also has received international recognition as a leader in the social and economic analysis of information technology.
Kraemer is engaged in that analysis as he works to develop a gauge to measure the value of information technology investment by companies in terms of growth in productivity, market share and revenue. Colleagues William Wright, professor of accounting, and Mark Ackerman, professor of information and computer science, are conducting research on the "virtual" workplaceógeographically remote workers collaborating via electronic media. Henry Becker, professor of education, is assessing the effects of introducing computers, with and without educational reforms, into schools.
"This is new knowledge," emphasized Vijay Gurbaxani, professor of information systems and computer science, who studies the management of information technology in organizations. "At UCI, weÃre studying it as it happens. That not only gives us an edge in preparing our graduates for the future, but also enables us to help companies think about how to compete in the future."
KraemerÃs study of Dell Computers, for example, focused on how the company maximizes the payoff from information technology as an investment. The research showed that the company was able to gain "extraordinary" efficiencies from its technology, which resulted in greatly improved stock performance.
And in an Internet research project, Gurbaxani found that Amazon.com, an online bookseller, is revolutionizing book retailing with a web-based business that is forcing large bookstore-chain competitors to respond to the electronic sellerÃs strategies.
Management professor and associate director of CRITO Alladi Venkatesh also is looking at the information technology payoff in his studies of the American family. "If you take a purely technological approach in researching technologyÃs impact, you miss the human sideóyou miss half the story," he said.
Venkatesh has been studying computers in the home for a dozen years. "We are studying not only how computers are used, but how they impact family life," he said. "Initially, we looked at them as domestic technology. But with the considerable improvements of technology and development of the Internet in the 1990s, we began to see that computers were entering household life in a much more complex fashion. They are not just linking work and home, but linking home to the outside world, and, increasingly, they are linking families."
CRITOÃs research projects involve more than a dozen faculty, chiefly from the Graduate School of Management and the Department of Information and Computer Science, but also including the School of Social Sciences and the Department of Education. CRITO also conducts the Graduate School of ManagementÃs annual Orange County Executive Survey, providing comprehensive information on the future of business in the Orange County region for corporate decision-makers.
UCIÃs NSF industry-university research center will be guided by faculty researchers and an Industrial Advisory Board comprising representatives from the founding member companies. ### A complete archive of press releases is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.communications.uci.edu/~inform/
RSS