BusIness GuIde

University of Arkansas atLittle RockTechnology is one of the key connections betweeneconomic development and higher education.At the University of Arkansas at LittleRock, this connection is thriving, thanks toUALR’s Donaghey College of Engineering andInformation Technology (EIT). UALR’s EIThas students, faculty and industry partnersworking together in some of the nation's mosthigh-tech engineering laboratories. One exampleis EIT’s remarkable Virtual Reality Center(VRC), which provides a three-dimensional immersionexperience letting researchers explorelife-sized images related to all fields of scienceand engineering. This new way of using advancedtechnology helps solve complex problemsin engineering, life sciences, data miningand construction, while helping local businessesimprove their bottom line every day.Why does UALR’s EIT have a cutting-edge facilitylike the VRC? The key reason is the college'sfounding dean, Dr. Mary L. Good. As theformer chair of the National Science Board, formerundersecretary of technology at the UnitedStates Commerce Department, and past presidentof the American Association for the Advancementof Science — the world's largestorganization of scientists — no one in Arkansasbetter understands the connection between futuretechnology and business growth thanDr. Good.Under Dean Good's strong leadership and withdirect business community involvement, thecollege reaches out statewide, nationwide andinternationally to serve more than 1,200 studentsnow attending classes. These students arebecoming Arkansas's top-paid, most technicallyskilled employees of the future. They join studentsfrom the region's other higher educationand technical school campuses, giving employersthe skilled workers needed to grow their companies.Students in UALR’s EIT come from 67 of Arkansas’s75 counties, 14 other states and 36foreign countries. Offering a wide range of advancedcomputer-based degrees, the college isdirectly connected to more than 100 knowledgebasedcompanies in Arkansas and surroundingstates through its seven active Corporate AdvisoryCouncils and its National Advisory Board.Companies like Acxiom, Alltel, Aristotle,AT&T, Hawker Beechcraft, Molex, SAIC andSouthwest Power Pool are just a few of the market'shigh-tech employers that have representativesserving proudly on the college's advisorycouncils. These companies are strong examplesof how the Little Rock region is dynamicallymoving ahead in the knowledge-based, technology-driveneconomy, and they are drawn to thecollege to hire employees and seek technicalTECHNOLOGYCutting-Edge Institutions, CompaniesLead Region’s Knowledge-Based EconomyViney Saini, Enkelada Dervishi and Dr. Yang Xu perform cutting edge research being done at the NanotechnologyCenter at UALR.solutions from its internationally recognized professors,many of them recruited from the world'smost prestigious universities.Construction is underway for EIT’s major newhigh-tech classroom and research buildinglinked directly to economic development for theLittle Rock region and the state. UALR’s campusUALRECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTLittle Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce 2009 Business Guide 69