Guest Speakers

Student Panel of Current GGC students:

  • Adrianna Valdivia
  • Jon-Julius Lindsay
  • Judy Ko
  • Genie Yang

Programming Professor’s Panel of  GGC IT faculty:

  • Dr. Evelyn Brannock is an associate professor of information technology at Georgia Gwinnett College. Brannock’s primary interests include digital signal processing, with an emphasis on the discrete wavelet transform, data security, especially in the area of watermarking, bioinformatics, software engineering and model driven architecture (MDA). Before obtaining her Ph.D. in computer science at Georgia State University, Brannock worked in the field of information technology for over two decades. Her career started with training and consulting for an object oriented COBOL application development toolset. Her last position was as an integration architect with expertise in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Business Process Management (BPM). The bulk of her experience has been with the Fortune 500. She was also a founder, owner and president of MouseKids.
  • Dr. Cynthia Johnson’s interests include machine learning, modeling and simulation and software engineering. Prior to obtaining her Ph.D., Dr. Johnson worked as a software engineer for more than two decades. The majority of that work was in defense contracting where she worked on a variety of products from missile guidance software to war game simulations for the Army and Navy.
  • Dr. Tacksoo Im is an associate professor of information technology at Georgia Gwinnett College. He has received his Ph.D. in computer science from Clemson University. He is interested in various software engineering topics, and he enjoys teaching programming to his students. Im is currently teaching a video game-themed introduction to programming course at GGC. Recently, he started a software development group with his students, and they are trying to build cool applications.

 BrainLab:

  • Dr. Adriane Randolph is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at Kennesaw State University. She is also the director of KSU BrainLab. Her research focuses on brain-computer interface systems, which allow for non-muscularly controlled assistive technologies and reflect varying human mental states. As director of the KSU BrainLab, she is working to discover impactful solutions for brain-computer interfaces by uncovering the underlying characteristics that affect users’ control. Other research interests include human-computer interaction, neuro-information systems, and process improvement.Dr. Randolph has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as an individual who is “transforming the world” and recognized in 2007 by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of forty ‘Up-and-Comers’ under the age of 40. She is an original Google Glass Explorer and has been featured as a speaker for TEDxPeachtree and TEDxCentennialParkWomen.

Careers in IT Panel: 

    • Lori Ybarra is a former GGC student who graduated with a double major in Information Technology and Business Administration. She is currently a Support Center Specialist at Jackson Healthcare. Lori has significant experience in the IT field and worked for companies such as InterDev LLC., AltaCare Corp., Viant Solutions, LLC. Etc. before joining Jackson Healthcare.
    • Paula Yates is VP – Information Technology at First Data Corporation. She also worked at ASAP Solutions as a consultant and was the IT Director at Home Depot and BellSouth before joining First Data Corporation. Paula Yates has a MS in Technology Management degree from Mercer University.

Resume writing workshop:

  • Andrea Holyfield is an experienced career counselor, who is currently setting up a dedicated career center for Georgia State University’s alumni. She holds a bachelors degree in Mass Communication from Kent State University. She has a masters degree in professional counseling from Georgia State University. She is a Nationally Certified Counselor and a Licensed Associate Professional Counselor. She also runs an independent practice to help women discover new options and choices and rid themselves of feeling “stuck.”. More information about her business can be found at http://livewellcps.com/.