K-State business students take first in consulting, third in software development in Cerner Corporation competitions

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Source: Greg Smith, 785-532-4356, smithg@k-state.edu
Note to editor: Alex Tran is a graduate of Liberal High School.
News release prepared by: Katie Schurman, 785-532-2753, schurman@k-state.edu

Friday, December 22, 2006

K-STATE BUSINESS STUDENTS TAKE FIRST IN CONSULTING, THIRD IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT IN CERNER CORPORATION COMPETITIONS

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University business students participating in a semester-long competition have gained experience in the business world and brought some recognition to K-State's College of Business Administration along the way.

Greg Smith, instructor of management, accepted an offer from Cerner Corporation for students in his capstone course in management information systems to participate in the consulting and software development competition. This was the first year that K-State students took part in the event at Cerner Corporation, based in Kansas City, Mo.

Cerner Corporation specializes in health care information technology systems. It designs clinical information systems and financial applications to improve the health care industry. According to K-State's career and employment services, the corporation was the largest employer of K-State College of Business Administration graduates in 2005.

Four groups from K-State competed against 12 other groups from the universities of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Purdue in two competitions.

One of the K-State groups took first place in the consulting competition. The objective was to recommend an integrated system among multiple providers that created a safer, higher quality health care environment. The winning team delivered a presentation Dec. 5 to Cerner executives.

"It was an incredible experience to speak in front of executives at Cerner about our ideas," said Brett French, senior in management information systems, Amarillo, Texas, who was member of the group which placed first in the consulting competition.

Another group from K-State took third in a software development competition. Students were required to develop a mobile application that allows nurses, physicians and pharmacists to monitor care at the patent's bedside using a personal digital assistant.

"The university students displayed health care industry acumen and represented their schools well,” said Stephen Smith, Cerner ExperienceiT: program manager. "Each team's presentation showed that the teams understood health care and could apply this newly acquired knowledge in an executive level presentation."

Student members of the groups which placed in the competition are all seniors in management information systems, unless otherwise noted. They include:

Chris Schmidt, Hays, first place in consulting competition; Carlos Morales, Junction City, first place in consulting competition.

From Manhattan: Megan Coovert, first place in consulting competition and will begin working for Cerner in June 2007; Matt Lehrman, third place in software development; and Alex Tran, senior in engineering, first place in consulting competition.

Mike Barnes, Rossville, third place in software development.