WAY COOL CLASS NEXT SEMESTER!!

Really quick before I go to bed....
We saw a presentation after class today....VERY INTERESTING!

There will be a new course offered next semester, put together by the Technology Licensing Office. http://www.uark.edu/ua/tlo/

See, the Univ.of Arkansas has quite a lot of intellectual property sitting around--advancements in IT, biotech, nanotech, agritech, etc. The goal of this course will be pick out some of these technologies (antimicrobial somethingorothers, ferroelectric whachamicallits, quantum dot doohickies,...) evaluate them for market potential, and make presentations to potential licensees.

WAY COOL INDEED!!

uh oh. The wife just woke up....gotta go.

Back from Denver, part 2

The CSCMP conference was really great! Thanks a lot to Dr. Ozment for getting me in!

One of his favorite statistics is that there are over 450 accredited business schools in the U.S. and you can major in Logistics, or Transportation, or Supply Chain, etc., at about 50.
So....
The logistics education community is really small (compared to marketing or finance). From what I saw in Denver, the vast majority of these people are down-to-earth and easy-going. It really feels like an extended family.

Whenever it was mentioned that I was a prospective PhD student, the response was usually something like "Oh, well come over here and let me introduce you to Dr......with......University." It was a really great opportunity to meet a lot of the top people in the field.

Of course, it was a big help that I was usually with Dr. Ozment. This guy knows EVERYBODY! Everywhere I went, I'd drop his name and people would say "Oh, you're one of John's students...". He's not really a founding father of the discipline, but I think he's a founding son.

I also got to meet Dr. Waller, who flew in from China to attend the conference. Matt Waller is an absolute star in supply chain education. The Walton College has started an MBA program in Shanghai, China, and Dr. Waller has been over there for the last year heading up that program.

Well, class is about to start....gotta go.

Back from Denver, part 1

ok...I actually got back from Denver a week ago, but this is the first chance I've had to blog at a time when I was thinking about it. In case you were wondering....yes, Denver is awesome!

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, across the street from the convention center, on the 10th floor with a magnificent view of the mountains. We chose the Hilton instead of the Hyatt Regency because it came with free WiFi in the room, and the building is only about 1 year old (major selling point for the wife).

We were only 2 blocks from the 16th Street pedestrian mall. This place is really nice! For several blocks 16th Street is closed to vehicle traffic, except for the free buses (hybrid/alternative fuel-powered, of course) that only travel up and down 16th St. The street is bricked and has trees, benches, and kiosks in the middle.

If you're ever there make sure to stop in Cook's Fresh Market. They've got a deli and a bakery, and they make the absolute best cookies (1 inch thick I swear!). Katie had to go there every day and get a walnut shortbread cookie. She bought 12 for the trip home (gone within 3 days).

Another interesting thing about 16th Street:
Every other street corner had some bleeding-heart college kid in an Obama t-shirt with a clipboard trying to get me registered to vote, or some dirty hippie college kid in a Greenpeace t-shirt with a clipboard trying to talk to me about global climate change. EVERY DAY!

Politics not withstanding, we had a wonderful time and Denver is one of our favorite cities!