Faisal Akkawi
Currently teaching:
Telecommunications and Computer Networks
Database Systems Design and Implementation
Faisal Akkawi is the faculty director of the Master of Science in Information Systems Program. His area of specialization is software architecture for concurrent systems, and his research interests also include reactive/adaptive intelligent systems and design issues of concurrent programming languages. Selected for the NASA Faculty Fellowship Program in 2003, Akkawi designed and implemented a framework that was used in the advanced diagnostic and caution and warning system for the International Space Station. He has an MS in electrical engineering and a PhD in computer science from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Kayed Akkawi is the dean of Morris Graduate School of Management at Robert Morris University. He has extensive teaching experience at the graduate level, including at Illinois Institute of Technology. His professional projects have included developing a natural language interface for information retrieval, a search engine for accessing large-scale databases, and a toolkit for measuring retrieval accuracy for bilingual information. Akkawi serves as the chair of the educational committee for the Chicago-Amman International Sister Cities Program. Other professional memberships include the Association for Computing Machinery and the Arab-American Association of Engineers and Architects. He has a PhD in computer science and an MS in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Gunther Branham is a seasoned senior level IT executive. His experience includes CIO level responsibility for several global corporate functions for a Fortune 100 company. His responsibilities included systems planning, budgeting, software delivery and systems operations for Global Engineering and Quality and Regulatory Systems. Additional experience includes IT leadership for commercial, manufacturing and distribution, research and development, medical, regulatory and sales and marketing systems. Other significant accomplishments include initiating corporate-wide offshore IT services sourcing, starting an enterprise applications integration technology center, launching and managing key e-commerce activities and integration and startup of manufacturing facility systems. Branham earned a BA in physics from the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and an MS in Business Management from the University of Northern Colorado.
Parthasarathi Chakraborty
Email Parthasarathi Chakraborty
Currently teaching:
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
Management of Information Security
Enterprise Security Strategy
Parthasarathi Chakraborty has over 25 years of cyber security technology and leadership experience in the financial services and healthcare industry. An active speaker, panelist, inventor and board member in cyber security industry. He is the founder of Cloud Security Practitioner Council, and chairperson of Cloud Security Alliance's Key Management Workgroup. Chakraborty sits in the technical advisory board for Google Cloud and a few security startups like Oak9, TrueFort Inc. He was awarded Juanita Koilpillai annual service award in 2023 by Cloud Security Alliance. Currently heading security architecture, engineering and innovation program for Humana Inc, a Fortune 40 healthcare company. Prior to Humana, Chakraborty has held executive leadership roles with Bank of Montreal, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, and Guardian Life Insurance Company. A CISSP, CCSP, CEH, CHFI certified security evangelist holding a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from NIT Rourkela, a Masters in Cyber Security from Western Governors University, another Masters in Technology Management from Columbia University, a cyber security professional certificate from Stanford University and executive CTO university credit program from Wharton Business School at University of Pennsylvania. Chakraborty also has two patents under his name for JP Morgan and Humana Inc.
Terry Cottrell is Vice President for Information Technology and Planning at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. In addition to 25 years of practitioner expertise in IT, his academic career includes 15+ years of teaching, publication and presentations on the subjects of cybersecurity, e-science research trends, the effects of media on cognition, hands-free AR tools, copyright, diversity in the workplace, IT leadership, management, and finance. He has served on numerous non-profit boards and provided angel investments to four startups. His academic credentials include an MS in Risk Management from Columbia University, an MS in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MBA from the University of St. Francis, and an EdD from Northern Illinois University in Instructional Technology. He has designed and taught a wide variety of courses for Colorado State University-Global Campus and the University of St. Francis, Google for Educators at Northern Illinois University, and Advanced Cybersecurity for Northwestern University.
Jim DeMarco
Currently teaching:
Digital Transformation: Strategy and Planning
Enterprise Architecture
Jim DeMarco is a business leader and digital business strategy practitioner with more than 25 years' experience. In his current business role, Jim advises some of Microsoft's largest financial services customers on their digital transformation stories and roadmaps; Jim has trained hundreds of Microsoft employees on how to engage their customers in digital transformation partnerships and how to use design-led thinking to drive customer engagement. Jim has held leadership positions in the telecommunications industry, where he helped innovate the use of real time decision making in customer interactions. A lawyer as well as a business strategist, Jim is a proud Northwestern alumnus (Kellogg MM 1999) and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (JD 1994, BS 1990).
Leslie Fischer is a Lecturer in the Writing Program. With more than 25 years of experience teaching English, Business Writing and Communication at Northwestern University and the School of Professional Studies, Fischer is a seasoned mentor in writing, communication, and teamwork. Experienced as both a student and teacher of online courses, she understands how students learn online and the particular challenges for adult students. Since 2007, Fischer has mentored engineering students in the Design Thinking and Communication program. There, she teaches student engineers how to communicate and cooperate well as they work on real-world projects for clients such as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Rimland Collaborative Care for Individuals with Autism, Lambs Farm, and the Wilmette Park District. Fischer earned her MA in English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition to her work in higher education, she has significant professional experience as an editor, writer, and trainer. Fischer was the Editor for the American Hemerocallis Society. She has worked with diverse clients, from global banks to educational publishers to the local humanities festival.
Sunil Kakade
Currently teaching:
Practical Data Science Using Machine Learning
Data and Digital Platforms
Digital Technologies
Sunil Kakade has over 18 years' experience in various technical and leadership roles focused on lT transformation initiatives, analytics driven software development and big data technologies. Sunil is a big data and data science evangelist with hands-on expertise in implementing Hadoop and NoSQL technologies. Sunil leads the architecture and delivery of business systems for a fortune 100 company. His areas of interests include machine learning, data science, legacy systems modernization and open source technologies. His research papers have been presented at multiple international conferences and published in technical journals. He has patents pending in areas of IT and retail processes. Kakade has a MS in information technology and management from the Illinois Institute of Technology at Chicago and a MS in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, researching applications of artificial intelligence to manufacturing processes.
Anthony Mersino is the founder of Vitality Chicago, an agile coaching and training firm with a strong focus on creating the environment for technology people to do their best work. He works closely with small and large organizations to foster business agility and has helped several Fortune 500 organizations adopt agile ways of working. Since 2004, Anthony has developed and taught several IT project management and the Agile Certificate program for Northwestern University. In 2020 he was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award from Northwestern's School of Professional Studies. Prior to founding Vitality Chicago, Anthony worked as an IT program manager for IBM, Unisys, and Ameritech. Anthony has authored two books, Agile Project Management and Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers. He holds a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and a masters in business administration from Loyola University of Maryland.
David Ostrowski
Currently teaching:
Web Application Development
Innovation with Blockchain Technology
David Ostrowski has over 30 years professional experience in software development between the areas of connected vehicle analytics, Intelligent controls, manufacturing simulation, agent-based modeling, database and real-time data acquisition. David currently works in Ford Motor Product Development Business Office as the Artificial Intelligence Leader. Dr. Ostrowski also has over 25 years experience as an adjunct professor at several universities teaching courses recently in Artificial Intelligence, Functional Programming, Analysis of Algorithms and Theory of Computation. He received his B.B.A. in Management Information Systems from University of Michigan-Dearborn as well as an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Wayne State University. Dr. Ostrowski has fifty refereed publications, ten patents, two book chapters, numerous technical reports, and participates within several technical committees including IEEE TEC transactions, IEEE ICSC, IEEE AI4I and IEEE ICIOS.
Jennifer Singer is an IT Management Professional, with over 20 years of experience. Her professional background includes database management and administration, leading teams of application and middleware developers, and supporting development teams in adapting principles of DevOps. The majority of her professional experience has been in the telecommunications and financial fields. She has been recognized as a top contributor for the past 3 years, with her current employer. Jennifer earned her bachelor’s degree from University of Colorado Boulder, and master’s degree from the University of Denver, both in Computer Information Systems. More recently, she has completed coursework in the area of leadership with the University of Denver’s Executive Education program. She is passionate about all things database-related, and effectively leading people.
William Sunna has more than eight years of data solutions experience in industry as a principal consultant to several Fortune 500 companies in insurance, retail and financial services. He also teaches courses in programming, database concepts and design, web development and other computer science areas at the University of Illinois at Chicago as well as Northwestern. He has presented his research in multiple conferences and workshops and has coauthored articles in more than 12 publications, including Transactions in GIS, Journal of Visual Languages and Computing and International Journal of Electronic Government Research. Sunna earned a PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois at Chicago, researching automatic alignment of heterogeneous ontologies in the geospatial information domain.
Kevin Vaccaro has 25+ years’ experience working in Information Technology. He has also been teaching various topics in IT ranging from service and repair to Cybersecurity for 20+ years. He is a full time faculty member at Moraine Valley Community College and an adjunct Industry Professor at Illinois Institute of Technology. He has written several articles on digital forensics for eforensics magazine. Kevin holds a MS in Information Technology from Illinois Institute of Technology and several industry certifications including CISSP and CEH and also is an authorized trainer.
Srikanth Victory is a seasoned technology executive with over 26 years of experience, known for his customer-focused leadership and expertise at the intersection of business and technology. With a strong background in diverse domains, including Marketing, Sales, Finance, Supply Chain, and more, Victory is passionate about driving enterprise digital transformation through cultural change and fostering a data-driven approach. He has a proven track record of successfully leading digital transformation & data and analytics initiatives at Fortune companies.
Victory has dual master’s degrees — business administration from Webster University in Webster Groves, Mo., and mathematics from Loyola College in India.