Turner Business

The recent advancements in artificial intelligence, especially convolution neural networks, have made the potential of automated medical image analysis nearly comparable to that of health professionals.  In medical imaging, these networks can help medical practitioners diagnose diseases like COVID-19 or pneumonia by highlighting the suspicious regions in chest X-ray film.  Many contemporary deep learning techniques only focus on COVID-19 classification tasks using X-ray images, while few attempt to make it explainable with a saliency map.   New research by Turner College management professor Johnny Ho and Fashiar Rahman and Bill Tseng of the University of Texas at El Paso, Michael Pokojovy of Old Dominion University, and Peter McCaffery, Eric Walser, Scott Moen and Alex Vo of the University of Texas Medical Branch, proposes a deep learning approach with image enhancement/cropping and data augmentation to enhance COVID-19 classification. Their deep learning approach adds ...

There is some e xciting news to report from the Columbus State University chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). First, the group is hosting a  Documentary Night on November 21 at 6:00 pm to screen the film AlphaGo. The film presents how AlphaGo, a computer program developed by DeepMind Technologies, mastered the game of Go through artificial intelligence. Its competence was tested by Lee Sedol, a South Korean World Champion. Prior to the screening, at 5:45 pm, the ACM will put on a 10-minute presentation on adversarial search, dating back to its origins. There will be a 5-minute intermission between this presentation and the start of the film.      Next,  s tudent ACM Presentations will be unveiled on December 2 in the Synovus Center Theater. There visitors will be able hear about some of the exciting projects being undertaken by TSYS School computer science students. Round 1 presentations will begin at 11:00 am, followed by a food break at 1...

Meet the student assistants in the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity. They are  Malachi Biggers , Donovan Wright , and Jonah Simpson .  Among other things, they support the cybersecurity Nexus program, run the Cyber Range and Lab, and help facilitate the Center's participation in the CyberSkills2Work consortium funded by the National Security Agency. According to Patrick Aiken , Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity, "They are . . .  fabulous student assistants in the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity . . . [I am] h appy to have [them] as part of the team. [They] make my life better by doing what [they] do." Biggers is a cybersecurity major in the TSYS School. He previously an apprentice as a SOC Analyst at CSU, while he currently serves as a cybersecurity mentor at Hardaway High School and as a Student Ambassador in the Turner College. Wright is also a cybersecurity major in the TSYS School, while he previously worked as a computer repair technician at CSU. Simpson is a ...

Three TSYS School cybersecurity Nexus students,  Reed Lowry ,  Daniel Kunze , and  Dylann Russell , recently had an  incredible experience via the Employability Blitz Workshop at Jordan Vocational High School in Columbus.  This event gave them the opportunity to share their knowledge, mentor young minds, and serve the community. It served as a reflection of the amazing work the Nexus program does not only for TSYS School students but also for the community and the cybersecurity field. Thanks to Terry Anderson for inviting them to this fantastic event and giving them the chance to make a positive impact.  

Two-time TSYS School graduate Alex Walston knows a thing or two about cyber threats. Judging by his educational path at CSU, he also knows something about how to maximize educational opportunities for a career in cybersecurity. Alex earned a Nexus degree in cybersecurity from the TSYS School a few years ago. As that degree entails completion of a large portion of traditional bachelor's degree studies, Alex leveraged this achievement into a traditional B.S. in cybersecurity, also from the TSYS School. This educational path put Alex in position to work as a security analyst for Synovus, a position he held from June 2021 until last month. Now, Alex is a threat hunter for Red Canary, a computer and network security firm based in Denver, Colorado. Red Canary  manages, detects and responds to prevalent threats across cloud, identity and endpoint so companies can have more time to focus on business-specific specific security needs and requirements. Turner Business congratulates Alex in ...

StartUP Columbus is back with their 4th annual BizPitch Competition. This flagship event is a strong collaboration between the Turner College and StartUp Columbus that aims to boost the entrepreneurial spirit in the Columbus area. This year's event is set for November 12, 2024, from 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm EST in the CSU Riverside Theater on the CSU Riverpark Campus in Uptown Columbus.  Please plan on attending and watch as aspiring entrepreneurs compete for over $15,000 in prize money.

Columbus State University’s official fall enrollment increased 3.9% compared to last year, according to final figures reported to the University System of Georgia. Buoyed by the university’s largest-ever graduate student class, 2024 is the second consecutive year the university has seen growth in overall student headcount.  Official Fall 2024 enrollment stands at 7,937. This includes a 4.9% growth in new undergraduate students and a 1.9% increase in total undergraduate students compared to Fall 2023.  This fall also marks the university’s largest-ever graduate student enrollment of 1,790—shattering its previous high of 1,654 in Fall 2017. This fall’s headcount represents an 11.6% increase in graduate students compared to last fall.  President Stuart Rayfield pointed to several factors supporting these gains.  “We offer students an affordable college experience—and a flexible one. We cater to students interested in an immersive experience marked by a vibrant social en...

Turner College alum  Lauren Katzfey has been accepted into the University of Georgia School of Law. Lauren was honored at the 2024 CSU Scholastic Honors Convocation, where she received the 2024 Student of Excellence in Marketing & Management Award. Last year  Lauren travelled to the University of North Georgia with her classmates to participate in the Georgia Collegiate Honors Conference. There she presented her Honors Contract titled, "Compelling Cases: An Analysis of Georgia Workers' Compensation," and was also part of the Leadership Panel. Lauren was also part of a student panel that recently visited with USG Regent Jose Perez to learn about USG operations and provide students' opinions about how to improve CSU in the next few years. Lastly, Lauren is the  Co-Founder of Phi Alpha Delta and a member of Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. She will begin her studies at the University of Georgia Law School in August of next year.

A recent report by Newswire indicates that Colony Bankcorp, Inc. has hired industry veteran Cissy Giglio as Director of Process Optimization. In this role, Giglio will lead efforts to enhance operational efficiency, streamline processes, and drive strategic initiatives that support Colony’s long-term growth objectives by fostering innovation and aligning resources with the Company’s priorities.  Giglio brings over 35 years of banking experience. She joins Colony after a successful career at Synovus Bank, where she most recently served as Senior Director of Card Operations. Her previous roles include Senior Director of Operations, Director and Senior Manager of the Retail Lending Center, and Regional Retail Lead.  Commenting on the announcement, Heath Fountain, Chief Executive Officer, said, “As we continue to focus on creating greater efficiencies and scaling for growth, the strategic addition of Cissy to our team will help us achieve these goals. We have already seen signif...

The American Marketing Association defines "logo" as a name, term, sign, symbol or design intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. Company logos frequently include textual and/or visual design elements that are descriptive of the type of product/service that companies market. Visual cues can grab consumers’ immediate attention and later remind them of a particular firm. Although prior research has focused on the importance of logo design, none has analyzed data from actual companies that can be utilized to better understand the real-world implications of branding strategy. New research by Turner College marketing professor Sungwoo Jung and Sidhant Dash of the University of Georgia fills this void by investigating how logo changes affect sales and stock prices of restaurants. As these researchers explain, restaurant brands feature a variety of logos, such logotypes (i.e., logos that pr...

The TSYS School's cybersecurity Nexus students had a recent visit from Robert Yager, Deputy CISO at ABM Industries. " What a super visit from Robert Yager . . . Robert visited students in the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity . . . and brought two graduates from the cybersecurity Nexus program who are now ABM team members. Jason Parker and Sean Whittemore shared their insights about getting into the industry and what to expect when they get there," described Patrick Aiken , Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity. The trio  conducted a "town hall" meeting in the auditorium, had small group sessions in the new conference room, and even held one-on-one meetings in the newly renovated wing.       Yager is an  accomplished leader with over 20 years of experience in implementing and managing comprehensive security strategies for complex organizations. He earned a B.S. in computer and information systems security/information assurance from the University of M...

Despite the pervasive use of Anglicisms  –  words and phrases borrowed from English and inserted into a foreign language  –  in the Italian advertising industry, little is known about their impact on the precursors to product appeal.  New research by Turner College associate professor of management Mark James and Zhimin Hu, Giorgio Testa and Eduardo Navarrete, all of the University of Padova,  investigates the influence of Anglicisms on product appeal in Italian print advertising. These authors conducted t wo original tests involving potato chips, a convenience product that is frequently bought and inexpensive, and stereo speakers, a shopping product that is infrequently bought, expensive and requires greater purchase time/effort. Results of these tests showed  no effect of Anglicisms on the relationships between perceived product differentiation, perceived price fairness, perceived product globalness, or perceived product modernity and product appeal...

Congratulations to former Turner College student Tamara Todorova , who was recently promoted to professor of economics at American University in Bulgaria (AUB). Todorova earned an MBA from the Turner College in 1996 and then went on to earn a doctorate in international economics from the University of Economics - Varna in 2001. She has been on the faculty at AUB since August of 2000. Todorova's academic research appears in Economics of Transition , International Journal of the Economics of Business , Atlantic Economic Journal , International Journal of Social Economics , Modern Economy , International Journal of Business Performance Management and Problems of Economic Transition , among many others.

Warehouse inventory management is a complex process. When inventory includes perishables, the complexity of these processes is compounded with additional requirements such as appropriate ambient storage conditions and placement of one type of perishable (e.g., bananas) far away from another type of perishable (e.g., strawberries). Drone-based warehouse inventory management is gaining popularity, as seen in the increasing number of firms in this space as well as the number of research publications. While drones have been successfully used in warehouses with non-perishables, RFID and drone use in warehouses with perishables has not witnessed its fair share as evidenced by the lack of research in this general area. A new study by Turner College associate professor of management information systems Yoon Lee and coauthors Gaurav Kapoor and Riyaz Sikora of the University of Texas at Arlington, and Selwyn Piramuthu of the University of Florida,  utilizes analytical and simulation models ...

A recent blog entry here at Turner Business recognized the outstanding teaching of four Turner College faculty members. Management professors Phil Bryant , John Finley and Rodrigo Obando , along with economics professor Frank Mixon , will be recognized at halftime of CSU's soccer match Wednesday night by members of the CSU soccer team who recognized them as having impacted the players in a positive way during their journey at CSU. Since that blog Obando has expressed, via his LinkedIn page, gratitude for the recognition that he is set to receive this Wednesday night.    "About three years ago I was in the right place at the right time and began my journey as an Adjunct Instructor for the Turner College of Business & Technology teaching Microsoft Excel (BUSA 2100). In those years I had the opportunity to help students and teach students how Excel applies to real life scenarios. This semester I have the opportunity to be recognized for the work I have done and the impact ...

Turner College grad Sparks Mixon and CSU alum Cole Kirkland recently co-founded an apparel and lifestyle startup known as Companion Outdoors. With a focus on outdoor activities, the company currently offers t-shirts, caps, sweatshirts, hoodies and car tags, and will soon have auto air fresheners, wallets, stickers and much more. All of Companion Outdoors' products are available through an online store  here . The company is now offering a Halloween t-shirt through the online store as well.      Sparks graduated from the Turner College in 2023 with a BBA in marketing. He previously worked for Green Island Country Club, while he currently works for United Parcel Service. While a student at CSU, Cole was a member of the men's golf team. He previously worked for Green Island Country Club and United Parcel Service and is currently self-employed. Cole's wife Katie Cummings Kirkland is a graduate of the Turner College, where she earned a BBA in accounting.   

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question most students start developing answers to as kids as they play Cops & Robbers in the front yard or turn their bedrooms into makeshift classrooms where they teach their stuffed animals, dolls and friends.  But what if you make it to college and are still unsure how to answer that question?  Even before being recently appointed interim director of the university’s Center for Career Design in September, Laurie Aiken had helped hundreds of high schoolers beginning college and soon-to-be graduates answer that very question.  “It’s important for students to understand that their first job is rarely their last,” she noted. “I emphasize to them that that journey evolves and continues even after choosing or starting a career. They’ll acquire new roles, responsibilities and opportunities along the way. Technology advances, trend shifts and new specialties in career fields represent ways to reinvent themselves and their ca...

Turner College alum Raven Harris began 2024 in the new role of administrative assistant at Goldman Sachs Ayco in Atlanta. In this role Raven assists  the Goldman Sachs Ayco team by  processing expense reports and updating  client information in the Ayco Client database for account managers to maintain data accuracy. Her 10 months in this role was preceded by a 5+ year stint with Morgan & Morgan, where she most recently served as Regional Trainer and Front Office Administrative Lead. Prior to this, in 2016, Raven's professional career began as a customer service representative with Hyundai Capital America. These impressive stops in her career in office administration have all been supported by Raven's higher education experiences in the Turner College, from which she earned a BBA in business administration in 2015. Turner Business offers a belated congratulations to Raven on her new role with Goldman Sachs Ayco and wishes her continued professional success. ...

Good news ahead for Turner College management majors -- the Turner College's concentration in entrepreneurship may now be completed entirely online. Previously, the final course that students took in the concentration was only offered in a face-to-face format during the spring semester. As a result, several students each year were being forced to change their concentration. Therefore, effective January of 2025, a least one section of each course in the concentration will be offered online.  Relatedly, the Turner College also offers a minor in entrepreneurship which has two separate tracks -- one for business students and another for non-business students. Be sure to spread the word.

CSU Head Women's Soccer Coach Jay Entlich recently released a list of CSU faculty who have been chosen by a player as a member of the CSU faculty who has impacted the player in a positive way along their journey at CSU. Four Turner College faculty were included on the list, along with the player who nominated each. Management professor Phil Bryant was named by Sophia Leal , a freshman midfielder from Oxford, Georgia. Sophia attended Eastside High School and was a two-time all-region selection during her high school career. Through the first 10 games of 2024, she has scored one goal and recorded three assists.         Next, management professor John Finley was named by Lizz Forshaw , a graduate student forward from Stockton, England. Lizz, who attended IMG Academy in south Florida, has scored four goals and recorded four assists this season. During her senior year in 2023, she scored three goals and recorded two assists. As a junior in 2022, Lizz scored three goals ...

Online magazine,  Columbus CEO ,   recently featured  the Turner College's Butler Center for Research and Economic Development and its Director, Turner College economist Fady Mansour . "The Butler Center is working to support and help local government agencies and nonprofit organizations make effective, data-driven decisions. We make economic impact studies to help them bring new capital to the region and optimize the return on public spending," Mansour explained. Be sure to check out the feature using the link above.

The application of game theory and related mathematical approaches to explain decision-making processes of the U.S. Supreme Court is not new. Attempts to quantitatively model decisions of the U.S. Supreme court can be traced back to the mid-twentieth century. A new study by Turner College economist Frank Mixon and his co-authors Rand Ressler of Georgia Southern University and Benno Torgler of Queensland University of Technology extends the constitutional economics literature by focusing on the recent and much discussed U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade and, therefore, the constitutional right to an abortion. Mixon et al. focus their analysis on Justice Samuel Alito's now-famous 2022 draft opinion on Roe v. Wade , which, they argue, may have been leaked to Politico by a clerk to a conservative Supreme Court justice. According to the study, which is set to appear in a future issue of the Review of Behavioral Economics , t his possibility focuses on news reports in...

The Turner College will be hosting a distinguished speaker,  Colonel Corey Woods, the Deputy Chief of Staff of Sustainment at the USA Maneuver Center of Excellence, who will speak on the s trategic use of technology in the military. The presentation will focus on h ow Fort Moore and the U.S. military are leveraging AI and other cutting-edge technologies across all warfighting functions. The event is set for tomorrow evening (Tuesday, October 15) at 6:00 pm in room 305 of the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus. In the event of an overflow crowd, the presentation may be moved to the Synovus Center Theater on the second floor.

Several cybersecurity Nexus s tudents recently enjoyed a virtual meeting with representatives from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency  (CISA). The group discussed how students in the TSYS School's cybersecurity Nexus program  use CISA's Cyber Career Pathways tool to help prepare our students to enter the cybersecurity industry. The tool can be found on the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS) website and provides a useful and interactive model of the NICE  Cybersecurity Workforce Framework. "It's the best thing I've found to teach the NICE Framework. Our students use the tool to learn and understand the roles available 'in cybersecurity' so they can determine what roles suit them best," explained Patrick Aiken , Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity.  The TSYS School's Nexus program is part of CyberSkills2Work , a national coalition of institutions for rapid cybersecurity workforce development....

The finishing touches are being put on renovations of the TSYS  Center for Cybersecurity on the first floor of the Synovus Center . "Recently, we got new glass boards and white boards installed in the new classrooms and offices. We also got some cool new wall decorations with more to come. The Center is getting more functional . . . every day," explained Patrick Aiken , Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity. Enjoy the images below and stay connected to Turner Business for more in the future.

As part of CSU's annual Homecoming Week activities, the CSU Alumni Association will bestow its top alumni awards during an awards dinner on Thursday, October 24.  The annual awards dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Elizabeth Bradley Turner Center  on the university’s main campus.  The recipient of the 2024 Thomas Y. Whitley Distinguished Alumni Award will be  Tim Money . After beginning his career with the Exxon Corporation, Money founded The Money Advisor Group in 2001 to serve families' and small businesses' retirement planning and investment management needs. In 2024, Atlanta-based BIP Wealth acquired his firm, and he retained the title of president. He chairs the CSU Foundation Board and previously served on the Honors College Advisory Board. A 1986 Turner College graduate with a BBA in marketing, he received the university’s Alumni Service Award in 2016.  Since 1980, the Thomas Y. Whitley Distinguished Alumnus Award has recognized graduates who live up...

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and this year CSU's theme is "Cyber Strong: Protecting Our Campus, One Click at a Time."  As a reminder, CSU is promoting a key tip to keep us all cyber strong. That tip is " Think Before You Click," and it refers to the importance of verifying the authenticity of emails, links, and attachments before clicking, and to being cautious of unexpected messages in an effort to keep our campus secure. " Together, we can strengthen our university’s defenses and ensure we stay protected against cyber threats.  We extend our sincere thanks to those [faculty and staff] who have already completed your Fall Cybersecurity Awareness Training. Currently, 57% of faculty and staff have successfully completed the training, contributing significantly to the collective strength in protecting the university’s network," noted Nicol Lewis, CSU's Chief Information Security Officer. " For those who haven’t yet completed the tra...

Turner College economics professor, and Director of the Butler Center for Research and Economic Development, Fady Mansour spoke with WTVM9's Macy Woodworth about the port strike that occurred along the east and Gulf coasts last week. The strike involved t housands of port workers, resulting in one of the most disruptive strikes the United States has experienced in more recent years.  The strikes occurred at 14 different ports with the involvement of over 25,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association. Workers were demanding a 77% wage increase in the next six years, along with the demand of protection against automation.  “You may think why someone with $81,000 dollars a year wants a wage increase . . . it’s the housing inflation,” explained Mansour. “Wages increased in the last 3-4 years, but if you look at the housing it increased by 40 to 60 percent in some areas; there is no match to your wage increase. For instance, one of the affected ports is located in...

Students in the TSYS School's cybersecurity Nexus program recently had the pleasure interacting with Chris Knox, Senior Client Solutions Advisor at Optiv.  During the visit Knox shared his career journey with the students and gave his advice for anyone starting out in the cybersecurity  industry. "The students enjoyed Chris' fun stories and clear, helpful advice about how to break into and succeed in the cybersecurity industry," stated Patrick Aiken , Director of the TSYS Center for Cybersecurity. Prior to joining Optiv, Knox worked at Aflac for more than 10 years, most recently serving as Director of Security Engineering and Solutions Architecture. Prior to that, Knox was an assistant professor of computer science at Southern Wesleyan University. To prepare for his career, he earned undegraduate and graduate degrees in management information systems from Auburn University.  "It's always a pleasure to visit with . . . students and see what great things CSU is...

Several CSU faculty members have been tasked to re-envision the way students in general ed core courses are taught. These smart and engaged faculty spent eight weeks working together on fostering growth mindsets, practicing career-ready competencies, designing authentic assessments, and building community and belonging in the classroom. The group gained inspiration from guest experts within the USG and from Auburn Biggio Center’s Lindsay Doukopoulos. At the final session, Turner College associate professor of economics Wen Shi shared how the Core Course Design Institute is less like training and more like a faculty salon. Joining Shi in this group was Turner College Associate Dean Tesa Leonce .

The  Georgia Association of Colleges and Employers is set to host its statewide Career Fair on October 30, 2024, in Atlanta. This event is a unique opportunity for students, recent graduates, and job seekers to connect with employers from across the state. Attendees can look forward to an event filled with networking, career exploration, and the chance to discover new job opportunities.