Call for Position Papers

Services Sciences, Management and Engineering

Education for the 21st Century

Introduction

With IBM Global Services being the largest IT services organization in the world, IBM has taken the lead in recognizing that college graduates need new skills to address business and technical issues in a service business environment. Because services depend critically on people working together and with technology to provide value for others, these new skills include the ability to integrate across traditional disciplinary areas to obtain globally effective solutions (rather than merely locally effective solutions). Services Sciences, Management and Engineering (SSME) is one approach to integrating a variety of disciplines, including areas in engineering, social sciences and management, to properly focus education and research on services.

Many universities around the world are developing new services-oriented courses and curricula; others are expanding their existing focus on services. But a significant effort is still needed to develop a truly cross-disciplinary approach to SSME.

IBM will host a conference to share information on the current status of SSME and to foster its advancement and development October 5 – 7, 2006 in New York.

Our goals are to:

1. Demonstrate substantive results in the formation of multi-disciplinary Services Sciences, Management and Engineering.
   • Present ways SSME has been introduced into curricula to date.
   • Learn about services research underway or planned.
2. Outline a roadmap for establishing SSME as a legitimate discipline within the academic community.
   • Identify how practitioners can join with faculty and administrators to focus efforts on cross-functional, service-oriented courses and research.
   • Identify recommended actions for academia and governments.

Program

Attendance

Papers should be no longer than four double-column pages (including reference and figures). Papers must be submitted by 5:00 PM EST on July 1, 2006. Submissions – in portable document formation (PDF) – should be mailed to ssme@us.ibm.com.

View or download sample document

Position Papers

We invite you to submit position papers related to any aspect of SSME, such as:

• How do science, management and engineering play in services? Where, why and how are they needed?
• What is the current state of SSME either globally or at your institution?
• How do you see SSME evolving? What would you like SSME to be?
• What are your main services research questions and how do you address them?
• What SSME coursewares have you created or do you plan to create?
• What are your top three topics or concerns related to SSME
• What are your collaborations around services research and education?
• What role might IBM play in developing SSME at your institution?
• What is the role of government in developing SSME? How do you envision society benefiting from the development of interdisciplinary SSME?

Communications

Date and Location

Fees and Expenses

Core Program Committee

Direct questions to ssme@us.ibm.com