Weijia is a third-year doctoral student at the College of Computing and Information, University at Albany. She is specializing in Information, Government, and Democratic Society and Decision and Policy Sciences.

I’m interested in information management and information systems related issues in organizational settings. I have work experience in the private sector, but know little about public organizations. By working at CTG, I hope to develop a better understanding of public organizations, in particular fundamental issues related to information management and information systems in government and the special needs of the public sector in information and information systems management.

My past experience includes work as a software engineer, where my job was to develop and maintain information systems. I was trained to use a technical perspective to look at and think of information related problems in organizations. Through real life working experience, I found that human elements such as communication and management related issues are much more crucial in determining the effectiveness and success of IT projects in organizations than technologies.

I like analyzing complex scenarios using modeling/simulation techniques. After graduating from the college, I wanted to be an excellent system analyst; a liaison between programmers and clients. But now that I am pursuing a Ph.D. Degree, my plans have changed a little bit. After my graduation, it is most likely that I will look for faculty positions relevant to information systems research and research for policy making, which require modeling/simulation techniques or other research skills.

I hope I can practice and improve my research skills by working and learning at CTG. These research skills include writing literature reviews/research proposals, applying for research funding, collecting and analyzing data, and writing and publishing research papers.