Missouri Western State University students brought home a record number of awards from the Association of Information Technology Professionals National Collegiate Conference and Career Fair in St. Louis earlier this month. The 31 students earned two first place, two second place, two third place and four honorable mentions in competitions at the conference.

Missouri Western’s AITP students swept the awards in the Enterprise Systems category, with Alex Davis, senior from California, Missouri, taking first; Trey Scarborourgh, junior from Elwood, Kansas, second; Elayne Colvin, sophomore from St. Joseph third; and Lisa Ye, junior from Maryville, Missouri, honorable mention.

In the IT Research Posters category, the Missouri Western team of Drake Nelson, senior from Kansas City, Missouri; Ryan James, senior from Savannah, Missouri; Evan Miller, senior from Chillicothe, Missouri; and Yacine Bensouna, exchange student from France, took first place for their BSA Jamboree Tent Reservation System. Josh Royle, senior from St. Joseph; Casi Paolillo, senior from Easton, Missouri; Isaiah Miller, senior from Mound City, Missouri; and Zachary Czarnecki, senior from Kansas City, Missouri, took third for their Buchanan County Emergency Response Management System. Three graduate students from India received honorable mention in the category: Darshan Rahashekar for a Specialty Industries project, and Hitesh Allam and Sanhith Chinta for Match by Sketch.

In the Web Application Development category, the team of Royle, Paolillo, Miller and Czarnecki took second place for their emergency response project, while Nelson, James, Miller and Bensouna received honorable mention for their BSA project.

In addition to competing, Missouri Western joined the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Missouri State University, and the AITP St. Louis and Capitol Chapters in co-hosting the event. Connie Hecker, assistant professor of computer science, chaired the poster competition, which was new to the conference. J. Evan Noynaert, assistant professor of computer science, was one of the judges for the poster competition, which was sponsored by Herzog.

Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.