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A group of third- and fourth-year Bachelor of Computer Information Systems (BCIS) students at ������Ƶ (������Ƶ) are making waves in the academic community of technological research with their recent achievement — securing the opportunity to present their research at the prestigious IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon) in Montréal next week.

“It’s an incredible opportunity for us,” said Kristina Cormier, fourth-year BCIS student, chair of the IEEE ������Ƶ Student Branch, and member of one of the teams presenting at SysCon. “Our research project was developed collectively with students and staff from ������Ƶ, Langara College, and Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC). It’s so exciting to see the work come together in this way — work that unifies separately developed modules of the past several years with our different teams and partners.”

“It’s pretty special,” Cormier continues. “We are grateful for the mentorship and support from our instructors at ������Ƶ, and the opportunities to collaborate with other schools.”

IEEE SysCon is a globally acclaimed conference that brings together industry leaders, research scholars, and academics in system-level problem-solving and applications. With 300-500 participants annually, it is particularly impressive that two ������Ƶ student research papers were accepted for presentation this year.

The two papers address different aspects of a collaborative research project focused on creating a comprehensive trading system that integrates and automates key components of algorithmic trading using machine learning models. The system collects financial data in real-time, processes it using customized software, and feeds the data into a central database. Users can interact with the system through a website and the machine learning component generates predictions using the data collected.

Joshua Padron-Uy, co-author of one of the research papers, shared that ultimately, the goal is to improve predictive models that can potentially support investment planning. “Our research paper examines data warehousing for stock market forecasting and applies artificial intelligence to big financial databases,” he said. “This is so much more than just a school project. We are working on something that could have real-world impact in financial technology.”

For the ������Ƶ students, the experience extends beyond their technical skills in computer science. “Being part of the IEEE Student Branch at ������Ƶ has taught us so much about teamwork, problem-solving and professional collaboration,” added Cormier. “This is a unique opportunity that is opening doors for our futures.”

The two student teams will give a presentation of their work at IEEE SysCon April 7 to 10 in Montréal, a first for ������Ƶ's BCIS program. Beyond this, two of the students have successfully obtained Co-op work terms with the Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) through the BCIS Co-op program at ������Ƶ and will head to Paris later this year.

The ������Ƶ Bachelor of Computer Information Systems (BCIS) is a four-year degree that integrates computing courses, mathematics, business, and communications. From this cross-disciplinary training, graduates acquire the knowledge, skills, and industry connections to make a meaningful impact in technology-driven fields.

For more information about the Bachelor of Computer Information Systems program at ������Ƶ, visit okanagan.bc.ca/cis.