BU MET’s 18th Annual Project Management in Practice Conference Examines Built Environment, Ethics, AI in Field
On Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15, Boston University Metropolitan College hosted its 18th annual Project Management in Practice conference. Held for the second consecutive year on the scenic 17th floor of BU’s Center for Computing and Data Science, the stately view of the entire Boston vicinity the venue offered was fitting, as a major theme for the event, and a new focus for BU MET’s Project Management program, is project management in the built environment.
The conference was opened by Administrative Sciences Associate Chair Marcus Goncalves, who welcomed the 100 in-person attendees, with roughly 50 joining online, and challenged them all to draw from the valuable programming on the built environment, AI, and ethics in project management that would follow.
Will Kohnen, CEO of Hydrospace, a firm that has launched dozens of submersible research vehicles, was a keynote speaker. He took the audience through the journey of his firm and aligned scientists and their joint attempt to prevent the misuse of the organization’s technology, particularly raising early alarms about the Titan submersible, which went on to have a disastrous journey to the Titanic wreckage.
AI was a featured topic throughout, with speakers such as Dr. Luigi Morsa, discussing the possibilities of AI in collaboration and innovation in projects. Several vendors demonstrated ways that they are productively integrating AI into software that manages portfolio and identifies and tracks project risks. BU’s AVP and Chief Sustainability Officer Dennis Carlberg spoke passionately about the very building in which the conference took place, focusing on the opportunities during the project to make it a LEED Platinum building and a model for future construction in New England and beyond.
The conference purposely ended with an eye towards the future, spotlighting two very young speakers. Evelyn Chao, a rising high school sophomore, spoke about her efforts to bring project management learning to students in early grades with her non-profit PM Ready. Eman Deabil, who joined from Bahrain, talked about the book she brought to reality, The Green PMO.
The conference was planned and executed by Program Director Vijay Kanabar and Master Lecturer Rich Maltzman, with significant assistance from part-time faculty member Dr. Loredana Abramo and coordination and guest speaker support from faculty member Dr. Anil Sawhney. The event could not have taken place without the assistance of approximately twelve student ambassadors who each paired with one or more assigned speakers to assure presentations, timing, and logistics were aligned. Such a complex conference, with attendees in person and connected via web conferencing, also required tremendous IT support from MET IT, led by Daniel Mitrano, and BU’s LETS Classroom tech team.
