Professor Yavuz understands that no matter how much we see and hear in the classroom, no matter how much we practice
in our labs, true learning comes when you apply the theory to unpredictable situations in the real world.
For the past several years, he has led groups of research assistants and students in the development of 50 projects that
start in the classroom and then extend beyond this controlled environment to solve business problems in the real world.
Since 2002, he has been introducing his students to a wide range of IBM hardware, software, and open source technologies, such as IBM System z and System p, AIX, WebSphere Application Server, Java, DB2, Rational Application Developer and others. He has
included hands-on experience with installation and operation as part of his lessons. In 2003, Prof. Yavuz installed a virtual zLinux cluster under zVM, giving his students additional skills in distributed and parallel computing.
With these skills, it is no surprise that scope and complexity of the students' projects are so impressive. Among them are the virtualization of the entire Yildiz University
infrastructure, using both System z and System p, the planning and implementation of Tivoli Storage Manager system that involved
zVM, AIX, Linux, Windows, Solaris, DB2, Oracle, and Lotus Domino environments, and several collaborations to help large banks
that use System z solve their business problems.
Results:
Students have used their work on the virtual clusters for their Master's theses and have submitted papers in national
academic conferences explaining the installation and administration of zLinux Clusters on zVM. IBM middleware, zOS, and AIX
are now included in the ACM standard curricula in Turkish. And, learning from the situations that students encountered while
working with the banks, Yildiz University is expanding its zSeries curriculum.
Benefits:
These students have technical hands-on experience and knowledge that is well-respected in the community. They are top candidates
for the best jobs when they graduate. Companies in Turkey, and worldwide, have a richer pool of candidates to hire, young people
who already understand complex systems and have seen how businesses really function. As more schools follow the technical leadership shown
at Yildiz, students all over Turkey will have similar opportunities to advance their skills.
|
