On March 24-25, 2003, two faculty instructors from the Master of Software Engineering Program at the School of Computer Science and ISRI, Mel Rosso-Llopart and Gil Taran, traveled to Moscow Russia for teaching purposes. It was the first educational seminar in software engineering taught by a major US university to the Russian IT sector.

The seminar, sponsored by Microsoft and Sun Microsystems as well as IT trade associations in Russia such as RUSSOFT, Silicon Taiga, and Sirius was a tremendous success. In two days, 45 managers from 18 different IT development companiesall over Russia and Belarus were exposed to principles of managing a software development project, managing project risks, and applying what they learned in a case study environment.

When asked, what Carnegie Mellon University brings to the Russian market in software engineering education, Ron Lewin, managing director of TerraLink and co-chair of the Information Technology and Telecommunications Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia said: "Carnegie Mellon brings with it the benefit of the huge experience and brain trust on the topic of software engineering that has been developed over a very long time. The industry in Russia is young, and this experience can help it face the challenges of growth by utilizing the experience of others who have already been through it. There is no need to reinvent a bike, but a need to ride it.", he added.

Igor Agamirzian, the director for government projects at Microsoft's office in Moscow, provided additional comments: "Unfortunately, nowadays middle management's education is poor in Russia. This problem concerns all industrial and governmental spheres, most notably the software industry."

Commenting about the seminar once it had ended, the CIS region marketing manager of Sun Microsystems, Andrei Galitski said: "Learning from the experience of leading international specialists in the field of software development management is invaluable for the seminar's participants. It will undoubtedly serve the future of software development in Russia."

On the Russian side, this venture was organized by RUSSEE, a young company focused on Russian software education, founded by Dmitry Dakhnovsky and Ilya Antipov, both computer science alums from Carnegie Mellon (Class of '97).

The students, all IT professionals with varying levels of management experience, had excellent communication and language skills and were highly motivated with a desire and eagerness to learn and excel. For both instructors, this was their first time visiting Moscow and they are looking forward to continuing the relationship between Carnegie Mellon and the IT industry in Russia. Further seminars are scheduled for the coming months.

The instructors can be contacted at the following addresses for more information:
Mel Rosso-Llopart: rosso @ cs.cmu.edu
Gil Taran: gil @ andrew.cmu.edu

Event Photos: http://www.russee.com/workshops/risk/pics