CIS Paper Award

At the MBAA International Conference last week, Associate Professor Charles Apigian (Computer Information Systems) and student Johnathan Gilliam presented their paper "An Analysis of the Factors that Contribute to Intellectual Property Theft." The paper received the McGraw-Hill/Irwin Distinguished Paper Award from the Society for the Advancement of Information Systems, which is the best paper award for the IS track.

Gilliam is an undergraduate majoring in history and minoring in CIS and will begin working on a master's degree in CIS in the fall. Apigian was his mentor in the McNair Program, and this paper is the result of that research.

Johnathan Gilliam & Charles Apigian with McGraw-Hill/Irwin Distinguished Paper Award at MBAA  

Job Heat Charts Updated

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/tacir/tacir.html

Through Feb. 2011: Employment growth by industry for Tennessee and 10 MSAs

Tennessee 2010 Census Population Totals

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/census.html

These data from the U.S. Census Bureau provide the first look at population counts for small areas and race, Hispanic origin, voting age and housing unit data released from the 2010 Census. The census data are used by state officials to realign congressional and state legislative districts in their states, taking into account population shifts since the 2000 Census.

Tennessee 2010 Census Results

Tennessee Census Map

http://tinyurl.com/4v6nlpu 

Interactive map of population change by county and chart of state population by race

Tennessee Jobless Rate Rises

Japan's Disasters May Have Impact

From the Tennessean March 18:

"In the short-term, I don't expect to see any layoffs related to the Japanese disaster," said economist Murat Arik, associate director of the Business & Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.

Still, the situation is fluid, and to the extent that local auto-sector firms need parts or production from Japan, they could be forced to close temporarily until that supply returns, cautions Steven Livingston, editor of a global trade newsletter and a political science professor at MTSU.

[article]

BERC in the News

David Penn, director of the Business and Economic Research Center, is quoted in the following recent articles on the area economy:

• Local jobless rate up, but good sign ahead
• Green jobs take root in Tennessee
• Home sales dip in Feb.

Rise in Nashville-Area Jobless Rate Seen Only as a Blip

From the Tennessean: But most economists attribute the spike to seasonal changes such as the layoff of temporary workers or the loss of extra retail employees after Christmas — not a renewed economic swoon. "I don't attribute the increases to the economy getting worse," said economist David Penn, director of the Business and Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University. [article]

Global Commerce 4th Quarter 2010

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/globalcommerce.html

"Tennessee—Significant Links to the Middle East?"
How significant are the countries of the Arabian world to Tennessee and its economy? What might be the economic fallout of the dramatic events we are witnessing? [more]

Tennessee Housing Price Index

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~berc/tacir/hpisummary.html

New from the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC): Housing Price Index with graphs for Tennessee and 10 MSAs