Author: Peter Aiken

Associate Professor of Information Systems/Founding Director Data Blueprint

Dr. Peter Aiken has been employed since 1975 and in information technology/management related positions since 1980. Following a career in retailing, he began his current avocation during the early 1980's when he managed the Information Center of a major research university, delivering consulting and end user support services to a large, diverse, distributed user population numbering in the thousands. Later he was promoted to the position of Computer Systems Senior Engineer, responsible for the distributed online program development (CICS) and telecommunications systems (VTAM) for the University's mainframe operations.


From 1985 to 1993 he participated in research and development projects at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, VA. His doctoral dissertation entitled “A Hypermedia Workstation for Requirements Engineering” was one of the first research projects illustrating how hypermedia technologies could be applied to the systems requirements and development process. Later, as Director of the GMU Hypermedia Technologies Laboratory, he led a research team investigating the application of hypermedia-based tools and techniques to the process of requirements engineering, and developed hypermedia-based applications supporting group consensus building (GDSS).


In 1992 he was recruited by the Department of Defense to work in the Center for Information Management's (CIM) Information Engineering Directorate. At CIM, he co-developed and directed a multi-million dollar DoD-wide reverse engineering program aimed at recovering data architectures from legacy information systems. He also participated in the development of a DoD-wide strategic level data model and data architecture, as well as other information technology related efforts for the DISA Chief Information Officer.


In addition to managing nationwide research and development projects, Dr. Aiken has lectured internationally - giving invited talks in 17 countries. More than a decade & a half of university level teaching and course/curricula development experience has resulted in his chairing both doctoral and masters committees. In 1993 he switched his academic base to the Department of Information Systems in the School of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University where he is currently an Associate Professor of Information Systems. At VCU, he has managed millions of dollars worth of sponsored research projects jointly with local, national, and international organizations in the private and public sectors. These projects have been the basis for his recent publications and have provided valuable learning experiences for the hundreds of students who have participated in them. In addition, they have generated surplus resources able to fund additional research activities.


Many of these projects have also resulted in jointly authored refereed publications with the students. In 1999, VCU spun off a for-profit company called "Data Blueprint" (www.datablueprint.com). Data Blueprint has been nominated for and received international recognition for pioneering work in advanced data management techniques. The company has developed an international reputation for expertise in the areas of data reverse engineering, business and systems reengineering, systems integration/systems engineering, strategic planning, information engineering, software requirements engineering, human-computer interaction, and decision support systems.


He is the author/co-author of seven books on information technology. Dr. Aiken publications have appeared in the Communications of the ACM, IEEE Computer, IEEE Software, the IBM Systems Journal, Information Week and a number of others. Dr. Aiken has been interviewed by publications including: USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, the Dallas Morning News, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Compliance Week and Federal Computer Week, among other publications. Dr. Aiken's achievements have resulted in recognition in The Dictionary of International Biographies, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who of Emerging Leaders in America, Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and other biographical compilations.