Parallel to my academic career, I have implemented a variety of projects in different companies, as a freelance programmer. I have also worked in Intrasoft International as a Systems Analyst on a European Union project, and for the National Bank of Greece as an outsource Senior Java Architect. In my free time, I write articles and short stories, some of which have been published in various magazines. Recently, I was also selected as a candidate for "Marquis Who's Who on the Web".

Both of my theses in the two Master's degrees I implemented at AIT were on Semantic Web. With the help of Professor Tiropanis, I gained in depth knowledge of the subject and that is the reason why I decided to pursue a PhD program on this specific topic. All AIT staff and faculty members were always helpful and eager to assist me and my co-students with all of our issues. The two MSc programs may not have been easy, but they have played an essential and drastic role in my academic and professional career and left me with great new skills and many new close friends. Being the first student to complete both MSITT and MSIN made me spend two and a half wonderful years in AIT, which will always remain close to my heart.

Together with Prof. Soldatos and Prof. Polymenakos we published the paper "EMPEROR - An OGSA Compliant Meta-Scheduler Based on Host Load Prediction" in the Journal of Grid Computing (published online: 11 October 2005). As one of my MSIN professors said that, by default, each past experience helps you in your future endeavors, therefore, I have already made use of the tools I used in doing my MSIN projects and thesis. After finishing the MSIN, I returned to my previous work in my home town, software engineering.

Greece was invented for summer holidays. I have not seen all of it, but the best places are on the islands, especially the Ciclades group of islands. Because Athens is a big modern metropolis, nice and expensive place to live, you can find people with different cultures from all over the world.

It was amazing how appealing the idea is of having a CMU education with a Greek touch! Plus, I was able to stay close to home and visit my friends and family often. Athens, Greece is one of the best places I have ever seen. Apart from the fact that during the first 1 or 2 semesters, the work load was so heavy that I barely had time to go around, I eventually realized how the Greek culture, food and way of life can taint your heart forever. I am so glad I went there for 16 months, and would never miss an opportunity to go there again (even if for a short while).

AIT was more than a second home to me; it was actually my home where I spent most of my time. My friends, colleagues and family members were all there. We were living like in a small family of similar interests and common goals. I was working on very interesting topics and projects that not only were fun to experience, but also provide the best potential anyone would like to acquire from any academic setting. The CMU high-standard combined with Intracom's drive to always be a leader in research are what I believe to be the secrets behind this successful program.

My degree obtained from CMU/AIT helped me a lot in obtaining my job as well as the right to work in the US. My Greek/AIT experience taught me a lot about life, and made me look at things in totally new and different perspectives. Education is not only about books, exams and submitting homework. It's the whole research/fun experience as well as the encompassing culture that accompanies you through day to day life that make all the difference between a successful student experience, and a failing one.

My advice to current and future students at AIT is to join only if technology and networking are passions. Do not feel down if the first semester seems hard and impossible to go through. Once you're at the graduation ceremony, rest assured you would have reached a very high and privileged milestone, and that your efforts will be rewarded, and that AIT's investment in you will never go unnoticed. My classmates and I work in various companies around the globe, and we are known to solve almost any problem we are up against. Good luck!

While I was at AIT, I co-authored a number of papers, that were presented in conferences or published in scientific journals. Most of them were related with the topic of my Thesis (Middleware for Ubiquitous Computing), or the topic of an Independent Study I conducted during my MSIN studies (Survey on Semantic Web Services). A complete list of those publications can be found in my web page (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ipandis/). AIT helped my boost my expertise in specific areas of Computer Sciences, introduced me into a new way of working, and always was a incredibly warm and inspiring environment.

Fellow students were a good part of this great experience. We all ended up feeling like a group of friends and that bond helped to overcome the difficulties of the highly demanding MSITT program. We always helped each other and under that great pressure, we forged some really good friendships. Although now some of them are in other countries or working, we manage to stay in touch. Eventually AIT ended up feeling like home. Of course working many sleepless nights there for projects and homework did help in that area. I think one of the key factors that made MSITT such a unique experience, were the low number of students in AIT, unlike large cold universities with thousands of students where you get lost in the crowd. We got to see everyone almost every day, and we could give our feedback at any time in a direct way.

I gained a lot of things during that academic year. AIT provided me with a strong academic background in the area of computer systems, strong enough to claim a good position in a large company as a software engineer. I honestly feel I learned more in my area in that one year than in the undergraduate years. It was not all about mere knowledge, but learning to cope with a lot of hard work, work under pressure and being professional. The career office of AIT helped me secure the position I now hold through both career days and personal contact. They really try hard to help us find good positions in large companies and they succeed in it. It is a good position of great interest, and Intralot SA happens to be one of the market leaders in their area world-wide with great profit. I am currently working on a large project in J2EE technology.

On the whole, joining the MSITT was a good choice and a good investment which I do not regret in any way. I honestly believe that MSITT surpasses equivalent programs offered by both Greek and European universities.

I had chosen AIT after a thorough online research which led me to the conclusion that it is a highly professional environment which can strongly boost my career. I specifically chose to pursue the MSITT courses of AIT because they were interesting and offered a variety resulting in a more flexible Master's degree. My focus was in IT security, and so I chose my courses in this direction. Another detail in this master, which made it more appealing to me, was that it would only last for one year (for a full-time student, which I was), in a country close to my home country. My journey as a foreign student in Athens started in October 2004, and so did my one-year-long countdown. Soon afterwards, I started getting to like my academic life in AIT and my life in general in Greece, that I involuntarily stopped the countdown when I noticed that time was flying by so fast!! It was mostly the heavy yet interesting academic work in AIT, the wide variety of spare-time activities that I could practice in Athens and the ease of making good friends in Greece which made my stay so smooth and fun that I actually had to leave Greece at the end with heartache. I had organized all my courses to be in the fall and spring semesters, so that I would free all my summertime remaining semester for my thesis and summer fun in Greece, which is a period not to miss there (and which I actually will never forget!!)

My thesis topic was: "Implementation of a High Interaction Honeynet Testbed for Educational and Research Purposes" - in collaboration with my colleague Andreas Derdemezis, and under the supervision of Professor Spyros Vasilaras. It was actually a very hot and worldwide topic in the IT security world, which made it so appealing to me. We did in-depth studies on honeypots and honeynets, and then created our own honeynet in AIT's labs, customized to what we figured would best fit both industrial and academic environments. As we finished our thesis work, Intracom showed their keen interest in using our work for their business. And so the first rewards of our hard work started to flourish.

But more rewards were yet to come! Soon after finishing my Master's degree in AIT and getting back to Lebanon on the 13th of September 2005, I was hired by Deloitte & Touche - Lebanon, as an IT auditor. My job is related to security assessment of the IT systems, networks and operations of big companies and banks in Lebanon and the Middle East. This is actually quite a booming field in the area, and my profile from AIT was exactly what Deloitte & Touche was looking for. At the same time I am involved, along with my manager and colleague, in the supervision of two final year projects related to IT security, in the Computer and Communications Engineering department of the American University of Beirut.

A few months after starting my job, I revisited Greece for my graduation ceremony, and this is where I received the Dean's award for high academic performance in AIT. Yet another reward from an unforgettable year! As I flashback in memory to this 2004-2005 year, I feel overwhelmed by the rewards and satisfaction from this experience. It is the special and unforgettable friends that I made in Greece, and the professionalism and friendliness of AIT's professors and staff, which gave me the opportunity to get the best boost for my career, and still manage to feel home and enjoy the beauty of Greece.

After finishing my studies in AIT, I worked for 2 months, before the Graduation Ceremony date, with United Nations in Lebanon as a consultant. At the same time, I had many permanent job opportunities but one was the most close to my vision. My current job has to do with IT infrastructure administration and support; my responsibilities are to support the Information Technology of all levels for the Siemens One organization. Also it provides integration of leading edge technology with best practice processes in support of the Siemens One Enterprise. Finally, this job will be to test new technologies in the market and assess them.

My days in Athens and at AIT were more than pleasant and definitely an important milestone in my life. This stay helped me in many things: a) the privilege to live in a small international community gathered in one place, b) gave me the basic skills and expertise to enter the community and daily life’s work. On the other hand, I got the opportunity to meet some great people from different backgrounds but who share the same passion with me, I enjoyed very much living with them, the souvlakis in the Lab, not to forget the late nights discussions with my colleagues.

Extensive online research over a few months, for the best European postgraduate schools, resulted in the discovery of the “Center of excellence”, as Athens Information Technology is often called. Taking into consideration that I didn’t want to be far away from my home country, neither to spend more than one and half year studding abroad, AIT appeared to be the perfect solution. Since I used to spend my summer holidays on the beautiful Greek coast, I was familiar with the Hellenic culture and mentality, but once I was accepted to AIT, it surpassed all of my expectations. The Master of Science in Information and Telecommunications Technologies (MSITT), the program I took, comprised the hottest aspects of modern Computer science, starting from programming, databases, through the wireless and optical communication, embedded systems, web technologies. All these courses were conducted by the professors that belong to the real top of today’s technological world and beside the fact that they are great individuals and experts in their fields, warm atmosphere and their understanding will never be lacking.

The dormitory in which international students are situated is a story by itself and it represents AIT efforts to satisfy all students’ needs and bring a “home” atmosphere much closer, preventing even the most sensitive students from being homesick. For someone who never felt how it is to live together and share an academic and daily life with the friends from all over the world, it is hard to describe the flavor of cooked food in the late evening (early morning) hours, when all of the students return to the dorm, hungry and tired from 24+2 hours long working day. At this moment, the kitchen would become a big pan, where all national specialties would be cooked, starting from spicy - Venezuelan; full of salad - Lebanese; good boiled - Iranian; low caloric - Botswana; fishy - Philippine’s and other international meals. During the weekends, when everyone would be bored of cooking, our kitchen would be “retired” and through the dorm there was only one unique odor…of “good” souvlakia! In a word, unforgettable experiences, that changed my point of view and made me much better person.

Even before the presentation of my master thesis, I started feeling that my days at AIT were ending and that I would amazingly miss the whole environment. Since all the staff at AIT are, first of all, very good friends with the students, they quickly recognized my big wish to continue my stay in Greece. I also had luck at that exact time, that AIT’s Career Office organized “Career days”, where some of the best international and Greek companies presented their programs and temporary open positions. This was the unique opportunity to test your knowledge, skills and eventually become recruited by one of the companies, what exactly was my case! In October 2006 I started working as R&D Engineer in Databank, one of the subsidiaries of the INTRACOM Group. The experience that I gathered during seven months working in this company was more than precious for my future and it gave me an enviable practical knowledge.

After this, once again, the road brought me to AIT, where I worked for six months in its Broadband Wireless and Sensor Networks Lab, focusing mostly on Localization and Tracking based on Open source GIS tools and Sensor Networks for Environmental Risk Management. So far, this was my favorite period spent in Greece and I am endlessly grateful to Professor Gregory Yovanof, who firstly was my advisor on my master thesis and who gave me a chance later, to join his advanced group and become a member of the team that I admire and adore working with them.

I am currently employed by INTRACOM Telecom, working in the Telecom Access Network & Transmission Systems department as a GIS (Geographic Information System) Engineer, responsible also for optical network design. With the reputation of Greece's largest multinational provider of telecommunications products and solutions, INTRACOM continues to follow the well-known approach, common also for AIT, where the whole company will act as one big family, gathering employees together at different parties, celebrations; awarding their talents and efforts.

The idea of putting together and connecting the good academic institution, as AIT and one powerful centre of IT industry, as INTRACOM, allows students getting prepared for the future challenges and help them easily find their place within the modern, fast growing Information and telecommunication world.

After giving the best of yourself and putting a lot of effort to accomplish the numerous and sometimes difficult assignments, you will start enjoying the true results of your efforts and discover the real meaning of Greek word “Halara”!

Looking for the proper institute, I decided to apply to Athens Information Technology. Studying at AIT was an exciting experience because there were different labs equipped with latest “breathe” technology, research groups, and different EU projects running simultaneously. These are really important for a world class centre, and until AIT I had not experienced the human component - the AIT staff, and the important role of professors. They knew how to draw the team and creative spirit out of you.

Currently, I’m working as the IT Director in the biggest retail company in Albania. One thing I can say for sure, the education I received from AIT strengthened my plans and assured me that I was at the right level to take this responsibility. Furthermore, it gave me the opportunity to be a key player in implementing the most outstanding technology that a retail company has seen until now in Albania or in the whole region. One year at AIT will bring out the best in you, preparing you for any kind of challenges that the world of technology is reserving for you.

My thesis was in cooperation with AIT and InAccess Networks Company – in a real working environment. As a result, this “working experience - research” made my transition into a professional career much easier. My paper for the COST 291/GBOU ONNA Workshop on Design of Next Generation Optical Networks (from the physical up to the network level perspective, Gent, Belgium, February 6, 2006) was titled “Performance Evaluation of 2R Regenerator Based on Self-Phase Modulation in Fiber”, and co-authored with Ch. Kouloumentas, A. Barlas, A. Tzanakaki, and I. Tomkos

I was privileged to be part of the mobile telecommunications birth in Greece, as I have gained valuable experience in an industry that’s relatively young, very dynamic, technologically advanced and shaped very much by intense competition. Indeed, a work-place with an explosive mix of attributes and diverse knowledge opportunities. Having experienced the insights of Telecoms, my motive for thinking of a Masters degree in the first place was the need to cross roads with the educational community once more, get some up-to-date educational tips and familiarity with today’s tools, meet people from all the industries and/or different backgrounds and prove to myself that, although not in the teens any more, the learning touch is still there!

I started my research for suitable educational establishments encompassing all the above elements, as well as being flexible to working individuals and being at home, and AIT came up as the number one choice. In particular the MBIT Master program of AIT looked very appealing to me at the time. Two years later and having compared the investment made (time, effort, cost) to the returns, well, I can tell you the returns are much higher than your expectations! Being a full-time employee, a father and a part-time student all at the same time sounds definitely challenging, some times tiresome but never overwhelming. That was the spirit during my days in AIT, where I have enjoyed several pleasant experiences, had the privilege to meet technologically and professionally sound professors and classmates, with some of whom we became close friends.

The environment is very friendly indeed, the facilities are very modern, the technologies used are state-of-the-art and the faculty members are always available for advice and help. Among others, the subjects of Business Innovation, Strategic Marketing, with a great Professor and a scholar (Dr. G. Yovanof), E- Business with Professor T. Tiropanis, Finance with D. Arhodidis, Strategic Management with Professor G. Kritsotakis and not only, will always accompany me as pleasant and valuable experiences.

Innovative projects that would really sell in the actual business world, business plans with real chances to succeed and marketing plans picturing actual market situations are some of the attributes that you don’t find in an average institution that doesn’t provide up-to-date real-world education and hasn’t a drive for research and excellence. The environment in AIT is not the one you expect to find in a traditional Greek education establishment! In my opinion, it is closer to the work environment and it is designed to prepare someone for the things to come, rather than being a mere theoretic round of lectures.

It must be mentioned that all the above helped me a lot in feeling more comfortable with terms and areas such as the importance of innovation, market analysis, market segmentation, product development & lifecycle management, product launch, financial statements, balance sheets, e-commerce, ICT industry aspects, etc, within my current work environment.

A bit of advice to new students of the MBIT program: Regarding part-time students, I think previous experience helps, especially when working in groups. For those of you without experience, it is an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the things you’ll be expected to do, while a professional! Do consider team-working important and try to acquire and share valuable knowledge. Regarding the full-timers, studying is very recent to you guys thus you won’t have any problem, as long as you are creative, methodic, punctual and live up to the expectations.

At AIT, where I spent most of my stay in Greece, I was pleased by the faculty, staff and students. I felt like home, living among my family and friends. The support, the understanding, the encouragement of the faculty and fellow friends were overwhelming and kept me going, working hard days and night until graduation date. After graduation I returned to Lebanon, my mother country. I worked for four months in a broadcasting solution & equipment company as a communication engineer, where my duties were to design and implement satellite communication Up/Down link, radio broadcasting RF microwave links and more.

For the time being, I work for a small company in central Beirut city as PHP and MySql programmer, as well as a researcher and responsible for the data backup systems. At the same time, I freelance as a car tuning and technology consultant, waiting for an opportunity to start a new career in the home automation field. To end this story, I have to say that living on the AIT campus and roaming in Athens for nearly a year was an amazing journey. I had the privilege to be surrounded by professional people, to live in a small international community, and to make new friends that I'll never forget. Looking back I can absolutely confirm that I have a second home now, and another family as well, one that taught me so much, not only about the field of information technology and telecommunications but also about myself, how to become competitive, never to give up, to have high expectations and self-confidence.

From an educational perspective, AIT has an unparalleled infrastructure offering some of the world’s best laboratories in the field of telecommunications and computer science. The professors are all knowledgeable and the ability that is offered to the students to attend the real courses at Carnegie Mellon via teleconferencing technologies is unique. The courses and the laboratories are offered unobtrusively taking into account the differences in the needs and the time zone of the both classes. Moreover, AIT gives a lot of emphasis also on the cultural and entertaining events making the studies an unforgettable experience while the students have the ability to make life-standing friendships with people from all around the world. Therefore, I would say that Athens’ MSIN is a MUST.

Professional Career

• August 2008 – present: Software Engineer at LHS Telekommunikation in Frankfurt, Germany
• July 2007 - July 2008: Young Graduate Trainee as a Software Engineer for Artificial Intelligence Applications at the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany
• January 2007 – July 2007: Software Engineer at INTRACOM Telecom in Athens, Greece

The first lectures started during the fall of 2006, when I had also the great opportunity to be a part-time researcher in AIT, being a member of the Broadband Wireless and Sensor Networks group, under the guidance of Professor Yovanof and Professor Vasilaras. Regarding the lectures, I found them very interesting and advanced and at the same time hard to keep up with, as lots of studying hours were required; but I suppose, that is how Master studies should be. Along with the hard work, we had good time with my colleagues there in AIT, but also outside of it.

One of the biggest advantages of AIT is its Career Office. People there try really hard to help all the students by contacting companies and informing us about job opportunities. The Career Days which take place at AIT each year are very well organized and the best Greek and international companies are there, interviewing AIT’s students.

AIT was a perfect place that has the atmosphere one needs, where I spent most of my time and staff were really helpful and approachable. You can ask anyone for help and they’ll do all they can to help. During this MSITT program I had the chance to work on interesting and advanced projects as part of the program where I was exposed to the state-of-the-art technologies and sometimes had to work under pressure and meet deadlines. That was a rewarding aspect as you feel more confident and see the results of your work. I also joined the Software Engineering and Web Technologies group at AIT where I worked on ELeGI - European Learning Grid Infrastructure. SENSASIM A J2EE Wireless Sensor Network Simulator web solution for developing Virtual Scientific Experiments in the context of managing virtual class collaboration for Carnegie Mellon campuses. It’s been an amazing experience where I’ve worked closely with experts who helped me to broaden my knowledge and be exposed to the areas of research and information technology industry. I knew that having such an experience would then help me to be able to go on and focus on an area that really interests me.

I'm currently working as a research scientist in the University College Cork (UCC) on a European-funded project to develop an EDMS solution to integrate data, metadata and services from different European regional centers. Looking back on this experience, it was really interesting. The program has met my expectations and helped me fulfil my career goals.

The courses of the MSITT program were comprehensive, and intense. In the early few lectures, we revised the whole bachelor material, and then we started with new and up-to-date topics. Each course had a mandatory project, to be submitted at the end of semester, through which I learnt how to combine theory with practice, and got extra experience being added to my CV. Away from AIT, life in Greece is a combination of the East and the West. The beautiful seaside, the wide variety of islands, the northern forests, the ancient monuments, the Greek food, the Greek culture, the warm hearted Greeks and the nice weather around the year all form an enjoyable experience of Greece. All of that made me feel as though I was on a long vacation, side by side to my studies at AIT.

Back to the MSITT program, and during the second semester, I decided to make an independent study with the two pioneering professors in the field of wireless communications, Prof. C.B. Papadias and Prof. A. Kalis. The successful experience with the two professors was repeated in my MSITT thesis, where a hot topic in wireless communication has been addressed, and then the MSITT thesis has been extended to a three-year PhD thesis, within a program offered jointly by AIT at Aalborg University and its center for TeleInFrastructur (CTiF) in Denmark (Aalborg University is among the prominent universities world wide in the area of telecommunication and Information Technology). Currently I am part of the broadband wireless and sensor network group at AIT, working on my PhD, and gaining extra experience from the other available projects at the lab. The truth I have to say is that the AIT opens many opportunities, during and after your study, by getting engaged with one of the many available projects, or through its career office, or like me, through your supervising professor. Such opportunities, changed the path of my life totally, the reason I termed that date as a 'turning off' date.