Matt Delcambre serves as Director of the Center for Business & Information Technologies at UL – Lafayette. He is also Innovation Managing Director for the National Science Foundation-sponsored Center for Visual and Decision Informatics. With over 30 years of leadership experience in the IT Sector, Matt previously spent 30 years at Oracle Corporation and Sun Microsystems before joining UL. He joins Jan Swift, Host of Discover Lafayette, to discuss his love of his community and university, and the enjoyment he receives from being able to serve others through scouting and coastal conservation efforts.

A graduate of USL (now UL - Lafayette) with a BS & MS in Computer Science, Matt follows in the footsteps of his late father, Richard C. Delcambre, who served as Business Manager of USL under Dr. Clyde L. Rougeou and Dr. Joel Fletcher and who supported the expansion of the Computer Science program. In fact, it was in 1962 that USL added a master's program in Computer Science, the first university in the nation to do so, under the leadership of Dr. James Oliver and with the support of USL's administration.

Matt continues to be enamored by technology trends and using IT to solve complex business challenges. He wears many hats in his work with UL - Lafayette, and in addition to the two already mentioned above, he serves as Technical Lead for the City of Lafayette’s participation in the US Ignite-sponsored Smart Gigabit Cities initiative. This initiative endeavors to bring together people, businesses, universities, and governments to "improve civic outcomes through greater connectivity and data-driven decision making." As Matt explained, it can be improved quality of life initiatives such as public wi-fi, smart parking, 5G testing, or LED street lights. Lafayette is focused on Resilience and Recovery and ways Lafayette can use technology capabilities and data to bounce back quicker after natural disasters and give our citizens needed information in real time. For more information on this US Ignite program of work, visit https://www.us-ignite.org/community/lafayette-la/.

Former Lafayette Mayor Joel Robideaux was very interested in having Lafayette designated as an Innovation District. "Innovation Districts" are growing in prominence nationally as cities compete to attract startup businesses by offering incentives that will allow the new companies to take up residence and provide the means for them to flourish and succeed. Matt explained that Lafayette is a natural fit to create an innovation corridor given our gigabit capabilities as well as desire to continue to diversity the local economy. Much work in this arena is already being conducted by LEDA, LCG, and the Opportunity Machine in partnership with UL - Lafayette.

US Ignite's Smart Gigabit Communities Launch in Lafayette focused on Resilience and Recovery and the many ways technology can be utilized to improve disaster responses. Matt Delcambre serves as Technical Lead for the City of Lafayette in this initiative and happily recounted that Lafayette is a "poster child" in national conferences as other cities cite their desire for the quality of internet connectivity that we enjoy here.

UL - Lafayette has experienced tremendous growth in obtaining research dollars, and last year closed out approximately $125 Million in projects. The university ranks in the top 25% of the research institutions in the U. S. and has set a goal to become classified as a Carnegie R1 Institution, which is an indication of those engaged in the highest levels of research activity, and they are confident they will reach this esteemed classification in the next round of certifications.

UL - Lafayette is committed to "Research for a Reason" and in this interview, Matt Delcambre shared how applied research can be used to so...