Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Tuesday, Oct. 2 to prove to Computer Science and Engineering students that Chicago's tech sphere is growing -- and growing fast!
“I want you (students) to — rather than come up to Chicago, get to O’Hare and fly out — stay," the mayor said. "And I want you to see the city of Chicago as your opportunity and your future.”
He, along with Brad Keywell of Lightbank, Eric Lunt of BrightTag, and Mike Evans of GrubHub, made it clear to students that Silicon Valley isn't the only place they could have successful careers in tech.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy8kE7pGH68]
From World Business Chicago:
"Mayor Emanuel participated on a panel with Brad Keywell of Lightbank, Eric Lunt of BrightTag, and Mike Evans of GrubHub. The panel, which was held at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, was moderated by Rob Rutenbar, Abel Bliss Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois and was attended by about 250 students. Students from Illinois' computer science and electrical and computer engineering departments participated in the day's events. Both departments are among the Top 5 programs of their kinds globally.
“It's a wonderful opportunity to showcase the momentum building within Chicago’s tech community to our next generation of talent,” said Eric Lunt, CTO of BrightTag. “For recent grads who want to tackle big technology challenges while working in a supportive and fun environment, Chicago is the place to be.” "
Check out the #AftrHrs tag on Twitter to see what everyone at the event had to say.
Story in the SunTimes here.
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