As GTECH Corporation continues work on its new headquarters in downtown Providence, the Career Development Center and the Department of Computer Science are looking to strengthen the company's existing professional interest in Brown students.
Meanwhile, some students say interest in GTECH may be tempered by a perceived lack of understanding regarding the company's operations.
"Most people are very clueless about GTECH. They aren't 100-percent certain what they do," said Evan Layne '06, co-director of the Brown Real Estate Investment Club.
The company's 12-story, $80 million development, which will stand across from the Providence Place Mall, is scheduled to be completed by late 2006. The development will be the first office building constructed in Providence in 16 years, according to a company press release.
GTECH, which runs the Rhode Island state lottery among other things, is a member of the Department of Computer Science's Industrial Partnership Program, which facilitates research collaboration between technology companies and computer science faculty and students. The program's eight member companies also recruit heavily among Brown's computer science concentrators.
"We have a good relationship with them," said Professor of Computer Science Michael Black, co-director of the program. "So I can imagine joint projects going on, and that's a lot easier to do if you're within walking distance."
Companies must pay a qualifying contribution of $25,000 to participate in the program. GTECH rejoined the program in 2004. The company had been involved previously but temporarily ended its membership, Black said. Relocation of the company's headquarters to Providence may have influenced its decision to revive participation in IPP, Black said.
But economic factors may have also played a role in this decision, he said.
"They are hiring again," he said. "The economy is better and they want help in recruiting students."
Black said GTECH has less name recognition among potential recruits than other IPP partners, which include Google, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.
"Even if (students) gamble, they don't know who operates it," he said.
Black said he hopes GTECH's new location will increase students' awareness of the company's professional appeal to prospective programmers.
"GTECH has really cool technological problems," Black said. "Security is a huge issue for them. They're making millions of transactions a day online. Consequently, they have a lot of really interesting problems with networking, cryptography, databases. These are all things that our students and faculty are interested in."
Although Black said students stand to benefit from internships that could develop into thesis projects while they are still at Brown, GTECH presents just as much of a professional opportunity to computer science faculty members. Several of the department's professors have given presentations to GTECH in the past, and Adjunct Professor Donald Stanford formerly served on the company's board.
Common interests identified between Brown faculty and GTECH programmers during these presentations create potential research opportunities, Black said.
"The new headquarters will certainly create more opportunity for interaction," he said.
Last semester, the Brown Entrepreneurship Program and BRIC co-hosted a panel discussion about real estate issues surrounding the construction project.
The online gaming and transaction processing company has taken part in University Career Fairs for eight of the past ten semesters.
"They have quite a presence here at Brown," said Kimberly Delgizzo, director of career development.
Although GTECH does not participate directly in on-campus job recruitment through Career Development, Delgizzo said she plans to strengthen relations with GTECH as they relocate from West Greenwich to Providence. "Obviously there is a good fit between our students and GTECH," said Barbara Peoples, associate director of career development.
"From a financial standpoint, GTECH seems very interesting," Layne said. "It's a pretty big, well-run, classy company."
GTECH has over $1 billion in revenues and 5,400 employees in 50 countries. But some students say the company's industry - which has a 70 percent share of the world's online lottery business - may deter some job-seekers.
"Some people feel apprehensive about the fact that it's a company that runs lotteries," said Ken Tsuji '05, co-director of the Entrepreneurship Program. "But overall, the headquarters will have a very positive impact."
