UT Tyler Students, Faculty Recognized at National Technology Conference

November 10, 2025 | Hannah Buchanan

Philip Coyle of Lewisville and Juan Cerda of Longview, industrial technology majors at The University of Texas at Tyler, placed first and third respectively in the “IT/IQ Challenge” held at this year’s Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering national conference.

The contest, a Jeopardy!-styled game in which participants answer questions in various categories, is designed to test students’ knowledge gained from their respective programs and classes.

“We congratulate Philip and Juan for placing in the top three among more than 50 other student competitors this year,” said Dr. Heshium Lawrence, UT Tyler Soules College of Business associate dean and ATMAE student chapter faculty adviser. “I am extremely proud of all our students and really appreciate how dedicated they were to the various competitions at the conference.”

UT Tyler Faculty Accolades

Lawrence was nominated and elected to serve on ATMAE’s Board of Directors. He will be the board’s graduate program representative for more than 75 accredited graduate programs. Dr. Mark Miller, UT Tyler professor and department chair, was nominated as chair-elect for the board and will become the association’s chair in 2027.

Miller also received the ATMAE Senior Fellow Award for 25 years of service with the ATMAE Certification Board. He served as the board's chair for 17 years, where he developed and/or coordinated eight new certifications and two online review sessions. Created in 2016, the ATMAE Senior Fellow Program was designed to assist the board to execute association objectives. This distinction is only given to proven leaders in the field and was last awarded in 2020.

“We applaud Dr. Lawrence and Dr. Miller for their commitment to the technology field and ATMAE,” said Dr. Krist Swimberghe, college dean. “I know they will represent both the college and university undoubtably well.”

ATMAE is an esteemed accrediting association with nearly 1,000 members from academia, government and industry. Members collaborate on innovative ideas, research and applications for the continuous improvement of technology, management and applied engineering in higher education. Learn more at: atmae.org/.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 11,500 students. Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler hasunified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.