Dr. Vetter will describe the development of mobile phone applications at the University of North Carolina Wilmington through a company he co-owns. He will highlight text messaging applications ranging from simple data access applications to a novel discovery game for freshman at the University. He will also discuss current and future trends in Android, iOS, cross-platform, and web-based mobile app development. Dr. Vetter will conclude with a discussion of emerging issues and challenges in mobile device security.

Dr. Vetter will include a description of the business structure of the faculty-owned company, in which UNCW plays a role as an equity investor. He will explain how the University encourages faculty to develop and pursue business opportunities. His company is now selling several applications commercially.

Ron Vetter is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His research interests include mobile and wireless networking, parallel and distributed computing, multimedia systems, and distance education.

His research has been supported by the NSF, USDA, NASA, and others.

Vetter received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from North Dakota State University and his PhD in computer science from the University of Minnesota. Vetter served on the editorial advisory board of Communications of the ACM from 1996-2008 and he has been an ACM Distinguished Lecturer since 1998.