Area of Expertise: Social networking, online collaboration, social media, Web 2.0, educational technologies, e-business software, technology architecture, large database systems, Internet-based applications

Additional Information:  Nicole Melander's work addresses the human, technical, and cultural impacts of social software and Web 2.0 technologies.  With her students and her clients, she explores mobile social networking, virtual worlds, online collaboration, social media, and social networking.  She assists with travel organizations (e.g., National Geographic Expeditions) media companies (e.g., USA Today), and others in developing their social media strategy.  Melander's technical expertise goes beyond the "social media consumer" side of the equation to areas engineers regularly address, such as search engine optimization and Web site analytics.  She's also been invited to present on the use of Web 2.0 technologies (Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc.) for personal brand management. 
 
Before joining American University, Melander was senior global director for higher education strategy and programs at Microsoft Corporation.  She joined Microsoft to provide the leadership needed to drive Microsoft's strategy in higher education. She was responsible for designing and developing global programs for postsecondary education and engaging directly with education leaders and influential organizations. Melander spent 16 years at Oracle Corporation before joining Microsoft. At Oracle, she held a variety of positions in consulting, education, sales, and operations.

She received AU's annual award for Teaching with Technology in 2008.  On March 24, 2009, Melander received patent 7,509,752 (http://sn.im/ei3t0)  for a process that she and her partner invented that allows computers to analyze the meaning of text on the Internet, not just the text itself. The process could one day play a large part in how people use the Internet.

For more information, go to http://www.american.edu/americantoday/200904300Nicole-Melander-patent.cfm
 

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