says Sus. But now, “It’s not a cliché to say that we have a work hard, play hard culture.” The city, however, needs more talent, whether they're expatriates returning, experienced developers moving here for the first time or new college graduates staying in town. His company’s need for talented, creative people with computer skills is a big reason why Sus is pleased with the return of computer science at Tulane. BRINGING BACK COMPUTER SCIENCE In 2010–11, after a five-year post-Katrina hiatus of computer science at Tulane, Nick Altiero, dean of the School of Science and Engineering, put together a task force to establish a new computer science department at the university. Mike Mislove, longtime professor of mathematics, led the task force that recommended that the university create a department that was “new and different.” The administration embraced the proposal, and in 2011 some courses were offered and the new program began to take shape. “What we focused on, and what the department and its programs are now focused on, is leveraging the existing strengths in research at Tulane,” says Mislove, now chair of the department. The study of computer science has moved toward the interface with other disciplines, he says. Consequently, “it is having a disruptive effect on how research is done across a wide range of areas.”
PHOTOS BY PAULA BURCH-CELENTANO
The technology industry has arrived in New Orleans. And by all accounts, it is booming. From a painted-white brick building in Metairie to a venerable location near Mother’s Restaurant in the Central Business District, high tech is here to stay and spreading out. The growth of the technology sector of the New Orleans economy has been “massive.” That’s how Neel Sus, owner of Metairie-based Susco Solutions and a 1999 Tulane engineering graduate, describes it. A study released last year by Greater New Orleans Inc., a regional economic development organization, reported that the knowledgebased sector of the New Orleans economy increased by 37 percent from 2007–2015. Software development jobs alone increased 101 percent in New Orleans in that time period, according to data gathered by Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. Sus has been in on the growth since the start. After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, he went to work for Avondale Shipyards, eventually moving from engineering projects to internal work process improvements, including the creation of Avondale’s first digital work order system, among other things. Like every New Orleanian, transplant or native (Sus came to Tulane from South Carolina), he had his “and-then-Katrinahappened” moment. “It’s at that point that I decided that I wanted to be part of New Orleans long-term. If you think about this city, we had two choices after Katrina. We could either become a quaint tourist town like Charleston with a rich history but not particularly high growth or become like Denver. A city that reinvents itself.” Sus wanted to be involved in an American city reborn. “I fell in love with the idea,” he says, “so I started Susco.” Susco has a dual identity. First, it’s a company that provides the service of digitally automating workflows, which goes back to Sus’internal-process-improvement days. Second, it does web development and mobile apps. In 2010, Susco was one of the first companies to get into mobile development for iPhone. The third app ever to come out of Louisiana was created in Sus’ shop. It was Election Hub. With that app, “we developed brand equity in the mobile space,” says Sus. “All of a sudden, people wanted us for consumer-facing apps.” Susco reached $1 million in business in 2012 and is averaging 20 percent annual growth since then. And it continues to expand. Its mission is to “improve lives via technology.” Sus says, “I believe in helping reduce suffering through technology.” He points to the app CareBacks launched by Susco as an example of how technology can be used to quickly give aid to someone in dire straits. Accessed by a PIN, CareBacks funds can be spent at designated grocery stores. This personal identification number, however, disallows the purchase of cigarettes, liquor and drugs. Sus is positioning his company to grow even more. He’s looking to hire more people with the right skills. The sky’s the limit in New Orleans, he says. Zest for life and joie de vivre have always been big pluses here,
And Tulane computer scientists are in the thick of that “disruptive effect” in areas The Sky’s the Limit as diverse as computational structural biNeel Sus is the founder ology, computational geometry, computaand owner of Susco tional social choice, artificial intelligence, Solutions, a digital scientific visualization and large data, and company that's taken quantum computing. off in the last decade. “If you look, certainly throughout the sciences and engineering,” says Mislove, “but also in the social sciences, the health sciences and even the liberal arts, there is a strong influence of computer science tools and techniques driving how research is done. This involves not just using computers, but applying the principles of computer
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