FEATURE
Ready for
'THE GREAT DISRUPTION' As cash transactions become increasingly rare, work shifts from the office to the home, and online educational opportunities expand, it is clear that the digital transformation is here and quickly maturing. To become an educational leader in complex and ever-shifting technology, and to prepare new generations of ethical digital stewards, Illinois Institute of Technology established a new college: the College of Computing.
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he College of Computing launched in June 2020, combining the departments of computer science, information technology and management, applied mathematics, and industrial technology and management. Illinois Tech hired Lance Fortnow—a computer scientist with a mathematics background from Georgia Institute of Technology, where he chaired the computer science department—as the new college’s first dean. “The creation of the college recognizes the growing importance of data and computing in every aspect of our society,” Fortnow says. “We aim to teach our students about responsible use of data, to understand how to manage the digital transformation, and the skills to become leaders in this area.” The digital transformation has generated unprecedented amounts of data as our social media, buying, reading, watching, health, and gaming habits are all sitting on the cloud ready to be mined. Industry realizes the importance of collecting and processing this data to optimize business operations, the supply chain, and manufacturing, and to develop products and services for a broad audience or personalized for an individual.
The College of Computing is the realization of a new educational direction developed by Illinois Tech Provost Peter Kilpatrick and Trustee Chris Gladwin, chief executive officer of Ocient and founder of Cleversafe, the world’s largest strategic object storage vendor, which was acquired by IBM. Although Kilpatrick headed the development of the university’s strategic plan, which outlines the path to expand computing across Illinois Tech, he gives credit to Gladwin, saying he conceived the concept of the new college. “Cleversafe succeeded with many of Illinois Tech’s alumni in key roles,” Fortnow says. “Chris, as one of the founders of P33, realized that a College of Computing could help Illinois Tech become an institution that could help propel the tech industry in Chicago.” Kilpatrick argues the College of Computing is needed as computing will be a disruptive force in the economy. He points to the work of Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum and the author of The Fourth Industrial Revolution, who predicts automation, computing, robotics, artificial intelligence, and other computing-enabled innovations will displace many workers, but also create many new roles and jobs.
“ We want very much to empower our students to be ready for ‘the great disruption.’”
—Provost Peter Kilpatrick
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College of Computing
