6 minute read
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.
The 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 We want very much Illinois Tech, he gives credit to Gladwin, saying he conceived to empower our the concept of the new college. “Cleversafe succeeded students to be ready for with many of Illinois Tech’s alumni in key roles,” Fortnow ‘the great disruption.’” says. “Chris, as one of the founders of P33, realized that a College of Computing could —Provost Peter Kilpatrick 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,’” Kilpatrick says. “One significant element of that is to make computing thinking and computing skills part of every degree program at Illinois Tech. We thought the only good way to signal all of these and facilitate all this was to create a new College of Computing that informs and empowers and educates every student at Illinois Tech.”
Illinois Tech is especially poised to be a leader in computing education. As Chicago’s only tech-focused university, Illinois Tech has made inroads to the city’s emerging tech sector, establishing partnerships with P33, a facilitator of business, tech, nonprofit, and government, and the Discovery Partners Institute, which is dedicated to developing tech talent. It also has long-standing relationships with nearby Argonne and Fermilab national laboratories.
Illinois Tech also is home to an established Department of Computer Science, which is celebrating 50 years of education and innovation this year. Through that time it has developed excellence in AI, deep learning, cybersecurity, and high performance computing, which can be incorporated across Illinois Tech’s degree programs.
“I am excited by some of the truly innovative new approaches to crafting and delivering our education that the members of the new college are helping us achieve,” Kilpatrick says.
The use of data across disciplines, and the growing capability to collect and analyze information, has made data the centerpiece of computing in the future. This focus is driving the first two major areas of research at the College of Computing: intelligence and cybersecurity.
Fortnow describes intelligence as a conglomerate of areas that helps make responsible decisions from data, which includes machine learning, data science, AI, statistics, and data analytics. The flip side of collecting and processing this data is keeping that data secure, making cybersecurity an important element of computing’s future.
These computing fields, as well as every other area within the discipline, are rapidly changing and shifting. Fortnow says it is important for the College of Computing to ensure its programs can transform just as quickly.
“We need to be agile in all our programs, keeping them up to date and revising them to prepare our students for the technological world now and in the near future,” he says. “We also realize that education can no longer stop at graduation, and [we need to] provide certificates and other programs to help our graduates remain successful throughout their careers.”
Gladwin says the tools are in place to ensure that goal can be accomplished.
“The culture and team at Illinois Tech are great at prompt decision making, which is essential for navigating a rapidly changing field like computing to a leadership position,” Gladwin says.
COMPUTING-INFUSED CAMPUS
Illinois Institute of Technology has historically embraced the integration of computing across academic disciplines, and the College of Computing will be a driving force to ensure each student understands how computing methods can be applied to their field of study.
Computing is so ubiquitous that active computational skills—such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, and software programming—are practiced in professions across a variety of fields and are becoming increasingly valuable tools. By incorporating computing as a “horizontal” across academic programs, Illinois Tech will ensure today’s students are ready to shape and lead a changing technological society.
The concept of a college of computing isn’t new, but using it as a vehicle to infuse computation and data into all academic disciplines across campus is a rare, if not unique, educational model.
“We aim for a time when every Illinois Tech student, regardless of major, has a strong understanding of the fundamentals of computing and data science,” says Lance Fortnow, dean of the College of Computing. “We aim to teach our students about responsible use of data, and to understand how to manage the digital transformation.”
Matt Mayfield, associate dean of Illinois Tech’s Institute of Design, says he believes the College of Computing is a valuable resource to students outside of computer science.
By understanding computing technology, designers can understand how people can interact with it, the limits of computing, and the rewards computing offers to its users.
“Self-driving cars is a great example,” Mayfield says. “It’s more than getting from point A to point B. We ask, ‘What is the role of cars in our lives? Why do people spend time driving, especially when they don’t have to?’ and ‘How do we interpret the range and limitations of automotive autonomy?’”
Provost Peter Kilpatrick says he believes this concept of establishing computing as a horizontal across academic disciplines is the most exciting aspect of the new college.
“I am excited by the tearing down of our silos at Illinois Tech that this college will help us achieve,” Kilpatrick says. “I am also excited by some of the truly innovative new approaches to crafting and delivering our education that the members of the new college are helping us achieve.”
