The Computer Science department has approved the addition of two new areas of concentration to their curriculum, data science as well as digital hardware and embedded systems, in order to create an effective industry-driven degree path.
The new additions will be implemented during the fall 2019 semester, allowing new and current students to redirect their course studies if wanted. The incorporation of the new courses was driven by student interest and the goal to meet ever-changing industry needs.
“The new curricular additions were designed to add additional knowledge and skills from a different discipline to a student’s computing skillset,” Dr. Joshua Guerin, associate professor and chair of the Computer Science department, said.
“You will find that the new computing concentrations still maintain the core courses and skills of a computer science degree plus additional coursework from the appropriate disciplines.”
Data science, digital hardware and embedded systems will incorporate the students’ knowledge of computer science, engineering, mathematics, statistics and other courses to create interdisciplinary experiences the students will face after graduation as the technology career field is continuously evolving.
The new course-load was created using existing curriculum from multiple departments across campus according to Guerin, but many of the classes that will contribute to the new concentration are already being taught, like data mining, distributed systems and networking. The Computer Science department currently focuses on software and systems, which encompasses programming, writing databases and coding.
“The Computer Science department is keeping up with what the market demands in modern times and doing our best to meet it,” Dr. Shadow Robinson, dean of Engineering and Natural Sciences, said.
“Both of these [concentrations] directly tie to markets that didn’t even exist five, 10 years ago. Now within a year or two, we will be able to produce graduates that are trained and aware of all of the trends in the field.”
Guerin explained that computer science has developed in every industry and having an understanding of software and computing is vital to success.
“Computing is a part of virtually every modern field and industry. Because of the somewhat universal nature of computing, new subfields are rapidly emerging that require a strong computing background as well as additional domain knowledge from one or more other disciplines,” Guerin said.
While the two new courses will officially be established in the fall, the department is also looking at creating new courses in cybersecurity, computer science education, graphics and gaming, as well as biology in the near future. The completion of the new Latimer Engineering and Science Building in 2021 will lead to more programs being incorporated.
The Computer Science department earned its accreditation through the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology in 2017. The new courses will be evaluated by ABET during the next reaccreditation cycle.
For more information about the Computer Science department, contact the department at 731-881-7391 or Guerin via email at jguerin@utm.edu.
Christina Hinton, a senior Computer Science major from Henry, is part of a growing group of students in the UTM computer science program. | Photo
Credit/University Relations
