Commentary: New careers, new studies, usually with a technology

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Dec 13, 2001 by Craig Weidemann

Look at some of the job titles recently featured in Fast Company magazine: Chief E-Cubator, Digital Yenta, Keeper of the Magic, Virtual Reality Evangelist, Virus Hunter. These are real jobs, held by workers at current US companies.

While these titles are clearly out of the ordinary, each day new careers and positions emerge requiring employees who possess a unique blend of knowledge and skills, especially in the technical arena. How do workers of the future prepare themselves for jobs such as these? Perhaps with one of the new interdisciplinary majors being developed by students and universities around the country.

Many institutions now allow students to assemble their own course of study focused on their specific career interests. Often these programs include a technology component, allowing students to combine traditional academic disciplines and high-tech study. Whether formally interdisciplinary or not, there is hardly a field of study left that does not include a technology component.

The blending and integration of various disciplines in career preparation is advancing interesting new academic programs and courses throughout higher education, creating fresh learning experiences for students. Innovative combinations of study can be found at universities across the country.

For example, students at Carnegie Mellon University can sign up for an interdisciplinary degree in Human-computer Interaction (HCI). This program combines elements of computer programming, psychology, design and statistical analysis in order to improve the interfaces between people and computers. With all the electronic devices being designed and redesigned each year, there is an endless need for those skilled in this field.

This fall, Brandeis University began offering an undergraduate minor in Internet Studies. The program highlights the socioeconomic forces that shape the Internet and the global response to it and helps students to frame the information revolution in critical perspective. Brandeis believes it is the first university to offer such an extensive program in Internet Studies to undergraduates.

UMBC now offers an exciting new undergraduate certificate in Human Context of Science and Technology (HCST). This program provides students the opportunity to study systematically the interactions among the humanities, the physical and social sciences, and technology. According to Dr. Sandra Herbert, professor of history, HCST is important to any individual who wishes to understand the human dimensions of science and technology, or the technical and scientific dimensions of his or her humanity.

At the Master's level, Georgetown University offers a degree focused on the Internet. The Master of Arts in Communication, Culture & Technology is an interdisciplinary academic program addressing the social, cultural and political impacts of new information technologies. Students are encouraged to think across the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines to develop creative approaches and solutions to real-world issues. The program prepares students for careers in private sector companies, policy-making organizations, media institutions and for further study at the Ph.D. level.

At Oberlin, the Conservatory of Music offers a concentration in Technology in Music and Related Arts. The Introduction to Music Technology course covers the relationships between music and current and emerging technologies. The Computer Music course includes the study of MAX, an object-oriented, interactive musical programming language.

One of the hottest of the new programs at a growing number of universities is in bioinformatics - the use of information technology to analyze very large sets of data, such as those used in gene sequencing projects. Scientists who possess the computer skills to manage these data sets are in great demand.

This integration of technology into other fields of study and into all aspects of life has been growing for years. In 1995, Dr. Kevin Eckert of the UMBC Department of Sociology and Anthropology developed a course in Cyberspace, Culture and Society.

Dr. Eckert told me, Anthropologists are always interested in the tools people use and invent -- from the stone-age ax to the computer. But when I designed this course in 1995 it was one of the few courses any university offered to address the nexus between technology and society.

Eckert saw the course change and develop each year. One year we did not talk at all about e-commerce, and the next year the Internet was going to revolutionize how we bought things. Then there was the semester dominated by Y2K.

Carol Hess, UMBC dance professor and department chair, is offering a new course, Dance and Technology, which will allow dance students to gain a new level of technological literacy. The course introduces students to contemporary approaches to documenting dances, both past and present, as well as to creating choreographic works that involve the use of video cameras, triggers and interactivity.

At UMBC, like many campuses across the country, a student with study and career interests that span two or more departments can develop his or her own interdisciplinary major. Nearly 200 students a year participate in this learning option. The student must develop a formal study plan, with clear course work, objectives and a final project. Two faculty members, from different departments, provide mentoring. Outside experts in the field often provide additional advice and internship opportunities. A full interdisciplinary committee reviews each student proposal to help insure success.