Transcript Which type of Computer Scientist do we need for the future The Future of Quality University in Informatics (Panel contribution – revised) Jan van.

Which type of Computer Scientist
do we need for the future
The Future of Quality University in Informatics
(Panel contribution – revised)
Jan van Leeuwen
Utrecht University
Informatics Europe
LSI UPC Barcelona
17-3-2009
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Informatics was:
 about computing, data processing and process control
Now is:
 about designing and creating processes and systems
and their interactions with the world
 centered around networks, embedded systems and
intelligent (information/software) environments
 critical in everything (science, business, society)
 major intellectual discipline of this century
 at the same time: major factor in economy, innovation
and of ICT policies
 used by everyone, everywhere
 domain of many information and software companies
and IT businesses (large and small)
 challenging business models in all domains, privacy,
security, ethics
LSI UPC Barcelona
17-3-2009
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Core subjects of the Information Age
 The Internet
 Packet communications
 Protocols (TCP/IP)
 Web/Mobile code
 Java
 High-level PL’s research
 Exchange languages
 Complexity
 Algorithm design
 Computational complexity
 Cryptography
 Data/knowledge analysis
 Data mining
 Semantic web
 Multimedia
 Data compression algorithms
 Computational geometry
 Game design
 Web science
 Search engines
 Social computing
 Natural language technology
LSI UPC Barcelona
 Computational systems
 Algorithmics
 Multi/many-core programming
 Parallel compilation
 E-science
 Virtual laboratories
 Diagnostic systems
 Life science informatics
 Cognitive systems
 Computational theory of mind
 Intelligent systems
 Sensor networks and robots
 Human-computer interaction
 Information systems
 Transaction systems
 Operations research
 Value chain informatisation
 E-business
 Information security
 Enterprise architecture
 E-services
Adapted from R. Constable (2000)
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What type of computer scientist do we need
in the future..
The science / engineering paradox
 complementarity: universities teach computer science, industry does software and
system engineering.
 universities teach the concepts of the present and the future, industry uses the
concepts of the present.
 universities teach knowledge and academic skills, industry needs skills in the
technologies that it uses.
 universities do frontier research, concrete and abstract; industry finds it difficult to
apply it directly: they want concrete results and need engineering science, design
and management.
 universities work with students and develop concepts and prototypes, industry
needs system developers and software engineers that use the proven technologies
around.
 universities teach life-long competences, industry only appreciates these later.
 complementarity is challenged by current IT market (supply/demand paradox of
B. Fisher): supply (science) does not by itself generate demand (industry), but
demand always brings about supply.
 universities do not abandon the classical sciences, implying that CS departments
cannot develop a fully complimentarized scope. Yet, as ICT becomes innovation
engine # 1 in the economies, governments and industry want universities to play a
larger role in industry-oriented ICT research.
What does this tell us..
LSI UPC Barcelona
17-3-2009
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(Academic) computer scientists of the
future should be..
 Acquainted with the frontiers of CS research. Versed in the long term
philosophy of the field and its fundamental challenges as a science.
 Designers rather than programmers. Engineering-oriented but also
trained in the fundamental understandings of computational and
`informational’ processes.
 Well-trained in informatics as a multi-faceted, multidisciplinary field of
applicable methods and technologies: science (mathematics, biology, ..)
and business (economics, management science, ..) insights, design and
development insights, software and engineering skills, and organizational
and soft skills, have to be balanced. Make choices but involve at least
three `dimensions’.
 Team thinkers and collaborators rather than individual workers.
 Having the advanced skills of today, and the ideas of tomorrow.
 Be able to make/participate in decisions at project-, group-, or company
level.
 Going for excellence.
Make choices that are sustainable by the whole department
LSI UPC Barcelona
17-3-2009
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How to prepare (academic) computer
scientists for their future role
 Informatics is a science by itself. Do not let mathematics fill the
basics. Expose the conceptual richness of Informatics itself, with the
`eigen’ math of analysis, logic and reasoning that derive from the
discipline.
 Reconsider the curriculum and its pedagogy: reflect the `reality’
students face after graduation as well as the passions for the field.
Vision is important: current students graduate two, three, …years
from now.
 (Potential) informatics students have varied interests and vocations
that follow the changes in the discipline: design `threads’ to offer
students their preferred view of the field and their path of interest
through the program. Use the right focus terms that are sure to grab
their interest (and that of women etc).
 Don’t use what you learned as a student (and how) as a criterion:
students `live’ with systems and software that didn’t even exist a few
years ago and now view them as normal. They want to study what’s
next!
LSI UPC Barcelona
17-3-2009
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University Education in Informatics was:
 focussing on programming languages, algorithms, datastructures,
database systems, program construction, logic (and math..),
Should now be:
 focussing on algorithmic thinking, concepts in context, object/agent/
service/web-oriented programming, multimedia, embedded systems,
distributed intelligence, cognition, information system architectures
 Using the latest software technologies, unleashing creativity
 embedded in multidisciplinary contexts (game design, bio-informatics,
web design, technology management, etc.) and experiential learning
 more application- than core theory-oriented
 constantly adapting to progress in ICT
 using unlimited digital information, changing the face of scholarship in
its own and many fields
 keeping to the demand in all branches of science, business, industry, ..
 `partially’ aimed at research in cores area of CS
 competing in domain-oriented MSc and PhD programs
LSI UPC Barcelona
17-3-2009
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Cf. Applied Informatics Göttingen