Advanced IT degrees lead to better
job prospects

Schools are working to increase recruitment of women and minority students

Specialized programs like HCI and security are offered at many universities

By Jon Boroshok
Contributing Editor

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a growth of 854,000 new IT jobs between 2006 and 2016. Five of the thirty fasting-growing jobs are IT-related.

“We’re seeing tremendous demand for our students on all levels: undergrad, masters and PhD,” says Farnam Jahanian, professor and interim chair for computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), and co-founder and chairman of the board of Arbor Networks (Waltham, MA), a provider of security and network management solutions for global business networks. “It goes beyond high tech to all sectors of the economy, like healthcare, financial services, entertainment, automotive and defense.

“Despite all the publicity about jobs being lost to outsourcing to India and China, IT employment in the United States today is significantly higher than it was in 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom,” he adds.

Grad degrees a career necessity

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (www.anitaborg.org, Palo Alto, CA) provides resources and programs for industry, academia and government to help them recruit, retain and develop women leaders in high-tech fields. Its annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference (gracehopper.org/2008/) is designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. The conference is sponsored and attended by major technology companies looking for female candidates.

Caroline Simard, director of research at the Anita Borg Institute, reports that of the 1,400 attendees at the 2007 conference, 600 were students, and 65 percent of those were graduate students. While an undergrad degree is enough for some IT jobs like coding, programming, quality assurance, and database or systems administration, a graduate degree is almost a requirement for many positions, especially those that require more complex problem solving.

Denise Holland, president of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA, www.bdpa.org), the professional organization for African Americans in technology, agrees. She adds that especially for management, a masters or the equivalent in work experience is necessary.

The good news is that advanced IT degree programs are available throughout the country, and they can give graduates an edge when it comes to finding jobs.

Arizona State University

Arizona State University (ASU, Tempe, AZ) offers several advanced computer science degree options through its Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.

Its MSCS is a research-oriented degree for students with undergraduate degrees in computer science. It offers interdisciplinary study, with concentrations in engineering through collaboration with faculty in electrical engineering, and in arts and media with the Herberger College of Fine Arts. Concentrations in information assurance and biomedical informatics are also available.

A parallel MSCS is offered to students with undergraduate educations in related disciplines; it’s designed for people who are already employed in industry. The PhD in CS prepares students for fundamental and applied CS research in academia, government or industry. For this degree the CS and engineering department collaborates with the Fulton School, the mathematics and statistics department and a variety of other university centers and departments. Concentrations are available in arts, media and engineering, as well as information assurance.

James S. Collofello, associate dean for academic and student affairs, reports that 25 percent of computer science MS students are female and 5 percent are minorities. In the CS PhD program 16 percent are female and 4.5 percent are minorities. Most full-time students are international; part-timers tend to work in technology and take classes in the afternoon and on line.

ASU also has a five-year integrated BS/MS program that allows students to take graduate classes in their senior undergrad year and graduate in five years with both degrees.

Georgia Institute of Technology

The college of computing at Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA) offers a menu full of graduate degree options on both the MS and PhD levels. Graduate students can earn an MS in either computer science or more cutting-edge programs like information security and human-computer interaction (HCI). PhD degrees include computer science and human-centered computing (HCC).

Graduate studies director Gail Potts says that most are traditional full-time programs, although there is distance learning available. The college also has several joint programs with campuses in South Korea and France.

Potts notes that Georgia Tech is committed to diversity. To attract women and minorities, the school runs an annual invitation-only orientation and recruitment event on campus over a long weekend. Georgia Tech pays for everything, including transportation.

The MS program in HCI draws a high percentage of both women and minorities, Potts notes. The degree is an interdisciplinary effort of the college of computing; the school of literature, communication and culture in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; and the school of psychology in the college of sciences. It gives students the practical skills and theoretical understanding necessary to design, implement and evaluate the next generation of computer interfaces.

Maureen Biggers, who does social science research as head of the diversity research lab at Georgia Tech’s college of computing, believes HCI attracts more women because they want to be able to make a difference in people’s lives.

The PhD in HCC is the first of its kind, bringing together studies in HCI, learning sciences and technology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, robotics, software engineering and information security. “This interdisciplinary approach to computing that supports human needs enables new discoveries in science, engineering, art and design,” she explains.

Sixty percent of the candidates in this program are women. Andrea Grimes, an African American, is among them. After completing her BS in computer science at Northeastern University (Boston, MA) in 2005, Grimes toyed with the idea of looking for a job in industry, but opted for grad school instead. She’s enjoyed research since her freshman year and finds it more intriguing than product development. She hopes to complete her degree by 2011.

Grimes says it’s good to have some work experience, whether it’s through internships, co-ops or full-time employment, to help you decide whether graduate school is the right choice. She also advises getting involved in undergraduate research programs, and says there are lots of funding opportunities for women and minorities.

University of Texas-El Paso

While other colleges strive to attract minority students, at the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) Hispanics are the majority. Hispanics make up nearly 74 percent of the student body, making UTEP the largest graduate engineering school for Hispanics in the nation, according to Hispanic Business magazine.

The school offers traditional MS and PhD programs in computer science. Since 2000 it has also offered a master of information technology (MIT) program that includes courses from the department of computer science in the college of engineering, and the department of information and decision sciences in the college of business administration.

Computer science chair Ann Gates notes there is a growing need for systems and software engineers who can work across different disciplines. She says UTEP’s MIT and CS graduate programs seek to increase the number of Hispanic students in graduate CS study.

Aida Gandara is an El Paso native who received her BS and MS degrees from UTEP and then worked in the software industry for thirteen years, lecturing and teaching high-level database and OS courses. She had considered going back for her PhD, but put it off to start a family. She recently returned to UTEP with a research assistantship. Gandara says that if a student has the potential and interest to go for an advanced degree, it’s best to stay in school straight through.

That’s the path Irbis Gallegos has taken. He was born in Mexico and moved to Texas for high school. He earned his BS in computer science from UTEP in 2004, and has stayed to pursue his PhD. A faculty mentor helped him get a research assistantship.

Gallegos is preparing to become a faculty member at a minority-serving institution. He wants to help others who face the same cultural and academic challenges he met when he came to the U.S. from Mexico. “If it wasn’t for my mentor, I wouldn’t be here,” admits Gallegos.

He advises current undergrads to consider getting at least a masters degree. He says that even for those who don’t want to stay in academia, advanced degrees make candidates more competitive in the business marketplace.

University of Michigan

Through the Rackham Graduate School, the college of engineering at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) offers MS, MSE and PhD degrees in several CS specialties: hardware, intelligent systems, software, theory and very-large-scale integration (VLSI). According to Farnam Jahanian, professor and interim chair for computer science and engineering, a master of computer science is a popular choice for undergrad engineering majors.

Jahanian says that U Michigan computer science and computer engineering students are welcomed at companies in many industries and economic sectors: software and hardware developers like Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and Oracle, as well as companies that deliver content and services over the Internet such as Google, Yahoo and AOL.

Among the college of engineering’s 2007 graduates, 24 percent of masters recipients were women and 10 percent were underrepresented minorities. On the PhD level 22 percent were women and 11 percent were underrepresented minorities. Most PhD candidates receive funding through fellowships from GEM, the National Science Foundation or other nonprofit organizations. Others work as research assistants or graduate instructors.

Jahanian says some fellowship programs are designed to attract women and underrepresented minorities. U Michigan identifies and recruits undergraduate women in CS and engineering primarily through the Engineering Graduate Symposium, a visiting day for prospective students.

Once on campus grad students can join graduate-level chapters of national professional organizations, including AISES, NSBE, SHPE, SWE and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). There are also several Michigan-specific support groups: the Underrepresented Minorities in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Society (UMEECS), Girls in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (GEECS), the Graduate Society of Women Engineers (Grad-SWE), the Movement of Underrepresented Sisters in Engineering and Science (MUSES) and the Society of Minority Engineering Students-Graduate Component (SMES-Grad).

The college of engineering has a multicultural engineering program office to “help provide and extend a model environment of inclusiveness and excellence.” And the Women in Engineering (WIE) office, a division of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), provides services and resources to assist women in various stages of academic and professional development.

University of California-Santa Cruz

The Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California-Santa Cruz (UCSC) offers MS and PhD degrees in a range of IT areas: CS, computer engineering, bioinformatics, statistics and stochastic modeling.

The MS degree requires either a thesis or an approved project, and is typically completed in two years. The PhD is usually completed in five.

Michael Isaacson, acting dean of the Baskin School, points out that while many students attend classes full time, some MS students are part timers and some even take classes via distance learning program broadcasts to partner companies in nearby Silicon Valley. There are early morning and late afternoon/early evening classes to accommodate the schedules of working people, some of whom are sent to the program by their employers.

Richard Hughey, professor and chair, computer engineering, says an MS degree gives students more control of their career paths and makes them more attractive job candidates. “It shows a company you can take long-term projects to completion,” he notes.

The Baskin School’s grad student body is 26 percent women, most of whom have an IT focus. Nine percent of grad students are from historically underrepresented groups. The Baskin School awarded 43 percent of its MS degrees to women in 2004-5.

Hughey notes that one of the keys to attracting more women and minorities into the profession is more role models in academia. Currently about 16 percent of UCSC’s engineering professors are female. Twenty-six percent are minorities and 6 percent are from underrepresented minority groups.

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University offers a variety of full-time, part-time and distance learning graduate programs in its school of information systems management (ISM). The school’s mission is “to prepare tomorrow’s technology managers to lead enterprises in innovative ways.”

ISM associate dean Andrew Wasser says that the school is focused more on applying technology than making it. Students take classes in business as well as technology. He describes the approach as a hybrid of MBA and IT disciplines, and says that Carnegie Mellon has a history of placing students in “name
brand” firms.

The flagship master of information systems management is a three-semester graduate degree program that integrates leading-edge IT practices with applied business methods. The master of science in information technology is a part-time graduate degree program designed for working IT leaders. It equips them with both IT and management skills.

The IT management track can also be completed through distance learning. Candidates for this program must have three years of work experience.

Carnegie Mellon also offers a master of science in information security policy and management, which draws from the school’s information systems management assets as well as the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute’s CERT Coordination Center, part of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team program. The degree aims to produce qualified graduates in the various disciplines of information assurance.

“Our areas of strength are in the economics of information security, data privacy and risk management,” says Wasser.

Carnegie Mellon participates in a summer program that brings students from historically black colleges and universities to campus for a six-week hands-on institute. Five students came to the campus in 2007.

Iowa State University

Iowa State University (Ames, IA) offers both MS and PhD programs in computer engineering, as well as an interdisciplinary MS and PhD program in human computer interaction (HCI). James Oliver is director of the HCI graduate program at ISU as well as the CyberInnovation Institute and the Virtual Reality Applications Center, and says that a focus on these newer technologies is essential, as the interaction between humans and computers is accelerating fast.

The HCI program prepares students for a career in business or industry with hands-on experience, especially at the MS level. PhD candidates typically aim for publication and academic careers. The MS can be completed in two years and the PhD usually in an
additional three.

It is one of the largest programs of its type, with a diverse student body, says Oliver. HCI has had several GEM scholars, and each student in the program has at least a half-time graduate assistantship, which includes a monthly stipend.

HCI graduates have gone on to take positions as usability engineers, software engineers, GIS modelers, IT operations managers, game programmers, Web developers, product engineers, program managers and assistant professors.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, MA) offers MS and PhD graduate degrees in computer science. Graduate degree programs are full time only, with all classes and research done on campus.

Christopher Jones, assistant dean for graduate students, says that most students in the program are on fellowships or research assistantships. Most have backgrounds in engineering, chemistry, biotech or computer science.

There are many diversity networks on campus. The Black Graduate Student Association, for example, “promotes the academic success of African, African American and Afro Caribbean graduate students at MIT.” It encourages community service as well as political and economic self-determination among the membership.

Another group, the Academy of Courageous Minority Engineers (ACME), supports minority graduate students as they work toward the completion of their graduate degrees.

Polytechnic University

Grad programs at Polytechnic University (Brooklyn, NY) focus on information management and telecommunications. Management of technology (MOT) and telecommunications and information management (TIM) executive masters degrees are designed for managers who realize that they need more than a generic business program for career advancement. There is also a new MBA program with a technology slant.

Both the MOT and TIM programs offer a strong business education and deal directly with key management issues in a technology-based, information-intensive corporate world.

“MOT provides the knowledge needed to manage technology and innovation and their strategic implications. TIM specifically explores how networking, telecommunications, information technology, e-business and the Internet can transform enterprises, organizations and markets,” says Mel Horwitch, professor and chair of the department of technology management, and director of the institute for technology and enterprise.

Currently there are upward of 500 graduate students. Most are part-timers who work at big New York City companies that help with tuition. The bulk of full-timers are international students.

Horwitch notes that many women and minorities are enrolled. Polytechnic has diverse undergrad and graduate student bodies and, in fact, is ranked sixth in diversity among all national universities by U.S. News & World Report.

Many students have lots of work experience, Horwitch reports, so the school uses real-time case studies extensively. The program is designed to turn students into complex integrators who are well versed in high-value technology and information management, not just coding and IT.

Horwitch stresses that just getting an education in IT with a global focus isn’t enough anymore. IT pros also need to develop soft skills like strategizing and writing. “IT management is not IT. You have to be sensitive to business needs.”

Prairie View A&M University

Located just outside of Houston, TX, Prairie View A&M University offers two graduate programs leading to either an MS in computer science (MSCS) or an MS in computer information systems (MSCIS). Both programs were started in 2002. Students who are trying to balance school with jobs and family obligations can take night, weekend or online courses.

Sherri S. Frizell, PhD, assistant professor and graduate program coordinator, explains that the MSCS program is geared toward students whose undergraduate degrees are in computer science or a closely related field. The program offers thesis and non-thesis options. The MSCIS program is aimed at anyone looking for a graduate IT degree. It includes some business courses with an emphasis on software applications development. Frizell notes that many students are opting for an MSCIS rather than an MBA.

She points out that Prairie View is a minority-serving institution, with African Americans making up 98 percent of undergrads. The university makes a special effort to recruit minorities for its graduate programs. Students find the small class sizes and the close relationships with faculty particularly attractive.

Stevens Institute of Technology

The MS program in information systems (MSIS) at the Howe School of the Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, NJ) is eighteen years old and offers twenty-one different management or technical track concentrations. A new concentration, business process management and service innovation, focuses on the implementation and deployment of innovative process designs using information technology. All tracks and concentrations are taught weeknights in Hoboken, and many are also taught on Saturdays. Most are offered at alternate city locations as well.

Howe currently has 1,200 MS students, 120 MBA students, eight executive masters students and twenty-five PhD students. Jerry Luftman, associate dean and distinguished professor, says that most of Stevens’ MSIS graduate students are enrolled part time, with about 80 percent employed by large corporations in New Jersey and Manhattan. Most full-timers are international students.

Luftman thinks that more women are entering the program and could shortly make up 50 percent of the class.

University of Southern California

The Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC, Los Angeles, CA) offers a wide variety of graduate degree programs, including a general MS in computer science with ten specializations. Specialized areas include computer security, high-performance computing simulations and game development for the entertainment industry. Professor Ramesh Govindan, chair of computer science, says specialization gives students an edge in the marketplace.

The MS program can be completed full time or via distance learning through specially equipped classrooms, where online students participate along with traditional students and faculty.

USC also offers a PhD in computer science. Candidates are full-time students, with most on research fellowships, research assistantships or teaching assistantships.

“Among our MS students, about 28 percent are women, 3 percent are African American and 2 percent are Hispanic,” says Govindan. “Among our PhD students, 18 percent are women, one percent are Hispanic and one percent are African American.”

USC’s Women in Science and Education (WISE, www.usc.edu/programs/wise) program aims to increase the number of highly regarded women scientists and engineers in tenured and tenure-track faculty positions. WISE has already made significant advances by doubling the number of tenured and tenure-track women faculty in USC technical departments in just five years.

D/C

Jon Boroshok is a freelance writer in Groton, MA.

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