Keeping the Science in Information Science.

Will the iSchool of the future aspire to instill scientific fundamentals in its graduates, or will it abandon the emphases on formal methods required for topics such as the following?

• · software design and testing,
• · tools for analysis,
• · statistical approaches to software,
• · mathematical approaches to cryptography and spatial information science

Efforts to integrate school programs should be driven to a large extent by the professions in which our students can find job opportunities. It seems to me that we need to strengthen, or at least retain, a commitment to scientific approaches including a solid grounding in mathematics and the ability to formulate problems and approach them systematically. I feel strongly that our students are well-served by a Master of Science degree. This appellation is widely recognized and hence, in my opinion, carries significant value in the job market.

It is difficult to imagine the world of the future -- I suggest that a rational approach would be to consult with leaders in the organizations that hire our graduates (UPMC, PNC, FedEx, to name a few), or better yet organizations in which we aspire to place graduates (eg, MAYA, Google, Facebook). It would be valuable to hear their reaction to proposed courses and programs.

My own feeling is that a background in formal methods will help us produce graduates who will be more fluent in the dynamic economy in which they find themselves. Employers have told us that this has been the strength of our MSIS graduates to date. Indeed, it is our 12 credit requirement in foundations and cognitive courses that distinguishes us from competing programs.

An alternative would be to have a Master of Arts degree and a Master of Science degree with different requirements. This may be workable. In any case, I think that it is imperative for the School to retain a Master of Science degree, at least as an option.

“Die Mathematik ist die Königen der Wissenschaften” (“Mathematics is the Queen of the Sciences”) – Karl Friedrich Gauss

Paul Munro