Dean's Session Spotlights Industry Role in Preparing Students for Workforce Success

According to the Computer Research Association’s (CRA) 2023 Taulbee Survey, undergraduate enrollment rates in U.S. computing programs have increased for 16 consecutive years, growing 4.4% from 2022 to 2023.

This growth corresponds to ongoing industry demand for skilled workers well-versed in artificial intelligence, data analytics, and other advanced computing technologies.

To help ensure computing students are prepared to meet this demand and succeed in today's workforce, Georgia Tech Dean of Computing Vivek Sarkar organized and moderated a panel discussion at the 2024 CRA Conference at Snowbird.

CRA established Snowbird in 1972 as an invitation-only biennial conference. Invitees include North American academic computing program administrators and leaders from top industry and government research labs and centers.

Sarker's session, Best Practices in Industry Affiliate Programs, featured a panel of experts and brought computing leaders together to explore new ideas and partnership models between industry and academia that go beyond internships, career fairs, and other traditional approaches.

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“With exponential growth in demand from industry and a corresponding increase in computing enrollments at all levels, there is a pressing need for a fresh look at the relationships between academia and industry in computing research,” said Sarkar, who began his career in 1995 with IBM before shifting to academia in 2007.

Sarker  –a co-founder of CRA’s Industry Committee– said successful industry affiliate programs must be more dynamic to meet the evolving needs of students and industry partners.

“There is a tremendous opportunity to re-examine best practices and find new ways of leveraging synergies that align with real-world computing research trends. 

“We must explore new partnership models that add value for students, academia, and industry,” said Sarker.

A panel of academic and industry computing research experts participated in the discussion. The panelists were:

• Alex Aiken, Alcatel-Lucent Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University
• Beth Mynatt, dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University
• Shriram Revankar, Dolby Laboratories senior vice president
• Jaime Teevan, Microsoft chief scientist and technical fellow

Sarkar wasn’t the only Georgia Tech faculty member on the 2024 Snowbird Agenda.

Kamau Bobb, senior director of Georgia Tech’s Constellations Center for Equity in Computing, was a plenary speaker and shared remarks at the conference’s welcome dinner.

Bobb also participated in a discussion addressing academic freedom and efforts to expand participation in computing. Several Georgia Tech computer science faculty members attended SnowBird and participated in the agenda.