New Degree prepares students for the emerging 'Internet of Things'

"Smart phones, smart cars, smart homes — and even smart appliances — are leading to an increasingly interconnected world on the Internet. For that reason and more, the University of Iowa College of Engineering is introducing a new degree. It’s a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering with a major in Computer Science and Engineering. [,,,] The degree is a joint effort of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering and the Department of Computer Science in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). The new degree is in addition to the the very popular electrical engineering major with a computer track — which has about 300 enrollees — and the CLAS computer science department, with more than 600 enrollees. [...] 

'The world is becoming ever more dependent upon computer and information technologies. The major will provide the simultaneous benefits of a fundamental grounding in computer science with the problemsolving and critical thinking skills associated with an engineering education,' Scranton [dean of the UI College of Engineering] says.

Although all three Regent universities in the state of Iowa offer a liberal arts-based computer science degree, the new UI degree is unique in that it combines the full technical content of a computer science degree and a computer engineering degree.

One of the CLAS planners of the new degree is Alberto Segre, Gerard P. Weeg Faculty Scholar in Informatics and professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science. Segre says, 'We’re delighted to partner with our colleagues in Engineering to provide Iowa students with new pathways to computing careers.' He says that computer science is one of the fastest growing CLAS majors, currently making it one of the 10 largest CLAS undergraduate programs with 535 computer science majors and 110 informatics majors for a total of 645 majors. Computer science and informatics each offer the B.A. and B.S. degrees; thus, the new degree will be the fifth undergraduate degree program in the department."

Full College of Engineering publication here or here.

New degree also mentioned in UI President Harreld's 10/5/17 IowaNow piece as well as in the new College of Engineering Recruiting Viewbook.