Annual NJ CS Chairs Meeting Explores Upgrading Education to Match Demands on Accessibility and AI

Computer Science department chairs from several New Jersey universities and community colleges met at the Ying Wu College of Computing’s (YWCC) NJIT@JerseyCity location to discuss the state of computer science education with a focus on improving access for a broader diversity of students as part of a forward-looking AI workforce.  

Newly-appointed YWCC dean Jamie Payton, whose work has centered on expanding racial, ethnic and gender diversity in technology, opened the meeting by stressing the value of building a network of partnership institutions that can share information and best practices to consistently provide a competitive curriculum that fully prepares students for success.

Featured speaker Margaret Martonosi from Princeton University, site of the NJ AI Hub and host to the April 2024 AI Summit, then began her presentation by sharing discussions from the summit that sought to catalyze how New Jersey colleges and universities might benefit from alignment and sharing of AI curricula across campuses.

She continued by citing the importance placed on safe, secure and trustworthy AI education through federal and state executive orders by the Biden-Harris administration and Governor Phil Murphy.

The NSF (National Science Foundation), furthermore, has established the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes for the purpose of “knitting together AI research,” according to Martonosi.

Second featured speaker Andy Gunawardena from Rutgers University remarked that out of approximately 1,000 applicants to AI, data science or machine learning-oriented courses and majors, only 300 are currently accepted in his school. He continued by observing that 30-40% of computing majors come from community colleges.

Attendees agreed that community colleges are fertile ground as feeders to four-year institutions when candidates are adequately prepared through entry-level classes such as Foundations of Computer Science, a course in which many beginning students currently tend to struggle.

Essex County Community College currently teaches courses that will directly transfer to NJIT, and it was determined that continuing to streamline standards and guidelines for transfer credits through other articulations has grown in importance.

The subject of building a repository of shared information and curriculum, among other resources, was introduced, but was met with trepidation from some who may be reluctant to share their intellectual property “for free.” Furthermore, such information could be considered outdated very soon, due to how rapidly AI technology is advancing. Martonosi countered this by saying that “not having a repository at all will have its own challenges.”

Princeton University will host the Statewide AI Education and Workforce Convening Oct. 25, 2024 for an invitation-only audience of New Jersey higher education institutions, as well as “key industry players.” Topics of discussion will include:

• Curriculum development and curriculum sharing requirements
• Instructional supports
• Student cross-registration and other exchange opportunities
• Industry collaborations