@article{0aff3ab0f981444586a1bf74ed7d19d0,
title = "The challenges of multidisciplinary education in computer science",
abstract = "Some of the most important problems facing the United States and China, indeed facing our entire planet, require approaches that are fundamentally multidisciplinary in nature. Many of those require skills in computer science (CS), basic understanding of another discipline, and the ability to apply the skills in one discipline to the problems of another. Modern training in computer science needs to prepare students to work in other disciplines or to work on multidisciplinary problems. What do we do to prepare them for a multidisciplinary world when there are already too many things we want to teach them about computer science? This paper describes successful examples of multidisciplinary education at the interface between CS and the biological sciences, as well as other examples involving CS and security, CS and sustainability, and CS and the social and economic sciences. It then discusses general principles for multidisciplinary education of computer scientists.",
keywords = "Biology, Economics, Education, Multidisciplinary, Security, Social sciences, Sustainability",
author = "Roberts, {Fred S.}",
note = "Funding Information: Education in CS and sustainability is reflected in the various activities of Cornell University{\textquoteright}s Institute of Computational Sustainability (http://www.cis.cornell.edu/ics/). Research challenges in sustainability are closely related to educational opportunities, and they are reflected in the report on “Mathematical and Statistical Challenges for Sustainability”[5] that arose from a workshop held at DIMACS in November 2010 and a report on “The Role of Information Sciences and Engineering in Sustainability”[6] that arose from a workshop sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in February 2011, and will be reflected in a workshop on US-China Collaborations in CS and Sustainability to be held at DIMACS in September 2011. They are also reflected in a new “Sustainable Planet Education Program” we are launching at DIMACS in connection with Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE), a program sponsored by 14 North American Mathematical Sciences Research Institutes in conjunction with many international organizations and professional societies (see http://www.mpe2013.org/). A key mission of MPE is to increase the engagement of mathematical scientists (including computer scientists and including researchers, teachers, students, and the public) with issues of planet Earth, and in particular creating a sustainable environment and economic system. Encouraging teachers at all levels to create and use planet-related curriculum materials is among the key aspects of MPE. As part of MPE, DIMACS, in collaboration with the Mathematics and Climate Research Network based at Bowdoin College, is leading the development of MPE-related modules for the undergraduate level, which instructors can bring into their classrooms highlighting mathematical sciences topics associated with MPE. MPE module themes will include sustainable resource management, the interface between sustainability and economic systems, climate change, disaster response, control of diseases and epidemics, energy production and utilization, uncertainty quantification and decision support, among others. Possible topics for modules include natural resource bioeconomics, with sensitivity to economic discount rate and resource spatial heterogeneity; “cradle to grave” life cycle assessment of energy production, consumer products, food production and transportation; land use economics in a changing climate; critical transitions and resilience in simple and complex models (e.g., aquatic systems and water quality); energy balance models of climate, climate sensitivity and climate feedback processes; fossil fuels and atmospheric composition; data assimilation in chaotic systems (e.g., weather); efficient evacuation of major metropolitan areas susceptible to increased flooding; measuring biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems with decreasing biodiversity (e.g., 1840{\textquoteright}s Irish potato blight); determining optimal strategies for utilizing various electrical energy generating stations given uncertainties about wind energy and solar energy; and presentation of knowledge and uncertainty for effective decision support①.",
year = "2011",
month = jul,
doi = "10.1007/s11390-011-1164-1",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "26",
pages = "636--642",
journal = "Journal of Computer Science and Technology",
issn = "1000-9000",
publisher = "Springer New York",
number = "4",
}