Asee peer logo

Introduction to Computer Science + Society: A Multidisciplinary Course for All

Download Paper |

Conference

ASEE-NE 2022

Location

Wentworth Institute of Technology, Massachusetts

Publication Date

April 22, 2022

Start Date

April 22, 2022

End Date

April 23, 2022

Page Count

7

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42183

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/42183

Download Count

309

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Cuong H Pham Wentworth Institute of Technology

visit author page

Cuong (Charlie) Pham is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Networking at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He is also the Co-founder and CEO of the Vietnamese Professionals Network, a non-profit organization that supports young professionals in career development and growth in the US and around the world. Before coming back to academia, he was a Software Engineer at Microsoft, where he worked on Office 365 services and Office Developer Platform. He earned a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Bauman Moscow State Technical University and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Boston. His research interests span the areas of computer networks, distributed systems, cloud computing, and blockchain technologies. His research work resulted in research funding awards from Wentworth and companies in 2019, 2020, and 2021, a Best Paper Award at IEEE MASS in 2014, and Research Excellence Awards from the Department of Computer Science at UMass Boston in 2009 and 2011.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Engineering education with a narrow focus on technology may have made sense in the past, it fails to meet the needs of 21st-century students, who will enter industries that fuse the Humanities with various forms of technology. The ubiquitous role assumed by Computer Science in particular, in recent decades has elevated individuals like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the teams they lead to positions of massive political, social, and economic power. Having a strong background only in STEM fields will not prepare tomorrow’s leaders for the complex social issues they will navigate. Broad, rigorous training in the liberal arts will meaningfully complement Engineering education. Multidisciplinary training in a variety of methods of research and interpretation prepares graduates to tackle complex problems with the humility and confidence to conceptualize their investigation in a nuanced and comprehensive manner. In this paper, we present the design and development of a unique multidisciplinary course for engineering students that provides extensive training in the tools of Computer Science as well as the analytical frameworks of the Humanities and Social Sciences, empowering them to meet the varied and challenging problems they will face in their careers. We also analyze our findings and discuss co-teaching best practices as the results of running the course.

Pham, C. H. (2022, April), Introduction to Computer Science + Society: A Multidisciplinary Course for All Paper presented at ASEE-NE 2022, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Massachusetts. 10.18260/1-2--42183

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2022 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015