Professor Adam Shwartz gave an overview of the Jacob graduate degree at Cornell Tech. The Jacobs institute is a collaboration between Cornell and Technion with a focus on training students for entrepreneurship and innovation in technology. Many of the degrees expose students to interdisciplinary topics and practical uses of technology. For example, Professor Shwartz discussed a masters degree in connective media which studies the convergence of communication, information and media. Aside from a strong technical focus, the degree is also centered around people-drive aspects blending with the disciplines of sociology, psychology, design and business. And students also get an opportunity to work one real-world problems with relevant companies as part of their degree. One of the interesting degrees is the Health Tech program, with the focus of designing new technologies tailored to healthcare. Part of the issue in working in healthcare is that engineers and medical specialists have their own specialized vocabulary, making it more difficult for the two groups to exchange ideas. Similarly, doctors have a difficult time getting patients to understand and improve their health conditions. Both areas can benefit from connective media and new applications that can improve communication and understanding and also influencing behavior effectively (e.g., if patients could have more clear understanding of how their own choices such as food and activity impact their overall health). Cornell Tech’s location in NYC is also intentional to keep it close to the many startups in that area. This program is in its infancy and will be growing in the next few years. And some of the graduate degrees are certainly appealing to me given my inclination towards a high-tech career.