One thing Professor Schwarz spoke about last week that I have been thinking about recently is the first year after graduation. As I move closer and closer to my senior year and graduation, I am beginning to think about what comes after school. The professor mentioned how the first year out of college is similar to Freshman year as people learn how to act independently and make new friends. He said that many people feel lonely during the time right after graduation because they are probably in new places with few people they know and need to figure out their lives for the first time.

Ever since kindergarten I knew what the next step was. I knew I would move up one grade and the schools would give me everything I needed to do. Once I finished high school, the college environment was a little different, but ultimately I just had to take the right classes for my major and then graduate. Now that I only have one year left of my undergraduate years, it is becoming more urgent for me to find what I truly want to do, so I can have a fulfilling career. This is a scary thought because I have a general idea, but there are so many cool subjects to study and things to work on in the world that I am not sure if I have chosen the right field.

Regarding choosing one’s path, Schwarz talked about how he thinks people should begin to think about what they want to do as early as their Freshman year. I agree that people should have some sort of focus and not blindly amble through college; however, I firmly believe that it is an exceptional case where someone is certain of what s/he wants to do after college. Even if that person thinks s/he knows, it is highly improbable that that person has even had extensive experience in his or her field to know for sure. Furthermore, I think it is unhealthy for people to “know” what they want to do at any point in life because, if you think about it, that person has not even encountered most things in the world, so there could be any number of other studies or jobs or arts or people or anything else to pursue. Part of my uncertainty about life frightens me for sure, how could it not, but I would rather spend my entire life learning and experiencing everything I can and never finding “the one thing I want to do,” if there is such a thing, than settling for something less than completely fulfilling.

Honestly, what terrifies me the most is the thought of eventually settling for something I do not like since forever searching sounds exhausting.

On March 2nd, I attended the Rose Café with guest speaker Adam Shwartz. Professor Shwartz’s talk was about the new Jacob’s graduate degree at Cornell Tech. The campus for the Cornell Tech school is located in New York City. The Cornell Tech school is focused on training students for jobs in the various fields of technology. For example, the school offers a wide range of courses dealing with health technology to media and communication technology. Despite still being a relatively new school, the Cornell Tech school is growing quite rapidly and according to Professor Shwartz, its growth is expected to continue over the next couple of years.
Although I am not directly interested in going to a tech school after graduating from undergrad, I still found the idea of the Jacob’s program to be very appealing. The amount of real world opportunities that a student could get going to school in New York City is infinite. In addition to that, you get to work in a field that is directly related to the field of technology that one finds the most interest in. In other words, the amount of specificity and variety in the Jacob’s program seems like a very great benefit. I can also see the need for these types of grad programs increasing in future as the world becomes more and more reliant on technology. After undergrad, I hope to go to dental school and become a dentist. However, even in the dental field, more and more procedures are integrating technology, making things more efficient and accurate.

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.

A week ago, the Rose Scholars Cafe had the privilege of having Adam Schwartz speak to us about the new Jacobs Technion Cornell Institute being created on Roosevelt Island. The purpose of this new facility is to allow graduate students to learn how both business and technology go hand in hand; the idea is that the stronger an individual is in both fields the more prepared they will be for different forms of work. After hearing this lecture, I found that as a student pursuing a business and economics minor, it never occurred to me to take any sort of computing class while at Cornell. It always seemed like an area of interest that either engineers or computer science majors would look into.  I am now realizing the diversity that comes with being able to understand both areas and how beneficial it can be when wanting to form a start up or conduct one’s own research.

Additionally, it is a gorgeous facility that is located close to New York City which allows so many other doors to open up to its students. The format of the classes is also beneficial in that students and teachers are working alongside one another to work and grow together. It makes sense that most of the tasks are done as a group because it allows the students to learn how to interact with one another on a different level and collaborate their findings with each other. As someone who wishes to pursue a graduate degree, this is certainly an appealing option for me to look into for the future. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm and commitment that director Schwartz has clearly placed into this project. I can not wait to visit the building when it is complete.

During last week’s Cafe Series, Adam Shwartz came to speak to us about Cornell Tech and the new degree programs they have planned. How Shwartz pitched the Jacobs Institute was very interesting; he emphasized how Cornell Tech values collaboration, and interdisciplinary studies in technology, business, health, and connective media. Cornell Tech is very focused on the art of “creating something” and almost all classes have a culminating project that involves a building component. Additionally the school specializes in intensive immersion working, in which faculty and students are constantly collaborating together that simulates a real life working environment. Although Cornell Tech is not very relevant for me, I appreciate hearing and learning about this new model of education, which I would really appreciate if something similar is implemented in our undergraduate campus. I feel as if this talk helped to spread the word about Cornell Tech, but it wasn’t very useful as Shwartz didn’t cover much that would be directly applicable to undergraduates, such as admissions or how to get involved early on.

I am a little ambivalent about the creation of Cornell Tech.  I would have loved having this kind of school, similar to Weill Cornell and its resources be accessible for undergrads to get a head start as well. Being from NYC, I feel like Cornell Tech is just a hopeful attempt at grabbing a stronghold in the city because many of its business people might worry that Ithaca is too far from most of the jobs. Regardless, I am appreciative of the new curriculum model, and I’m looking forward for Cornell Tech to establish its presence.

Last Wednesday, I attended the Rose café with Adam Schwartz. He spoke to us about the Jacob’s Tech School and the up and coming school they are building. The Cornell Tech School, which is located on Roosevelt Island in NYC, is like no other school at the moment. The vision they have for this school was very interesting. Unlike your standard school, they will be approaching the material in a very different way. The building design, which are a few large open floors, lends itself to the makings of a great collaboration center, which is exactly what they are planning to do. Instead of working individually, students will be working in groups and with professors to get not only the best education they can, but also the skills they will need for future jobs and projects. The hands on experience they get seems like a great opportunity to be working in the field. With the school being located in New York City, I think this is a really great opportunity for people in the tech fields. Through his talk, I’m glad I learned about this tech school and how it will be different from the programs out there now.

Last week, Dr. Adam Shwartz came to talk about the Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech, based in New York City. He spoke about the importance of being able to work not only in an academic environment that promotes self study but in a multifaceted team in which each individual member holds a different skill they may contribute as well. While currently the institute is smaller in size and more collaborative, Dr. Shwartz hopes to grow the institute in the future, expanding its amount of students as well as its curriculum within the next couple of years. As for ten years ahead, his response: anything is possible. Technology will change rapidly and drastically within the next ten to fifteen years, but for certain, the Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech will adapt with it.

Last week I got the opportunity to listen to Professor Shwartz’s presentation about the Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech. Although my career goals aren’t really in the tech field, I found the Jacobs Institute’s teaching style to be very interesting. I think personal interaction between instructors and students is the single most important aspect of learning, and it’s hard to have one-on-one interactions like this when hundreds of other students are trying to do the same. I found it particularly noteworthy how the professors sometimes do their work in the same room as the students, so they can be approached easily if a student needs help. I really like this model of teaching and I think the Jacobs Institute should try to keep their future student admissions at a minimum in order to facilitate this.

I also found the idea of combining business and technology interesting; I’ve always thought of them as separate entities, with engineers creating technology and businessmen advertising and selling it. It seems really efficient to have knowledge in both of these aspects, and I think more tech graduate schools should adopt this approach and offer a few mandatory business classes.

For last week’s Becker Rose Café, Professor Adam Schwartz, Director of Cornell Tech, gave a talk about the new facility currently being built at Roosevelt Island. He emphasized the uniqueness of Cornell Tech’s program versus other graduate programs that are offered by other big-name universities. One of the main attractions of Cornell Tech is that it’s built very close to NYC and it would only require a trip over a bridge to visit the campus. This would not only allow for more business-oriented opportunities for research, but also allow many of the students and staff at Cornell Tech to participate in startups. Furthermore, the teaching style at Cornell Tech differs from a lot of what we have here on the Ithaca campus. Much like big tech companies, the new institute focuses on group work and collaboration and looks to break away from the lecture-oriented classes.

Although the talk was oriented to provide us with information about the learning environment and development of Cornell Tech, I think that it would’ve be even better if Professor Schwartz could have talked more about how an undergraduate could prepare for admission to Cornell Tech. Since he emphasized being creative, it left me wondering if undergraduates looking to pursue a degree at Cornell Tech should be involved in research or attempting to join startups.

While Prof. Shwartz’s talk has no real utility for me, I did find it interesting as a member of the larger Cornell community.  I’ll never end up at (or even look at) Cornell Tech because it lies so far off of my career trajectory.  That said, hearing about the model of education being employed at Cornell Tech on the whole and the Jacobs Institute in particular is interesting from a pedagogical perspective.  I really like the model that they’ve implemented in their masters programs–as far as I can tell, they’ve synthesized the skill set usually gained by years in industry and turned it into a curriculum, essentially allowing you to buy job experience (this is absolutely an oversimplification, but I think a decently apt way of looking at it).  Having programs like this should change the way that people access high-level positions that lie at the intersection of multiple fields in the same industry.

As an engineering major, I am constantly involved with developing unique technologies whether it’s through the work on my project team or through my coursework. Innovation is a key part of the engineering culture that allows students to harness their creative and technical skills into creating important and useful products. By being immersed in such an environment, engineers begin to generate new ideas for a business/mobile app/or website that they want to launch, and soon they begin building a startup. Startups are the reason so many engineers and non-engineering majors turn into entrepreneurs at such a young age because they take their learnings directly from school and translate it into a real-world application. Dan Schwartz’s presentation on the Jacobs Technicon Cornell Institute delineated the importance of entrepreneurship and startups to the work that college grads pursue after college.

The Technicon Institute is a stepping stone into immersing yourself completely in the startup or engineering culture. Schwartz emphasized that college grads don’t often get constructive feedback on the projects that they are working on, and in order to be successful in the real world, it is necessary that students get honest feedback from their professors. The faculty at the Cornell Technicon institute offer such feedback to their students, so that they can flourish in the startup community. When students begin their startups, they are often unsure about the decisions that they have to make in order to increase the value/importance of their company, and that’s when the Technicon Institute can offer support to its students. By being part of a diverse and innovative culture at this institute, students engage in solving real world problems to improve their understanding of engineering, business, and human interaction- three very important aspects to running a startup

I didn’t know very much about Cornell Tech before last week’s Rose Cafe so I really appreciated the opportunity to learn more. Listening to Prof. Schwartz’s presentation, I was impressed by the school’s commitment to bridging the gap between technical expertise and the business, communication, and people skills necessary to make projects succeed, as well as the broad recruitment of students of various academic backgrounds. I was also struck by the project-driven nature of the program: from the workspace logistics that make both student and faculty work more efficient, to the invitations extended to businesspeople and experts in NYC to contribute to Cornell Tech projects, the work really seems to be central to the graduate experience. I also think Prof. Schwartz’s challenge-loving attitude expressed that of the program more generally. I will be looking out for what Cornell Tech does in the future!

Last week, Professor Adam Schwartz gave a talk about the Cornell Tech Program in NYC.  Being the director of the program, Professor Schwartz was able to tell us about the program’s current state of development on Roosevelt Island.  Cornell Tech focuses on building and integrating the entrepreneurial environment in an education system.  This could be seen in his descriptions and images of open work environments for classes and offices to promote communication among students and professors.  Cornell Tech offers graduate degrees in business and ORIE, but Professor Schwartz emphasizes that the program is open to any major and strives to connect business and technology through their integrated curricula.  Professor Schwartz showed the importance of project managers, people who are able to communicate what the technology does and find ways to promote and grow the technology.  The program is also very big on team-based assignments.  I was interested to learn how Cornell Tech focuses on a more project-based curriculum to simulate real-life issues confronted by startup and tech businesses.  The incentives for an academic group project are completely different from the incentives for a real life group project.

The talk provided insights into how Cornell is becoming an important player in promoting tech startups in NYC.  I am actually considering pursuing a graduate degree at Cornell Tech so this presentation gave me more knowledge about my future options.

Last week for the Rose Cafe, Adam Shwartz spoke of the Cornell Tech Graduate School. Shwartz mentioned that in addition to a competitive tech program, the students will have to supplement it with lots of courses in the humanities. I could appreciate this point as both my siblings did a computer science major in college and they often mention that they wish they took more courses in a different field. For example, my sister does tech for a marketing company and she wishes she had taken a marketing course in college to more effectively relate her work in technology to marketing tactics. She said that knowing how to code and what not, does not mean anything if you do cannot understand the audience for the company you work for, so for Cornell Tech to take on this issue and attempt to bridge the gap between tech and other fields will make it a pioneer in its work.

I am also excited to see how Cornell Tech approaches and handles rapidly changing technology, as it is difficult to imagine what it would be like even 10 years into the future. 10 years ago, we did not have well developed Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, etc and no one could have imagined how ingrained these things are in our everyday lives. I was to see Cornell Tech be the leader in innovation and the products that we will use day-to-day in the next decades to come.

Last week, the subject of the Rose cafe was the development of the new tech school that Cornell is building in New York City. Adam Shwartz confidently discussed the current plans and successes of the school and the steps that the school is taking to develop itself in the immediate future. I asked what he pictured of the school in ten, twenty years. Interestingly, he gave a solid but empty response. He claimed that the future of the tech industry cannot be predicted, and the industry evolves too quickly to effectively plan for that far in the future. While other institutions may have a concrete ten-year plan, Cornell tech is taking a different approach, and I find it very interesting. His views of the institution include allowing the school to co-evolve with the ever-changing tech industry, which I personally think is the most important aspect of a tech school. By staying a relatively small institution with the backing of a large, wealthy university, Cornell tech seems to have the potential to effectively evolve with the tech industry to eventually become a leader in the field.

Last week, I attended Adam Shwartz’s talk about the new Cornell Tech graduate school. I found it interesting as a Cornellian, because it’s a new and rather unique part of our university, and it will be exciting to watch it develop. I have very little interest in technology in general, however, and I don’t want to pursue a degree from Cornell Tech, so the talk was less engaging for me than most Rose Cafes have been this year.

I liked Cornell Tech’s interdisciplinary approach, as well as the emphasis that Shwartz placed on the fact that students from any academic background can potentially come to Cornell Tech. As someone who is interested in health, his discussion of the Heath Tech degree and how technology could help change the field of medicine was very interesting. The Roosevelt Island campus also looks like it’s going to be really beautiful. Overall, although this talk wasn’t relevant to me, I did enjoy hearing about another part of our university.

Last Wednesday, Prof. Adam Shwartz presented on Cornell Tech, Cornell’s new graduate program in technology. Interestingly, the program will find its permanent home next summer on Roosevelt Island, far from Ithaca– but connected (by gondola) with what one might argue is the start-up capital of the country– Manhattan. The purpose, explained Shwartz, is to adapt to a quickly evolving and technologically oriented world: just ten years ago, Shwartz pointed out, we had no iPhones, no Facebook and a much more limited use of any such devices or programs. Our world has changed irrevocably (for the better) in the last decade. The issue now is keeping up.

Thinking back Ezra Cornell’s oft-cited “any person, any study,” Cornell Tech’s purpose and vision fits precisely within the University’s history; yet, its location, outside of Ithaca, offers a new dilemma: must the University be constrained to one physical location? Of course, one can justifiably say that in 2016, the answer is no: technology brings the two campuses together. But while communication can be shared, culture, perhaps, cannot. The biggest question in my mind, therefore, is that of the relationship between Cornell and its new satellite. How will the two communities interact? What, at Cornell Tech, will be open to undergraduates? What, in Ithaca, will be available to Cornell Tech students? When presented with questions of this nature, Prof. Shwartz, hinting at how the last decade has so unpredictably unfolded, gave a simple shrug of the shoulders, and a somewhat unsatisfying “We will see.”

Technology can sometimes be thought of as incompatible with the humanities. However, in the end of the day, the technology is used to enhance human lives which requires knowledge about how humans may interact with it. There is very little higher education that is focused on teaching technology, business and other humanities. Cornell’s new venture, Corenll Tech is going to fill this gap in higher education.

I had the opportunity of attending a Rose Cafe Series with Dr. Adam Shwartz who came to talk about the Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech. They have different concentrations to accommodate people with diverse interests who all want to incorporate technology in their field. The fascinating idea is to bring together people who have a different background who think that their field can benefit through technology. For example one of the programs is to connect health with technology. I could see many applications and benefits to our lives through the programs offered at Cornell Tech. It is a great new chapter for Cornell. It is very experimental in terms of a higher education program. They are striving to make it more applications based than theory. The students also get to discuss their projects with local startups and well established companies to understand how the work they are doing at Cornell Tech can be applied in the field. Our future is going to be based all on technology and it is exciting that Cornell is taking the first steps to creating professionals who understand the role of technology in different fields.

It’s crazy to think of how far we’ve gone from a couple of years ago in the field of technology. From no Facebook, smartphones, or even the huge company known as Google today, we’ve come a long way. It was nice of Professor Schwartz to come and speak to us about the new developments at the new tech school in NYC that remind us to keep our minds open for the future.

The Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech aims to teach students how to be leaders in this evolving technological world. the school wants to teach them skills in leadership, management, technology, and entrepreneurship with hopes to teach students technology’s human side. Through this, the goal is to enable techies to communicate with non-techies, which I think is important as well, especially across generations.

I additionally like the option to work with healthcare and technology because it appeals to those who want to make an impact in the medical field and do not necessarily want to be a doctor. Another aspect of the Jacobs Institute that was appealing was the fact that students get to work with companies on real projects. This is great exposure and real world application, which in my opinion is super valuable.

It will be nice to see the future success and technological advancements and just how much they will change our lives. The tech school will be a great addition to the Cornell University brand. I await its great impact on the world of technology (healthcare, business and the humanistic components essential to technology inclusive) in the coming years.

Professor Adam Shwartz, Director of Jacobs Technion Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, gave a talk discussing the graduate school and what the main focus and aims are for the educational institution. Shwartz talked about how technology, e.g., computer science, plays an important role in today’s society and its significance will only increase in the future but there exists a disconnect between this advancing field and fields like medicine that would benefit from it. Essentially, there aren’t necessarily many programs that focus on healthcare and technology and how computer science majors for example would be able to effectively communicate with doctors. Often people specialized in the technology sector would be able to create an apparatus that would speed procedures or yield important data that doctors and other medical professionals could use but each use different jargon that makes it difficult to create the device that is most beneficial. According to Shwartz, Cornell Tech aims to bridge that gap from the outset of a graduate student’s education.

Not only does Cornell Tech frame their education to be more representative of the real world in terms of knowledge and ability to communicate, there is an emphasis on group-style learning and projects. Instead of having students being lectured at, Cornell Tech implemented more interactive and dynamic ways of learning where groups would consist of a mechanical engineer, a computer science student, an entrepreneur and more (with a minimum knowledge of engineering and technology but diverse in specialties) and they would receive projects. The diversity within the groups allows students to walk away with multiple perspectives on approaching a problem and will be better capable of not only building new products, but also to sell and communicate to people on its merits. There will be many opportunities for students at Cornell Tech to get live feedback on their projects from not only professors but also VCs and angel investors, people who form the bread and butter of these future visionaries.

As someone inclined towards the medical field and also the technology sector, the emphasis on the intersection between the two fields is quite compelling to me and makes Cornell Tech stand out and seem like an attractive option. It seems that former Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative of creating NY’s version  of Silicone Valley and promoting the technology sector being passed onto Cornell Tech seems to have paid off. Shwartz mentioned how Cornell Tech is willing to push the envelope in integrating technology in various areas, humanities or otherwise, that normally would have some sort of disconnect between the two because of a difference in education and poor communication. Because of the changing nature of technology, Shwartz promised that the education at Cornell Tech will continue to change and adapt accordingly. What you might have learned at the college now might be different from what might be taught 10 years down the road. It is a promising initiative and definitely makes Cornell Tech a school to keep an eye on, especially when considering its ambitions for a sustainable zero-energy campus! Are you considering going to Cornell Tech?

Last Wednesday, I attended the Becker-Rose Café Series talk given by Professor Adam Shwartz, Director of Jacobs Technion Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech. Professor Shwartz gave some background on the graduate school. The concept behind the Cornell Tech was, of course, to have the tech focus, but to take a different approach from the traditional lecture-style of teaching. The goal was to have students work more collaboratively and have greater accessibility to professors for feedback and assistance. The work would be project-based with real-world applications in mind. Starting in 2010, they were able to make all of this happen. Granted, they are still making strides towards expanding the program, degrees offered, and structuring and designing curricula.

Students from any and all majors are encouraged to attend. A few basic courses in technology are required. Otherwise, the school is looking for students who can contribute to every aspect of the tech production process – design, building, business, and more. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that 55% of the student population at Cornell Tech is female. It made me excited to know that fellow women are contributing to the tech field.

Something that I really appreciate about Cornell Tech’s mission is that they promote improvement of human health and everyday endeavors through technology. My concern is that some things really have become too technical in this day and age. In many ways, we have lost some of the human touch that used be more present in our interactions with one another. Therefore, I was curious as to how Professor Shwartz felt that Cornell Tech has managed to strike a balance and found a good marriage between tech and the human element of our interactions. He elaborated a little bit on how technology developments can be used to better monitor and track health status and patient records. Having taken a class on US Healthcare and Policy last semester, this generated a number of thoughts in my mind. It made me wonder about accuracy and cost of devices, as well as, patient-physician relationships. With more components of the health field becoming technical, how do we maintain the human aspect of health care? When and should there be any form of pushback? How do we really know when things have become too technical – is there a right, a wrong, or just a different way of doing things?

I am proud of what Cornell Tech has already managed to achieve. I believe that the program will present even greater opportunities for students. It was great to hear about how the Cornell network is growing. Through the Jacobs Institute, a partnership with Israel Institute of Technology, we see another example of Cornell’s global outreach and connection. I am sure that there are still numerous details that need to be worked out, but they are off to a great start. Being a New Yorker, I can appreciate the value that the campus will bring to the New York City community and the value that the City can reciprocally contribute to the campus. The tech industry and culture is a bit different on the East Coast in comparison to the West Coast. I think that Cornell Tech is a nice addition to the East Coast tech world. I look forward to seeing what the upcoming years bring.

As a computer science major at Cornell, Dr. Shwartz’s talk really resonated with me.  I am deeply invested in the future of technology, and I’ve become especially interested in the forthcoming technological advances. A topic that Dr. Schwartz touched on, and that is a personal interest of mine, is virtual reality.  The current front runner of this field is the Oculus Rift device, which is essentially just a helmet with an internal screen and sound system.

While the field of virtual reality is relatively young, its applications and room for growth seem boundless. For example, we can conceivably join the fields of computer science/engineering and neuroscience to create a virtual reality system that is a true virtual reality experience. You would be able to simulate feelings such as love, pain, and joy.  You would be able to feel an artificial wind on your artificial face, and artificial grass on your feet. Essentially, you would be able to live in a world like ours, except where the rules of physics and nature are determined by programmers.  Anything could be possible in this virtual world, and the limiting factor to its growth is human imagination.  Humans who are terminally ill, in constant pain, or unable to do anything but sit in bed, could retreat to this virtual world where they could live again and do anything.  The army can use virtual reality for battle simulations and training, saving billions of dollars.  Finally, virtual reality could entirely overhaul the gaming industry, but for this blog post, I will neither introduce nor remark on its potential effects on human society.

It was great to have Adam Shwartz, Director of the Jacobs Institute, come to the Rose Cafe and talk to us about the many opportunities available at Cornell Tech. As a computer science major myself, I was particularly interested in what the director had to say about the overall approach of Cornell Tech to education. Specifically, a masters program in computer science is available both in Ithaca and Cornell Tech, so I imagined that Cornell Tech’s program would be fairly different. Indeed, I learned that Cornell Tech places great weight on the humanities in their program, as participants are required to take several classes in areas like business. The director stressed that a lot of computer science students often lack the basic terminology and knowledge in areas such as medicine to effectively communicate with for example, a doctor or a medical professional in order to effectively sell a software application. The goal of Cornell Tech’s program is thus to bridge the gap in areas such as these, which can lead an engineer to be a more effective entrepreneur and also develop a better understanding of what types of products are potentially useful.

The discussion definitely made me more interested in Cornell Tech, as I would definitely consider the possibility of going there for post-undergraduate studies. In general, I think computer science curriculums should involve a healthy dose of humanities, especially because most industry software is not developed for consumption by software engineers and computer scientists, but rather for everyday Internet users and individuals like doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. Thus, gaining an understanding of the desires and terminology of these individuals allows for development of more effective software.

Before attending Professor Adam Schwartz’s talk on Cornell Tech I really did not know much about the program besides that it was going to be in New York City and I didn’t really have any preconceptions of it either. Given that, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the program seemed to be very unique in comparison to both the undergraduate and graduate programs offered in Ithaca. Unlike a traditional academic institution, Cornell Tech seemed to have a considerable focus on the applications of knowledge, in this case, the application of technology in different areas of business. One example of this Professor Schwartz specifically mentioned was the Health Technology program that trains people in the intersection of medical practice and computer science, an area that is of increasing importance in the professional world. Cornell Tech seemed further connected with the business world in the collaborative structure of its programs—Professor Schwartz told of how students apparently work in relatively large teams on most of their assignments. Furthermore, all of the departments at Cornell Tech are relatively small especially in comparison with what one might see on the Ithaca campus, and as a result, are able to adapt as new technologies continue to be developed. Professor Schwartz mentioned that on the advice of one of the professors, they were able to totally restructure one of the degree programs within a few months. Overall it seemed like Cornell Tech is an amazingly unique addition to Cornell’s existing schools, and once the new campus is built, I’m sure it will grow very quickly.

2007 doesn’t seem that long ago.  It has only been 9 years, and our everyday lives have completely changed.  In 2007, the first iPhone came out, and since then, smartphones have taken over.  The Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech seeks to teach students how to be leaders in this evolving technological world by teaching them skills in leadership, management, technology, and entrepreneurship.  Their goal is to teach students the human side of technology so that they can communicate with people outside of the tech world to be most influential.

I am studying engineering and I can see how important it is to be able to explain ideas to people who have never taken a technical course, because a product designed solely by engineers without input from the people who will be using it probably won’t meet their expectations! I am interested in engineering devices for use in a healthcare setting where the human side of the technology is a major component.  The Jacobs Institute has a offers an MS in IS focused on Health Tech in which students learn about creating healthcare technology to promote better patient experience and outcomes.

Another aspect of the Jacobs Institute that I found appealing was that students work with companies on real projects.  In this way, they get a sense of how tech companies operate and are ready to get a job and be successful after they graduate.  Adam Shwartz’s presentation on Cornell Tech was interesting and informative.  I will keep it in mind for the future!

Last Wednesday at Rose Cafe, Adam Shwartz of the Cornell Tech came to talk to us about the exciting developments going on at the new Cornell Tech campus in New York City, and why everybody can consider continuing their studies at Cornell Tech. Cornell Tech is a completely new campus, focused on the human aspects of technology and integrating the world of business and technology.

I am not a STEM major, nevertheless, I was interested in learning more about Cornell Tech’s mission. During Shwartz’s talk, I was inspired by Cornell Tech’s interdisciplinary approach, with students of business, health, engineering, and humanities all coming and working together on different projects. The fact that technology is becoming ever more important in our lives, in ways big and small, is undeniable.  I am especially interested in the future of technology in the realm of health care. For example, according to Schwartz, many people die not because they are never treated, but because they do not correctly follow their course of treatment. Technology can bridge this gap and save lives. In addition, I appreciate how Cornell Tech is committed to diversify and increasing the number of women obtaining graduate degrees in technology. Despite the national push, women are still underrepresented in STEM fields.

It’s amazing to think that just 10 years ago, there was no Facebook, smartphones didn’t exist, and Google was just a small private company. I cannot imagine how the world will change over the next few years, with constant evolution and advancement, and with an increased interdisciplinary push on the human aspects of technology. I am excited follow Cornell Tech’s impact on the world of business and technology in the coming years.

On Wednesday I attended a very interesting talk by Professor Shwartz on Cornell Tech, a new Cornell campus located in NYC that is dedicated from technology related graduate studies. From his talk, it appears to me that Cornell tech has an even stronger emphasis on project-based learning and hands on experience than traditional engineering and science objects studies. On one of the photos he shows us, it is interesting to see the vast open space in the classroom that deliberately maximizes communication and team work. Also, the new innovative campus also offer a techMBA program and emphasizes studying of business side of tech products. Generally, everything about this program is strikingly new and different. I think it would be even more interesting when the campus on Roosevelt Island is open and there would be more potential collaboration between Cornell Tech and Weill Medical College.

Cornell Tech’s director Adam Shwartz spoke to the Rose Cafe audience about the many exciting opportunities offered by Cornell’s newest startup. I was intrigued by Cornell Tech’s mission to create an interdisciplinary environment; Professor Shwartz said that on any given project, one might find students with backgrounds in business, the humanities, and engineering. The Health Tech program, and its mission to provide a link between tech experts and medical professionals, sounded particularly exciting to me. I was glad to hear about Cornell Tech, but overall, this cafe felt more like an admissions information session than a conversation. In addition to learning about the institute and the prerequisites for admission, I would have loved to hear about Cornell Tech students’ specific interests and current projects.

Today Rose House teamed up with Becker to welcome Professor Adam Shwartz to present an information session regarding Cornell Tech and the Jacobs Institute and answer any questions that we have regarding this budding new institution. Professor Shwartz described the cutting edge approach Cornell has to learning: an overall focus on projects  and offering classes that yield physical objects, creations, and works instead of just pages of notes on theory. Moreover, Cornell Tech places an emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, which is something that companies, high tech and otherwise, expect of their employees. Shwartz also mentioned the feedback that students receive very often from experts and professionals. He noted that while this may be harsh at times, students eventually come to love it because honest information that is not sugar-coated is very useful in improving an idea. In addition to all these components, Cornell Tech also focuses on preparing individuals that can communicate in a broad range of fields, which is why they take classes in the categories of “human”, “data”, “engineering”, and “business”, just to name a few.

Even though it was only founded recently, it seems like Cornell Tech is on the path to success and is setting up its graduates for success as well. The school is seeking individuals who think differently, but who have a foundation in computer science and it seems like a Cornell Tech and Jacobs Institute education is build on this same principle. I think this is very important because it enables those who participate in the graduate program to be able to communicate with specialists in many fields and see challenges from many different perspectives. It also gives them the opportunity to adapt to take on many different positions within a company. I also think that the “feedback” system is a key to success because constructive criticism has the potential to lead to great improvement, even if it may not be fun to listen to your idea take some hits.

I am looking forward to the completion of the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in 2017, I think it will take a truly cutting-edge institution to the next level!

Adam Shwartz, representing the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, gave a very interesting talk about this graduate institution. Cornell Tech’s campus is currently located in Google’s landmark building in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, a hub for a number of leading tech companies. In 2017, the Roosevelt Island campus is opening and will be unlike any other.

The premise of this institution is that the rapid pace of innovation in the digital age calls for new approaches to commercializing university technology, new levels of strategic collaboration between companies and universities, and a new curriculum to foster the production of visionary ideas grounded in significant needs that will reinvent the way we live.

To emphasize that increasing pace of innovation, Shwartz told us to think back to 2007. This was not even 10 years ago, and we would not recognize this world. In 2007, Facebook did not exist nor did smart phones, which is now very much apart of our everyday lives.

Being a Nutritional Science major I was interested in how technology could benefit the health industry. Shwartz discussed that they were educating students in addressing critical health challenges for all of society. He used the example of the numerous people that are dying from chronic diseases. They are not dying from lack of care, but dying from the lack of adherence to care, and technology could close this gap.

Cornell Tech is a small academic institution that is blending technical depth, business knowhow, design skills and a “builder” mindset into their programs to offer students a unique educational experience and it was very interesting to hear about all it has to offer.

Today’s Rose Café talk was about the Cornell Tech campus in New York City. The presentation resembled an information session that you would attend while visiting colleges. Currently, the school is housed in Google’s building in New York, but within the next two years Cornell Tech will move to its own campus on Roosevelt Island. From the renderings, the campus seems beautiful and modern. The location of the campus also seems ideal. It is located on an island between Manhattan and Queens. This gives the campus its own identity while allowing easy access to the resources of New York City.

The curriculum at Cornell Tech seems interesting and somewhat unique. As someone interested in technology I was intrigued by the technology focused classes that also address a variety of non-technical subjects. I think this curriculum would give students a great background to enter the workforce.

I will be interested to see how Cornell Tech evolves over the coming years. It will be fascinating to see if it can retain its agility and flexibility as it grows into a large institution. I am also curious to see if the Roosevelt Island campus is large enough to accommodate the inevitable growth of Cornell Tech. At first it may be difficult to recruit top students into such an unproven concept, but the Cornell name may help in over coming that obstacle.

Before tonight, I had never given much – if any – thought to Cornell Tech. I had heard about it, but always just thought of it as a graduate program for computer science and engineering students. I am an English major in the College of Arts and Sciences, so to me Cornell Tech was something that had absolutely no relation to what I am studying. However, after listening to tonight’s talk by Professor Adam Shwartz, I have a completely different perspective on the school.

Professor Shwartz informed us that Cornell Tech is about more than just technology – it’s about providing a multidisciplinary education in business, communications, health, and numerous other fields. Two of the programs that Cornell Tech offers are Information Systems in Connective Media and Information Systems in Health Tech. After hearing Professor Shwartz talk about the goals of the Connective Media program – to teach psychology, info science, and computer science in order to help people better connect in today’s modern, digital world – I was incredibly interested to hear about this. I am very passionate about the media and am hoping to go into that field when I graduate, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Cornell Tech actually offers a media-focused program. Professor Shwartz said that the media program involves lots of project-based learning (such as building start-up companies and presenting them to actual investors), which sounds like a wonderful opportunity.

In the past, I had always envisioned Cornell Tech as a bigger version of Gates Hall, with lots of coding going on all the time. But according to Professor Shwartz, there are lots of startup studios where students can work on company challenges and create new businesses. He said there are very few theory classes; almost everything is focused on practical applications. After hearing all of this, I have a newfound appreciation for Cornell Tech. If I were to ever consider going to graduate school, I would definitely want to apply to there.

As a pre-vet I was wondering why the Jacob Graduate Degree At Cornell Tech should matter to me.  After all, I’m not an engineer so I won’t be interested at all, right?  Well Adam Shwartz gave a talk that led me to be interested in learning more about the program.  He started by giving insight into the technological industry and how it worked as well as how the school was designed versus other schools.  The appearance and location of the school is amazing and to hear that the school ran similarly to how things ran in the real world was interesting.  I was surprised to learn that teams working together on a project are often from different majors with different backgrounds.  While that makes sense, I always though groups of a certain engineering major worked together on a certain project.  I was also interested to learn the role that other majors play in the program.  The program is not only for techies but also for those interested in health care and other fields.  In the program they teach you how to start up a company and also group people to finish a project.  This allows for people with specialties and knowledge to combine that knowledge to solve a problem.  This means that potentially, someone who is pre-vet, could end up there using technology to solve a major problem in their field.