Frequently Asked Questions

This set of frequently asked questions offers information, guidance, and clarity about the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.

Jump to category: General | Impact on education | Impact on faculty and research

General

MIT is committed to addressing the global opportunities and challenges presented by the ubiquity of computing — across industries and academic disciplines — and by the rise of artificial intelligence. The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing is at the heart of this endeavor.

Made possible by a $350 million gift from Stephen Schwarzman, the chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Blackstone, a leading global asset manager, the college was created in the context of clear trends both inside and outside the Institute. Inside MIT, students are choosing in record numbers to study computer science, and departments across the Institute are creating joint majors with computer science and hiring faculty with expertise in computing. Externally, the digital portion of the global economy has been growing much faster than the economy as a whole — and computing and AI are increasingly woven into every part of the global economy.

The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing is working with and across all five of MIT’s existing schools. We called it a college to differentiate it from the five schools, and to signal that its programs and faculty span across the Institute: The college is designed to lead in computing education and research across a wide range of disciplines, as well as in computer science, AI, and related fields.

The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing is both bringing together existing MIT programs in computing and developing much-needed new cross-cutting educational and research programs. For existing programs, the college will help facilitate coordination and manage the growth in areas such as computer science, artificial intelligence, data systems and society, and operations research, as well as helping strengthen interdisciplinary computing programs such as computational science and engineering. For new areas, the college is creating cross-cutting platforms for the study and practice of social and ethical responsibilities of computing, for multi-departmental computing education, and for incubating new interdisciplinary computing activities.

Most obviously, the college will connect directly with the rest of MIT because, of its 50 new faculty, 25 will have a shared appointment in the College and another existing, academic department.

Impact on education

MIT students will continue to receive the rigorous, fundamental, mens-et-manus education that defines an MIT degree. The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing will provide opportunities to expand course offerings and programs in directions that students are already demonstrating they want to follow through their heavy enrollment in computer science. The demand for computing-related training is at an all-time high — and not just at MIT, but at colleges and universities around the world. With this new structure, MIT aims to educate students who are “bilingual” — adept in computing, as well as in their primary field. Equally important, throughout the college curriculum students will be challenged to explore and grapple with the complex societal implications of computing.

Interested students should pursue the normal application process to MIT. Prospective MIT undergraduates are not admitted directly into any department, program, or even the new college. Students are asked to choose their majors (without restriction) at the end of their first year of study. Prospective graduate students are admitted to specific degree programs rather than to Schools or the new college.

The college is developing the Common Ground for Computing Education, an interdepartmental teaching collaborative that will facilitate the offering of computing classes and coordination of computing-related curricula across academic units.

Through the Common Ground, it is expected that there will be new undergraduate majors or minors created, such as in artificial intelligence and decision-making, as well as facilitating undergraduate blended degrees, 6-14 (Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science), 6-9 (Computation and Cognition), 11-6 (Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science), 18-C (Mathematics with Computer Science), and others.

Moreover, the college is expected to help students better navigate the computing landscape at MIT by creating clearer paths and support those who wish to pursue other interests beyond computer science.

It is expected that, with the addition of 50 new faculty positions, the Institute’s population of graduate students and post docs will naturally grow.

MIT has been making progress in this direction for some time; for example, we already offer undergraduate majors that pair computer science with economics, biology, mathematics, urban planning, and brain and cognitive sciences. The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing will allow MIT to respond more effectively to the increased student demand for computing curricula, and it will give MIT faculty a shared structure for new ideas in interdisciplinary computing education.

You will continue to hold your MIT degree in your discipline. The creation of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing does not change your degree. This expanded footprint for computing at MIT is expected to enhance the stature of all computing-related fields and academic activities at MIT.

Impact on faculty and research

Current opportunities within the college can be found on our faculty openings page.

We expect the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing will become a convening force for research and scholarship on societal responsibilities of computing and AI. The specific focal areas of the new college within these fields will be shaped largely by its faculty, its dean and academic leadership, and by MIT student interests.

A critically important new cross-cutting area, the college is developing the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC), to facilitate the development of responsible “habits of mind and action” for those who create and deploy computing technologies, and the creation of technologies in the public interest. The college is designing a systemic framework for SERC that will not only effect change in computing education and research at MIT, but one that will also inform policy and practice in government and industry.

Activities currently in development include multi-disciplinary curricula embedded in traditional computing and AI courses across all levels of instruction, active learning projects, cross-disciplinary monthly convenings, public forums, and more. The recently launched MIT Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing examines social, ethical, and policy challenges of present-day efforts in computing activities. The brief and modular cases are made available for free on an open-access basis.

Numerous companies doing research and development related to AI are already part of MIT’s broader innovation ecosystem in Kendall Square, across the country, and around the world. The Institute will continue to collaborate with them and to welcome additional mutually beneficial collaborations. It is fair to assume that projects and research generated by the college will be of interest to industry and will have commercial relevance. Additionally, it is expected that the “bilingual” graduates who emerge from this new college — combining competence in computing and in other fields — will be of enormous value to employers.

Questions about societal impacts of new technologies are not unique to AI, and the Institute has a long history of considering such benefits and risks of its research. These questions are germane to AI and other computing technologies and are an important aspect of the work of the college.