UT News writes about Good Systems and The University of Texas at Austin’s School of Information program in an article published Oct. 08, 2019.Office of the VP for Researc

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New Grant to Help Align InformationScience Curriculum With Serving thePublic GoodAUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin s̓ School of Information haslong been a leader in the field of informatics, the science of engineering data soit can more easily be used to improve society, and now the School of Informationis pioneering an effort to further align undergraduate informatics education withserving the public interest.With a new grant from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), the university will organize a national conference focused on theintersection of informatics and public interest technology.“This award is just the beginning of our efforts to establish a global network ofuniversities who are leading the way in ensuring that technology serves thepublic interest,” said Eric T. Meyer, dean of the School of Information, the UTAustin representative to PIT-UN and chair of the PIT-UN Membership andOutreach Committee. “The team here at UT Austin will be able to lead the way inthe discussion of how to embed understanding the intersection of the publicgood with technology in undergraduate education.”PIT-UN is a partnership of 21 colleges and universities dedicated to advancingpublic interest technology. In collaboration with the University of Michigan,School of Information Professor Ken Fleischmann will lead the initiative and bringtogether scholars from a range of fields who are interested in informatics anddeveloping undergraduate curricula. The ultimate goal is to tailor undergraduateinformatics teaching to prepare students for careers in public interesttechnology, an emerging area of study that combines technological innovationand public policy.UT Austin is a founding member of PIT-UN, along with other top computingschools such as the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, Harvard University and Georgia Tech. The grant supporting theinformatics conference is one of 27 awarded as part of PIT-UN s̓ “NetworkChallenge,” which aims to promote collaboration among the network s̓institutions. The grant was announced at the first PIT-UN convening atGeorgetown University, attended by UT Austin President Gregory L. Fenves andMeyer.The conference is one step among many already taken by the university in recentyears to advance technology focused on the public good.The university is currently developing a new undergraduate degree program ininformatics that includes a strong emphasis on public interest technology.Concentrations such as social justice informatics, health informatics, userexperience design, and human-centered data will be offered as part of thedegree. Similarly, UT Austin s̓ School of Nursing provides a health informaticscertificate program that trains students to help patients make more informeddecisions about their health care.The emphasis on public interest technology is further demonstrated by the GoodSystems Grand UT Challenge Initiative, which seeks to ensure artificialintelligence is designed to benefit society. Good Systems brings togetherstudents and researchers from more than two dozen schools and units within theuniversity to focus not only on what AI can do, but what it should do for thepublic good.Media Contact12/2/19, 12'09 PMPage 1 of 1

New Grant to Help Align Information Science Curriculum With Serving the Public Good

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/2152/78695/2/Safari%20-%20Dec%202%2c%202019%20at%2012_09%20PM%20%281%29.pdf

New Grant to Help Align Information Science Curriculum With Serving the Public Good

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