What to Study to Save the World: Technology

Written By Charmella Williams
A young man with over-the-ear headphones works at a desk with two high-performance monitors.

It’s the 21st century, which means careers in tech are becoming more abundant by the year. The more we integrate technology into our daily lives, the more we’ll need highly educated scientists, engineers, designers, developers, and analysts to reimagine our increasingly complex world. The tech specialists of today have skills and power that once upon a time were only trusted in the hands of government employees equipped with security clearances. 

They can help us fortify existing systems against cyberattacks or engineer the cyberattacks themselves. They can control social media algorithms, for better or for worse, and therefore decide what type of information reaches the public eye and what type gets suppressed. Technology experts can also add depth and clarity to existential questions and concerns, like how the current discrepancy between human and artificial intelligence may evolve in the coming years. These are the specialists whom we must look to to design the future. With expert training and strong, humanity-first ethics, technologists can accelerate the progression of our species by transforming machine learning, user interfaces, healthcare, data analysis, and more. The sky is the limit in the digital space, and here’s how an education in tech can save the world.

Revolutionize the Digital World with Computer Science

Computer science is an interdisciplinary study that explores the applications, design, development, and theoretical foundations of computers and computational systems. The field, which projects more than 350,000 job openings per year over the next decade, has a median entry-level salary of $104,420 as of May 2023, and promises a higher-than-average occupation growth rate through 2033, incorporates several STEM disciplines. 

Students who put in the work to gain entry into the highly competitive computer science programs at top colleges can look forward to studying programming languages, computational theory, data structures, algorithms, and software and hardware development. The various skills needed to excel in this field are challenging, and the curricula are rigorous, but this education is necessary if computer science students hope to learn how to design and build new software and hardware that revolutionize how we interact with digital spaces.

Computer science is really an umbrella of an industry, under which fall many potential careers, including:

  • Research and Development (R&D) Scientist

  • Software Developer

  • Software Engineer

  • Data Scientist 

  • UI/UX Designer

  • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Engineer

While these jobs are all related to the interdisciplinary field of computer science, they each represent an opportunity to make a positive impact in small and large ways.

Push Boundaries Using Artificial Intelligence

Students looking to pursue a career in AI and machine learning can count on high salaries, meaningful work, and endless opportunities in their futures. They have the potential to be instrumental in deciding just how far we’re willing to go in designing, developing, and implementing highly capable inorganic intelligence that mirrors and surpasses our own. We recently hosted a webinar that explored the intersection of AI, biology, and neuroscience, and the implications are clear. As machine learning becomes more advanced, common artificial intelligence platforms, like ChatGPT and GenAI, are increasingly serving as co-intelligence in ways that not only enhance our lives significantly but also study and mimic our speech patterns, biases, and behaviors. We’re learning more about AI while AI simultaneously learns more about us. 

Those interested in joining the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence can specialize in data science, API development, AI research, or software engineering, just to name a few of the career pathways available. These future specialists will be responsible for a wide variety of cross-functional tasks related to researching, testing, designing, deploying, and optimizing AI systems to do everything from improving GPS capabilities to helping environmental scientists confront the effects of climate change. 

The applications of artificial intelligence are practically limitless, and the more a student can learn about neural network design, programming languages, model training, algorithm development, and data analysis, the better equipped they will be to put their skills to good use in any industry of their choosing.

Discover the Possibilities of Robotics

Robotics engineers create machines that can perform tasks, which are often too difficult, dangerous, or repetitive for humans, autonomously or semi-autonomously. Their work, which spans from the initial design of robotics systems to the eventual deployment of them, exists at the intersection of computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering. Tech-savvy, hands-on students interested in building the robots of tomorrow should plan on earning at least a bachelor’s degree in fields like robotic engineering or computer science, but we recommend pursuing advanced degrees for research-based or specialized roles.

Creating blueprints and schematics for robots to determine their physical makeup, assembling the machines, writing code to program their behavior, testing their functions, and implementing routine maintenance is all in a day’s work for a robotics engineer. The ideal field for students with strong analytical and problem-solving skills, these experts are highly sought after and have their pick of many high-paying industries, including aerospace, military defense, manufacturing, and automotive. The medical advancements robotics have enabled, like the enhancement of surgical precision and the use of UV light to disinfect and sterilize rooms and tools, serve as prime examples of how impactful the field can be. Robotics can exponentially elevate human abilities and reshape the future.

High school students interested in becoming formidable candidates for competitive computer science, engineering, or robotics programs at top schools can apply to one of our advanced research programs to enhance their academic profiles. The T in STEM holds so many possibilities for ambitious young students. As tech becomes more inextricable from modern life, we’ll need an increasing number of technological experts to help us navigate the future of humanity. 

Relevant Research Program: 

Charmella Williams
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Humans vs Machines: Intelligence, Learning, and Decision Making