Faculty of Computer Science blog

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Commentary | Dr. Luigi Benedicenti, dean, faculty of computer science at UNB Fredericton  

Something exciting is happening in computer science: our field is no longer niche. Digital technology is now pervasive, touching all aspects of our lives, from how we work and learn, to how we communicate and interact with each other and our communities. 

New Brunswick’s digital transformation is well underway, which is thrilling to us computer scientists.  

But why should it matter to you?  

Because digital transformation is all about moving forward, it’s about what’s next: the future of your business, your industry, your job, your lifestyle, your home and your community.  

COVID-19, of course, kickstarted these dramatic changes. While the pandemic kept us apart, it didn’t change our basic needs to work, go to school, eat, and look after our health, nor did it change our innate desire to be together. We joined virtual happy hours on Zoom, welcomed new colleagues to our ‘workplace,’ and took virtual classes and lectures. We moved to online grocery shopping, addressed health issues with virtual providers over our smartphones, and joined workouts and meditations through Facebook Live and fitness apps. To pass the time, we streamed movies, listened to podcasts, and played online games with friends when we couldn’t be together. We looked ahead to better days by researching online and booking events and trips for next year.  

We persisted, adapted, and sometimes, to our surprise, thrived. 

What does this all have in common? Technology. Digital. Behind it all are organizations adapting, advancing their technologies and processes, changing their business models, and investing in their future viability and growth. This is why we should care about digital transformation – we will be positioned to keep being agile, growing our businesses, meeting our challenges as a province, and taking advantage of opportunities in this lightning-speed sector. 

Frank McKenna anticipated this digital transformation and envisioned how to channel it for New Brunswick. This is how the McKenna Institute at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) began in September 2021. Focused entirely on our province’s digital transformation, the McKenna Institute harnesses digital transformation by design and with purpose. Frank conceived the Institute as an economic driver benefitting citizens, communities, students, workers, businesses and industry.  

This is possible because New Brunswick’s technology DNA is not new: it’s been here for decades. It’s been showing up for years in made-in-New Brunswick start-ups and businesses and global companies that have come here, and it’s supported by organizations such as TechImpact, ONB, ACOA and many other partners in the ecosystem, including UNB. 

Just like New Brunswick, UNB’s tech DNA is well established. UNB has studied and taught computing sciences for more than 50 years: the faculty of computer science at UNB was the first such faculty in the country. Our renowned co-operative education program, created by the faculty’s founding Dean, Dr. Dana Wasson, is celebrating its 40th year and boasts partnerships with over 80 companies for student work-term placements. 

This is an incredibly exciting time for our faculty of computer science. Working with the McKenna Institute and other stakeholders on campus and off, we aim to help harness what we already have and multiply it. We have a vision to become the point of reference for transformative education, a centre of excellence for computer science research, the most community-engaged computer science faculty in Canada, the catalyst of Atlantic innovation and a beacon for the digital community.

But it’s more than a vision; it’s a plan already in action. As futurist Joel Barker said about paradigm shifts: “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” 

A plan is in action to double our undergraduate student enrolments and triple professional graduate student enrolments by 2026. We are expanding our faculty with more professors, instructors, and staff to meet this growth. We are creating more experiential learning opportunities for our students by building more business, industry, and community partnerships to be part of our co-op program and other real-world learning opportunities. Why? Because students told us they want this type of experience, and because most of our graduating students with a co-op designation find excellent jobs immediately!  

A plan is also in action to cultivate a faculty that is a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive place to work and go to school. Across North America, the percentage of women and minority groups in the computer science and tech sector is low. We aim to change this. We want our faculty to be representative of the world we live in by fostering a more inclusive culture and opening pathways and opportunities for groups that tend to have low participation in computer science programs.  

We are part of the long-term solution to meet demands for a significantly expanded digital workforce in New Brunswick, the Atlantic region, Canada and beyond. We want to help reduce pressure on an extremely tight labour market by graduating work-ready, highly skilled graduates seeking interesting careers in tech. What’s more, we want to be part of addressing, through digital approaches, critical issues facing our communities and our world.  

As digital workforce demands continue to mount, the deep technology skills inherent in a computer science education are a significant part of the equation. Still, there is also a pressing need for those who can support digital adoption and transformation within education, energy, healthcare, natural resources, and other sectors.  

To meet these evolving workforce demands, and for the benefit of our students, we will weave a heightened business, entrepreneurship and ‘real-world’ skill set with the traditional deep technology skills of computer scientists. This creates vast opportunities for entirely new cohorts of computer scientists, digital technology workers and others who may not yet see themselves participating in the digital economy.  

We are very serious in our pursuit of this new future, and that is why Sonya Hull (formerly of Siemens Canada, Digital Grid) joined us as the new faculty of computer science managing director, focusing on strategic industry and community partnerships and our growth agenda. Sonya is already working hard to lay the groundwork for our future. She aims to strengthen our relationship with our community, businesses, industry, and fellow educational institutions; support our applied research partnerships; and help build our entrepreneurship focus. Sonya is an integral part of the faculty vision, as she will position us to collaborate more seamlessly with many partners to solve socially relevant issues through digital transformation.  

All of us in the faculty of computer science are energized by this moment. We will be an involved, responsive and collaborative partner as we work together for New Brunswick’s bright digital future.