For years, the widespread rollout of 5G has been seen as the path to a more digitally connected world with unprecedented speeds of wireless connectivity.
But now that it’s here, technology experts are already looking toward a 6G future.
This was the focus of this year’s Brooklyn Summit, an annual innovation event hosted by Nokia and New York University Wireless, a wireless technology research center. The summit brought hundreds of academic and industry experts to the New York University campus to discuss the future of networking technology.
Jelena Kovacevic, dean of New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, said the idea of 6G is relatively informal at this stage, and many experts don’t even agree on what it will actually be. .
He added that unlike 5G, which focuses on data rates, 6G is likely to focus on broader changes such as lower power consumption and data infrastructure security and resiliency. Additionally, as technologies are more closely intertwined today, the research field of wireless networks has shifted more broadly.
“I think one of the important things is that engineering is a team sport, and every aspect of engineering has an interdisciplinary nature. And I like to mention the Apollo 13 movie. “This is a perfect example of how engineers and others from all disciplines can come together to solve very complex problems,” she said. To tell luck.
Research and education are changing, with more emphasis on experiential learning, with trial and error also part of the experience, she added.
“I think from a school and engineering school perspective, there are all these new things and new technologies that are coming out, not just wireless and 6G, so what we have to think about is how do we make that possible? “It’s a collaboration that transcends disciplines,” Kovacevic says.
NYU Tandon is responding to this demand by offering students the opportunity to BYOM, or build their own master’s program. Enrollees can choose one of her nine emerging technologies, including cybersecurity, data science, wireless and networking, and take electives in a variety of fields. Plus, it’s completely online.
Kovačević said there is no question that interdisciplinary learning and teaching will be key to the future of higher education.
“All of this shows that education itself is exploding and looking outward, rather than the traditional siled engineering disciplines one at a time,” she says. Masu.
Bringing together the power of academia and industry
Part of the summit included a panel discussion on 6G with top engineering deans, including Kovacevic. One of her biggest takeaways from that, she says, is that academia and industry need to be more closely connected. This is a sentiment echoed by Andrea Goldsmith, dean of Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. A wireless researcher herself, she said one of her biggest challenges is for innovations from academia to percolate into industry.
“To foster stronger partnerships between academia and industry, what needs to change, not just in 6G but in technology in general, is how we incorporate the gems of innovative ideas found in academic labs into technology. I really think it’s about thinking about whether you’re a start-up or a large company,” Goldsmith said at the event.
She noted that change is occurring slowly, thanks in part to federal government action.
“CHIPS and Science Law are in some ways addressing this problem, trying to create a platform where both hardware and software can be dropped into larger, more complex systems, but that’s an aspiration. I don’t think we’ve figured out how to do that yet,” she said.
AI > Human intelligence? “The big myth”
One further interdisciplinary technology that will transform education is AI. However, Kovacevic warns that it is a “big myth” to believe that AI is approaching parity with human intelligence.
“Every time something new comes out technologically, we expect to see significant benefits,” she says. “But there’s always a downside, right? I’m sure it was the same with dynamite, right?”
He acknowledged that it is important to employ AI and AI models, especially to help with simpler, everyday tasks, but said it was unclear whether AI would necessarily make education easier. Ta.
“It’s all about trade-offs,” Kovacevic said.
“Every coin has two faces,” she added. “So we have to make sure that we use that good side for good. And make sure that there are some regulations in place to address some of the bad sides.”
Degrees still matter
As the cost of a college degree rises and companies shift to a skills-based hiring approach, many students are starting to take a closer look at different ways to advance in their education, such as bootcamps and certificate programs. I am.
But Kovacevic says this is another “myth” in the education world, that certificate and skills programs will replace the need for traditional degree pathways.
“If you want to get people who are going to solve really important problems, they need to have some kind of fundamentals, which are not necessarily something you’re likely to encounter in every field. It’s not that important. But you have to have the basics of how you think, how you solve problems,” she says.
At an event held last spring at Google and NYU Tandon about the future of technology skills, the company’s chief information security officer said that the most important class he ever took in school was linear algebra. Kovacevic explained that this anecdote specifically illustrates how important the educational component is.
“Anyone can teach you how to program, and I can teach them too. It’s no big deal,” she says. “But beyond that, if something unexpected happened, if there was a situation like Apollo 13, to be able to sit down and think outside the box, must be deeply steeped in the discipline of “and many other principles” in order to solve this problem. “
Overall, she says, technology professionals similarly need soft skills like communication and problem-solving to succeed, which are much more obtainable through degree programs such as engineering.
“An engineering mindset is something that will help you in life, whether you continue your engineering career, go into business, go to law school, or medical school. I think it’s a great life skill. “I have.” So I think engineering is a universal degree,” she says.
