Director's Note | May 2024

 
Our school’s interdisciplinary faculty bring research, professional and global leadership into our classes, teaching technology that sits at the heart of community and industry innovation.

For example, Professor Thor Wasbotten, who holds an appointment in Kent State’s School of Media and Journalism, led a seminar on artificial intelligence (AI) with EMAT students this spring. The class focused on how to ethically deploy AI technologies across sectors through case studies that interrogate bias and privacy.

EMAT Lecturer Adam Stephens brought his over two decades of experience as a technologist to a seminar focused on Linux and Container infrastructure. He taught students how to deploy cloud-based systems and applications using Docker.

Lastly, our Children’s Literature in Augmented Reality seminar, taught for the third time next year by Visual Communication Design Assistant Professor Joel Zika, provides students with the opportunity to engage with gaming engines and tablets to tell stories in new and interesting ways.

We are committed to giving students these experiences, so they are prepared for careers at organizations that are deploying AI, AR and other cutting-edge technologies.

We also emphasize community connection in our classes. Students in our interdisciplinary project-based classes work each semester with community partners to solve real-world problems. For example, last semester students worked with the Northeast Ohio Cyber Consortium to design an intranet portal so member organizations like Progressive Insurance, Goodyear, Eaton, Sherwin-Williams and Cleveland Clinic can communicate about cybersecurity and technology infrastructure developments more easily. This semester, one of our student groups worked with TownHall II, a local Kent prevention, treatment, and recovery facility, to produce a social media marketing plan.

In sum, the School of Emerging Media and Technology is rooted in connecting students with hands-on experiences with cutting-edge technology and working with community partners to give students experiences solving real-world problems through interdisciplinary teamwork.

Please reach out to us if you are working at an organization that would like to partner with EMAT in an educational experience or a student internship opportunity. We also welcome financial support through our recently endowed Sandy Taylor Memorial EMAT Student Scholarship Fund or support through our General Support Fund.
 

POSTED: Monday, May 20, 2024 02:57 PM
Updated: Thursday, May 23, 2024 09:54 AM