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Chriss Swaney
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For immediate release:
August 24, 2006

Carnegie Mellon's Information Networking Institute Reports 100 Percent Career Placement Rate for 2006 Graduates

PITTSBURGH—Buoyed by an industry-wide need for more refined work skills, Carnegie Mellon graduates majoring in information networking and information security are getting top jobs and hefty salaries this fall.

The Information Networking Institute (INI) achieved a 100 percent placement rate this year for students graduating from its Master of Science in Information Networking (MSIN) and Master of Science in Information Security Technology and Management (MSISTM) programs, said INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis. The INI also experienced an 82 percent increase in the number of corporate recruiters hiring its graduates, from 22 employers in 2005 to 40 employers in 2006. Salaries for INI graduates are up more than 5 percent this year from 2005, averaging $78,330 in 2006. That compares with $74,000 in 2005, according to the INI.

"These numbers are a testament to the fact that our programs equip students with a rare blend of technical, managerial and policy expertise that makes them very attractive to employers," said Tsamitis.

Kaushik Sheth, one of 12 INI graduates recruited by Microsoft, praised the program for its strong technical core courses.

"As I look back at my INI experience, I think that working in a team with students from different cultural and academic backgrounds helped me to be recruited and excel at Microsoft," said Sheth, who works as a software design engineer testing Microsoft products at the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.

As the job market continues to thaw, corporate recruiters say some of the biggest beneficiaries are college graduates with a flexible toolkit of both soft and technical skills.

"The INI program at Carnegie Mellon has a wonderful coalescence of communication, technology and security. And because of these strengths, INI students and graduates bring added value to Microsoft and the global workforce," said Jenn Watt, a Microsoft staff recruiter.

Many of those hiring increases are also coming from the INI's innovative career placement program, through which students participate in job fairs, corporate visits and intensive summer internships at companies such as Amazon, Citadel, Google, Microsoft, the National Security Agency (NSA), Network Appliance, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and VMware.

The INI is also taking the lead in developing important industry partnerships to create increased opportunities for female students. In April, the INI announced a new partnership with Alta Associates' Executive Women's Forum (EWF) on Information Security, Risk Management and Privacy. The new alliance perpetuates partnerships between EWF participants and women in the INI programs, and creates three full-tuition scholarships over the next three years for a female student enrolling in the INI's MSISTM program.

"Our students are not only getting jobs in a wide variety of fields like technology development, consulting, financial services and research, but they are getting multiple job offers too, and that's extremely exciting," said Lynn Carroll, assistant director for program development at the INI.

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About the Information Networking Institute: Carnegie Mellon's Information Networking Institute (INI) is the university's premier program for information networking and information security. The INI was established by Carnegie Mellon in 1989 as the nation's first research and education center devoted to information technology. As an integral department of the College of Engineering and a cooperative endeavor of the schools of computer science, business and public policy, the INI focuses on professional degree programs that integrate the technologies, economics and policies of global and secure communication networks. The INI is the education partner of Carnegie Mellon CyLab, a university-wide, multidisciplinary initiative involving more than 200 faculty, students and staff. Carnegie Mellon CyLab is a bold and visionary effort aimed at creating a public-private partnership to develop new technologies for measurable, available, secure, trustworthy and sustainable computing and communication systems, and to educate individuals at all levels.