INI Bi-Coastal

Best of Both Worlds

Tyelisa Shields (E'10) will soon graduate from the INI Pittsburgh-Silicon Valley Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) program.

A top student and scholarship winner — and now the recipient of more than one job offer — Shields says her degree and unique academic experiences gave her the edge over the competition.

"My favorite part about the bi-coastal program is its diversity. I had classmates from Canada, Japan, India, China, Palestine, Rwanda, Italy and Mexico," she said. "Being exposed to a diverse academic environment has prepared me for the role that I will play within our global economy."

Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of Carnegie Mellon's Information Networking Institute (INI) calls it offering students the best of both worlds.

"Students have access to the rich campus life and multi-disciplinary atmosphere at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh at the start of their program, and then they have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the highly innovative and entrepreneurial high-tech culture at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley where they will work directly with a company to solve real world problems," Haritos Tsamitis said.

The INI Pittsburgh-Silicon Valley MSIT programs have three offerings: mobility (MSIT-MOB), information security (MSIT-IS) and software management (MSIT-SM). These professional graduate degree programs integrate technology, management and industry experience to prepare students to become intelligent decision-makers in the field of information technology.

"All of the students gain the strategic thinking skills and insight that are essential for technology leaders in today's competitive business environment," said Pradeep Khosla, Dean of the College of Engineering. Khosla is also the Dowd University Professor and Founding Director of Carnegie Mellon's Cylab.

Nicolas Christin, associate director of INI and a faculty advisor, explained the programs consist of two semesters in Pittsburgh, where students can benefit from the large variety of courses available at the main campus. Then they move to Silicon Valley where they primarily get to do an internship and a master's team practicum with industrial partners.

"In other words, they're putting their newly acquired skills to practice while they are still in the program, and they cultivate early relationships with prospective employers," Christin said.

While in Silicon Valley, Shields had the opportunity to attend several conferences as well as company presentations at Google, Symantec, SAP, IBM and McAfee. By attending technical events, she had the opportunity to network with industry leaders and discuss future job opportunities.

"Most interviewers think that it's 'cool' to be able to travel from coast to coast as part of the curriculum — combining the classroom experience in Pittsburgh with real-world experience in Silicon Valley," Shields said.

"Overall, the bi-coastal program has given me an edge over others applying for the same job positions because it is a unique program that is unforgettable, and so it also makes me unforgettable."

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