A New Software Engineering Undergraduate Program Supporting the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)

In the fall of 2015, Stevens Institute of Technology welcomed the first freshmen into a newly launched Software Engineering Undergraduate Program based largely on the most recent ACM and IEEE-CS guidelines for undergraduate software engineering programs [1]. This is the first such program in the US that also has an ABET accredited general engineering curriculum. Students will receive a B.E. in Software Engineering Degree (SWE), and be prepared to sit for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination [2]. More recently, Stevens’ faculty have begun to study the technical competencies specifically required for the engineering of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and the Internet of Things (IOT). Our preliminary result is this curriculum can provide most of the additional technical competencies required to be an effective software engineer and systems architect for complex CPS and IOT systems and well as the vital interdisciplinary experiences. This paper describes the program and curriculum, posits additional competencies required for effective CPS/IOT software engineering, and concludes that the new SWE program is a good match for a CPS/IOT software engineering program.