Dr. Satish Penmatsa
FACULTY PROFILE
Department:Computer Science
Academic Background:MS and PhD, Computer Science, University of Texas at San Antonio
Research Interests:Parallel and distributed systems, grid computing, high-performance computing, wireless networks, game theory, and science and engineering applications
How do you prepare students to thrive in a field that evolves so rapidly that modern tools can become obsolete in just a few years? By providing them with the foundational knowledge, core principles and underlying concepts to keep up with the latest trends in the industry, says Dr. Satish Penmatsa, Chair of Framingham State University’s Computer Science Department.
“Once you have those foundational skills, it becomes much easier to learn new tools and adapt to the latest innovations,” says Penmatsa. “My goal and our department’s goal is to prepare students not just to write code, but to think like computer scientists. We emphasize critical thinking and an understanding of how and why things work under the hood.”
Penmatsa has been teaching at Framingham State for 11 years and enjoys how the small class sizes allow him to better engage his students. He also likes the challenge of teaching students who have a wide range of prior knowledge and abilities.
“Some students come in very well prepared and are eager to learn more advanced topics,” he says. “Others are just beginning to build their confidence, and some find computer science challenging but are willing to put in the effort. That motivates me to make my teaching more dynamic and meaningful. You need to come up with ways to accommodate all these students.”
— Dr. Satish Penmatsa, Chair of the Computer Science Department
The Computer Science Department offers three concentrations, including one in AI and Data Science, which is beginning to gain in popularity with the quick rise of artificial intelligence.
“We are just beginning to see increased student interest in AI, so we have adapted our curriculum and course offerings in this area,” says Penmatsa. “We have new courses in data science, AI applications, machine learning and natural language processing.”
One thing Penmatsa is not worried about is AI replacing many of the jobs that exist in the field of computer science, as some have speculated it will.
“AI is not going to replace computer scientists or developers,” he says. “But people with knowledge of AI might end up replacing those without it in these fields. The critical thinking skills and expertise required to design robust systems, evaluate their performance and make ethical decisions…those are not easily replaced.”