About UMSEC

The power of collaboration

We know the world of technology is a dynamic, ever-evolving environment. The challenge then becomes how to keep pace with this change. Or better still, how to lead it.

At UMSEC, we believe that bringing together the right people to create an innovative and collaborative community of practice is powerful. The potential for new achievements by academic and industry professionals in the software engineering field is fueled by an exchange of ideas that drive innovation, discover solutions and launch new projects. The University of Minnesota Software Engineering Center (UMSEC) was created to do just that.

Our emphasis is on innovative collaboration; our mission is based on three elements:

  • Education: To educate future generations of software engineering researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in cutting edge software engineering techniques, tools, and business practices.
  • Research: To nurture innovative basic and applied research in software engineering and related areas.
  • Outreach: To connect with industry leaders, policy-makers, researchers, educators, and the community-at-large to transfer knowledge as well as better understand and anticipate the industry's technical needs.

The Growth and Complexity of Software Engineering

Software is the engine that drives our modern economy. It's a key ingredient to the success and growth of a business.

Today's leading edge technologies such as AI, Cloud-based solutions, and IoT, serve as powerful tools used to develop innovative solutions for the world's businesses. But they are also complex.

Just as software creates opportunity, it also brings challenges. Software errors and security flaws have deep impacts for large companies, bringing into focus serious concerns about the robustness of the software that is developed. Adaptation to a global focus, diverse applications and devices, critical infrastructures, and expansions that create exposure risks to malware and hackers create complex problems that require a high level of knowledge, skill, and expertise to solve.

These real issues impact all sectors of society and our global economy. The goal of software engineering research is to seek solutions to problems by creating better ways to develop and evaluate software. Through research and collaboration, solutions turn challenges into opportunities. And, through our mission, UMSEC brings together the greater software engineering community to find solutions for complex problems and opportunities that can benefit our world.

 

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Did you know...?

  • The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts employment in the computer and information technology sector will see 13% growth from 2016 to 2026.
  • Growth of the software industry in the U.S. has outpaced the economy by double and contributed $1.6 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2018.