As IBM helps cities worldwide tackle thorny problems like traffic management, energy use, and the building of sustainable communities, it’s become clear that a new set of skills is required.

That’s why IBM is partnering with various urban educational institutions to give students the skills they need to make an impact in cities around the world.

For example, Columbia University faculty and students have access to IBM software (via the classroom or the cloud) for developing applications for sustainability and green projects.

In Chicago, IBM and DePaul University recently opened a data mining and analytics center to train students in predictive analytics, and learn how to put the ballooning quantities of data that industries face to good use.

And at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, a new Smarter Infrastructure Lab will be a place for IBM reseachers and students in the engineering, architecture, public policy, and business schools to put their heads together to create smarter cities.

Nonprofits also play important roles in education innovations of all kinds. IBM has created education grants in cities like Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Boston to improve the quality of public education for underserved youth, and support learning programs across the board.

Take a closer look at any large city today and you’ll find another city pulsating within it, made up of interconnected systems of many different functions and activities.

Similarly, educational curriculums are being redesigned to provide students from all disciplines with the tools they need to thrive in this technology-rich, dynamically networked world.

For example, analytics is no longer the domain of just mathematicians or statisticians. Employers are seeking graduates who well-rounded and adaptable in many areas,

and can use analytics to help modernize health care systems, and make aging buildings more energy-efficient

and public transportation systems run better.

In the past, to become an “expert,” you went to school; you studied a body of knowledge, received a degree or certification and then went to work.

But expertise today does not have to be static.

Students have the opportunity to adapt continuously, learn new fields and skills,

and immerse themselves in the incredible systems that undergird a city, and all aspects of city life.

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