More Than Technical Skills: Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Shawren Singh
Photos by Chase Goldberg Friedman
Wentworth’s School of Computing and Data Science is hosting Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Shawren Singh, PhD for the 2024-2025 academic year. An accomplished teacher and researcher, Singh is the chair of Information Systems in the School of Computing at the University of South Africa (Unisa), Johannesburg. His work with Wentworth students and faculty will help enhance internationalization efforts on our campus. Learn more about the Fulbright Scholar-in-Resident program.
We recently sat down with Singh to learn more about him and his experience at Wentworth to date.
Jodi Freedman: Please describe your professional background and your current areas of focus for research and teaching.
Shawren Singh: In my role as department chair for information systems at Unisa, I work to protect our academic offerings and build a research culture while engaging in research and service. My primary research interest is digital government: how we use technology to improve service delivery for citizens. I am also interested in digital scholarship issues.
Jodi: This fall, you are teaching an undergraduate class on the fundamentals of IT, and a graduate class on Modern Computing. Can you describe similarities and differences between Unisa and Wentworth?
Shawren: UNISA is the largest open distance learning institution in the southern hemisphere. I am used to teaching classes of 1,000-25,000 students from across Africa. Wentworth is quite different. Students here are extremely fortunate to have such small class sizes, to interact with each other in group exercises, and interact with their instructor directly.
Jodi: Has anything surprised you?
Shawren: I’ve been surprised that many undergraduates aren’t yet familiar with the founding mothers and fathers of our discipline, some of whom are still active and working locally. I’ve also been surprised by the number of graduate students who have not yet taken advantage of librarians who can point them to appropriate literature for their research.
Jodi: Did you bring your family with you? How is your transition going?
Shawren: I’m here by myself for now. The South African education system is different and my daughters are finishing the final part of their year. I expect that my older daughter will join me in December and do three months in school here in the U.S.
The transition has been challenging. The problems here are different from those in a developing country like South Africa. Finding a place to stay wasn’t hard, but the financial burden has been tough. Also, the food culture is different. Shopping is a very different experience here. There are lots of scientific words on packaging, makes it difficult to understand.
Jodi: Have you had the opportunity to interact with other international faculty and students here?
Shawren: Yes! I was part of new faculty onboarding, where I got to know other new faculty members from the UK, Rwanda, and other places.
Jodi: Do you have any advice for international students and faculty thinking about coming to Boston and to Wentworth?
Shawren: I encourage students to understand the financial implications, and ensure they understand that studying in the U.S. doesn’t mean you’re a citizen or have the right to become one.
For potential faculty, I would say it’s important to understand the fine print. Where I come from, international faculty members work on a contract that includes pay, taxes, healthcare, etc. Here, you have to speak to a specialist on taxes and make sure you understand the consequences of things. It is difficult.
Jodi: What are you excited to be involved in while you’re at Wentworth?
Shawren: I’ll be running a conference soon that looks at the social impact of Ai, which should be quite interesting. My graduate students have written papers to submit to a journal. They will have a portfolio of evidence, produce a poster and defend it in a non-technical way at the conference. Data science and AI degrees have changed the information systems space: I’m trying to help all my students understand that you need more than just technical skills to succeed – you need to be able to communicate an idea in non-technical terms to get others to buy into it.
Jodi: Is there anything else you’d like the Wentworth community to know about you and your work?
Shawren: If anyone wants to talk, collaborate or do joint research, I’m looking forward to that. And I’m happy to facilitate these same kinds of activities with colleagues at Unisa or other universities across South Africa.