Dr. Rosansky is engaged in research about the global nature of service science related to the way services are developed, designed, delivered and perceived within the multicultural, multinational contexts of the world.

How is Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) taking shape as a field of study at the Levin Institute?

As a brand new graduate institute, Levin offers innovative programs designed to enhance students' abilities to be effective in the global workplace. The Levin programs include elements of SSME as part of the curriculum, because the conceptual basis of service science and engineering management is critical to the effective operation of the global enterprise. At the present time, Levin offers certificates to executives and semesters of study for graduate students.

Couldn't a curriculum mix of traditional engineering or computer courses and business courses serve the same purpose for students?

Globalization means the blurring of traditional boundaries: social, cultural, national but also discipline boundaries. Academia has been somewhat slower than business to "integrate" and "get rid of the stovepipes" that are embedded in the university department structure. Traditional courses do not integrate across discipline boundaries, and even co-taught courses are usually not truly integrated. Integration requires examining a problem from multiple perspectives. Hence, an interdisciplinary approach that would be characteristic of the SSME discipline would require students to examine a problem such as how to launch a new enterprise management system across a globally distributed business. Students would have to address the issue from the engineering, management and services quality perspectives and would be assessed equally by experts from all disciplines on the quality of their responses. This kind of integrated approach does not usually happen across departments such as marketing and operations but SSME is taking this one step further and integrating across schools, such as engineering and management.

Is there a need for such graduates? What's going on in the economy now that would encourage students to focus on this area?

The global shift to services as the primary driver of economic value means that country competitiveness on a global scale requires a pool of talent in services innovation and execution. The position of the U.S. as a world economic leader is at risk if we are not able to address the demand for talented services professionals. The emerging economies with large populations will quickly fill in the gap if it becomes too wide.

It will be challenging because the lead time required to train sufficient numbers of potential leaders in the knowledge and skills required is longer than the lead time for businesses to begin to demand the skills from their people.

It will be very important that graduates understand that an SSME focus will lead to good jobs and careers. I don't think we, the academics, will be successful recruiting students if there is not a clear path to a good job at the end of the investment of time and money into an SSME curriculum.

If globally integrated enterprises are the source of the demand for such skills, what can companies like IBM, or governments for that matter, do to influence undergraduate and graduate students choices of majors and concentrations?

IBM and other companies need to articulate the demand for service science from industry and help us in academia to market the concept to prospective students. Providing data on jobs, opportunities and career paths will be helpful in this regard. Companies can also contribute to the curriculum development needs and faculty training that will be required to "tool up" the programs on campus.

Government should support the curriculum development initiatives with grant funds and loans to students seeking to get credentials in the field.