"Our engineers are going to play many roles. We're very aware that they're going to do anything from running a company to selling products. They need to know about the business world," she said. "They want to have this knowledge, and the vocabulary, because that's the vocabulary of our time."
The DEAS is already beginning to incorporate business education into its classes.
In "Computer Science 144: Service Oriented Computing," students learn about subjects including how to transmit telephone conversations over the Internet. Several Business School professors give guest lectures in the class, to teach student about the business side of technology ventures.
"Fundamentally, new technologies take money to develop. Whatever new things we do, we need to find people who are willing to pay for it," said Gates Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering H.T. Kung, who teaches the course.