This piece is sponsored by South Dakota State University.
How in demand will a new degree from South Dakota State University be? As an executive from a well-known health system put it recently: “We’ll hire every single graduate.”
That’s the value he immediately saw in students who will earn a bachelor’s degree in health care systems engineering at SDSU, which this fall will become the first university in the country to offer such an undergraduate degree.
“The health care industry is the largest and fastest-growing industry in the world at this time, and 30 percent of the world’s data is generated in health care-related industries,” said Sanjeev Kumar, dean of the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering.
“Technology is going to revolutionize the health care industry of the future, and we at SDSU feel there will be workforce needs the world doesn’t even know and a need to train people to shape the future of the industry.”
While their job titles might not all exist today, students will take away skills from this unique undergraduate degree that will prepare them to fill those unknown roles. Health care systems engineering integrates engineering, computer science, data science, management and health sciences under one degree to prepare students for the emerging career field.
Rapidly emerging technologies like generative artificial intelligence, computer vision and pattern recognition, and computational modeling in high-resolution anatomic domains will revolutionize the health care industry.
“Patient care is shifting from more practice-driven to more precision-driven,” Kumar added. “A human eye looking at an X-ray won’t detect what AI can.”
The health care systems engineering program will train students to incorporate engineering principles and mathematical methods while using cutting-edge tools and techniques to bring health care professionals and engineers together. Its graduates will work to improve quality, efficiency and overall patient care while ensuring health care availability to everyone and sustainability of health care systems.
“Health care systems are complex, and this program, which will have an emphasis on rural health care systems, will support the workforce need of experts with skills and abilities to further advance and optimize health care delivery,” said Dennis Hedge, SDSU provost and vice president for academic affairs.
The new degree will prepare students for employment in various fields within the health care industry such as health care operations, developing new technologies and devices, improving patient care through data-driven decisions and implementing efficient systems to streamline processes, among many other career opportunities.
“This is a multidisciplinary and very collaborative program,” Kumar said. “That’s why SDSU is uniquely positioned to create it. We take pride in having a culture of innovation. The faculty expertise is there, and on top of that, we have great relationships with health care providers. We have all the pieces needed to get this program going.”
As part of SDSU’s land-grant mission, faculty identified current and future workforce needs and developed this program to prepare students to meet the needs of the state and region, and to enhance the long-term economy.
“This new program aims to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to bridge gaps between engineers and health care professionals,” said Yucheng Liu, head of the department of mechanical engineering. “It will enable them to develop and apply cutting-edge technologies and address the critical needs of the fast-growing health care industry.”
The program is offered through the Lohr College of Engineering’s department of mechanical engineering in collaboration with SDSU’s colleges of Nursing; Natural Sciences; Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions; Education and Human Sciences; and Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences; and in partnership with Dakota State University, which is offering a health informatics course as part of the degree.
“This curriculum includes math, physics and chemistry, which is common in engineering, but generally students don’t go through biology and biotech and medical terms and health informatics,” Kumar said. “These will be required for students in this major in addition to data science, computer science and AI, making it a very future-focused degree.”
The bachelor’s degree will allow students to pursue a variety of additional education if they choose, he added. Specialized tracks include artificial intelligence/data science, premed, devices and sensors, animal industry and general health care systems engineering.
“For those who want to go to medical school, this is a premed track,” Kumar said. “They can complete all their premed requirements and earn an engineering degree. Just imagine how prepared this will make them when they get to medical school with a much better understanding of medical technology, problem-solving, critical thinking and data analysis. There will be more career opportunities for them even if they ultimately don’t choose to practice medicine.”
Other students likely will find career paths in everything from startup companies to insurance providers after completing the degree, he said.
“Many of these roles won’t be on the front line but will be supporting front-line health care workers,” Kumar said.
Because the program is so unique, it’s already drawing interest nationally and even internationally from prospective students, he added.
“We are marketing it nationwide, and hopefully once students choose to come here, we can show the beauty and hospitality of South Dakota, and they will want to stay here,” he said. “But we know we need to tell the story first because this is not a degree program people know about. But once parents and students see what this offers, we expect they’re going to see how this positions them to be next generation of health care leaders.”
To learn more about the health care systems engineering undergraduate degree at SDSU, visit the university’s website.
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