Computer science offers a world of opportunities for education and career paths, especially in conjunction with other disciplines. Here are four examples covering the fields of health care, entertainment and media, the environment, and networking and communications.


Medical informatics systems assist with aggregating and summarizing data, allowing medical professionals to make informed decisions. Medical informatics professionals access and manage records and develop expert systems that summarize and diagnose medical issues.


Information Science:

• Introductory course,
• Programming in Java, Visual Basic, or C/C++,
• Database concepts & SQL,
• Database programming, and
• Database administration.

Medicine:

• Medical terminology,
• Interpersonal skills for working in the medical environment,
• Pharmacology,
• Diagnostic and procedural coding,
• Medical economics, and
• Anatomy & physiology.

• "Medical Informatics" associate degree program at Bergen Community College

• Bergen CC Medical Informatics degree requirements
• Job Outlook: Medical Records and Health Information Technicians
• Job Descriptions EMR (1)
• Job Descriptions EMR (2)
• Job Descriptions with Certification

Mobile application development is the ability to create apps and games for tablets and other mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, Xoom, Blackberry) and to build cross-platform, mobile web-apps that will run on nearly any modern mobile platform.


Information Science:

• C Programming Procedural & Objective,
• Web Applications,
• App Development,
• Software Design,
• Data Management,
• iPad App Development, and
• Computer Fundamentals.

Entertainment:

• Animation, and
• Entertainment Design.

• "Mobile App & Entertainment Development" associate degree program at Northwest Kansas Technical College

• Degree program
• Job Outlook
• Job Outlook

Computer mapping (also known as a geographic information system) is a system that captures, manages, analyzes and displays geographically referenced information and allows users to understand and visualize data in a variety of ways.


Information Science:

• Intro to Computer Science,
• Computer Programming,
• Database applications, and
• Computer Systems.

Mapping:

• Intro to GIS,
• Utilizing Google Earth & Google Maps,
• Geo-databases,
• Cartography,
• GIS Business Applications, and
• Utilizing GIS for Human-Based Problem Solving.

• "Geographic Information Systems" associate degree program at American Sentinel University

• Job Outlook
• Job Outlook
• Uses of GIS
• Job Titles

Cyber forensic specialists use hardware and software tools to recover lost or corrupted data from hard drives and other storage media. They monitor the network for security breaches, respond to cyber attacks, and gather data and evidence to be used in prosecuting cyber crimes.


Information Science:

• Unix/Linux,
• Networking,
• Scripting,
• Intrusion detection, and
• Computer hardware.

Forensics:

• Introduction to logic,
• Legalistics, and
• Digital forensics.

• "Data Recovery/Forensics Specialist" associate degree program at Highline Community College

• Degree program
• Internet Security and Safety (1)
• Internet Security and Safety (2)
• Internet Security and Safety (3)
• Mobile Forensics (1)
• Mobile Forensics (2)
• Mobile Forensics (3)

For more information on computing education in community colleges, go to acmccecc.org.