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The ATLAS Institute听passes a milestone today听when the 100th student receives a听bachelor's degree听in Technology, Arts & Media (TAM), the institute's undergraduate engineering major.听In all,听the institute confers 23 bachelor's degrees today, which will bring the total to 120.

TAM's bachelor's program has grown to more than 260 students since its launch in 2015. It听grew from the institute鈥檚 popular TAM minor and certificate programs, launched in the late 1990s, which allow听any student听on campus to augment their major with a valuable collection of design and coding听skills. Approximately 750 students are currently enrolled in听either the minor or certificate programs. To pursue the TAM major, students are first admitted to the College of Engineering &听Applied听Science.

The institute's听graduate program now includes 57 students, 17 of whom are pursuing a PhD. And across the institute's听student community, more than 50 percent are women鈥攁 remarkable number for academic programs in engineering, says Mark Gross, the institute's director.听

"Diversity is fundamental to our vision at ATLAS鈥攁 diverse community supports diverse thinking, and that's the currency we deal in," he said.

Graduating senior Isaac Sheets graduates听Cum Laude with a BS in TAM today.

He says he originally enrolled听as an engineering open-option major, but quickly switched to TAM after touring ATLAS during CU Boulder's Admitted Student听Day.
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"I declared my major as TAM at my first opportunity," Sheets said.听"I was intrigued by the program's interdisciplinary nature. It seemed听like most other majors were highly specialized,听whereas TAM听left room for individuality and exploration."

Sheets said he gained a solid technical base through TAM, including front-end development experience for web and mobile platforms. He also said he听gained a good understanding of tools and processes that contribute to the look and feel of applications, such as听sound and interface design, as well as听a听background in related fields, including听physical computing and computer-aided design/fabrication. His favorite classes included Mobile Application Development and Front-End Web Development, both听with Senior Instructor and Associate听Director of the TAM program听Aileen Pierce, and several courses taught by Instructor听Danny Rankin, including TEXT, Interface Aesthetics, and the Capstone sequence.

"I had a great time in TAM," he said.听"Most classes are actually fun,听and I like how there aren't too many lecture-based classes. They're usually smaller and more interactive than many classes in the college."听

Sheets says he's most proud of his听Capstone project, a web app that gamifies Twitter by transforming the user's timeline into a series of word games.

Graduate degrees
ATLAS also confers four听Master of Science degrees today, including three听from the Information & Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) track.听Carolyn Moreau,听Babatunde Adegoke听and Gena Welk all focused on ICTD, while听Annie Kelly's work focused on research.听

For his practicum, Adegoke sought to build听the capacity of small businesses in his home country of Nigeria, working听with a Nigerian consulting company that provides听online听business courses. "Teaching听business owners how to听grow their businesses could result in their hiring听more听employees and thus reduce the country's unemployment problem," Adegoke听said.听In Nigeria, most businesses are one-person operations.

"To move a business听from one person to 10 people, you need to build the skills of that person," Adegoke said. "The biggest issue in Nigeria is knowledge.听People in business don鈥檛 have the knowledge of business development."

Adegoke said his practicum experience听was gratifying.

"When I finished developing the platform, some business professionals tested it, and I received听good feedback," he said. "The ICTD program听brought in a perspective about life. I was able to learn why technology sometimes works and sometimes doesn鈥檛 work, and I was able to learn how to design technology听that works for more people."