About the College
History
Georgia Tech invested in the future when it established the College
of Computing in 1990, one of only two college-level computing
units at a major U.S. research university.
Our history began in 1963 with the establishment of the School
of Information making us one of the first computer science departments
in the country. The name was changed to the School of Information
and Computer Science in 1972. We were formally recognized with
College status in 1990 and given a charge to promote interdisciplinary
research.
Focus
In naming the new College, it was essential to indicate that
our interest would be in computing, not just the discipline
of computer science. Our educational and research activities
collaborate with many other disciplines in order to push the
frontiers of computing throughout the Institute. The College
has also forged relationships in educational and research programs
with several other universities both nationally and internationally.
Building on our strong foundation of computer science fundamentals,
the College conducts cutting-edge research in strategic areas
ideal for collaborative work. By blending research with education
in a variety of disciplines, the College is leading this interdisciplinary
effort in order to meet the challenges of the future.
Statistics
Currently the College is comprised of 64 academic faculty, 40
research and instructional faculty, 1 postdoc fellow, 47 technical
and support staff, 10 administrative staff, 220 Ph.D. students,
125 M.S. students and 1534 undergraduate students (based on Fall
2001 enrollments).
The latest US
News and World Report ranks our program as #9 nationally.
In specialty areas, Graphics/User Interaction is #4 and Databases
is #7.
Students
The College awards bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in
Computer Science, with strong instructional and research programs
in Computer Architecture, Database Systems, Graphics and Visualization,
Human-Computer Interaction, Intelligent Systems (including Artificial
Intelligence, Cognitive Science, and Robotics), Networking and
Communications, Programming Languages and Compilers, Software
Engineering and Methodology, Systems (including Operating Systems,
Distributed and Parallel Systems), and Theoretical Computer Science,
as well as other areas of computing.
The computer science students at Tech are the cream of the
crop. As of Fall 2001, the average SAT average is 1337 for entering
freshmen, while the average for computer science students is
1367, the highest of any college on campus.
This year we are offering a
study abroad program focusing on computing but open to all majors.
The program will be held at the Universidad Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
in Barcelona.
We encourage undergraduate research, and to that end several
of our faculty members developed the Undergraduate
Research Opportunities in Computing (UROC) program to encourage
our computer science undergraduates to become involved in research
projects.
Our women faculty actively participate in the Computer Research
Association's Collaborative Research Experience for Women in
Undergraduate Computer Science and Engineering (CREW) program,
which is designed to provide collaborative research experiences
for groups of two to three undergraduate women. This program
increases the opportunity to do research and decreases the isolation
that may be experienced in doing independent research, encouraging
participants to pursue similar work in graduate school.
Faculty
We have an outstanding faculty which includes 3 IEEE Fellows,
3 ACM Fellows, 1 Fulbright Fellow, 2 Sloan Fellows, 1 IEEE Sr.
Fellow, 1 Eurographics Fellow, 1 Guggenheim Fellow and 1 member of the
National Academy of Engineers. Collectively they are recipients of 10 NSF
Career Awards, 1 National Young Investigator Award, 3 Presidential
Young Investigator Awards and 1 IBM Young Investigator Awards.
The faculty members at the College of Computing take the interdisciplinary
focus of the College seriously with collaborative efforts involving
all of the academic colleges on campus. In keeping with the interdisciplinary
emphasis, the College has several joint faculty appointments
with schools including, Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mathematics, and Public Policy,
as well as the College of Architecture.
Research
Our research areas include cognitive science, computer architecture,
database systems, educational technology, future computing environments,
graphics and visualization, human computer interaction, intelligent
systems and robotics, networking and telecommunications, programming
languages and compilers, parallel and distributed systems, software
engineering, and theoretical computer science.
The College houses four Centers:
the
Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems (CERCS),
the Georgia
Tech Information Security Center (GTISC), the Graphics,
Visualization and Usability Center (GVU) and the Modelling & Simulation Research and
Education Center(MSREC). CERCS provides the infrastructure to support
experimental efforts in the design of the future generations of computing
systems. GTISC conducts
interdisciplinary research and development focusing on all aspects
of information security, including systems-level vulnerability
assessment, theory development, and public and organizational
security policies. GVU focuses on the effectively communicating
information between humans and computers by implementing the principles
and methods of graphics, visualization, and user interface design and
usability. MSREC creates and manages education, research, and
development programs concerned with modeling and simulations
technologies and their application to real-world problems and systems.
Interaction with the Community
The faculty is proactive in its interaction with the business
community. Through the Industrial
Partners Association (IPA), faculty members are assigned
as liaisons of the College. The partnership allows for exploring
a myriad of possibilities for collaborative ways to forge mutually
beneficial and long-term relationships.
Complementing our traditional academic program is the College of Computing
Continuing Education program, which offers non-credit courses
and certificate programs in core computing competencies. The
clientele for these courses includes IT professionals seeking
new skills or honing existing capabilities, as well as people
preparing for a computing career. Instruction is provided by
the faculty of the College of Computing, as well as by selected
professionals from the computing industry. This combination of
cutting-edge knowledge and up to the minute industry experience
in a fundamentals-based curriculum is what has established the
College's Continuing Education program as a leader in this competitive
field.
Conclusion
The College of Computing has a strong interdisciplinary focus
based on disciplinary excellence in computer science. It provides
the College a unique opportunity to not only create synergistic
combinations of computer science and other disciplines, but also
to lead many of them. This, and our close association with industry,
allows us to build most effectively on the many strengths of
Georgia Tech.
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