Welcome
Computer Science as a discipline at U.Va. started in 1970 as part of
the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. When
computer science became an independent department in 1984, computers
were still primarily large, complicated instruments housed in big
storage rooms. Personal computers were just beginning to become
mainstream, computer games were still limited to plain text, and the
Internet, sophisticated user interfaces, social media, and so forth
were only a vision. We were there at that time pushing the frontiers
and being part of what was an epochal growth in the field.
We celebrated our 25th anniversary as an independent department in
2010 with a presentation by Vinton Cerf, widely acknowledged as the
"father of the Internet." That event gave us an opportunity to review
where we started, consider what has happened over the years and
envision where we think we are going. We have much to celebrate in our
excellent faculty, student research and academic accomplishments. I am
eager to share that with you here and on the pages of this site. We
are excited about what the next 25 years will bring and we know that
we will continue to lead, explore and help define technologies,
software and processes that will continue to change the world.
Housed within the University of Virginia School of Engineering and
Applied Science, the computer science department has 21 faculty, 400
undergraduate students, including some who are majoring in computer
engineering, and 80 graduate students. We are highly ranked for our
undergraduate, graduate, and research programs, and many of our
faculty have won highly selective awards and other honors, such as
society fellow status. There is a great deal of collaboration among
our faculty and students, as well as diverse collaboration between our
faculty and other departments across the University. We are big enough to
be influential in our field but small enough that most of our faculty
know all of our students. Our modest size makes this a creative,
collaborative, and robust learning environment for our students, with
rich and diverse opportunities for individual and small-group
projects. We also actively promote diversity of all forms in our
student body, because diverse views are essential to developing new
technologies and products.
A unique advantage of computer science at UVA is that all students,
regardless of degree program, must take multiple courses on
engineering and society, which include technical writing, product
lifecycle, and professional ethics. These, together with our rigorous
technical curriculum, help us produce the best possible computer
scientists and engineers. Overall, our alumni consistently tell us
that we do an outstanding job in preparing our students for "the real
world" after graduation.
I invite you to visit the pages of this site to learn more about where
we are and where we plan to go. We welcome your comments and
questions, whether you are a prospective undergraduate or graduate
student, a parent, or a graduate of the department interested in
reconnecting with us.
Best wishes,
Kevin Skadron
Professor and Chair
deptchair@cs.virginia.edu