CS News:
Message From the Chair
Ten years ago, the dot-com bubble drove a sharp increase in undergraduate enrollment in computer science programs, but when the bubble burst, the number of students majoring in the field fell off. Now enrollments are once more rising. They have doubled at U.Va. in the last year, but this time they are growing on a much more sustainable basis.
Computational techniques are now firmly embedded in virtually every field of endeavor, and the appetite for computation is only increasing. The demand for experts in such areas as computer security, mobile systems, high-performance computing and big data is on the rise. Engineering students are majoring in computer science because they foresee satisfying careers in the field.
The central importance of computation has also aroused interest across Grounds. Students in the College are signing up for the interdisciplinary B.A. in computer science in unprecedented numbers, and many of these students are double majors. These students understand — whether they’re interested in business, biology, or art history — that fluency in computer science will position them to take on the most exciting challenges in their fields.
For the department, this increase in enrollment poses challenges — we simply don’t have the capacity now to meet the demand for the B.A. program — but it also creates opportunities. As we secure permission to add faculty in response to growing enrollment, we can add researchers selectively, strengthening established areas of excellence like security and gathering expertise in such emerging fields as big data. In doing so, we will collaborate with other departments and schools across Grounds, transforming a departmental strength into a University strength.
One area that already fits this paradigm of cross-University excellence is cyber-physical systems. We have one of the most prominent cyber-physical engineering groups in the nation. As you’ll read in this issue, we’re doing exciting interdisciplinary work in a field that promises to make computing part of the fabric of everyday life.
Professor and Chair