The Department of Computer Science is a community of faculty, students, staff, and researchers who are dedicated to excellence in teaching and research—preparing students for their careers and expanding the boundaries of computing theory and practice to make a difference in the world. We invite our friends, former students, and other supporters to join us on our journey, to engage with the department in ways that fit your interests and availability.
Here are some of the ways you can Get Involved with Computer Science at UCSB.
Give to CS@UCSB
The Department of Computer Science at UC Santa Barbara is a world leader in computing research and education. Our highly ranked graduate and undergraduate programs are in high demand and attract ambitious and talented students. Our faculty and students produce some of the finest research in the field, pushing the state of the art and creating new capabilities, and our alumni in academia and industry create solutions for the world’s most challenging problems.
The continuing support of our alumni and friends is critical to our ability to grow and build on our success as we endeavor to change the world. The department’s priority funding areas provide several ways to impact our future.
Student Support
Through the Student Support Fund you will enhance the overall student experience and ensure that we continue to attract and educate students who become tomorrow’s leaders.
Named Scholarships and Fellowships
Undergraduate and graduate student scholarships allow the Department to recruit the most promising students from California and around the world to join our program. Our ability to recruit the best and brightest doctoral students critically depends on our graduate research fellowships. In the past, a number of generous donors have supported Graduate Student Fellowships (Lopker Family, Citrix, and Ann Jie Foundation) as well as undergraduate awards (ProDIGIQ ).
A gift of $250,000 or more establishes a permanent named fellowship for a graduate student researcher in the Department. A gift of $25,000 supports a graduate student for one year of their career.
A gift of $25,000 or more establishes a permanent named scholarship for an undergraduate.
Named Lecture Series
By contributing to our lecture series you help the Department to bring distinguished lecturers to campus to enrich the learning experience of our students and help us to continue a valuable departmental tradition.
In recent years, a gift from an anonymous donor has supported our Undergraduate Lecture series, “Array of Talks.” This series of lectures inspires enthusiasm for Computer Science, intellectual exchange, and a sense of community among CS undergraduates, faculty and professionals. Information about this series can be found at http://arrayoftalks.cs.ucsb.edu/.
The Department is also looking for gifts to support the Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series, which is partially funded by Google. This lecture series brings world-renowned computer science researchers to UCSB.
Unrestricted
Your unrestricted gift allows the Department Chair to direct funds to areas of the highest priority in order to enhance the student experience. These activities include student-alumni networking opportunities, mentor lunches and other outreach activities.
For example, AppFolio has supported our bi-quarterly Coffee Hour to bring graduate students and faculty together to discuss research in a relaxed, informal setting.
Sponsorship from Google, AppFolio, Qualcomm and Microsoft has supported our annual Graduate Student Workshop on Computing, highlighting our graduate students’ research and promoting the exchange of ideas between the Department and industry.
Research
Research-directed gifts help us recruit and retain the very best faculty and graduate students from around the world who will focus their talents and energies on creating technological solutions to the increasingly complex global problems. These gifts help us remain competitive with our peers and continue to elevate our national and international stature.
Named Endowed Chairs
At UC Santa Barbara, private philanthropic support is central to maintaining the quality of teaching, research, and public service. One of the most important types of gifts to higher education is an endowed chair, which helps to promote and maintain faculty excellence.
Created by a philanthropic gift, these highly prized academic positions are supported by earnings from invested funds. While the state budget pays for the faculty member's salary, the proceeds from the endowment provide enrichments - such as research money and support for instruction - that are important to the recruitment and retention of the world's greatest scholars.
Through the generous support of our benefactors, the department currently has one Senior Faculty Endowed Chair, the Leadership Chair, occupied by Prof. Richard Kemmerer, and three Junior Endowed Chairs that have been used to recruit excellent young faculty. The junior chairs include the Eugene Aas Chair (funded by Mark and Susan Bertelsen), the Venkatesh "Venky" Narayanamurti Chair (funded by Karl and Pamela Lopker and the Lopker Family Foundation), held by Prof. Xifeng Yan; and the Glen and Susanne Culler Endowed Chair (funded by the Zhu Family and anonymous donors), held by Prof. Stefano Tessaro.
The Department seeks new Endowed Chairs, especially targeted at mid-career and senior faculty.
Named Visiting Professorships
The Department is seeking gifts to establish one or more Distinguished Visiting Professorships. These funds will allow us to bring leading academics for an extended period of time (6 months to a year) for research collaborations.
Capital Projects
The Computer Science Department seeks to improve its educational and research facilities in order to stay abreast of pedagogical developments and to best support our research and educational goals. To do their best work, Computer Science students and faculty need facilities and spaces that support collaboration, inspiration, and discovery. The Department seeks support of a generous donor to establish a new state-of-the-art building.
Smaller scale gifts are sought to help upgrade and maintain appropriate facilities and support priority capital projects, including new expanded instructional computer labs for our undergraduate students.
Corporate Partnership Opportunities
In this rapidly evolving technological environment, embracing emerging innovations is becoming increasingly imperative to your company's health. However, making this jump is a daunting challenge and requires the right talent. The Department of Computer Science uses top leaders in the fields of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and more to guide collaborative and competent graduates in their chosen fields. These future software engineers, researchers, and architects will drive your organization into the next generation of technology and beyond. Consider taking the first step to invest in your future. Check out the UCSB Corporate Relations page for more information.
