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The Department of Computer Science recently hosted a two-day Advisory Board visit April 26-27, 2015. This advisory board, consisting of eight distinguished scientists and leaders from academia and industry, has the principal mission of providing guidance and strategic feedback to the department as it continues to build on its progress and accomplishments and to address the challenges ahead.

The board visit came against a backdrop of increasing nationwide interest and enrollment in Computer Science. Not surprisingly, the main task of the board was to help the department develop a plan for future growth. The board noted that Computer Science enrollment was approaching 10% of the undergraduate student body at leading universities and a majority of non-majors were taking Computer Science courses to prepare for the new information-based economy. The case for growth is made not only in teaching and training, but also in research, both within Computer Science and in interdisciplinary areas. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, STEM jobs grew three times faster than non-STEM jobs over 2000-2010, and within STEM, computing-related jobs will dominate in the future.

Ambuj Singh, Chair of the Computer Science Department, remarked, “The Advisory Board visit was extremely productive and the board members provided valuable feedback through interactions with administration, faculty, students, and staff. We have already been impacted by growth, and our faculty and staff are working at their capacity balancing teaching and research. We are turning away strong and diverse students from our major and courses because of lack of capacity. We critically need new faculty positions to sustain this growth.”

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“It is difficult to imagine a scientific inquiry without computing, and the
[Computer Science] Department is leading and well positioned to lead
and participate in interdisciplinary research projects at UCSB.” – Advisory Board ________________________________________________________________________


Computing has changed the way we work, the way we learn, the way we play, the way we communicate, and the way we live. It is driving productivity and growth across the entire economy. Computer Science is changing the fundamental nature of industries, from automobiles to movies, from utilities to retail, signaling the dawn of a “second machine age” where we can use computing to understand and shape our environment. Research in computing is making fundamental changes in healthcare, life sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Big Data analytics and modeling is becoming commonplace across all disciplines.

Based on this demand, the Computer Science Department plans to double its majors and non-majors. The board noted that such growth could be possible only by obtaining new resources, especially faculty and lecturers, teaching assistants, staff and space. This growth will not only serve to meet extraordinary student demand, it will enhance the whole of UCSB’s research through deeper collaborations and strategic interdisciplinary appointments. Klaus Schauser, Chair of the Board, remarked, “The UCSB Computer Science Department has made tremendous strides in education and research. Since granting its first PhD in 1989, it has risen to the top 10 in the recent NRC (National Research Council) rankings.”

The future of the Department of Computer Science at UCSB looks very bright.


From left to right: Ambuj Singh (Chair), Zvi Galil (Georgia Institute of Technology), Keval Desai (InterWest), David Dobkin (Princeton University), Jennifer Widom (Stanford University), Andries van Dam (Brown University), Klaus Schauser (AppFolio).
Other board members are Jeanne Ferrante (University of California, San Diego) and Wayne Rosing (LCOGT).