The Department of Computer Science and Engineering continues to evolve as we work to meet today’s computing challenges. Our faculty are invested in producing the highest quality of students as well as advancing the state of technology through research to provide new solutions to the world’s problems.
It is impossible to reflect upon the previous year without addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. While our classes were required to move online in a very short period of time, our faculty and teaching assistants performed this transition admirably. I held numerous town halls with students where the sentiment was largely that our department managed the transition well. The pandemic affected our ability to hire new faculty as well since travel was no longer possible in the spring. However, over the last year we added three new faculty members with interests in areas such as programming languages.
We have also continued to see our student population grow, and admission to our major remains very competitive as the demand for computing rises. This growth has necessitated new space. Renovation on a new home for the department started early this year in the Peterson building with an expected move-in date of spring 2021. In addition, Lynn ‘84 and Bill Crane ‘83 recently established a department head chair to invest in the long-term future of the department.
Our curriculum remains strong, but we continue to evolve our courses to meet the ever-changing needs of society through feedback from our students, alumni and industrial affiliates. The field of computing continues to advance rapidly, changing how we interact with each other and the world around us, which is perhaps even more visible now as we rely on technology to continue our interactions while isolated. I am proud to be part of this field and this department as we rise to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow, and I think both current students and alumni will be impressed with the growth of our department. It is an exciting time to be in computing and always an exciting time to be an Aggie. We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we.
Sincerely,
Scott Schaefer
Department Head
Professor
Lynn ‘84 and Bill Crane ‘83 Department Head Chair