Accreditation

Within a few years of graduation, alumni of the computer science program will have:

• Demonstrated technical expertise by applying computer science knowledge and practice to solve challenging problems, whether in employment, graduate study, or individual pursuits;
• Advanced their skills in communication, teamwork, and professional and ethical behavior;
• Demonstrated leadership in their technical or professional pursuits;
• Engaged in post-graduate learning through graduate studies, professional improvement opportunities, or self-study;
• Served society through professional or personal contribution.

Upon completion of the undergraduate program curriculum in computer science, students will attain the following outcomes:

1. Analyze a complex computing problem and to apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.
2. Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program's discipline.
3. Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.
4. Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed judgments in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles.
5. Function effectively as a member or leader of a team engaged in activities appropriate to the program's discipline.
6. Apply computer science theory and software development fundamentals to produce computing-based solutions.

Students pursuing the Bachelor of Science degree in computer science choose one of three majors. The computer science major is designed to provide a broad computer science background that will prepare a student for a wide variety of professional careers or to continue study at the graduate level. The secure computing major offers a more specialized path for students who are especially interested in secure computing and cybersecurity topics. The data-centric computing major offers a focus on topics in data science, data analytics, and computational aspects of big data computing. All majors include a set of foundational courses in software design and development, algorithms, and computer organization at the freshmen and sophomore level. Students at the junior and senior level select one theoretical course, several elective courses and a capstone course according to their individual interests.

The department offers computer science majors the opportunity to enhance their education through a variety of curricular and extracurricular activities. Students who meet the requirements for independent study or undergraduate research can pursue research or individualized study under the direction of a faculty member. Through the Honors College, qualified students can work toward earning an Honors Laureate Diploma for their degree.

Students may also elect to earn both the bachelor's and master's degrees in an accelerated undergraduate/graduate program. The Cooperative Education Program makes it possible for students to acquire professional experience while pursuing their degree. The department's corporate partnership program hosts large career fairs in both fall and spring semesters.

The department sponsors multiple student organizations, including the student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Association for Women in Computing (AWC), the CS Community Service organization, and the Programming Team. Additional opportunities for experiential learning and professional development include serving as a teaching assistant or department ambassador, attending a professional development or research conference, participating in study abroad opportunities, and participating in annual research competitions and hackathons. Financial aid is available through numerous college and department endowed scholarships.

The department offers a computer science minor for non-majors seeking a solid general background in computer science. The department also offers minors focused on human-computer interaction and cybersecurity. Please visit the department's undergraduate program website for more information.

The Department of Computer Science offers extensive computational facilities for both instruction and research. There are several undergraduate teaching laboratories and a number of specially equipped research laboratories. These include large parallel computing clusters and numerous compute and file servers for research and instruction in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital libraries, software engineering, bioinformatics, and networking. The department also operates extensively equipped laboratories for human-computer Interaction, virtual environments, and information visualization. Students studying computer science are supported by two department-specific Undergraduate Learning Centers on campus.

Head: C. Julien

Associate department head for undergraduate studies: S.H. Edwards

Associate department head for graduate studies: E. Tilevich

Associate department head for faculty development: A.R. Butt

Associate department head for research: T.M. Murali

Thomas L. Phillips Professor: N. Ramakrishnan

Frank J. Maher Professor: D. Bowman

W.C. English Professor: W. Lou

John W. Hancock Professor: D. Nikolopoulos

Professors: O. Balci, A.R. Butt, K.W. Cameron, S.H. Edwards, W. Feng, S. Flammia, L.S. Heath, M. Kantarcioglu, B. Knapp, C.T. Lu, R. McMahan, T.M. Murali, C. Noh, C.L. North, A. Onufriev, C. Reddy, C. Ribbens, A. Sandu, C.A. Shaffer, E. Tilevich, D. Yao, and L. Zhang.

Associate professors: G. Back, D. Bhattacharya, Y. Cao, J.H. Cho, H. Eldardiry, D. Gracanin, M. Hicks, X. Jian, B. Ji, A. Karpatne, K. Luther, D.S. McCrickard, and N. Meng.

Assistant professors: C. Brown, Y. Chen, T. Chung, B. David-John, P. Gao, M. Gulzar, S. Hasan, T. Hoang, S. Khatri, S.W. Lee, H. Li, A. Mantri, E. Rho, P. Sashittal, J. Sikora, K. Sundararajah, C. Thomas, B. Viswanath, T. Vu, X. Wang, D. Williams, I. Williams, P. Yanardag, Y. Yao, and D. Zhou.

Associate professors of practice: M. Ellis and G. Kulczycki

Collegiate associate professors: B. Edmison, S. Hamouda, S. Hooshangi, E. Olimpiew, R. Jafari, and M. Seyam.

Collegiate assistant professors: M. Cameron, O. Emebo, M. Farghally, V. Garg, T. Mengistu, and S.B. Nizamani.

Advanced instructors: D. McPherson

Instructors: S. Cao, H. Hillman, A. Senger, and P. Sullivan

Professors emeritus: D.C.S. Allison, J. D. Arthur, R.W. Ehrich, E.A. Fox, D.G. Kafura, J.A.N. Lee, H.R. Hartson, R.E. Nance, B. Ryder, D. Tatar, and L.T. Watson

E-mail: csundergrad@cs.vt.edu