Department Spotlights

Our people are our greatest asset and Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science graduates are integral to our program’s talent. CACI's intern program boasts more than 200 interns yearly with Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science undergraduates being the largest single-school pool.

The Association of Computing Machinery at Virginia Tech will host, “Works of Wonder – Student Project Showcase” on March 25 from 1-4 pm. This event showcases nine computer science students’ personal projects or research projects that have expanded beyond their knowledge in the classroom.

For the fall 2020 semester, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Sang Won Lee offered his students (mostly seniors) a rare chance to create an artifact of their choice in his Creative Computing Studio course. Eight diverse projects emerged around the themes of remote liveness and internet art, especially relevant given the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jin-Hee Cho, associate professor and director of the Trustworthy Cyberspace Lab (tClab) in the Department of Computer Science, has received a $285,000 grant from the Army Research Office to investigate for the first time how hypergame theory can be used to mislead an attacker’s belief by deception.

The Innovation Campus Advisory Board includes top executives from Qualcomm, Boeing, KPMG, Northrop Grumman, The Carlyle Group, and Hunch Analytics, along with several tech pioneers. The board will provide valuable perspectives and expertise to Sands and other senior leaders, including Vice President and Executive Director Lance R. Collins who joined Virginia Tech in August.

Daphne Yao and Na Meng of Virginia Tech and Barton Miller of the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been awarded $1.2 million over four years by the National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Program for their project entitled “Deployment-quality and Accessible Solutions for Cryptography Code Development.”

“Seemingly innocent insiders can become dangerous due to a number of circumstances including personal relationships and geospatial environments,” said Chang-Tien Lu, a professor in the Department of Computer Science, associate director of the Discovery Analytics Center, and a faculty member in the National Science Foundation- sponsored UrbComp program.

In mid-March, when computer science graduate student Liam Chapin was working to produce prototype examples of every kind of face shield he could find online, he was guided by a philosophy he inherited from his dad. “Add your light to the sum of light,’ which is basically ‘take what you can do and try to leave the world a little better place than you found it.”

For junior computer science major Justin Deutsch, he is both excited and nervous about the annual fall career fair moving online. "I don't really know what to expect. I guess it is just acceptable to have your bed in your zoom background as long as it is made these days." Deutsch is among the more than 600 students planning to attend the all-virtual CS|Source fall career fair which kicks off this Sunday, September 13, with seven companies offering information sessions from 10 am to 5 pm.

“This group will add energy and new ideas to continue to grow and improve our teaching and research missions,” said Cal Ribbens, computer science department head. “With great support from the College of Engineering, this year is the first of what we expect to be several years of significant growth in our faculty.”

Congratulations to our three computer science faculty members Kirk Cameron, Margaret Ellis, and Tanushree Mita, honored for their excellence by the College of Engineering for the 2020 Dean's Awards. They were recognized at the Department of Computer Science virtual awards banquet, along with other outstanding recognition of students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Department Head Cal Ribbens hosted the first Department of Computer Science Virtual Town Hall on Tuesday, May 26. He was joined by Assistant Department Heads Steve Edwards and Cliff Shaffer for updates on how the department is responding to COVID-19. Also, PhD student, Sathappan Muthiah in the Discovery Analytics Center shared about his COVID-19 research! A Q&A session concluded the town hall.

As a first-year Ph.D. computer science student, Kobla Setor Zilevu has some guiding words to offer fellow incoming graduate students. "The best piece of advice I can offer entering graduate students will be to enjoy the process and love what you are researching."

Peraton recruits Virginia Tech students through the CS|Source career fairs and also enjoys engaging with students throughout the semester. Having an office in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center means they are close and leverage its proximity to be engaged members of the CS@VT community.