Welcome
Welcome from Weisong Shi, Department Chair for Computer & Information Sciences.
Welcome to the Department of Computer and Information Sciences!
First, I would like to welcome our new students to join the Department of Computer and Information Sciences!
Here at the University of Delaware, we are proud of the many exciting and interesting things you’ll find within our education and research programs. The demand for graduates trained in computer science is robust, and as a student in our department, you will have many opportunities to explore your aspirations. Be sure to explore our website to learn more about our program options and concentrations ranging from artificial intelligence and autonomous driving to high-performance computing.
Our department continues the strong enrollment patterns established over the past decade with 665 undergraduates (10% increase) and 155 graduate students (29% increase). We are proud that our new students have chosen to attend the University of Delaware.
We would also like to extend a welcome to our four new faculty members: Ulf Schiller (Associate Professor), Xu Yuan (Associate Professor), Nazim Karaca (Instructor), and Lochlan Belford (Instructor). To support the continuous growth of the department, seven faculty members in the areas of cybersecurity and AI have moved their offices and labs to the new FinTech Innovation Hub located on STAR campus. The new facility will catalyze the collaboration between Computer Science and other disciplines.
In April 2023, spearheaded by our own undergraduate student organization CPUs (Computing Promotion Unit Squad), the department hosted its first-ever two-day hackathon, HenHacks, with more than 200 students across the region attending. Students were super excited to have the opportunity to interact with industry sponsors, attend workshops, and address challenging problems. In May 2023, the department hosted its first Advisory Council meeting with council members from Amazon, Capital One, DuPont, GM, Google, IBM, and Microsoft, to name a few. The advisory council brought up a lot of fresh ideas to expand the horizon of our research and education enterprise at UD. The department industry fund doubled compared with the average of the previous five years.
Last year, we formed the workforce development committee to close the gap between what students learn in the classroom and industry needs. We worked closely with our industry partners to sponsor our senior capstone projects. We have secured funds to support 40% of our capstone projects today. Our vision is to have our senior capstone projects 100% funded.
In addition, thanks to the generous support from our donors, the department is happy to support more than 20 students who identify as women to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, a series of conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront.
Looking ahead, we are excited to host the first-ever Computer Science Career Fair this year—stay tuned for more details. We will also celebrate our 60th anniversary, and we are happy you are here to celebrate with us.
I hope you all have a great start to the fall semester!
Why a Career in CIS?
From its inception just a half century ago, computing has become the defining technology of our age. Computers are integral to modern culture and are the primary engine behind much of the world’s economic growth. Moreover, the field continues to evolve at an astonishing pace, making computer science increasingly important with each passing day.
With a background in computer and information science, you can help the world. For example you can help to:
- Improve human health
- Advance computer technology
- Coordinate disaster responses
- Impact national security
- Advance weather forecasting
- Improve communications
Our Department Mission
Mission Statement
The mission is to provide a culturally diverse and intellectually stimulating environment for
- Educating future leaders in academia, industry, government, and entrepreneurial pursuits through rigorous programs covering the theory and application of computer science. Developing in our students the ability to solve problems and to contribute through teamwork.
- Creating new knowledge and innovative technologies through research in the core areas of computer science and in collaborations with other disciplines.
- Exploiting the opportunities and solving the problems created by computing and networking technology.
- Serving the communities to which we belong, locally, nationally, and internationally, with a deep commitment to ethics in the practice of our profession.
Staff Mission
We have committed ourselves to be highly productive and provide superior operating results to all Faculty and Students we serve as customers. We commit ourselves to working together as a team by being clear about tasks, structure, and accountability.
We value mutual respect and diversity, promote a welcoming atmosphere, instill ethical behavior and engage in activities that improve the performance of everyone we serve.
- We will sensitively and effectively assist students who have different life experiences, class and cultural backgrounds, identities, orientations, abilities and values and make appropriate referrals to specialized campus resources to ensure optimal integration into university culture.
- We will work together as a team and with campus-wide academic and administrative units with the aim of facilitating student success and reasonable individual accommodation within campus standards.
- A top priority is to meet the increasing demands of a rapidly changing environment and provide services in a proactive, responsive, cost effective and service-oriented manner that parallels with and supports the University’s strategic plan.
- We will continually strive to improve customer satisfaction, all while establishing a high level of accountability by delivering quality services that satisfy customer requirements.
We will foster a learning environment where employees are encouraged to develop their skills to meet the demand of the future, while still promoting teamwork, learning, high performance and mutual respect for differences.