About Us
About Department of Computer Science
The Computer Science department resides in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the largest college at Iowa State University. The department currently consists of twenty-nine full-time tenured/tenure-track faculty, six term faculty, and three lecturers. We offer B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science. We are also one of the founding departments for the B.S. in Software Engineering, B.S. in Data Science, Data Science Minor and Certificate along with the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. We are active in interdepartmental graduate programs in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Human-Computer Interactions, and Information Assurance. We have many interdisciplinary research collaborations, especially with faculty in the bio-sciences, mathematical sciences, and engineering. The Computer Science department has 684 B.S. students, 47 M.S. students, and 118 Ph.D. students. Almost all Ph.D. students are supported by research or teaching assistantships. We have strong research and educational programs in Algorithms and Complexity, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Databases, Data Mining, Information Assurance, Programming Languages, Molecular Programming, Multimedia Systems, Networks, Operating Systems, Robotics, and Software Engineering. Our department has over $16 million in active research grants. With the above interdisciplinary activities included, we contribute to active research and training grants totaling approximately $25 million.
Mission Statement
We strive to excel in the following four areas:
Undergraduate Education:
Our undergraduate programs are designed to train computer scientists, information technologists, and software engineers for productive, life-long careers. Such education equips students with a sound knowledge of the foundations of computer science, and problem solving and system design skills necessary for designing and building robust, efficient, reliable, scalable, and flexible software systems. The department offers strong undergraduate programs leading to a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.S. in Software Engineering. We also are one of the three departments jointly administering the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology undergraduate program.
Graduate Education:
The goal of our graduate program is to provide research-based training leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science. Our department also plays a pivotal role in interdepartmental graduate majors and minors in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Information Assurance, Human-Computer Interaction, and Neuroscience.
Commitment and Focus of Discovery, Research and Creative Work:
Our department is committed to strong research programs in Computer Science and emerging data-rich and informatics-enabled disciplines, contributing to those fundamental advances needed to address challenges in environment, food, health, energy, and security, and increasing the competitiveness of Iowa and the nation.
Contribution to Outreach, Engagement, and Public Service:
Our faculty, staff, and students contribute to the community at large in a number of ways such as engaging in technology transfer, contributing to open source software projects, partnering with Iowa K-12 teachers and students, broadening participation of underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines, and advising industry, government, and non-profit groups.
