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Welcome to the Computer
Science Department at the
University of Southern
California!
Why Computer
Science?
Computer
Science at USC
Our Strengths
Why Study Computer
Science?
This is the field that not only teaches
you the fundamental concepts underlying software,
hardware, and networks, but can also help you build
complex systems, autonomous systems and robots, explore
exotic models of computation, discover what lies at
the frontiers of biology, nanotechnology and information
technology, and understand how human cognition works.
Contrary to popular belief, computer
science is a growing hub discipline that will enable
advances in a variety of disciplines ranging from
engineering to biology and the cinematic arts. The
projected opportunities for computer scientists are
vast: over the next 10 years, the nation is expected
to need several hundred thousand information technology
professionals whose expertise will be crucial for
technological advances that have great societal and
economic impact.
Computer Science at USC
Our faculties are engaged in cutting-edge research
that seeks to answer fundamental, and impact-generating,
questions of various kinds.
- What is it that makes you so fascinated with
some programs that you can't tear yourself away
from the screen? How can we present information
in a way that makes connections clear? What about
interacting with your computer using gestures or
eye movements?
- You communicate with others through the Internet,
but how do you keep your system secure? Are there
ways to break up complicated problems so that they
can divided up among many computers, no matter where
they are located? How do you program a farm of processors?
- Could we make our computers smarter, so that
they can really help us, act as agents and even
anticipate our needs? Could we build robots that
can watch us, learn our needs, imitate our movements
and become partners in our lives?
- Could we further improve fundamental algorithms,
or think of new ways to compute, using quantum principles,
or harness the power of biological elements to find
solutions to previously intractable problems? Can
we process information using nano-scale structures?
Our research cuts across traditional
computer science boundaries like theory, AI, graphics
and systems, and will help re-define the discipline
in the decades to come.
Our Strengths
Our department is unique among computer
science departments world-wide in many ways.
An emphasis
on interdisciplinarity
Our department places a strong emphasis
on inter-disciplinarity,with the aim of bringing
the methods and tools of computing to a variety
of other disciplines, and in turn enriching and
expanding what it means to do computer science research.
The Department is deeply involved in joint projects
with faculty members in other departments of the
Viterbi School of Engineering and throughout the
University. Many of these interactions take place
in a large number of Research Centers and Institutes,
and several of our faculty have strong research
connections and joint appointments with other schools
and departments, both within and outside of these
Centers. For example, several faculty members hold
joint appointments in the Neuroscience Research
Institute, while others have joint projects with
professors in the School of Medicine, the School
of Business, the Geography Department, and many
others.
Connections
with nationally-prominent research institutions
The Department is fortunate to have
close working relationships with three major, nationally
renowned Research Institutes at USC:
- Viterbi School of Engineering's Information
Sciences Institute (ISI), one of the nation's
premier centers for research in information
technology,
- the Institute for Creative Technology (ICT),
a US Army-supported center working at the interface
between computer science, cognitive science and
entertainment technology, and
- the Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC),
the National Science Foundation Center of Excellence
in multimedia. IMSC is an on-campus center, and
many of its researchers are also faculty members.
More than 35 ISI and ICT researchers
hold research faculty positions in the department.
This unique and close working relationship is one
of the sources of strength of the department. Undergraduates
have an opportunity to meet these faculty members
in the classroom and work with them in their labs.
Graduate students are able to choose advisors from
among these researchers, as well as the tenure-track
faculty. These institutes broaden the resource base
of the Department, provide additional areas of strength,
and support unique research experiences such as
very large scale system development.
Highly-productive,
nationally-recognized faculty
Our faculty bring research support
from a variety of sources, including government
agencies and private industry. Our department's
total research income exceeds $13 million annually,
and ISI's contribution is an additional $24 million,
representing an average of almost $500,000 per tenure
track faculty member.
An excellent measure of the quality
of any department is its ability to recruit outstanding
junior faculty. During the past decade, nearly every
new Assistant Professor in Computer Science has
won the highly prestigious NSF CAREER award. An
equally good measure is the level of national recognition
of its faculty. Among our senior faculty, three
are National Academy of Engineering members, five
are IEEE Fellows, and eight are AAAI Fellows. The
highly coveted Turing Award, often described as
the "Nobel Prize for Computer Science" was received
by Prof. Leonard Adleman in 2003.
An
innovative curriculum
Our department's curricular offerings
are cutting-edge. In addition to the traditional
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (CSCI),
and Computer Engineering and Computer Science (CECS),
we recently introduced two novel bachelor's degree
programs:
These two new offerings have proved
to be very popular and have generated significant
interest among prospective students. We also offer
a Minor in Computer Science. Finally, we strive
to involve our undergraduate students in our many
research efforts as early as possible in their studies,
and have completely restructured our introductory
courses.
In our MS curriculum, we offer a large
number of specializations, including Computer Networks,
Software Engineering, Multimedia & Creative Technologies,
Integrated Media Systems, Intelligent Robotics,
and Computer Security. Our newest program is a specialization
in Game Development, developed in consultation with
the gaming industry. Many of our courses are offered
through the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's
Distance Education Network (DEN), which has been
named one of the top e-learning graduate programs
of Engineering by U.S. News & World Report.
In summary, the department is committed
to providing an exciting academic program, combining
instruction and research to prepare students for the
great challenges of the 21st century.
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