![\"Old](\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/inline-Young_Rick_Rashid.jpg\")
PIONEER<\/strong>: Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD), among the computer science department\u2019s first students, went on to become the first director of Microsoft Research. (Department of Computer Science)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cThe hard part was telling my parents because they had this idea of what I was going to be doing and I had changed my mind,\u201d says Rashid. \u201cThey were super supportive on the call even though they didn\u2019t really know anything about computers and neither had a college education. Years later my father confessed \u2018we thought it was the stupidest idea you\u2019d ever had in your life.\u2019\u2009\u201d\r\n\r\nAs it turned out, Rashid and the field of computer science had bright futures. After completing his doctorate, Rashid joined the computer science faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. Then, in 1991, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates hired him as the founding director of a new division at the company: Microsoft Research.\r\n\r\nMirroring his rise was the growth of Rochester\u2019s department. \u201cWe quickly went from being probably the computer science department with the fewest facilities you could imagine, to one of the most technically advanced computer science departments in the country,\u201d says Rashid.\r\nBooting up<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn the fall of 1974, Rashid, seven additional students, and the first faculty members, Jim Low and Paul Rovner, coalesced around charismatic founding department chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman \u201960. Feldman, who had earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in physics from Rochester, returned to the campus after having served as the associate director of the artificial intelligence lab at Stanford University.\r\n\r\nHe quickly used his contacts in government and industry to build the program into a serious player. Through connections at Xerox PARC, by the end of the year he was able to secure four Alto computers\u2014the first computers to incorporate features like a mouse and Ethernet networking\u2014before anyone outside of Xerox had them. And through his contacts at the Department of Defense\u2019s Advanced Research Projects Agency, he connected the University to ARPANET, the precursor of the internet, introduced just a few years before.\r\nAn identity emerges<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nBy the mid-80s, the commercialization of personal computers was spreading access to computing and interest in computer science. The department was making an outsized impact.\r\n\r\nFeldman, Rashid, technical operations manager Liudy Bukys, and others created an operating system that could manage multiple machines at once. Called the Rochester Intelligent Gateway<\/a>, or RIG, it\u2019s known as \u201cthe great-grandparent\u201d of the operating system used by Apple computers.\r\n\r\nEarly faculty members Chris Brown<\/a> and Dana Ballard published Computer Vision<\/em><\/a>, the seminal text in the field, and James Allen<\/a> published Natural Language Understanding<\/em><\/a>, a similarly influential text.\r\n\r\nLarge grants from the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation were rolling in. In particular, NSF support enabled the department in 1984 to acquire a 128-node BBN Butterfly<\/a> machine, then the largest shared-memory multiprocessor in the world.\r\n\r\nAt that point the distinguishing characteristics of the department that still define it to this day were clear: strength in artificial intelligence (AI), systems, and theory; an interdisciplinary focus; and an intimate size.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"media_text_new","anchor":"","class":"","overline":"","title":"Doing computer science at Rochester<\/h3>","content":"A member of Rochester's Department of Computer Science faculty since 1984, Michael Scott has a long perspective on the evolution of computer science and on the unique aspects of Rochester's computer science curriculum. Scott, the Arthur Gould Yates Professor of Engineering and professor of computer science, addresses both topics in this conversation, part of the Full Spectrum video series of the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.","cta":"","bg":"#f4f4f4","type":"embed","image":"","embed":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oqpwZ5RbetE","video":"","layout":"left","animation":"animation-false"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pb-0","title":"","content":"The focus on AI created opportunities for collaborations with faculty in cognitive science (later the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences<\/a>), the Center for Visual Science<\/a>, the Design Automation Project, and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.\r\n\r\nSays Michael Scott<\/a>, a professor of computer science and the Arthur Gould Yates Professor of Engineering, who came to Rochester in 1984, \u201cComputer science is an interdisciplinary field, but I think it\u2019s more the case here than almost anywhere.\u201d\r\nA new major<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nBy the 1990s, the promises of ARPANET had borne fruit, and the technology evolved into the internet, connecting millions of computers around the world. Meanwhile, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee had proposed an application for the internet: a method to create pages, with unique addresses, giving networks a new and compelling purpose. The World Wide Web, as it was soon known, spread information with ease and at a speed (even in its first days) previously unknown. The dot-com era had arrived, and with it, exploding interest in the study of computer science.\r\n\r\nThe department had solely been offering graduate degrees, but nationwide, the demand for computer science was high enough that the department introduced undergraduate degrees and a minor in 1995.\r\n\r\nThe undergraduate program was a significant development for the department, and leadership had to be careful to integrate undergraduate education while preserving the culture that had allowed the department to thrive.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen I arrived in 1989, the culture was 100 percent focused on research and doing something amazing,\u201d says George Ferguson<\/a> \u201995 (PhD), director of the department\u2019s undergraduate program and a professor of instruction.\r\n\r\nThat same spirit infuses the undergraduate program, which has a heavy research focus and emphasis on \u201cbreadth and the foundation of the discipline as a whole,\u201d he adds. That approach fosters \u201cgraduates who understand enough to learn new things, which is essential in a field that has been evolving constantly since its inception.\u201d\r\n\r\nAt the same time, the department has been deft in attracting students with wide interests. \u201cThe program was smartly designed from the beginning so that you could either pursue a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science,\u201d Ferguson adds. The modified requirements of the bachelor of arts made a computer science degree more accessible to students also pursuing degrees in fields from physics to art history.\r\n\r\nThe program\u2019s first graduating class in 1996 included 10 students, and by 2003, that number had increased fivefold.\r\nPost-Y2K challenges<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe dot-com bubble burst of 2000 put a pause on the undergraduate program\u2019s growth. As tech companies folded, some prospective students became wary of pursuing careers in computer science.\r\n\r\nChristopher Stewart<\/a> \u201909 (PhD), now a professor of computer science at Ohio State University, says that when he arrived as a PhD student in 2003, the discipline was facing intense challenges beyond the financial sector as well.\r\n\r\nFor the past few decades, the computer industry had relied on the expectation, largely borne out by experience, that the number of transistors on a microchip would double about every two years, at nominal cost. Accordingly, computers would continue to get smaller, faster, and cheaper. The trend became known as Moore\u2019s Law and, not really a law at all, scientists began predicting its end. Similarly, Dennard scaling\u2014the physical principle that enabled transistors growing in potency to consume less power\u2014was running out as well.\r\n\r\nMoore\u2019s law and Dennard scaling, says Stewart, \u201cwere these things that allowed us to keep building sequential programs for so long. It was an exciting time, and it was fun to be a part of that phase of computing.\u201d\r\n\r\nStewart, who focused on computing systems, says much of the research at the time focused on parallel computing\u2014that is, how to break down large, complex problems into smaller, independent groups of calculations, all of which could be carried out simultaneously across multiple processors relying on shared memory. Although at first Stewart did not understand what parallelism would lead to, he received an answer that proved to be decades ahead of its time.\r\n\r\nAs a beginning graduate student, \u201cI was really trying to understand the field and where things were headed,\u201d he recalls. He asked Michael Scott, the leader of the computer systems research group, what was likely to happen to the field of parallel computing.\r\n\r\n\u201cI asked [him], \u2018What are we going to do? Even if we do get all of this parallel programming done, we already know how to write\u2019 whatever single-coded thread was dominant that day. He told me, \u2018Chris, if we can do parallelism right, we can reach new heights with AI.\u2019 That was at least two generations of insight ahead of where computing would go.\u201d\r\nBRAIDing a future<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nBy the mid 2010s, computer science had rebounded from the dot-com bust and experienced a second surge in enrollment. With that growth also came efforts to diversify the student body, particularly to get more women to pursue computer science degrees at Rochester.\r\n\r\nSandhya Dwarkadas joined the department as an assistant professor in 1996 and later became the Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor of Engineering<\/a> and from 2014 to 2020, chair of computer science. Dwarkadas, now a professor and chair of computer science at the University of Virginia<\/a>, recalls in those early years a tight-knit and collegial department but one that had few women.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"testimonial","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"","content":"","cta":"","bg_color":"#ffffff","style":"cards","items":[{"pull_quote":"\u201cI taught many classes where I had just one woman or no women in the class...Now the statistics are roughly 30 percent. That is a pretty big sea change.\u201d","attribution":"Sandhya Dwarkadas","wrapping_link":"","image":615342,"layout":"left"}],"items_scroll":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pt-0","title":"","content":"It\u2019s also well above the national average of 20 percent<\/a>.\r\n\r\nUnder Dwarkadas\u2019s leadership, Rochester became one of 15 universities in 2014 to join BRAID (Building, Recruiting, and Inclusion for Diversity)<\/a>, an initiative funded by Facebook, Google, Intel, and Microsoft and administered by the Anita Borg Institute.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis cohort of 15 departments met regularly and exchanged information about what it would take to make a difference,\u201d she says. She and undergraduate coordinator Marty Guenther worked to attract more students interested in double majors, and to build community and provide opportunities for peer networking. Those efforts \u201cmade a huge difference,\u201d says Dwarkadas.\r\nNew frontiers <\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn 2013, the department spun off the Goergen Institute for Data Science<\/a>. Outgoing chair Henry Kautz became its founding director, and together the programs moved into the new Wegmans Hall.\r\n\r\nNow, as the use of commercial generative AI spreads rapidly, the department remains at the forefront of AI research. \u201cKey roots of today\u2019s AI explosion go back to work that was done here,\u201d says Scott. \u201cOur department has been about half AI since its founding. Today that emphasis is very common. But until even as recently as 10 years ago, it was uncommon.\u201d\r\n\r\nEarlier this year, one of the department\u2019s first graduates presented the department with a sizeable birthday gift.\r\n\r\nDaniel Sabbah \u201974, \u201982 (PhD) graduated with a degree in mathematics just before the launch of the computer science department. He stayed at Rochester for graduate study in the new department and, after earning a PhD, went on to IBM, where he helped create its cloud platform and pioneer its move into open source, and played a key role in its successful expansion into internet software.\r\n\r\nSabbah has made a $2 million commitment to establish the 50th Anniversary Distinguished Professorship in Computer Science.\r\n\r\n\u201cI am in a position where I can help facilitate opportunities for others, especially those who have or will build careers in computer science,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m honored to play a role in the development of the department and the people within it.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27<\/a>, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join. Visit or contribute to the department\u2019s memory board<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"max-text-center","title":"","description":"Landmarks in Computer Science<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThe roots of computer science predate the existence of any programmable machine. But the formation of the academic field was heavily dependent on such technological achievement.\r\n\r\nAs with many feats of modern technology, significant progress began during World War II.","background_color":"#00205b","width":"width-large","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"1936<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British scientist and mathematician Alan Turing, considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, presents the principles of the \u201cTuring machine,\u201d a model of digital computers. During World War II, electro-mechanical devices developed by Turing and his colleagues to break Nazi code supplied the Allies with crucial military intelligence.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615382,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1946<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"In a project of the US Army, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, a programmable electronic computer capable of performing complex calculations at unprecedented speed.\r\n\r\nMASTER OF WAR:<\/strong> Despite its speed, the ENIAC had no memory, and each calculation was programmed manually. Programming teams often included women, such as Jean Bartik (left) and Frances Spence. (University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615392,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1958\u201359<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Two engineers, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, independently and simultaneously invent the integrated circuit, or \u201cchip,\u201d which becomes the foundation of memory and processing. Kilby is awarded the Nobel Prize in 2000 for the work.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1962<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Purdue becomes the first American university to establish a department of computer science. In the next few years, a small number of other institutions follow, including the University of North Carolina, the University of Wisconsin, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1966\u201369<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The federal defense research initiative Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, develops ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. ARPANET enabled multiple computers to connect to a single mainframe, aiding communication between machines.\r\n\r\nINTERNET SANDBOX:<\/strong> By 1972, ARPANET was three years old and growing fast. The University of Rochester got connected shortly after the computer science department\u2019s founding in 1974, through the US Air Force Rome (NY) Air Development Center, or RADC, shown in this map. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615402,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1973<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Xerox introduces the Alto computer. It incorporates such features as a mouse and a graphical interface, together with Ethernet networking capability, allowing several computers to connect. Introduced at $32,000, according to a 1981 article in Byte magazine, the Alto was intended for research and never commercialized or mass produced.\r\n\r\n$32,000 PERSONAL COMPUTER:<\/strong> Accompanying the Alto\u2019s sleek desktop setup was a processor box that fit in a small metal cabinet. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615412,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1974<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester launches the Department of Computer Science. It begins the fall semester with three faculty members and eight graduate students.\r\n\r\nFounding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman obtains four Alto computers from Xerox\u2014making Rochester one of the first universities to own the machine. In the next few years, classmates Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Gene Ball \u201902 (PhD) create one of the earliest networked computer games for the Alto. Alto-Trek, inspired by the TV show Star Trek<\/em>, featured a universe of 16 star systems and included Klingon,\u00a0Romulan, and\u00a0Terran spaceships and weaponry from the show.\r\n\r\nFOUR FAB ALTOS:<\/strong> Founding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman poses with a couple of the four Xerox Alto computers he secured for the department. The machines were given the names John, Paul, George, and Ringo. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615422,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1975<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft to make software for the Altair 8080, a personal computer released the same year.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1976<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne found Apple Computer with the aim of designing and selling user-friendly personal computers.\r\n\r\nA team of faculty members and students create an operating system, the Rochester Intelligent Gateway, or RIG, that can manage multiple machines at once. A landmark in network architecture, RIG is widely acknowledged as the direct ancestor of the Apple operating system, through the intermediate Accent, Mach, and NeXTSTEP projects, led by Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Avie Tevanian \u201983, who became a doctoral student of Rashid\u2019s at Carnegie Mellon.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1981<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"IBM introduces its first personal computer. The IBM PC, using Microsoft\u2019s MS-DOS operating system, goes on the market in August for $1,565. Purchased widely by businesses, the PC becomes the industry standard for office workers.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1982<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer Vision<\/em>, a textbook by faculty members Christopher Brown and Dana Ballard, is published by Prentice-Hall. The book becomes a landmark in AI as it pertains to how computers identify, process, and analyze real-world objects.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615432,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1984<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Apple introduces the Macintosh computer.\r\n\r\nThe department, already strong in parallel computing, acquires a 128-node BBN Butterfly Parallel Processor, the largest shared-memory multiprocessor in the world at the time. Over the next few years, faculty including Thomas LeBlanc, Michael Scott, and Christopher Brown develop new software packages and applications, leading to innovations in parallel algorithms, memory management, synchronization, and operating system design that continue to shape the state of the art today.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1985<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Construction begins on the seven-story Computer Studies Building. Completed in 1987, it will house computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and the Carlson Science and Engineering Library.\r\n\r\nTOO BIG FOR ITS BUILDING:<\/strong> With more faculty, students, and equipment, the computer science department has outgrown its home in Hylan Hall. Construction of the Computer Studies Building is completed in 1987. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615442,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1986<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Diane Litman (PhD) becomes the first woman to earn a degree from the Department of Computer Science. She went on to become principal technical staff member in the Artificial Intelligence Principles Research Department at AT&T Labs\u2013Research and a professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1989<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British researcher\u00a0Tim Berners-Lee publishes his proposal for hypertext markup language (html), which becomes the building block of the World Wide Web.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1991<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Science News<\/em> reports that a team of Rochester computer science graduate students \u201chas developed a checker-playing robot that not only works out a strategy but also \u2018sees\u2019 the board, makes the moves, and even comments on the play.\u201d\r\n\r\nADVENTURES IN ROBOTICS:<\/strong> Faculty and graduate students watch as the robotic arm later featured in Science News<\/em> takes its first stab at checkers. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615452,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1995<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department introduces an undergraduate major and graduates its first class, including 10 students, in 1996.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2009<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department, previously part of the School of Arts & Sciences, moves into the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2013<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The Goergen Institute for Data Science is established. Plans begin for a new home, Wegmans Hall, to house the institute and the computer science department in a collaborative environment. The building is completed in 2017.\r\n\r\nARC OF PROGRESS:<\/strong> In a nod to the past, the design of Wegmans Hall, gracing the entrance to the Edmund A. Hajim Science & Engineering Quadrangle, suggests a punch card\u2014once the primary means of inputting data into a computer. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615462,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2014<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester becomes one of 15 \u201cBRAID schools\u201d as the computer science department joins Building, Recruiting, and Inclusion for Diversity, an initiative of the Anita Borg Institute, funded by Meta, Google, Intel, and Microsoft. Rochester\u2019s participation, spearheaded by then department chair Sandhya Dwarkadas and then undergraduate coordinator Marty Guenther, leads to policy changes that result in a notable increase in female students.\r\n\r\nMAJOR PROGRESS:<\/strong> Computer science majors (left to right) Gianna Marci \u201918, Euakarn (Som) Liengtiraphan \u201917, and Pooja Priya \u201920, \u00a0pose in the lab in 2017. (Sarah Mossey)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615472,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2023<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Fall enrollment shows women make up 30 percent of undergraduate computer science majors, 10 percentage points greater than the national average.\r\n\r\n ","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2024<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer science is the second most popular major, surpassed only by the biological sciences. The department graduates 125 students with bachelor\u2019s degrees, 28 with master\u2019s degrees, and 20 with doctorates.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"title-line t-below t-yellow centered","title":"Celebrate success<\/h2>","description":"","background_color":"#FFFFFF","width":"width-medium","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"
Department of Computer Science<\/p>\r\n\r\n
50th Anniversary celebration<\/h3>","card_text":"The Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join.","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#283faf","card_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/cs.rochester.edu\/about\/50th-anniversary.html","target":""},"card_hover_arrow":"hover_arrow","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]}]},"yoast_head":"\nBit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at URochester<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester marks 50 years of revolutionary progress.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at URochester\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester marks 50 years of revolutionary progress.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-06T19:22:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-24T17:37:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/2017-11-16_Wegmans_Hall_208-1200x630.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" 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Doing computer science at Rochester<\/h3>","content":"A member of Rochester's Department of Computer Science faculty since 1984, Michael Scott has a long perspective on the evolution of computer science and on the unique aspects of Rochester's computer science curriculum. Scott, the Arthur Gould Yates Professor of Engineering and professor of computer science, addresses both topics in this conversation, part of the Full Spectrum video series of the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.","cta":"","bg":"#f4f4f4","type":"embed","image":"","embed":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oqpwZ5RbetE","video":"","layout":"left","animation":"animation-false"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pb-0","title":"","content":"The focus on AI created opportunities for collaborations with faculty in cognitive science (later the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences<\/a>), the Center for Visual Science<\/a>, the Design Automation Project, and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.\r\n\r\nSays Michael Scott<\/a>, a professor of computer science and the Arthur Gould Yates Professor of Engineering, who came to Rochester in 1984, \u201cComputer science is an interdisciplinary field, but I think it\u2019s more the case here than almost anywhere.\u201d\r\nA new major<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nBy the 1990s, the promises of ARPANET had borne fruit, and the technology evolved into the internet, connecting millions of computers around the world. Meanwhile, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee had proposed an application for the internet: a method to create pages, with unique addresses, giving networks a new and compelling purpose. The World Wide Web, as it was soon known, spread information with ease and at a speed (even in its first days) previously unknown. The dot-com era had arrived, and with it, exploding interest in the study of computer science.\r\n\r\nThe department had solely been offering graduate degrees, but nationwide, the demand for computer science was high enough that the department introduced undergraduate degrees and a minor in 1995.\r\n\r\nThe undergraduate program was a significant development for the department, and leadership had to be careful to integrate undergraduate education while preserving the culture that had allowed the department to thrive.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen I arrived in 1989, the culture was 100 percent focused on research and doing something amazing,\u201d says George Ferguson<\/a> \u201995 (PhD), director of the department\u2019s undergraduate program and a professor of instruction.\r\n\r\nThat same spirit infuses the undergraduate program, which has a heavy research focus and emphasis on \u201cbreadth and the foundation of the discipline as a whole,\u201d he adds. That approach fosters \u201cgraduates who understand enough to learn new things, which is essential in a field that has been evolving constantly since its inception.\u201d\r\n\r\nAt the same time, the department has been deft in attracting students with wide interests. \u201cThe program was smartly designed from the beginning so that you could either pursue a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science,\u201d Ferguson adds. The modified requirements of the bachelor of arts made a computer science degree more accessible to students also pursuing degrees in fields from physics to art history.\r\n\r\nThe program\u2019s first graduating class in 1996 included 10 students, and by 2003, that number had increased fivefold.\r\nPost-Y2K challenges<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe dot-com bubble burst of 2000 put a pause on the undergraduate program\u2019s growth. As tech companies folded, some prospective students became wary of pursuing careers in computer science.\r\n\r\nChristopher Stewart<\/a> \u201909 (PhD), now a professor of computer science at Ohio State University, says that when he arrived as a PhD student in 2003, the discipline was facing intense challenges beyond the financial sector as well.\r\n\r\nFor the past few decades, the computer industry had relied on the expectation, largely borne out by experience, that the number of transistors on a microchip would double about every two years, at nominal cost. Accordingly, computers would continue to get smaller, faster, and cheaper. The trend became known as Moore\u2019s Law and, not really a law at all, scientists began predicting its end. Similarly, Dennard scaling\u2014the physical principle that enabled transistors growing in potency to consume less power\u2014was running out as well.\r\n\r\nMoore\u2019s law and Dennard scaling, says Stewart, \u201cwere these things that allowed us to keep building sequential programs for so long. It was an exciting time, and it was fun to be a part of that phase of computing.\u201d\r\n\r\nStewart, who focused on computing systems, says much of the research at the time focused on parallel computing\u2014that is, how to break down large, complex problems into smaller, independent groups of calculations, all of which could be carried out simultaneously across multiple processors relying on shared memory. Although at first Stewart did not understand what parallelism would lead to, he received an answer that proved to be decades ahead of its time.\r\n\r\nAs a beginning graduate student, \u201cI was really trying to understand the field and where things were headed,\u201d he recalls. He asked Michael Scott, the leader of the computer systems research group, what was likely to happen to the field of parallel computing.\r\n\r\n\u201cI asked [him], \u2018What are we going to do? Even if we do get all of this parallel programming done, we already know how to write\u2019 whatever single-coded thread was dominant that day. He told me, \u2018Chris, if we can do parallelism right, we can reach new heights with AI.\u2019 That was at least two generations of insight ahead of where computing would go.\u201d\r\nBRAIDing a future<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nBy the mid 2010s, computer science had rebounded from the dot-com bust and experienced a second surge in enrollment. With that growth also came efforts to diversify the student body, particularly to get more women to pursue computer science degrees at Rochester.\r\n\r\nSandhya Dwarkadas joined the department as an assistant professor in 1996 and later became the Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor of Engineering<\/a> and from 2014 to 2020, chair of computer science. Dwarkadas, now a professor and chair of computer science at the University of Virginia<\/a>, recalls in those early years a tight-knit and collegial department but one that had few women.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"testimonial","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"","content":"","cta":"","bg_color":"#ffffff","style":"cards","items":[{"pull_quote":"\u201cI taught many classes where I had just one woman or no women in the class...Now the statistics are roughly 30 percent. That is a pretty big sea change.\u201d","attribution":"Sandhya Dwarkadas","wrapping_link":"","image":615342,"layout":"left"}],"items_scroll":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pt-0","title":"","content":"It\u2019s also well above the national average of 20 percent<\/a>.\r\n\r\nUnder Dwarkadas\u2019s leadership, Rochester became one of 15 universities in 2014 to join BRAID (Building, Recruiting, and Inclusion for Diversity)<\/a>, an initiative funded by Facebook, Google, Intel, and Microsoft and administered by the Anita Borg Institute.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis cohort of 15 departments met regularly and exchanged information about what it would take to make a difference,\u201d she says. She and undergraduate coordinator Marty Guenther worked to attract more students interested in double majors, and to build community and provide opportunities for peer networking. Those efforts \u201cmade a huge difference,\u201d says Dwarkadas.\r\nNew frontiers <\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn 2013, the department spun off the Goergen Institute for Data Science<\/a>. Outgoing chair Henry Kautz became its founding director, and together the programs moved into the new Wegmans Hall.\r\n\r\nNow, as the use of commercial generative AI spreads rapidly, the department remains at the forefront of AI research. \u201cKey roots of today\u2019s AI explosion go back to work that was done here,\u201d says Scott. \u201cOur department has been about half AI since its founding. Today that emphasis is very common. But until even as recently as 10 years ago, it was uncommon.\u201d\r\n\r\nEarlier this year, one of the department\u2019s first graduates presented the department with a sizeable birthday gift.\r\n\r\nDaniel Sabbah \u201974, \u201982 (PhD) graduated with a degree in mathematics just before the launch of the computer science department. He stayed at Rochester for graduate study in the new department and, after earning a PhD, went on to IBM, where he helped create its cloud platform and pioneer its move into open source, and played a key role in its successful expansion into internet software.\r\n\r\nSabbah has made a $2 million commitment to establish the 50th Anniversary Distinguished Professorship in Computer Science.\r\n\r\n\u201cI am in a position where I can help facilitate opportunities for others, especially those who have or will build careers in computer science,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m honored to play a role in the development of the department and the people within it.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27<\/a>, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join. Visit or contribute to the department\u2019s memory board<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"max-text-center","title":"","description":"Landmarks in Computer Science<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThe roots of computer science predate the existence of any programmable machine. But the formation of the academic field was heavily dependent on such technological achievement.\r\n\r\nAs with many feats of modern technology, significant progress began during World War II.","background_color":"#00205b","width":"width-large","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"1936<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British scientist and mathematician Alan Turing, considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, presents the principles of the \u201cTuring machine,\u201d a model of digital computers. During World War II, electro-mechanical devices developed by Turing and his colleagues to break Nazi code supplied the Allies with crucial military intelligence.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615382,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1946<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"In a project of the US Army, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, a programmable electronic computer capable of performing complex calculations at unprecedented speed.\r\n\r\nMASTER OF WAR:<\/strong> Despite its speed, the ENIAC had no memory, and each calculation was programmed manually. Programming teams often included women, such as Jean Bartik (left) and Frances Spence. (University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615392,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1958\u201359<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Two engineers, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, independently and simultaneously invent the integrated circuit, or \u201cchip,\u201d which becomes the foundation of memory and processing. Kilby is awarded the Nobel Prize in 2000 for the work.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1962<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Purdue becomes the first American university to establish a department of computer science. In the next few years, a small number of other institutions follow, including the University of North Carolina, the University of Wisconsin, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1966\u201369<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The federal defense research initiative Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, develops ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. ARPANET enabled multiple computers to connect to a single mainframe, aiding communication between machines.\r\n\r\nINTERNET SANDBOX:<\/strong> By 1972, ARPANET was three years old and growing fast. The University of Rochester got connected shortly after the computer science department\u2019s founding in 1974, through the US Air Force Rome (NY) Air Development Center, or RADC, shown in this map. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615402,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1973<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Xerox introduces the Alto computer. It incorporates such features as a mouse and a graphical interface, together with Ethernet networking capability, allowing several computers to connect. Introduced at $32,000, according to a 1981 article in Byte magazine, the Alto was intended for research and never commercialized or mass produced.\r\n\r\n$32,000 PERSONAL COMPUTER:<\/strong> Accompanying the Alto\u2019s sleek desktop setup was a processor box that fit in a small metal cabinet. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615412,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1974<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester launches the Department of Computer Science. It begins the fall semester with three faculty members and eight graduate students.\r\n\r\nFounding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman obtains four Alto computers from Xerox\u2014making Rochester one of the first universities to own the machine. In the next few years, classmates Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Gene Ball \u201902 (PhD) create one of the earliest networked computer games for the Alto. Alto-Trek, inspired by the TV show Star Trek<\/em>, featured a universe of 16 star systems and included Klingon,\u00a0Romulan, and\u00a0Terran spaceships and weaponry from the show.\r\n\r\nFOUR FAB ALTOS:<\/strong> Founding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman poses with a couple of the four Xerox Alto computers he secured for the department. The machines were given the names John, Paul, George, and Ringo. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615422,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1975<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft to make software for the Altair 8080, a personal computer released the same year.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1976<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne found Apple Computer with the aim of designing and selling user-friendly personal computers.\r\n\r\nA team of faculty members and students create an operating system, the Rochester Intelligent Gateway, or RIG, that can manage multiple machines at once. A landmark in network architecture, RIG is widely acknowledged as the direct ancestor of the Apple operating system, through the intermediate Accent, Mach, and NeXTSTEP projects, led by Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Avie Tevanian \u201983, who became a doctoral student of Rashid\u2019s at Carnegie Mellon.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1981<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"IBM introduces its first personal computer. The IBM PC, using Microsoft\u2019s MS-DOS operating system, goes on the market in August for $1,565. Purchased widely by businesses, the PC becomes the industry standard for office workers.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1982<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer Vision<\/em>, a textbook by faculty members Christopher Brown and Dana Ballard, is published by Prentice-Hall. The book becomes a landmark in AI as it pertains to how computers identify, process, and analyze real-world objects.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615432,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1984<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Apple introduces the Macintosh computer.\r\n\r\nThe department, already strong in parallel computing, acquires a 128-node BBN Butterfly Parallel Processor, the largest shared-memory multiprocessor in the world at the time. Over the next few years, faculty including Thomas LeBlanc, Michael Scott, and Christopher Brown develop new software packages and applications, leading to innovations in parallel algorithms, memory management, synchronization, and operating system design that continue to shape the state of the art today.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1985<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Construction begins on the seven-story Computer Studies Building. Completed in 1987, it will house computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and the Carlson Science and Engineering Library.\r\n\r\nTOO BIG FOR ITS BUILDING:<\/strong> With more faculty, students, and equipment, the computer science department has outgrown its home in Hylan Hall. Construction of the Computer Studies Building is completed in 1987. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615442,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1986<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Diane Litman (PhD) becomes the first woman to earn a degree from the Department of Computer Science. She went on to become principal technical staff member in the Artificial Intelligence Principles Research Department at AT&T Labs\u2013Research and a professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1989<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British researcher\u00a0Tim Berners-Lee publishes his proposal for hypertext markup language (html), which becomes the building block of the World Wide Web.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1991<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Science News<\/em> reports that a team of Rochester computer science graduate students \u201chas developed a checker-playing robot that not only works out a strategy but also \u2018sees\u2019 the board, makes the moves, and even comments on the play.\u201d\r\n\r\nADVENTURES IN ROBOTICS:<\/strong> Faculty and graduate students watch as the robotic arm later featured in Science News<\/em> takes its first stab at checkers. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615452,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1995<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department introduces an undergraduate major and graduates its first class, including 10 students, in 1996.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2009<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department, previously part of the School of Arts & Sciences, moves into the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2013<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The Goergen Institute for Data Science is established. Plans begin for a new home, Wegmans Hall, to house the institute and the computer science department in a collaborative environment. The building is completed in 2017.\r\n\r\nARC OF PROGRESS:<\/strong> In a nod to the past, the design of Wegmans Hall, gracing the entrance to the Edmund A. Hajim Science & Engineering Quadrangle, suggests a punch card\u2014once the primary means of inputting data into a computer. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615462,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2014<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester becomes one of 15 \u201cBRAID schools\u201d as the computer science department joins Building, Recruiting, and Inclusion for Diversity, an initiative of the Anita Borg Institute, funded by Meta, Google, Intel, and Microsoft. Rochester\u2019s participation, spearheaded by then department chair Sandhya Dwarkadas and then undergraduate coordinator Marty Guenther, leads to policy changes that result in a notable increase in female students.\r\n\r\nMAJOR PROGRESS:<\/strong> Computer science majors (left to right) Gianna Marci \u201918, Euakarn (Som) Liengtiraphan \u201917, and Pooja Priya \u201920, \u00a0pose in the lab in 2017. (Sarah Mossey)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615472,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2023<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Fall enrollment shows women make up 30 percent of undergraduate computer science majors, 10 percentage points greater than the national average.\r\n\r\n ","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2024<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer science is the second most popular major, surpassed only by the biological sciences. The department graduates 125 students with bachelor\u2019s degrees, 28 with master\u2019s degrees, and 20 with doctorates.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"title-line t-below t-yellow centered","title":"Celebrate success<\/h2>","description":"","background_color":"#FFFFFF","width":"width-medium","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"
Department of Computer Science<\/p>\r\n\r\n
50th Anniversary celebration<\/h3>","card_text":"The Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join.","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#283faf","card_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/cs.rochester.edu\/about\/50th-anniversary.html","target":""},"card_hover_arrow":"hover_arrow","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]}]},"yoast_head":"\nBit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at URochester<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester marks 50 years of revolutionary progress.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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content=\"Luke Auburn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Auburn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Luke Auburn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e928dc2863b53a89ece6d40c7992a4e1\"},\"headline\":\"Bit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at 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Adam Fenster)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at URochester"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"University of Rochester","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e928dc2863b53a89ece6d40c7992a4e1","name":"Luke Auburn","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/lauburn\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1242"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615202"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669502,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615202\/revisions\/669502"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613942"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613992"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Post-Y2K challenges<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe dot-com bubble burst of 2000 put a pause on the undergraduate program\u2019s growth. As tech companies folded, some prospective students became wary of pursuing careers in computer science.\r\n\r\nChristopher Stewart<\/a> \u201909 (PhD), now a professor of computer science at Ohio State University, says that when he arrived as a PhD student in 2003, the discipline was facing intense challenges beyond the financial sector as well.\r\n\r\nFor the past few decades, the computer industry had relied on the expectation, largely borne out by experience, that the number of transistors on a microchip would double about every two years, at nominal cost. Accordingly, computers would continue to get smaller, faster, and cheaper. The trend became known as Moore\u2019s Law and, not really a law at all, scientists began predicting its end. Similarly, Dennard scaling\u2014the physical principle that enabled transistors growing in potency to consume less power\u2014was running out as well.\r\n\r\nMoore\u2019s law and Dennard scaling, says Stewart, \u201cwere these things that allowed us to keep building sequential programs for so long. It was an exciting time, and it was fun to be a part of that phase of computing.\u201d\r\n\r\nStewart, who focused on computing systems, says much of the research at the time focused on parallel computing\u2014that is, how to break down large, complex problems into smaller, independent groups of calculations, all of which could be carried out simultaneously across multiple processors relying on shared memory. Although at first Stewart did not understand what parallelism would lead to, he received an answer that proved to be decades ahead of its time.\r\n\r\nAs a beginning graduate student, \u201cI was really trying to understand the field and where things were headed,\u201d he recalls. He asked Michael Scott, the leader of the computer systems research group, what was likely to happen to the field of parallel computing.\r\n\r\n\u201cI asked [him], \u2018What are we going to do? Even if we do get all of this parallel programming done, we already know how to write\u2019 whatever single-coded thread was dominant that day. He told me, \u2018Chris, if we can do parallelism right, we can reach new heights with AI.\u2019 That was at least two generations of insight ahead of where computing would go.\u201d\r\nBRAIDing a future<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nBy the mid 2010s, computer science had rebounded from the dot-com bust and experienced a second surge in enrollment. With that growth also came efforts to diversify the student body, particularly to get more women to pursue computer science degrees at Rochester.\r\n\r\nSandhya Dwarkadas joined the department as an assistant professor in 1996 and later became the Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor of Engineering<\/a> and from 2014 to 2020, chair of computer science. Dwarkadas, now a professor and chair of computer science at the University of Virginia<\/a>, recalls in those early years a tight-knit and collegial department but one that had few women.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"testimonial","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"","content":"","cta":"","bg_color":"#ffffff","style":"cards","items":[{"pull_quote":"\u201cI taught many classes where I had just one woman or no women in the class...Now the statistics are roughly 30 percent. That is a pretty big sea change.\u201d","attribution":"Sandhya Dwarkadas","wrapping_link":"","image":615342,"layout":"left"}],"items_scroll":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pt-0","title":"","content":"It\u2019s also well above the national average of 20 percent<\/a>.\r\n\r\nUnder Dwarkadas\u2019s leadership, Rochester became one of 15 universities in 2014 to join BRAID (Building, Recruiting, and Inclusion for Diversity)<\/a>, an initiative funded by Facebook, Google, Intel, and Microsoft and administered by the Anita Borg Institute.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis cohort of 15 departments met regularly and exchanged information about what it would take to make a difference,\u201d she says. She and undergraduate coordinator Marty Guenther worked to attract more students interested in double majors, and to build community and provide opportunities for peer networking. Those efforts \u201cmade a huge difference,\u201d says Dwarkadas.\r\nNew frontiers <\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn 2013, the department spun off the Goergen Institute for Data Science<\/a>. Outgoing chair Henry Kautz became its founding director, and together the programs moved into the new Wegmans Hall.\r\n\r\nNow, as the use of commercial generative AI spreads rapidly, the department remains at the forefront of AI research. \u201cKey roots of today\u2019s AI explosion go back to work that was done here,\u201d says Scott. \u201cOur department has been about half AI since its founding. Today that emphasis is very common. But until even as recently as 10 years ago, it was uncommon.\u201d\r\n\r\nEarlier this year, one of the department\u2019s first graduates presented the department with a sizeable birthday gift.\r\n\r\nDaniel Sabbah \u201974, \u201982 (PhD) graduated with a degree in mathematics just before the launch of the computer science department. He stayed at Rochester for graduate study in the new department and, after earning a PhD, went on to IBM, where he helped create its cloud platform and pioneer its move into open source, and played a key role in its successful expansion into internet software.\r\n\r\nSabbah has made a $2 million commitment to establish the 50th Anniversary Distinguished Professorship in Computer Science.\r\n\r\n\u201cI am in a position where I can help facilitate opportunities for others, especially those who have or will build careers in computer science,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m honored to play a role in the development of the department and the people within it.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27<\/a>, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join. Visit or contribute to the department\u2019s memory board<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"max-text-center","title":"","description":"Landmarks in Computer Science<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThe roots of computer science predate the existence of any programmable machine. But the formation of the academic field was heavily dependent on such technological achievement.\r\n\r\nAs with many feats of modern technology, significant progress began during World War II.","background_color":"#00205b","width":"width-large","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"1936<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British scientist and mathematician Alan Turing, considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, presents the principles of the \u201cTuring machine,\u201d a model of digital computers. During World War II, electro-mechanical devices developed by Turing and his colleagues to break Nazi code supplied the Allies with crucial military intelligence.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615382,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1946<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"In a project of the US Army, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, a programmable electronic computer capable of performing complex calculations at unprecedented speed.\r\n\r\nMASTER OF WAR:<\/strong> Despite its speed, the ENIAC had no memory, and each calculation was programmed manually. Programming teams often included women, such as Jean Bartik (left) and Frances Spence. (University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615392,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1958\u201359<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Two engineers, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, independently and simultaneously invent the integrated circuit, or \u201cchip,\u201d which becomes the foundation of memory and processing. Kilby is awarded the Nobel Prize in 2000 for the work.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1962<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Purdue becomes the first American university to establish a department of computer science. In the next few years, a small number of other institutions follow, including the University of North Carolina, the University of Wisconsin, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1966\u201369<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The federal defense research initiative Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, develops ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. ARPANET enabled multiple computers to connect to a single mainframe, aiding communication between machines.\r\n\r\nINTERNET SANDBOX:<\/strong> By 1972, ARPANET was three years old and growing fast. The University of Rochester got connected shortly after the computer science department\u2019s founding in 1974, through the US Air Force Rome (NY) Air Development Center, or RADC, shown in this map. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615402,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1973<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Xerox introduces the Alto computer. It incorporates such features as a mouse and a graphical interface, together with Ethernet networking capability, allowing several computers to connect. Introduced at $32,000, according to a 1981 article in Byte magazine, the Alto was intended for research and never commercialized or mass produced.\r\n\r\n$32,000 PERSONAL COMPUTER:<\/strong> Accompanying the Alto\u2019s sleek desktop setup was a processor box that fit in a small metal cabinet. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615412,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1974<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester launches the Department of Computer Science. It begins the fall semester with three faculty members and eight graduate students.\r\n\r\nFounding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman obtains four Alto computers from Xerox\u2014making Rochester one of the first universities to own the machine. In the next few years, classmates Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Gene Ball \u201902 (PhD) create one of the earliest networked computer games for the Alto. Alto-Trek, inspired by the TV show Star Trek<\/em>, featured a universe of 16 star systems and included Klingon,\u00a0Romulan, and\u00a0Terran spaceships and weaponry from the show.\r\n\r\nFOUR FAB ALTOS:<\/strong> Founding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman poses with a couple of the four Xerox Alto computers he secured for the department. The machines were given the names John, Paul, George, and Ringo. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615422,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1975<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft to make software for the Altair 8080, a personal computer released the same year.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1976<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne found Apple Computer with the aim of designing and selling user-friendly personal computers.\r\n\r\nA team of faculty members and students create an operating system, the Rochester Intelligent Gateway, or RIG, that can manage multiple machines at once. A landmark in network architecture, RIG is widely acknowledged as the direct ancestor of the Apple operating system, through the intermediate Accent, Mach, and NeXTSTEP projects, led by Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Avie Tevanian \u201983, who became a doctoral student of Rashid\u2019s at Carnegie Mellon.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1981<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"IBM introduces its first personal computer. The IBM PC, using Microsoft\u2019s MS-DOS operating system, goes on the market in August for $1,565. Purchased widely by businesses, the PC becomes the industry standard for office workers.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1982<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer Vision<\/em>, a textbook by faculty members Christopher Brown and Dana Ballard, is published by Prentice-Hall. The book becomes a landmark in AI as it pertains to how computers identify, process, and analyze real-world objects.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615432,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1984<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Apple introduces the Macintosh computer.\r\n\r\nThe department, already strong in parallel computing, acquires a 128-node BBN Butterfly Parallel Processor, the largest shared-memory multiprocessor in the world at the time. Over the next few years, faculty including Thomas LeBlanc, Michael Scott, and Christopher Brown develop new software packages and applications, leading to innovations in parallel algorithms, memory management, synchronization, and operating system design that continue to shape the state of the art today.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1985<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Construction begins on the seven-story Computer Studies Building. Completed in 1987, it will house computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and the Carlson Science and Engineering Library.\r\n\r\nTOO BIG FOR ITS BUILDING:<\/strong> With more faculty, students, and equipment, the computer science department has outgrown its home in Hylan Hall. Construction of the Computer Studies Building is completed in 1987. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615442,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1986<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Diane Litman (PhD) becomes the first woman to earn a degree from the Department of Computer Science. She went on to become principal technical staff member in the Artificial Intelligence Principles Research Department at AT&T Labs\u2013Research and a professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1989<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British researcher\u00a0Tim Berners-Lee publishes his proposal for hypertext markup language (html), which becomes the building block of the World Wide Web.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1991<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Science News<\/em> reports that a team of Rochester computer science graduate students \u201chas developed a checker-playing robot that not only works out a strategy but also \u2018sees\u2019 the board, makes the moves, and even comments on the play.\u201d\r\n\r\nADVENTURES IN ROBOTICS:<\/strong> Faculty and graduate students watch as the robotic arm later featured in Science News<\/em> takes its first stab at checkers. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615452,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1995<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department introduces an undergraduate major and graduates its first class, including 10 students, in 1996.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2009<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department, previously part of the School of Arts & Sciences, moves into the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2013<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The Goergen Institute for Data Science is established. Plans begin for a new home, Wegmans Hall, to house the institute and the computer science department in a collaborative environment. The building is completed in 2017.\r\n\r\nARC OF PROGRESS:<\/strong> In a nod to the past, the design of Wegmans Hall, gracing the entrance to the Edmund A. Hajim Science & Engineering Quadrangle, suggests a punch card\u2014once the primary means of inputting data into a computer. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615462,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2014<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester becomes one of 15 \u201cBRAID schools\u201d as the computer science department joins Building, Recruiting, and Inclusion for Diversity, an initiative of the Anita Borg Institute, funded by Meta, Google, Intel, and Microsoft. Rochester\u2019s participation, spearheaded by then department chair Sandhya Dwarkadas and then undergraduate coordinator Marty Guenther, leads to policy changes that result in a notable increase in female students.\r\n\r\nMAJOR PROGRESS:<\/strong> Computer science majors (left to right) Gianna Marci \u201918, Euakarn (Som) Liengtiraphan \u201917, and Pooja Priya \u201920, \u00a0pose in the lab in 2017. (Sarah Mossey)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615472,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2023<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Fall enrollment shows women make up 30 percent of undergraduate computer science majors, 10 percentage points greater than the national average.\r\n\r\n ","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2024<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer science is the second most popular major, surpassed only by the biological sciences. The department graduates 125 students with bachelor\u2019s degrees, 28 with master\u2019s degrees, and 20 with doctorates.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"title-line t-below t-yellow centered","title":"Celebrate success<\/h2>","description":"","background_color":"#FFFFFF","width":"width-medium","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"
Department of Computer Science<\/p>\r\n\r\n
50th Anniversary celebration<\/h3>","card_text":"The Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join.","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#283faf","card_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/cs.rochester.edu\/about\/50th-anniversary.html","target":""},"card_hover_arrow":"hover_arrow","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]}]},"yoast_head":"\nBit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at URochester<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester marks 50 years of revolutionary progress.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at URochester\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester marks 50 years of revolutionary progress.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-06T19:22:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-24T17:37:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/2017-11-16_Wegmans_Hall_208-1200x630.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Auburn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Auburn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Luke Auburn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e928dc2863b53a89ece6d40c7992a4e1\"},\"headline\":\"Bit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at 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New frontiers <\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn 2013, the department spun off the Goergen Institute for Data Science<\/a>. Outgoing chair Henry Kautz became its founding director, and together the programs moved into the new Wegmans Hall.\r\n\r\nNow, as the use of commercial generative AI spreads rapidly, the department remains at the forefront of AI research. \u201cKey roots of today\u2019s AI explosion go back to work that was done here,\u201d says Scott. \u201cOur department has been about half AI since its founding. Today that emphasis is very common. But until even as recently as 10 years ago, it was uncommon.\u201d\r\n\r\nEarlier this year, one of the department\u2019s first graduates presented the department with a sizeable birthday gift.\r\n\r\nDaniel Sabbah \u201974, \u201982 (PhD) graduated with a degree in mathematics just before the launch of the computer science department. He stayed at Rochester for graduate study in the new department and, after earning a PhD, went on to IBM, where he helped create its cloud platform and pioneer its move into open source, and played a key role in its successful expansion into internet software.\r\n\r\nSabbah has made a $2 million commitment to establish the 50th Anniversary Distinguished Professorship in Computer Science.\r\n\r\n\u201cI am in a position where I can help facilitate opportunities for others, especially those who have or will build careers in computer science,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m honored to play a role in the development of the department and the people within it.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27<\/a>, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join. Visit or contribute to the department\u2019s memory board<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"max-text-center","title":"","description":"Landmarks in Computer Science<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThe roots of computer science predate the existence of any programmable machine. But the formation of the academic field was heavily dependent on such technological achievement.\r\n\r\nAs with many feats of modern technology, significant progress began during World War II.","background_color":"#00205b","width":"width-large","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"1936<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British scientist and mathematician Alan Turing, considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, presents the principles of the \u201cTuring machine,\u201d a model of digital computers. During World War II, electro-mechanical devices developed by Turing and his colleagues to break Nazi code supplied the Allies with crucial military intelligence.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615382,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1946<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"In a project of the US Army, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, a programmable electronic computer capable of performing complex calculations at unprecedented speed.\r\n\r\nMASTER OF WAR:<\/strong> Despite its speed, the ENIAC had no memory, and each calculation was programmed manually. Programming teams often included women, such as Jean Bartik (left) and Frances Spence. (University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615392,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1958\u201359<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Two engineers, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, independently and simultaneously invent the integrated circuit, or \u201cchip,\u201d which becomes the foundation of memory and processing. Kilby is awarded the Nobel Prize in 2000 for the work.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1962<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Purdue becomes the first American university to establish a department of computer science. In the next few years, a small number of other institutions follow, including the University of North Carolina, the University of Wisconsin, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1966\u201369<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The federal defense research initiative Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, develops ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. ARPANET enabled multiple computers to connect to a single mainframe, aiding communication between machines.\r\n\r\nINTERNET SANDBOX:<\/strong> By 1972, ARPANET was three years old and growing fast. The University of Rochester got connected shortly after the computer science department\u2019s founding in 1974, through the US Air Force Rome (NY) Air Development Center, or RADC, shown in this map. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615402,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1973<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Xerox introduces the Alto computer. It incorporates such features as a mouse and a graphical interface, together with Ethernet networking capability, allowing several computers to connect. Introduced at $32,000, according to a 1981 article in Byte magazine, the Alto was intended for research and never commercialized or mass produced.\r\n\r\n$32,000 PERSONAL COMPUTER:<\/strong> Accompanying the Alto\u2019s sleek desktop setup was a processor box that fit in a small metal cabinet. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615412,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1974<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester launches the Department of Computer Science. It begins the fall semester with three faculty members and eight graduate students.\r\n\r\nFounding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman obtains four Alto computers from Xerox\u2014making Rochester one of the first universities to own the machine. In the next few years, classmates Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Gene Ball \u201902 (PhD) create one of the earliest networked computer games for the Alto. Alto-Trek, inspired by the TV show Star Trek<\/em>, featured a universe of 16 star systems and included Klingon,\u00a0Romulan, and\u00a0Terran spaceships and weaponry from the show.\r\n\r\nFOUR FAB ALTOS:<\/strong> Founding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman poses with a couple of the four Xerox Alto computers he secured for the department. The machines were given the names John, Paul, George, and Ringo. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615422,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1975<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft to make software for the Altair 8080, a personal computer released the same year.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1976<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne found Apple Computer with the aim of designing and selling user-friendly personal computers.\r\n\r\nA team of faculty members and students create an operating system, the Rochester Intelligent Gateway, or RIG, that can manage multiple machines at once. A landmark in network architecture, RIG is widely acknowledged as the direct ancestor of the Apple operating system, through the intermediate Accent, Mach, and NeXTSTEP projects, led by Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Avie Tevanian \u201983, who became a doctoral student of Rashid\u2019s at Carnegie Mellon.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1981<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"IBM introduces its first personal computer. The IBM PC, using Microsoft\u2019s MS-DOS operating system, goes on the market in August for $1,565. Purchased widely by businesses, the PC becomes the industry standard for office workers.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1982<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer Vision<\/em>, a textbook by faculty members Christopher Brown and Dana Ballard, is published by Prentice-Hall. The book becomes a landmark in AI as it pertains to how computers identify, process, and analyze real-world objects.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615432,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1984<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Apple introduces the Macintosh computer.\r\n\r\nThe department, already strong in parallel computing, acquires a 128-node BBN Butterfly Parallel Processor, the largest shared-memory multiprocessor in the world at the time. Over the next few years, faculty including Thomas LeBlanc, Michael Scott, and Christopher Brown develop new software packages and applications, leading to innovations in parallel algorithms, memory management, synchronization, and operating system design that continue to shape the state of the art today.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1985<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Construction begins on the seven-story Computer Studies Building. Completed in 1987, it will house computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and the Carlson Science and Engineering Library.\r\n\r\nTOO BIG FOR ITS BUILDING:<\/strong> With more faculty, students, and equipment, the computer science department has outgrown its home in Hylan Hall. Construction of the Computer Studies Building is completed in 1987. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615442,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1986<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Diane Litman (PhD) becomes the first woman to earn a degree from the Department of Computer Science. She went on to become principal technical staff member in the Artificial Intelligence Principles Research Department at AT&T Labs\u2013Research and a professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1989<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British researcher\u00a0Tim Berners-Lee publishes his proposal for hypertext markup language (html), which becomes the building block of the World Wide Web.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1991<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Science News<\/em> reports that a team of Rochester computer science graduate students \u201chas developed a checker-playing robot that not only works out a strategy but also \u2018sees\u2019 the board, makes the moves, and even comments on the play.\u201d\r\n\r\nADVENTURES IN ROBOTICS:<\/strong> Faculty and graduate students watch as the robotic arm later featured in Science News<\/em> takes its first stab at checkers. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615452,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"1995<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department introduces an undergraduate major and graduates its first class, including 10 students, in 1996.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2009<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department, previously part of the School of Arts & Sciences, moves into the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2013<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The Goergen Institute for Data Science is established. Plans begin for a new home, Wegmans Hall, to house the institute and the computer science department in a collaborative environment. The building is completed in 2017.\r\n\r\nARC OF PROGRESS:<\/strong> In a nod to the past, the design of Wegmans Hall, gracing the entrance to the Edmund A. Hajim Science & Engineering Quadrangle, suggests a punch card\u2014once the primary means of inputting data into a computer. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615462,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2014<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester becomes one of 15 \u201cBRAID schools\u201d as the computer science department joins Building, Recruiting, and Inclusion for Diversity, an initiative of the Anita Borg Institute, funded by Meta, Google, Intel, and Microsoft. Rochester\u2019s participation, spearheaded by then department chair Sandhya Dwarkadas and then undergraduate coordinator Marty Guenther, leads to policy changes that result in a notable increase in female students.\r\n\r\nMAJOR PROGRESS:<\/strong> Computer science majors (left to right) Gianna Marci \u201918, Euakarn (Som) Liengtiraphan \u201917, and Pooja Priya \u201920, \u00a0pose in the lab in 2017. (Sarah Mossey)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615472,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2023<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Fall enrollment shows women make up 30 percent of undergraduate computer science majors, 10 percentage points greater than the national average.\r\n\r\n ","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":"2024<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer science is the second most popular major, surpassed only by the biological sciences. The department graduates 125 students with bachelor\u2019s degrees, 28 with master\u2019s degrees, and 20 with doctorates.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"title-line t-below t-yellow centered","title":"Celebrate success<\/h2>","description":"","background_color":"#FFFFFF","width":"width-medium","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"
Department of Computer Science<\/p>\r\n\r\n
50th Anniversary celebration<\/h3>","card_text":"The Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join.","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#283faf","card_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/cs.rochester.edu\/about\/50th-anniversary.html","target":""},"card_hover_arrow":"hover_arrow","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]}]},"yoast_head":"\nBit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at URochester<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester marks 50 years of revolutionary progress.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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content=\"Luke Auburn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Auburn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-summer-2024-computer-science-department-anniversary-615202\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Luke Auburn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e928dc2863b53a89ece6d40c7992a4e1\"},\"headline\":\"Bit by megabit: 50 years of computer science at 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1936<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British scientist and mathematician Alan Turing, considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, presents the principles of the \u201cTuring machine,\u201d a model of digital computers. During World War II, electro-mechanical devices developed by Turing and his colleagues to break Nazi code supplied the Allies with crucial military intelligence.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615382,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1946<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"In a project of the US Army, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, a programmable electronic computer capable of performing complex calculations at unprecedented speed.\r\n\r\nMASTER OF WAR:<\/strong> Despite its speed, the ENIAC had no memory, and each calculation was programmed manually. Programming teams often included women, such as Jean Bartik (left) and Frances Spence. (University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615392,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1958\u201359<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Two engineers, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, independently and simultaneously invent the integrated circuit, or \u201cchip,\u201d which becomes the foundation of memory and processing. Kilby is awarded the Nobel Prize in 2000 for the work.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1962<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Purdue becomes the first American university to establish a department of computer science. In the next few years, a small number of other institutions follow, including the University of North Carolina, the University of Wisconsin, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1966\u201369<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The federal defense research initiative Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, develops ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. ARPANET enabled multiple computers to connect to a single mainframe, aiding communication between machines.\r\n\r\nINTERNET SANDBOX:<\/strong> By 1972, ARPANET was three years old and growing fast. The University of Rochester got connected shortly after the computer science department\u2019s founding in 1974, through the US Air Force Rome (NY) Air Development Center, or RADC, shown in this map. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615402,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1973<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Xerox introduces the Alto computer. It incorporates such features as a mouse and a graphical interface, together with Ethernet networking capability, allowing several computers to connect. Introduced at $32,000, according to a 1981 article in Byte magazine, the Alto was intended for research and never commercialized or mass produced.\r\n\r\n$32,000 PERSONAL COMPUTER:<\/strong> Accompanying the Alto\u2019s sleek desktop setup was a processor box that fit in a small metal cabinet. (Wikimedia Commons)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615412,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1974<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester launches the Department of Computer Science. It begins the fall semester with three faculty members and eight graduate students.\r\n\r\nFounding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman obtains four Alto computers from Xerox\u2014making Rochester one of the first universities to own the machine. In the next few years, classmates Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Gene Ball \u201902 (PhD) create one of the earliest networked computer games for the Alto. Alto-Trek, inspired by the TV show Star Trek<\/em>, featured a universe of 16 star systems and included Klingon,\u00a0Romulan, and\u00a0Terran spaceships and weaponry from the show.\r\n\r\nFOUR FAB ALTOS:<\/strong> Founding chair Jerome (Jerry) Feldman poses with a couple of the four Xerox Alto computers he secured for the department. The machines were given the names John, Paul, George, and Ringo. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615422,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1975<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft to make software for the Altair 8080, a personal computer released the same year.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1976<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne found Apple Computer with the aim of designing and selling user-friendly personal computers.\r\n\r\nA team of faculty members and students create an operating system, the Rochester Intelligent Gateway, or RIG, that can manage multiple machines at once. A landmark in network architecture, RIG is widely acknowledged as the direct ancestor of the Apple operating system, through the intermediate Accent, Mach, and NeXTSTEP projects, led by Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD) and Avie Tevanian \u201983, who became a doctoral student of Rashid\u2019s at Carnegie Mellon.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1981<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"IBM introduces its first personal computer. The IBM PC, using Microsoft\u2019s MS-DOS operating system, goes on the market in August for $1,565. Purchased widely by businesses, the PC becomes the industry standard for office workers.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1982<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer Vision<\/em>, a textbook by faculty members Christopher Brown and Dana Ballard, is published by Prentice-Hall. The book becomes a landmark in AI as it pertains to how computers identify, process, and analyze real-world objects.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615432,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1984<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Apple introduces the Macintosh computer.\r\n\r\nThe department, already strong in parallel computing, acquires a 128-node BBN Butterfly Parallel Processor, the largest shared-memory multiprocessor in the world at the time. Over the next few years, faculty including Thomas LeBlanc, Michael Scott, and Christopher Brown develop new software packages and applications, leading to innovations in parallel algorithms, memory management, synchronization, and operating system design that continue to shape the state of the art today.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1985<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Construction begins on the seven-story Computer Studies Building. Completed in 1987, it will house computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and the Carlson Science and Engineering Library.\r\n\r\nTOO BIG FOR ITS BUILDING:<\/strong> With more faculty, students, and equipment, the computer science department has outgrown its home in Hylan Hall. Construction of the Computer Studies Building is completed in 1987. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615442,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1986<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Diane Litman (PhD) becomes the first woman to earn a degree from the Department of Computer Science. She went on to become principal technical staff member in the Artificial Intelligence Principles Research Department at AT&T Labs\u2013Research and a professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1989<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"British researcher\u00a0Tim Berners-Lee publishes his proposal for hypertext markup language (html), which becomes the building block of the World Wide Web.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1991<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Science News<\/em> reports that a team of Rochester computer science graduate students \u201chas developed a checker-playing robot that not only works out a strategy but also \u2018sees\u2019 the board, makes the moves, and even comments on the play.\u201d\r\n\r\nADVENTURES IN ROBOTICS:<\/strong> Faculty and graduate students watch as the robotic arm later featured in Science News<\/em> takes its first stab at checkers. (University Libraries\/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615452,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 1995<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department introduces an undergraduate major and graduates its first class, including 10 students, in 1996.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 2009<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The department, previously part of the School of Arts & Sciences, moves into the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 2013<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"The Goergen Institute for Data Science is established. Plans begin for a new home, Wegmans Hall, to house the institute and the computer science department in a collaborative environment. The building is completed in 2017.\r\n\r\nARC OF PROGRESS:<\/strong> In a nod to the past, the design of Wegmans Hall, gracing the entrance to the Edmund A. Hajim Science & Engineering Quadrangle, suggests a punch card\u2014once the primary means of inputting data into a computer. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615462,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 2014<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Rochester becomes one of 15 \u201cBRAID schools\u201d as the computer science department joins Building, Recruiting, and Inclusion for Diversity, an initiative of the Anita Borg Institute, funded by Meta, Google, Intel, and Microsoft. Rochester\u2019s participation, spearheaded by then department chair Sandhya Dwarkadas and then undergraduate coordinator Marty Guenther, leads to policy changes that result in a notable increase in female students.\r\n\r\nMAJOR PROGRESS:<\/strong> Computer science majors (left to right) Gianna Marci \u201918, Euakarn (Som) Liengtiraphan \u201917, and Pooja Priya \u201920, \u00a0pose in the lab in 2017. (Sarah Mossey)","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":615472,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 2023<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Fall enrollment shows women make up 30 percent of undergraduate computer science majors, 10 percentage points greater than the national average.\r\n\r\n ","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""},{"card_title":" 2024<\/strong><\/p>","card_text":"Computer science is the second most popular major, surpassed only by the biological sciences. The department graduates 125 students with bachelor\u2019s degrees, 28 with master\u2019s degrees, and 20 with doctorates.","card_background_color":"#FFFFFF","card_hover_color":"transparent","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"title-line t-below t-yellow centered","title":" Department of Computer Science<\/p>\r\n\r\nCelebrate success<\/h2>","description":"","background_color":"#FFFFFF","width":"width-medium","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"
50th Anniversary celebration<\/h3>","card_text":"The Department of Computer Science celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, September 27, during Meliora Weekend. All alumni, colleagues, and friends are invited to join.","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#283faf","card_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/cs.rochester.edu\/about\/50th-anniversary.html","target":""},"card_hover_arrow":"hover_arrow","card_image":"","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement":"","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]}]},"yoast_head":"\n