UNCC Computer Science Department

Department of Computer Science at UNC Charlotte Announces Its New Curriculum
New offerings will better prepare students for global opportunities in IT and Computing

Charlotte, NC - February 2, 2009 - The College of Computing and Informatics’(CCI) Department of Computer Science (CS) today announced a new initiative that will position it alongside the leaders in Computer Science across the United States. In a progressive move, the Department has introduced a new curriculum to better prepare its students for the global computing and IT workforce that currently is undergoing dramatic change.

“The whole area of computer science is much broader now as it touches almost all aspects of everyone’s life,” said Min Shin, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science. “In order to prepare our students to meet the needs of what has become very diverse computing and IT industries, we had to change our curriculum. So now, not only will our students continue to be able to receive what we call a traditional computer science degree, but they will also have the opportunity to explore other disciplines of personal interest and will learn how computer science fits within these disciplines.”

The Department of Computer Science offers two undergraduate degrees: Bachelor of Science (BS) and Bachelor of Arts (BA). Under the new curriculum, Computer Science has streamlined core requirements for the BS and BA degrees and made focus areas available to students. This ensures that CCI graduates have in-depth knowledge in an area of computer science that they select, in addition to the core computer science knowledge. Each focus area provides a path through the curriculum based on the expertise of a sub-group of the CS faculty. The paths include intelligent systems, game design and development, graphics and visualization, computing systems, and networking and distributed computing. For the BA, CS core requirements are made more compact, creating room for a second focus area in another discipline, which approximates a minor in that area. This provides BA students a potential extra career edge in having knowledge and skill in computer science plus a complementary discipline, such as business, cognitive science, biology, or any other discipline to which computing applies.

“The days of the image of a computer scientist working in a cubicle in a windowless room are long over,” said William Ribarsky, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Computer Science. “The Department of Computer Science is taking a leadership role in helping to develop the future workforce not only here in Charlotte but around the country. Our highly trained students will be pursuing career opportunities in banking, insurance, gaming, data warehousing, web services, biomedical informatics, healthcare, and energy, just to name a few. All will have the traditional computer science skill sets but now will also have the training to apply these new skills to many different disciplines.”

U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics indicate in the next eight years there will be over one million IT job openings in the United States and that one in every nineteen jobs created during that same time period will be professional IT positions. The U.S. Bureau of Labor also points out that five of the twelve fastest growing occupations in the U.S. are in computer science. Even in a time of economic downturn, computer science graduates have better job prospects than graduates from most engineering or science fields.

“This is an incredibly exciting time for our students and prospective students,” said Dr. Ribarsky. “We are now in a time when collaboration across disparate disciplines will afford the opportunity to create new and innovative ideas, and problem-solving methods. Our new curriculum will empower our students to take advantage of these opportunities and become the leaders in the computer science workforce.”

For details of the new curriculum, go to www.cs.uncc.edu and follow the link under New Undergraduate Curriculum Launched.

About The College of Computing and Informatics
The College of Computing and Informatics provides academic programs in computer science, software and information systems, information technology, and bioinformatics. It is also the home to leading research centers and institutes, including the Center for Digital Identity and Cyber Defense Research, the Bioinformatics Research Center, the Charlotte Visualization Center, the Diversity in Information Technology Institute, the eBusiness Technology Institute, and the Software Solutions Lab.

About UNC Charlotte
A public research university, UNC Charlotte is the fourth largest campus among the 17 institutions of the University of North Carolina system. It is the largest institution of higher education in the Charlotte region. The University offers 18 doctoral programs, 62 master’s degree programs, and 90 programs leading to bachelor’s degrees. Fall 2008 enrollment exceeded 23,300 students, including almost 5,200 graduate students.

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Media Contact: Clark G. Curtis, 704-687-7983, clarkcurtis@uncc.edu