Our second open house, held on October 27th, 1999, was a vibrant event, as successful as the first one. As we enter a new millennium, this event has set the stage for the department's future, and has given us an opportunity to reflect on past accomplishments and on future prospects.
About 10 years ago, the department suffered from grave problems, and as a result the NRC ranking which was published in the early 1990s ranked us very low. A few years later we were able to hire a handful of outstanding young faculty members. This was possible partly because from 1992 to about 1995, there were very few academic jobs available in computer science. What a difference a few years make! In the years that followed, the department recruiting committees took advantage of this situation and made decisions that shaped the department. In effect the last ten years of the department have seen a complete renewal, both in terms of the research areas that are represented and by its composition. For example, as of January 1, 2000, the department average seniority will be 10.1 years. The number of faculty who joined the department since January 1, 1990, will be 11, or 42.3%.
The next 10 years will no doubt be more critical as well as exciting. The current revolution in Information Technology (IT) is creating an unsurpassed demand for IT specialists, causing virtually every Computer Science department in the nation to plan on sizable expansions in the years ahead. There are opportunities in multidisciplinary research on many different fronts, in which computer science will play a leading role. There are also unique opportunities in forging fruitful collaborations and alliances with industry. The department is now in its best position ever for meeting these challenges and opportunities in the years ahead. Our goal for the next 10 years is to become one of the best 10 to 15 departments in the nation. Given the right resources, and with some commensurate effort in hiring and retaining faculty, this goal is within reach.
On a related topic, our department has been in the news on quite a few occasions recently. External recognition of John Riedl's outstanding work in the area of collaborative filtering, and recommendation engines, seems to be ever increasing. A recent issue of the New-Yorker (October 4th, 1999, "The science of the sleeper," by Malcom Gladwell) had an interesting article for the general public on collaborative filtering. John has given interviews to several visible journals and magazines - and this has given the department excellent external visibility. Recently he, along with collaborators from NetPerceptions, won the prestigious "World Technology Award."
Another group that has been in the spotlight recently is the robotics group, with their work on distributed robotics. They were featured in the Star-Tribune, and then on NBC, on Kare11 news, and finally on CNN. Most of these shows, but not all, were on the "scout," a tiny robot designed by Nikos Papanikolopoulos and his team for military and civilian applications. The device is equipped with a camera and can transmit information to a remote computer. It is capable of navigating in uneven terrain by using a small jumping device. This research is a model of collaboration between academia (three different departments involved) and industry (three companies involved).
To conclude, and keeping in mind that recruiting is our most important task currently, I would like our friends from industry and alumni to help us identify good candidates for the four open positions, one of which is for a senior position as part of the Digital Technology Initiative. If you have any pointers please send me e-mail.
Yousef Saad
Head
Department of Computer Science and Engineering