Northwestern University[1] plans to nearly double the size of its computer science faculty amid an overload of student demand for the classes, the university announced Wednesday.
It plans to hire 20 faculty members and invest more than $150 million in computer science over the next five years, said Larry Birnbaum, director of the school's computer science division. Computer science is part of Northwestern's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
"There are times in the development of a field when it touches so many things that … the range of possibilities sort of becomes exponentially bigger than people can imagine," Birnbaum said. "This is one of those times for computer science. Students see that and the world sees that."
Almost 345 students majored in computer science in the 2014-2015 school year, up from 192 the previous year. The computer science division has hired nine new faculty members since it became its own division almost three years ago, Birnbaum said.
But the classes are exploding beyond students majoring in the topic.
The number of students enrolled in computer science classes has more than doubled to 3,800 since the 2011-12 school year, he said. That amounts to about half of all undergraduate students.
Computer science already has connections with the Medill School of Journalism, the Bienen School of Music and the School of Education and Social Policy.
This new investment will help expand those cross-disciplinary intersections as part of an initiative called CS+X.
More students will be have opportunities in computational thinking, said Kristian Hammond, professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
"We can focus on looking at how the machine can have an impact in other areas, not just in writing code but in creating new approaches to these fields that can transform them completely," he said.
Half of the faculty brought on through this expansion will be cross-disciplinary, said Hammond, who will be in charge of CS+X.
Northwestern is already making investments toward the expansion, some of which have come from gifts raised through the university's We Will campaign.
Other major universities around the country also are expanding computer science programs.
Harvard announced in November 2014 that it would add about a dozen computer science faculty members[2] over the next decade, bringing its total to 36.
Princeton University[3] promised to add 10 tenure-track positions to its current roster of 28 such positions in December.
amarotti@tribpub.com
Twitter @allymarotti[4]
References
- ^ Northwestern University (www.chicagotribune.com)
- ^ add about a dozen computer science faculty members (www.bostonglobe.com)
- ^ Princeton University (www.chicagotribune.com)
- ^ @allymarotti (twitter.com)
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