Department of Computer Science (University of Toronto)

Department of Computer Science
Bahen Centre at the University of Toronto. Most of the department is housed in this building
Type Academic department
Parent institution Faculty of Arts and Science
Academic affiliation University of Toronto
Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Website web.cs.toronto.edu/home.htm

The Department of Computer Science (DCS) at the University of Toronto is an administrative unit within the Faculty of Arts and Science. Established on 1 July 1964, the department is currently one of the highest ranked computer science departments in the world, placing first among Canadian universities and tenth worldwide.[1] The department offers undergraduate and postgraduate education. Starting undergraduate students are required to achieve an annual department cutoff in order to stay in the program of study (POSt) and receive Honours Bachelors in Science upon graduation.[2]

The department currently has 148 faculty members[3]. As of August 15th 2018, there are more than 1200 Computer Science students who are either taking a Computer Science course or are part of a Computer Science POSt at the University of Toronto St. George campus.[4]

The current Chair of the Department is Ravin Balakrishnan and the Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies is François Pitt.

History

Department Chair Sven Dickinson at DSC50 Anniversary Reception.

The department's predecessor, The Computation Centre, was formed in 1952. Shortly after its formation, it housed FERUT, the first electronic computer in Canada. The Computation Centre was renamed to the Institute for Computer Science in 1962, before being absorbed by the newly created Department of Computer Science in 1964. The new department, with only six faculty members and four graduate students, had Canada's only computer science doctorate program at the time.

An undergraduate program was introduced in 1971.

The department became an administrative unit in the Faculty of Arts and Science in 1981.[5]

The Bahen Centre for Information Technology (BCIT) opened in 2002 and became the central hub of computer science and engineering activities along with the Stanford Fleming building

The Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences (MCS) at Mississauga Campus is formed in 2003.

[6]

International Ranking

The field of Computer Science at the University of Toronto consistently ranks among the highest in the world. In the 2008 ranking by field and by individual subject published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University the University of Toronto finished 8th in the world in the subject of Computer Science.[7] The 2018 QS World University Rankings the University of Toronto was ranked 10th under the subject of Computer Science.

Notable Faculty

Research Groups

The department has 11 research groups:[13]

  • Applied and Discrete Mathematics
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computational Biology
  • Computer Graphics
  • Computer Systems and Networks
  • Database Systems
  • Human Computer Interaction
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Programming Languages and Methodologies
  • Software Engineering
  • Theory of Computation

Student life

Undergraduate Computer Science students are represented by the Computer Science Student Union[14] (CSSU). The CSSU organizes Pub Nights, Movie Nights, and two Game Nights per year. The CSSU also sells discounted refreshments to students in its office.

Recent Industrial Successes

  • Past faculty member Songnian Zhou's Platform Computing Corporation was acquired[15] by IBM (2011)
  • Alumnus Shahzad Malik's CognoVision was acquired[16] by Intel (2010)
  • Current faculty member Nick Koudas and alumnus Nilesh Bansal sold[17] their company Sysomos to Marketwire (2010)
  • Alumnus Anand Agarawala's BumpTop acquired[18] by Google (2010)

References

  1. ↑ Academic Ranking of World Universities in Computer Science - 2018
  2. ↑ http://web.cs.toronto.edu/program/ugrad/admission.htm
  3. ↑
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ History of DCS
  6. ↑ http://www.cs.toronto.edu/dcs/50/
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ CS.toronto.edu
  9. ↑ Two early-career scientists awarded prestigious Sloan Fellowships
  10. ↑ DCS Professor wins 2011 RSA Conference Award
  11. ↑ Calvin C. (Kelly) Gotlieb
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ CS.toronto.edu
  14. ↑
  15. ↑
  16. ↑
  17. ↑
  18. ↑
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