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University of Florida shutting down research in Computer Science department

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Re: University of Florida shutting down research in Computer Science department

#3

Post by kfcm »

I'm in no way associated with UF, but I don't think the answer for why this is proposed is too difficult.

Take this:

  CISE, the only department at UF engaged in Computer Software research, will become 
  a teaching only department, and inevitably, its ranking, reputation and enrollment 
  will plummet.
and add this:

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120331/ARTICLES/1203399...

Can you say "diploma mill"? Good; I knew you could.

Re: University of Florida shutting down research in Computer Science department

#4

Post by joshhart »

I graduated from UF in 2009, with degrees in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. UF was running into huge budget issues, which they mostly took out on Liberal Arts. At the time, the Computer Science department was under Liberal Arts and Sciences, not engineering.

The department chair at the time, Sartaj Sahni, responded by cutting teaching funding and letting some of the best teachers go. UF had a few teachers without PhDs, which reduces a university's ranking in US News & World Report. Of course, these teachers were the ones that REALLY cared about teaching, since they didn't have research distractions. These teachers were replaced with postdocs who lack the experience needed to teach at a major institution.

I don't know how you can have a solid program if you slash your best teachers to save research, then slash your research to save teaching. Doesn't make sense.

Re: University of Florida shutting down research in Computer Science department

#6

Post by lbrandy »

As a 2004 graduate of UF (ECE, not CISE) this news worries me. Can anymore more familiar with the situation explain whether or not this more about consolidating ECE/CISE, or if this is just a simple gutting of the computer science at UF.

Many schools suffer the issue of CS being extra-engineering, and then having a "computer engineering" department within engineering, and you end up with quite a bit of duplication. I'm hoping that this is simply part of a consolidation process.

Re: University of Florida shutting down research in Computer Science department

#7

Post by kobs »

I really hope that they're simply consolidating Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and CISE (Computer & Information Science Engineering) into a single department and keeping existing faculty.

As a 2010 graduate (CISE - I wanted a mix of engineering and liberal arts), this is quite troubling to me. I remember when they announced that they would be laying off a number of faculty members (mostly lecturers) -- some of whom were the best instructors in the entire department. Now they're getting rid of research in the name of teaching? What a farce.

Re: University of Florida shutting down research in Computer Science department

#8

Post by ahelwer »

lbrandy wrote: post #6

As a 2004 graduate of UF (ECE, not CISE) this news worries me. Can anymore more familiar with the situation explain whether or not this more about consolidating ECE/CISE, or if this is just a simple gutting of the computer science at UF. Many schools suffer the issue of CS being extra-engineering, and then having a "computer engineering" department within engineering, and you end up with quite a bit of duplication. I…

Yep. University of Calgary went the opposite route a few years back and shut down the computer engineering degree stream. I'm actually not sure what the effects of that were, I'll have to ask my coworkers (some of whom are graduates of that degree).

Re: University of Florida shutting down research in Computer Science department

#10

Post by luser001 »

Seems like the university is deciding to focus on Electrical and Computer Engineering and deemphasize Computer Science.

Core competence and all that.

It even has an odd name like CISE (Computer and Information Science and Engineering).

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120411/ARTICLES/1204198...

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