Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

University of Florida shutting down research in Computer Science department

change.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 75 posts

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

#41

Post by BrentRitterbeck »

dfranke wrote: post #11

I graduated from UF in 2007 and have in no way since kept up with departmental politics, but as of then, CISE was a bit of a Frankenstein creature. As an undergraduate, if you were looking for a computing-related degree, you had five possible majors to choose from: * Computer Science (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; CISE Department) * Computer Engineering with Software Emphasis (College of Engineering; CISE Dep…

I graduated from UF in 2004. This was the exact reason why I did not pursue a degree in computer science alongside my finance degree. The only course I took in the computer science department (Something like Problem Solving with MS Office) was completely unorganized. I picked up my programming background on my own and in graduate school.

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

#42

Post by Xyzodiac »

I was planning on transferring to UF next fall to get a bachelors in Computer Science. It worries me how little the university cares about Computer Science if they're planning to make such a decision. I personally would like to thank everyone who signed this for rallying against such actions.

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

#45

Post by uf_cise_alumnus »

dfranke wrote: post #11

I graduated from UF in 2007 and have in no way since kept up with departmental politics, but as of then, CISE was a bit of a Frankenstein creature. As an undergraduate, if you were looking for a computing-related degree, you had five possible majors to choose from: * Computer Science (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; CISE Department) * Computer Engineering with Software Emphasis (College of Engineering; CISE Dep…

No clarity will result.

The two Computer Engineering Degrees (software and hardware) are to be combined into one that has N (not yet decided) tracks that will be supported by "certificate programs."

So, now you reduce by one clearly defined separation and increse by n-1 less well defined certificate programs.

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

#46

Post by uf_cise_alumnus »

hkmurakami wrote: post #12
joshhart wrote: post #4

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 t…

Letting go of your best teachers sounds like a brutally flawed decision. The only reason I am now getting back into learning programming after a 8 year hiatus, is because of how great my untenured lecturer was in teaching us and inspiring us in the ways of C programming. If not for him, there would be far fewer students from my school who would have stuck with programming. In 2004, we made a facebook group called "Ev…

If you're talking about Dave, he did get cut prematurely.

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

#47

Post by uf_cise_alumnus »

luser001 wrote: post #10

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...

Yeah that name is pretty odd. Oh wait, what's this thing I see at the National Science Foundation?

http://www.nsf.gov/dir/index.jsp?org=CISE

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

#48

Post by uf_cise_alumnus »

kobs wrote: post #7

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) -- som…

That's not at all what is proposed.

Step 1: move graduate programs to ECE

Step 2: make faculty ask to be in other departments (with the dean's approval of course)

Step 3: make all faculty who can't get other departments to take them have a 100% teaching appointment and set TA budget of the department to $0. Effectively convincing all those cranky guys you wanted to get rid of to leave the university.

Step 4: ???

Step 5: Success!

Then add the Ph.D. program back in and wait 25 years for it to rebuild.

Sounds like a great plan to me.

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

#49

Post by ScottBev »

rockarage wrote: post #35

Is this the same University of Florida that did this: Give a 6 year 24 million contract to a coach of a so called amateur sports team ? http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4374311 Is this the same UF that gets a cut of SEC 2.25 billion dollar contract ? http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2008/08/2008... ? Yes I think it is. Hmmm I wonder why they have nothing left for cs education.

Affiliated? Yes. Two separate entities though. They do not receive any funding from the University. In fact the UAA has made a profit consistently for quite a while and has returned $6-8 million/year to the University.

So, yes the UAA gives ridiculous amounts of money to coaches, but they are making a decent ROI.

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

#50

Post by cmadan »

rockarage wrote: post #35

Is this the same University of Florida that did this: Give a 6 year 24 million contract to a coach of a so called amateur sports team ? http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4374311 Is this the same UF that gets a cut of SEC 2.25 billion dollar contract ? http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2008/08/2008... ? Yes I think it is. Hmmm I wonder why they have nothing left for cs education.

The UF football program is profitable so it does not matter how much they spend on their coach or their program.
Post reply on HN