UMass Amherst Announces New Degrees During National Computer Science Education Week

Dec. 7, 2009

Contact:

Janet Lathrop 413/545-0444

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst Computer Science Department is celebrating National Computer Science Education Week by announcing a new core curriculum and major overhaul of undergraduate degree requirements for the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree to be effective in Spring 2010.

Congress set aside this week, Dec. 6-12, in honor of the Dec. 9, 1906 birthday of Grace Murray Hopper, a United States Navy Reserve officer who attended wartime Midshipman’s School at Smith College in 1943. Over her nearly 40-year career, she engineered new programming languages and pioneered computer system standards that laid the foundation for many advances in modern computer science.

Congress's declaration asks educators across the country to improve computer science learning at all levels to spark increased participation in a promising field where demand for skilled workers and their pay levels are both expected to remain high in the coming decade.

Advances in student options are well under way at UMass Amherst, says Andrew Barto, department chair. Students majoring in computer science can now pursue a new B.S. degree that moves away from a "one size fits all" model, with a more flexible set of degree requirements that offers a greater breadth of courses. Students can choose from 10 tracks in areas such as robotics, vision and graphics, security and privacy, and artificial intelligence, or they can retain maximum career flexibility by declaring a general track.

But the greatest innovation is UMass Amherst’s proposed new Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in computer science, which recognizes the value of a traditional, broad liberal arts education and allows students to combine an interest in computer science with interest in a second discipline. Barto says, “Our B.A. students will enter the workplace with a foot in two worlds, allowing them to tackle problems in fundamentally new ways, because our society faces challenges not even on the radar screen as recently as 10 years ago. We want to help prepare the next generation to be maximally flexible in an increasingly unpredictable world, and we think our new B.A. program is a step in the right direction."

If approved, this could be implemented in Fall 2010, he adds, with many new courses to be added in conjunction with a new B.A.

UMass Amherst computer science faculty have also changed requirements for a minor in the field, requiring only five courses rather than 10. "We want to attract and encourage a more diverse student population to our courses, and we hope to achieve this by offering more flexibility and a greater range of course choices,” Barto says.

Agreeing with Congress that “these times require an increasing supply of diverse students exposed to rigorous and engaging computing courses at the K–12 level and National Computer Science Education Week can help to reinforce this effort” is Alfred Spector, vice president of Research and Special Initiatives at Google. He says “despite serious economic challenges confronting the nation, computer science-related jobs are among the fastest-growing and highest paying over the next decade.”

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is partnering with Microsoft, Google and Intel as well as the Computer Science Teachers Association, the National Center for Women & Information Technology and the Computing Research Association to build awareness of computer science education as a national priority.

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