New Computer Science Curriculum -- More Relevant, More Flexible

The Department of Computer Science at Purdue University has revised the curriculum for its undergraduate students.  This curriculum will go into effect in the fall semester of 2010.  Current freshmen will have the option to switch to the new curriculum with little, if any, effect on their time to graduation.  The structure of the new curriculum is similar to the curricula of several top computer science departments in the country such as MIT, UC Berkeley, and Stanford, which also have recently revised their undergraduate curricula.

Since the last major Purdue CS curriculum revision in 1998, several areas of computer science, such as information retrieval, security, software engineering, and computational science, have assumed an increased and widespread level of importance.  In addition to this broadening of computer science as a discipline, there is now a widespread use of computers embedded in devices and a rapid proliferation of multi-core microprocessors. The CS faculty felt it essential that the curriculum reflect this evolution and desirable that students have greater flexibility in their programs while still obtaining a firm grasp of the foundations of the discipline.

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Elmagarmid Named IEEE Fellow

Ahmed K. Elmagarmid Professor Ahmed K. Elmagarmid has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) effective January 2010.  IEEE is the world’s largest professional association advancing innovation and technological excellence for the benefit of humanity.  The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career achievement. More >>>

Vitter elected AAAS Fellow

Dr. Vitter Dr. Jeffrey S. Vitter, adjunct professor and former Frederick L. Hovde Dean of the College of Science and Professor of Computer Science at Purdue University, has been awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He now serves as a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University.

Vitter was elected as an AAAS Fellow for his distinguished contributions to the design and analysis of efficient computer algorithms and data structures, particularly those involving massive amounts of data.

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