The Department of Computer Science (CS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has consistently been ranked as a top computer science program in the world. As of 2016, U.S. News & World Report rank UIUC's Computer Science as a Top 5 CS Graduate School program in the nation, and one of the Top 5 Undergraduate Schools in Computers, along with being in the Top 20 for the World's Best Universities for Computer Science. Since its reorganization in 1964, the Department of Computer Science has produced a myriad of publications and research that have advanced the field of Computer Science. In addition, many faculty and alumni have been leads with modern-day applications such as Mosaic (web browser), PayPal, and YouTube.
In 1949, the University of Illinois created the Digital Computer Laboratory following the joint funding between the University and the U.S. Army to create the ORDVAC and ILLIAC I computers under the direction of physicist Ralph Meagher. The ORDVAC and ILLIAC computers the two earliest von-Neumann architecture machines to be constructed. Once completed in 1952, the ILLIAC I inspired machines such as the MISTIC, MUSASINO-1, SILLIAC, and CYCLONE, as well as providing the impetus for the university to continue its research in computing through the ILLIAC II project. Yet despite such advances in high-performance computing, faculty at the Digital Computer Laboratory continued to conduct research in other fields of computing as well, such as in Human-Computer Interaction through the PLATO project, the first computer music (the ILLIAC Suite), computational numerical methods through the work of Donald B. Gillies, and James E. Robertson, the 'R' co-inventor of the SRT division algorithm, to name a few. Given this explosion in research in computing, in 1964, the University of Illinois reorganized the Digital Computer Laboratory into the Department of Computer Science, and by 1967, the department awarded its first PhD and Master's degrees in Computer Science. In 1982, UIUC physicist Larry Smarr wrote a blistering critique of America's supercomputing resources, and as a result the National Science Foundation established the UIUC's National Center for Supercomputing Applications in 1985. NCSA was one of the first places in industry or academia to develop software for the 3 major operating systems at the time - Macintosh, PC, and UNIX. NCSA in 1986 released NCSA Telnet and in 1993 it released the Mosaic web browser. In 2004, the Department of Computer Science moved out of the Digital Computer Laboratory building into the Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science following a gift from alumnus Thomas Siebel.
As of the 2012-2013 academic year, there are a total of 1460 students in the department. (947 Undergraduate, 513 Graduate). 42% of students have been reported as International Students. 11.4% of all students are women.
The average reported salary accepted by a Bachelor's student is $81,118 and $91,400 for Master's students.
There are 65 full-time faculty members, contributing to the research of:
Architecture, Compilers and Parallel Computing
Systems and Networking
Theory and Algorithms
Artificial Intelligence
Programming Languages, Formal Systems, and Software Engineering
Database and Information Systems
Graphics, Visualization, and HCI
Scientific Computing
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Computers and Education
There are 7 undergraduate degree programs offered by the College of Engineering and Liberal Arts and Sciences:
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (ENG)
Bachelor of Science in Math and Computer Science (LAS)
Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Computer Science (LAS)
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Chemistry (LAS)
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Linguistics (LAS)
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Anthropology (LAS)
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Astronomy (LAS)
The department also sponsors a Minor in Computer Science available to all UIUC students.
A 5-year Bachelor of Science/Master of Science (B.S./M.S.) in Computer Science and 5 year Bachelors of Science/Masters of Computer Science(B.S./M.C.S) program is also offered.
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Master of Science (M.S.) in Computer Science
Professional Masters of Computer Science (M.C.S.)
Master of Science in Bioinformatics (M.S. Bioinformatics)
Sarita Adve, principal investigator for the Universal Parallel Computing Research Center
Vikram Adve, helped to create LLVM along with Chris Lattner
Gul Agha, director of the Open Systems Laboratory and researcher in concurrent computation
Prith Banerjee, former senior Vice President of Research at Hewlett Packard and director of HP Labs
Herbert Edelsbrunner, recipient of the National Science Foundation's Alan T. Waterman Award
David Forsyth, Professor of Computer Science
C. William Gear, mathematician specialized in numerical analysis, computer graphics, and software development
Donald B. Gilles, mathematician and computer scientist specialized in game theory and computer architecture
Bill Gropp, Thomas M. Siebel Chair Professor of Computer Science and co-creator of Message Passing Interface
Jiawei Han, Abel Bliss Professor specialized in data mining
Michael Heath, director of the Center for the Simulation of Advanced Rockets
Thomas Huang, researcher and professor emeritus specialized in Human-Computer Interaction
Ralph Johnson, Research Associate Professor and co-author of Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
David Kuck, sole software designer on the ILLIAC IV and developer of the CEDAR project
Steven M. LaVelle, principal scientist at Oculus Rift
Chung Laung Liu, Professor of Computer Science
Ursula Martin, computer scientist specialized in theoretical computer science and formal methods and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Bruce McCormick, professor of physics, computer science, and bioengineering
Klara Nahrstedt, Ralph and Catherine Fisher Professor of Computer Science and director of the Coordinated Science Laboratory
David Plaisted, faculty at the Department of Computer Science until professorship at UNC-Chapel Hill
Edward Reingold, specialized in algorithms and data structures
Dan Roth, Professor of Computer Science
Rob A. Rutenbar, Abel Bliss Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science noted for advances in computer hardware
Marc Snir, Michael Faiman and Saburo Muroga Professor of Computer Science
Shang-Hua Teng, Professor of Computer Science and Gödel Prize laureate
Josep Torrellas, Willett Faculty Scholar in Computer Science and research faculty for the Universal Parallel Computing Research Center
Marianne Winslett, professor emerita of computer science
Stephen Wolfram, Professor of Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science and founder of Wolfram Research
Frances Yao, Professor of Computer Science and staff at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Yuanyuan Zhou, Professor of Computer Science and founder of Emphora, Pattern Insight, and Whova oe
Sohaib Abbasi B.S. 1978, M.S. 1980, CEO of Informatica
Daniel E. Atkins III Ph.D. 1970, Inaugural Director of the Office of Cyberinfrastructure for the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Marc Andreessen B.S. 1993, Mosaic (web browser), Netscape
Eric Bina M.S. 1988, Mosaic (web browser), Netscape
Ed Boon B.S., Mortal Kombat
Steve Chen B.S. 2002, YouTube
Steve S. Chen Ph.D. 1975, Cray Computer
Brendan Eich M.S. 1986, JavaScript, Mozilla
Steve Dorner B.S. 1983, Eudora (email client)
Ping Fu M.S. 1990, Geomagic
Mary Jane Irwin M.S. 1971, PhD. 1975, NAE member; computer architecture researcher
Jawed Karim B.S. 2004, YouTube
Mike Kulas B.S., Volition
Peng T. Ong M.S.1988, co-founder of Match.com
Anna Patterson Ph.D. 1998, Vice President of Engineering, Artificial Intelligence at Google and co-founder of Cuil
Linda Petzold B.S. 1974, Ph.D. 1978, Professor of Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering at UC Santa Barbara and J. H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software recipient
Fontaine Richardson Ph.D. 1968, founder of Applicon
Russel Simmons B.S. 1998, co-founder and initial CTO of Yelp, Inc and a member of the PayPal Mafia
Jeremy Stoppleman B.S. 1999, co-founder and CEO of Yelp, Inc.
Anil Singhal M.C.S. 1979, co-founder and CEO of NetScout Systems
Parisa Tabriz B.S. 2005, M.S. 2007, computer security expert at Google and Forbes 2012 "Top 30 People Under 30 To Watch in the Technology Industry"
Mark Tebbe B.S. 1983, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago and co-founder of Answers Corporation
Clarence Ellis Ph.D. 1969, First African-American Computer Science Doctorate recipient and pioneer in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Groupware
Nancy Amato Ph.D. 1995, Unocal Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University and steering member of CRA-W
Robert L. Mercer M.S. 1970, Ph.D. 1972, co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies and pioneer in Computational Linguistics
Chris Lattner Ph.D. 2005, LLVM
Der-Tsai Lee M.S. 1976, Ph.D. 1978, 14th President of National Chung Hsing University
Max Levchin B.S. 1997, Paypal, Slide
Mary T. McDowell B.S. 1986, former executive vice president at Nokia
Kenichi Miura Ph.D., Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award winner
Ray Ozzie B.S. 1979, Lotus Notes, Groove Networks, and former CTO and Chief Software Architect at Microsoft.
Linda R. Petzold Ph.D. 1978, NAE member; computational science and engineering researcher
Thomas Siebel M.S. 1985, founder, chairman, and CEO of Siebel Systems; founder, chairman, and CEO of C3
Russel Simmons B.S., Yelp, Inc.
Edward Davidson Ph.D. 1968, professor emeritus in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Andrew Yao Ph.D. 1975, Turing award winner, computer theory researcher
In 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL 9000 is said to have been made operational at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Illinois which was meant to represent the Coordinated Science Laboratory where the ILLIAC project was conducted
