David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
Encyclopedia
The David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science is the School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo
. Part of the Faculty of Mathematics, the school comprises 77 faculty members, nearly 300 graduate students, approximately 2100 undergraduates, and 55 staff members.
was still a department within the Faculty of Arts
, four third-year mathematics students (Richard Shirley, Angus German, James G. Mitchell
, and Bob Zarnke) wrote the WATFOR compiler for the FORTRAN
programming language, under the direction of lecturer Peter Shantz. "Within a year it would be adopted by computing centres in over eight countries, and the number of student users at UW increased to over 2500." Later on in 1966, two mathematics lecturers (Paul Dirksen and Paul H. Cress
) led a team that developed WATFOR 360, for which they received the 1972 Grace Murray Hopper Award
from the Association for Computing Machinery
.
UW's Faculty of Mathematics
was later established in 1967. As a result, the Department of Applied Analysis and Computer Science (AA&CS) was created. By 1969, AA&CS had become the largest department in the faculty. At that point, the first two PhD degrees in computer science were awarded, to Byron L. Ehle, for a thesis on numerical analysis
, and to Hugh Williams, for a thesis on computational number theory
. In 1975 the department dropped the words "Applied Analysis" and became simply the Department of Computer Science.
In 1982, the Institute for Computer Research (ICR) was established. Its goals were "to foster computer research..., facilitate interaction with industry, and encourage advanced education in computer science and engineering." Also that year, the Ontario government announced plans to build the Davis Centre, current home of the School of Computer Science. The groundbreaking was in April 1985 and the Davis Centre was formally dedicated on November 10, 1988.
On May 1, 2002, the department officially became the School of Computer Science. On November 18, 2005, it was renamed again to the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, in recognition of the establishment of the David R. Cheriton
Endowment for Excellence in Computer Science. Cheriton had recently donated $25 million to the university.
Support for computing within the Math Faculty (and therefore the School) had been historically provided by the Math Faculty Computing Facility (MFCF) and ICR. In 2003, MFCF was split to create the Computer Science Computing Facility (CSCF).
In general, the philosophy of the undergraduate program is to build a solid foundation of mathematics and computer science during the first three years of the program, allowing students more flexibility in fourth year. Required courses for all computer science programs include courses in combinatorics, data structures, algorithms, compilers, software engineering and operating systems. The curriculum is also designed to encourage either significant depth in an area outside of computer science (such as in the Bioinformatics Option) or exposure to a variety of areas outside of the computer science.
The school also offers Masters of Mathematics and Ph.D. graduate programs.
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff...
. Part of the Faculty of Mathematics, the school comprises 77 faculty members, nearly 300 graduate students, approximately 2100 undergraduates, and 55 staff members.
History
In 1965, when MathematicsMathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
was still a department within the Faculty of Arts
University of Waterloo Faculty of Arts
The Faculty of Arts is one of six faculties at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.- Departments :The faculty presently houses sixteen academic departments and the School of Accounting and Finance.Academic Departments:...
, four third-year mathematics students (Richard Shirley, Angus German, James G. Mitchell
James G. Mitchell
James "Jim" Mitchell Ph.D. , is a Canadian computer scientist. He has worked on programming language design and implementation , interactive programming systems, dynamic interpretation and compilation, document preparation systems, user interface design, distributed transactional file systems, and...
, and Bob Zarnke) wrote the WATFOR compiler for the FORTRAN
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
programming language, under the direction of lecturer Peter Shantz. "Within a year it would be adopted by computing centres in over eight countries, and the number of student users at UW increased to over 2500." Later on in 1966, two mathematics lecturers (Paul Dirksen and Paul H. Cress
Paul H. Cress
Paul H. Cress was a Canadian computer scientist.He was a young lecturer in computer science at the University of Waterloo when, starting in 1966, he and his colleague Paul Dirksen led a team of programmers developing a fast Fortran programming language compiler called WATFOR , for the IBM...
) led a team that developed WATFOR 360, for which they received the 1972 Grace Murray Hopper Award
Grace Murray Hopper Award
The original Grace Murray Hopper Awards have been awarded by the Association for Computing Machinery since 1971. The award goes to a young computer professional who makes a single, significant technical or service contribution.-Recipients:* 1971 Donald E. Knuth* 1972 Paul H. Dirksen* 1972 Paul H...
from the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
.
UW's Faculty of Mathematics
University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics
The Faculty of Mathematics is one of six faculties of the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. As of Fall 2010, it has 5,741 undergraduate students and 629 graduate students, 200 full-time professors, and offers over 500 courses in mathematics, statistics and computer science.The Faculty...
was later established in 1967. As a result, the Department of Applied Analysis and Computer Science (AA&CS) was created. By 1969, AA&CS had become the largest department in the faculty. At that point, the first two PhD degrees in computer science were awarded, to Byron L. Ehle, for a thesis on numerical analysis
Numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation for the problems of mathematical analysis ....
, and to Hugh Williams, for a thesis on computational number theory
Computational number theory
In mathematics, computational number theory, also known as algorithmic number theory, is the study of algorithms for performing number theoretic computations...
. In 1975 the department dropped the words "Applied Analysis" and became simply the Department of Computer Science.
In 1982, the Institute for Computer Research (ICR) was established. Its goals were "to foster computer research..., facilitate interaction with industry, and encourage advanced education in computer science and engineering." Also that year, the Ontario government announced plans to build the Davis Centre, current home of the School of Computer Science. The groundbreaking was in April 1985 and the Davis Centre was formally dedicated on November 10, 1988.
On May 1, 2002, the department officially became the School of Computer Science. On November 18, 2005, it was renamed again to the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, in recognition of the establishment of the David R. Cheriton
David Cheriton
David Ross Cheriton is a Canadian-born computer science professor at Stanford University who has investments in technology companies...
Endowment for Excellence in Computer Science. Cheriton had recently donated $25 million to the university.
Support for computing within the Math Faculty (and therefore the School) had been historically provided by the Math Faculty Computing Facility (MFCF) and ICR. In 2003, MFCF was split to create the Computer Science Computing Facility (CSCF).
Programs
The David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science offers several diverse undergraduate programs including:- Bachelor of Computer ScienceBachelor of Computer ScienceThe Bachelor of Computer Science, , is a type of bachelor's degree, usually awarded after four or more calendar years of collegiate study in computer science, but can be awarded in fewer years depending on factors such as an institution's course requirements and academic calendar...
- Honours Computer Science
- Business Option
- BioinformaticsBioinformaticsBioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
Option - Digital Hardware Option
- Software Engineering Option
- Honours Computer Science
- Bachelor of MathematicsBachelor of MathematicsA Bachelor of Mathematics is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for successfully completing a program of study in mathematics or related disciplines, such as computer science or statistics....
- Honours Computer Science
- Business Option
- Digital Hardware Option
- Honours Computer Science
- Bachelor of Software EngineeringBachelor of Software EngineeringA Bachelor of Software Engineering is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completing a program of study in the field of software development for computers in information technology....
- Bachelor of Computing and Financial Management
In general, the philosophy of the undergraduate program is to build a solid foundation of mathematics and computer science during the first three years of the program, allowing students more flexibility in fourth year. Required courses for all computer science programs include courses in combinatorics, data structures, algorithms, compilers, software engineering and operating systems. The curriculum is also designed to encourage either significant depth in an area outside of computer science (such as in the Bioinformatics Option) or exposure to a variety of areas outside of the computer science.
The school also offers Masters of Mathematics and Ph.D. graduate programs.