Department of Computer Science (University of Toronto)
Encyclopedia
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
is an administrative unit within the Faculty of Arts and Science
University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science
The Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto is one of Canada's largest and most prestigious arts and science teaching and research institutions. With almost 22,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students, Arts and Science represents over half the student population on the...
. Established on 1 July 1964, the department is currently one of the highest ranked computer science departments in the world, placing first amongst Canadian universities and tenth worldwide. The department offers undergraduate
Undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is an education level taken prior to gaining a first degree . Hence, in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is...
and postgraduate
Postgraduate education
Postgraduate education involves learning and studying for degrees or other qualifications for which a first or Bachelor's degree generally is required, and is normally considered to be part of higher education...
education. Undergraduates receive a Honours Bachelors in Science upon graduation.
The department currently has 68 faculty members. As of February 2011, 800 undergraduate students are enrolled in a University of Toronto subject POSt sponsored by the department.
The current Chair of the Department is Sven Dickinson.
History
The department's predecessor, The Computation Centre, was formed in 1952. Shortly after its formation, it housed FERUTUTEC
UTEC was a computer built at the University of Toronto in the early 1950s. It was one of the first working computers in the world, although only built in a prototype form while awaiting funding for expansion into a full-scale version. This funding was eventually used to purchase a surplus...
, the first electronic computer in Canada. The Computation Centre was renamed to the Institute for Computer Science in 1962, before being absorbed by the newly created Department of Computer Science in 1964. The new department, with only six faculty members and four graduate students, had Canada's only computer science doctorate program at the time.
An undergraduate program was introduced in 1971.
The department became an administrative unit in the Faculty of Arts and Science in 1981.
Notable Faculty
- Geoffrey HintonGeoffrey HintonGeoffrey Hinton is a British born informatician most noted for his work on the mathematics and applications of neural networks, and their relationship to information theory.-Career:...
is one of the world's foremost researchers in the fields of machine learningMachine learningMachine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
and artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
. Hinton was awarded the 2010 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and EngineeringGerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and EngineeringThe Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering is awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to recognize "research contributions characterized by both excellence and influence." Prior to 2000, NSERC had awarded the Canada Gold Medal for...
. - Mark Braverman focuses on complexity theoryComputational complexity theoryComputational complexity theory is a branch of the theory of computation in theoretical computer science and mathematics that focuses on classifying computational problems according to their inherent difficulty, and relating those classes to each other...
, the theory of real computationReal computationIn computability theory, the theory of real computation deals with hypothetical computing machines using infinite-precision real numbers. They are given this name because they operate on the set of real numbers...
, machine learning, algorithms, game theoryGame theoryGame theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
, and applications of computer science in health care and medicine. Braverman was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship on February 2011. - Aaron Hertzmann is well-known in his work of linking three separate research areas within computer science: computer graphicsComputer graphicsComputer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
, machine learning and computer visionComputer visionComputer vision is a field that includes methods for acquiring, processing, analysing, and understanding images and, in general, high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information, e.g., in the forms of decisions...
. Hertzmann was awarded the 2010 Steacie Prize for Natural Sciences. - Charlie RackoffCharles RackoffCharles Weill Rackoff is an American cryptologist. Born and raised in New York City, Rackoff attended MIT as both an undergraduate and graduate student, and earned a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science in 1974. He spent a year as a postdoctoral scholar at INRIA in France.He currently works at the...
is a cryptologist. His research interests are in computational complexityComputational ComplexityComputational Complexity may refer to:*Computational complexity theory*Computational Complexity...
. Rackoff was the recipient of the 2011 RSA ConferenceRSA ConferenceThe RSA Conference is a cryptography and information security-related conference held annually in the San Francisco Bay Area.The RSA Conference started in 1991 as a forum for cryptographers to gather and share the latest knowledge and advancements in the area of Internet security...
Award for Excellence in the field of Mathematics. - C.C. (Kelly) GotliebCalvin GotliebCalvin Carl "Kelly" Gotlieb, CM, FRSC is a Canadian professor and computer scientist who has been called the "Father of Computing" in Canada. He is the Professor Emeritus in Computer Science at the University of Toronto....
was the founder of The Computation Centre and also helped in founding the Department of Computer Science in 1964. He is recipient of the Order of CanadaOrder of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, and Fellows of the Royal Society of CanadaRoyal Society of CanadaThe Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
, British Computer SocietyBritish Computer SocietyThe British Computer Society, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in Information Technology in the United Kingdom and internationally...
, and the Association for Computing MachineryAssociation for Computing MachineryThe 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...
. Gotlieb is also the founding member and former president of the Canadian Information Processing SocietyCanadian Information Processing SocietyThe Canadian Information Processing Society is the Information Technology professional society in Canada.The society certifies and regulates the Information Systems Professional designation in most provinces....
.
Research Groups
The department has 11 research groups:- Applied and Discrete Mathematics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Computational Biology
- Computer Graphics
- Computer Systems and Networks
- Database Systems
- Human Computer Interaction
- Numerical Analysis
- Programming Languages and Methodologies
- Software Engineering
- Theory of Computation
Undergraduate Program
The department currently offers students a choice of a Computer Science Major or a Specialist program. Students applying for a Specialist program may choose one of the following options:- Flexible
- Artificial Intelligence
- Foundations
- Information Systems
- Software Engineering
- Computer Science and Economics
- Computer Science and Mathematics
- Computer Science and Physics
- Computer Science and Statistics
- Human-Computer Interaction
For students that started their undergraduate studies on September 2010 or later, the above options will be replaced with a new curriculum aimed at giving students more flexibility in choosing their courses without worrying about program course restrictions. Existing students will be given the option to change to the new programs or stay with the existing curriculum.
There are three programs that are coordinated between the Department of Computer Science and other departments:
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
- Cognitive Science
- Linguistics and Computing