Computer Science University: Is There Really Such A Thing?
Computer science university programs vary with each college, some having a major in computer science, a department of computer science, and some even have separate schools for computer science. Frequently dubbed the university's "Computer Science University" instead of being called "Department of Computer Science" or "School of Computer Science", these programs offer courses and degrees in subjects in many things, including software programming, robotics, and even the development of artificial intelligence.
There are a few commonly known computer science programs. MIT's largest school, the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), could be described as a computer science university. It is the largest department of MIT, and the highest ranked engineering school in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Behind MIT in the rankings are Stanford and Berkeley, both tied for second place. Home to two impressive Departments of Computer Science, the two universities offer very different experiences. Stanford has an emphasis on artificial intelligence and its applications to robots. Berkeley on the other hand, has more focus on theoretical mathematics and using computers to analysis algorithms.
University of Rochester Computer Science Department (URCS) is another respected "computer science university." It is well known for emphasis on computer vision and robotics, as well as natural language understanding. This makes it a wonderful stepping stone in the process of studying Artificial Intelligence. University of Maryland has a Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, containing undergraduate programs in both Computer Science and Computer Engineering, as well as graduate programs in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Electrical Engineering. A few notable sponsors of the department are NASA, and both the Army's and the Navy's Research Laboratories. The "computer science" part of the department is one of the largest majors on the campus and involves classes learning the basics of the C programming language and goes up to theoretical analysis of algorithms. Notable is the special courses in games, animation, and interactive media, which is done in conjunction with the University's Visual Arts Department. Carnegie Mellon University had one of the first Departments of Computer Science created in the nation, officially formed in 1965. Research into computer science started at Carnegie Mellon almost as soon as the computer came into existence in the 1950s. When the Department was formed, it not only took graduate students from mathematic and electrical engineering disciplines, but also psychology. In 1988, the Department of Computer Science became the School of Computer Science, again one of the first in the country. Now offering PhDs in over a dozen types of computer science, Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science truly is a computer science university. Although there is no Computer Science University, there are universities with such a strong focus on computer science as to practically be a computer science university. There are also several practically detached Schools of Computer Science, which sometimes appear to be unrelated schools from their parent and supporter. This just means that you will have to search a little harder to find that perfect school of science, by searching through great universities.
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