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Computer and Information Science

The Department of Computer and Information Science

Undergraduate degrees: B.A., B.S.,
Undergraduate minor

Professional Preparation in Evolving Technologies

As computer technology becomes increasingly intrinsic to countless aspects of daily life, the spectrum of career opportunities in this field continues to expand. The UO's Department of Computer and Information Science (CIS) offers students the challenge of studying this exciting and dynamically evolving science. The minor in computer information technology (CIT) prepares students to work with evolving technologies for work environments that require development and management of business databases, computer networks, web applications, and software systems.

Computer science is the study of the computer as a machine, both concrete and abstract; it is the study of the management of information; and it involves the design and analysis of algorithms, programs, systems, and programming languages. The Department of Computer and Information Science offers instruction and opportunities for research in the following areas:

  • theoretical computer science, including computational complexity, models of computation, and algorithm design
  • computational science
  • operating systems, parallel processing, distributed systems, and performance evaluation
  • human-computer interaction and visualization
  • computer security
  • software engineering
  • networking
  • databases and data mining
  • programming languages and compilers
  • artificial intelligence

As a CIS undergraduate, you can choose a departmental specialization, including in-depth tracks within computer science as well as multidisciplinary tracks involving courses from other departments. The current computer science tracks include foundations software development, computer networks, and database and informatics. The current multidisciplinary tracks include computational arts: multimedia, business information systems, bioinformatics, and computational biology. These tracks prepare students for careers in the private or public sector as well as for advanced graduate-level study.

Facilities

The Department of Computer and Information Science is housed in Deschutes Hall, which holds faculty and graduate student offices and extensive laboratory space for research and instruction. Research projects and hands-on systems and networking courses are held in the Intel Systems research and education laboratory, which houses specialized equipment including Intel multicore workstations, dual-boot PCs, and a variety of networking hardware resources. Students engaged in active research also have access to the computing facilities of the associated research lab.

Other Facilities

  • The human-computer interaction laboratory has specialized equipment for interactive-systems research. Usability studies are supported by a laboratory with video cameras and audio recorders
  • The cognitive modeling and eye-tracking laboratory features multiple Eyegaze eye trackers, used to collect and analyze the eye movements people make during human-computer interactions, and to develop eye-controlled user interfaces for people with disabilities
  • Research in high-performance computing and computational science is supported by multiprocessing and storage resources shared between the department, the Computational Science Institute, and the Neuroinformatics Center
  • The CIS department features a visualization lab with a tiled LCD display wall, 3-D stereo, and a high-definition tiled rear-projection system.
  • The advanced integration and mining laboratory fosters research on finding useful patterns from the mountain of data on neuroscience, medicine, biology, and networking, and on integrating data from heterogeneous resources such as databases, the World Wide Web, and the Semantic Web
  • The network research laboratory features machines for research projects, including three academic nodes (a gift from Intel) connected to PlanetLab, a global research test bed
  • The ubiquitous computing laboratory uses a mixture of custom-designed and commercial hardware to study the application of assistive software to everyday living. Researchers design software for use by persons with and without cognitive impairments
  • The UO is a member of Internet2, a high-speed network connecting major research institutions

Points of Interest

  • Undergraduates have the opportunity to participate in research groups investigating topics such as artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and theoretical computer science
  • Each summer the UO hosts the Programming Languages Summer School, an international group of students, professors and industry professionals who come together to learn about the application of methods in language theory
  • Each year the department participates in the International Collegiate Programming Contest. This contest, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery, is a competition among teams of student programmers to see which team can solve the most programming problems in a short amount of time

Sample Courses

  • Multimedia on the Web introduces the basics of web communication, webpage function, and design. Students become familiar with digital media including graphics, animation, video, and sound, and use software to create interactive multimedia documents
  • Introduction to Artificial Intelligence explores theory and specific examples of knowledge-based computer systems
  • Database Systems is an introduction to database design and access, with a focus on database concepts, data modeling, normalization, data warehousing, query languages, and the formulation of complex queries
  • Cryptography is an introduction to coding theory and the process of scrambling plain text into ciphetext
  • Network Security gives an overview of network security issues, looks at several of the most representative security problems, and investigates commonly practiced solutions
  • Programming Languages explores syntax and semantics with focus on scope rules, environments, stores, denoted and expressed values, procedures, and parameters
  • Data Mining offers an introduction to the basic issues, algorithms, results, and applications of data mining through a study of methods for data management, feature selection, statistical modeling, and data clustering

Interdisciplinary Opportunities

In addition to its traditional track, the department offers an interdisciplinary track for students interested in diversifying their undergraduate experience. The department offers these specializations: bioinformatics, computational biology, computational arts: multimedia, and business information systems.

Hands-on Learning

Possibilities for undergraduates include joining a research group, writing a thesis, or participating in research over the summer. The first step is to get to know faculty members and familiarize yourself with their current research. The Undergraduate Introduction to Research colloquium offers an overview of several faculty member's research projects. When you find an area that interests you, make an appointment with the appropriate faculty member.

Internships are an option that will provide you with invaluable practical work experience and usually offer a combination of credit and pay. A number of year-round local opportunities, as well as many summer internships, are available, some involving travel.

Student Work

Molly Suver came to the UO in search of an education that would allow her lots of room for academic exploration and cross-fertilization of ideas. She loves the CIS program because its base in theory allows for interdisciplinary research. “Don’t be afraid to take classes that don’t exactly fit your major,” Molly recommends. Her work with Professor Steve Fickas produces hardware and software to assist the cognitively impaired in speaking and increasing normal motor skills, but Molly has also worked on games for the Xbox 360 with the UO's Game Development Club. She even took second place in an undergraduate programming competition. What Molly didn’t want out of her education was an aggressively competitive environment. She gets that on the field leading Fugue, the UO’s nationally-ranked women’s Ultimate Frisbee club.

When Jesse Wakeley first came to the UO, he was interested in a major in music, but decided to change his major to computer and information science because he wanted to understand how and why computers affect our lives. “And I wanted a challenge,” Wakeley says. “I got what I asked for.” As the UO president of the Association for Computer Machinery, Wakeley works to host workshops and tours for members to see how computer science is applied in the real world. Wakeley is also a member of Upsilon Pi Epsilon (the international CIS honor society), and founded a social networking site for Eugeneans. But Wakeley has not abandoned his ties to music. He is in a band called the Cocky Pedestrians, which he says is “the only jaywalk-themed rap supergroup in Eugene.”

When Erik Brown decided to go back to school after years of working in the software industry, he quickly found his niche within the CIS department.“It’s a fairly small group and everyone is great,” Brown says. “You get to know everyone.” At the UO, Brown has been helping Associate Professor Anthony Hornof with his research into human-computer interfaces. “We research search screens in order to help people use computers more effectively,” Brown says. Hornof and Brown’s research delves into how people use computers through tracking eye movements and how sound affects human interfaces with computers. “It’s a creative process,” Brown says, “because there are a million ways to write any one program. When you come up with an elegant solution to a problem, it’s a lot of fun.” 

Selected Faculty Work

Professor Sarah Douglas studies human-computer interaction. She looks at human behavior with user interfaces and how to make the computer respond more sensitively to the user. This research offers the potential to streamline computer function by matching it more closely with the user.

Associate Professor Jun Li’s research is targeted toward network security, distributed systems, Internet protocols, and network simulation and performance analysis. His ongoing research projects include automatic defense against unknown self-propagating Internet worms through distributed monitoring, detecting and tracing attacks against the BGP routing protocol, robust communication architecture for security monitoring and warning systems, and secure data sharing among data clients.

Professor Kent Stevens has developed the DinoMorph Project, a three-dimensional skeletal visualization of dinosaur movement. He has served as a consultant to the British Broadcasting Corporation on the factual television series Walking with Dinosaurs, which features digitally rendered dinosaurs superimposed on live-action footage of places where the flora closely resembles that found 100 million years ago.

Associate Professor Michal Young’s work is focused on combining and integrating techniques for analysis and testing of software, and the environment infrastructure that makes integrated tools and techniques practical and fruitful.

Career Opportunities

A background in computer and information science prepares a student for many types of careers. From research to web design to truly futuristic interactions between humans and machines, students in this field are on the cutting edge of prospective careers.

A major in CIS would allow you to manage computer network systems in departments or even large companies. You would also have the knowledge and skills necessary for creating complicated computer graphics and designs. With a major in CIS you will also be able to handle information systems and networks within an organization. The major is practical, versatile, and easily applied to a number of modern careers.

Program banner photo credit: jim212jim

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