The Sandford Fleming building is an elegant piece of architecture, a quiet ornament on King’s College Road. Next to its orange-lit big brother, Convocation Hall, it reflects a quiet grace.
As I push through Sanford Fleming’s heavy doors, I’m headed for the heart of the Computer Science Department, and expect to find muted hallways and rooms filled with machines I don’t understand. I’m armed with a pocket protector, and I’ve tucked in my button-down shirt. I expect I’ll fit right in.
But three steps into Sandford Fleming are enough to point out my mistake. The place is a flurry of students and buzzing conversations. It’s anything but dull.
U of T’s Department of Computer Science (DCS) was founded in 1964 and has become one of the top-ranked departments of its kind worldwide. From its humble beginnings as the first computer science department in Canada, it has paved the way for critical developments in the field, now home to 65 faculty, 300 graduate, and 800 undergraduate students. An impressive roster of research and faculty members includes some of the world’s top researchers, as well as Canada’s only Turing Award winner, Stephen Cook.
Contrary to popular belief, the field of computer science isn’t just about computers. It studies how computers interact with medicine, sciences, arts, and people. According to the Acting Chair of DCS, Sven Dickinson, “There’s a misconception among many people that computer science is all about sitting in front of a box and writing programs, in solitude, typically. But in fact, it’s much more than that. Computers have permeated every aspect of our lives, society, and professions.”
The computer science program encourages students to study the technological aspects of the field, but also helps them integrate their knowledge with other disciplines to explore new applications. The department has a strong interdisciplinary focus, not only bridging gaps between subfields of computer science, but also spanning to entirely different disciplines.
The research scope of DCS is very broad, covering everything from graphics and numerical analysis to networking, human-computer interaction (HCI), and artificial intelligence. These research areas have important applications to finance, weather prediction, and medical imaging, which allows DCS faculty to collaborate with researchers in many other domains.
Computer science intersects with disciplines like medicine, linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, and economics to tackle complex, real-world problems. According to Dickinson, getting to a solution requires a collective effort from many disciplines, including computer science. “Machines are making their way out into the world in almost every facet of life, and solving all these complex problems with these machines involves studying computer science and some other discipline. To do it right, I think you have to appreciate what those disciplines have to offer to the problem. And we’re encouraging our students to be able to pursue these interests in these areas.”
The undergraduate program in computer science provides students with an understanding of fundamental computer science, as well as many opportunities to pursue research with faculty members or independently. As they progress through the program, students can explore different areas, and can enter specialist programs that combine computer science with economics, statistics, cognitive science, physics, or mathematics.
Although enrolment dropped in recent years following the “dot-com bust,” the numbers have started to creep back up again. “This drop in enrolment happened all across the continent,” says Dickinson. “A lot of students felt that maybe there weren’t a lot of jobs out there—which is an incorrect perception. In fact, there are more jobs out there right now than there ever were.”
Graduating with a degree in computer science opens up a variety of career options, with DCS graduates working in areas like IT, industry research, economic development, health sciences, game design, and health care. DCS also offers studies at the graduate level for those who wish to pursue a career in academic research.
“There isn’t a single discipline out there that isn’t being affected by computer science,” says Dickinson. “We’re interested in newer, faster, more reliable technology—smaller, more compact. We’re interested in designing new languages. We’re interested in making machines more efficient, distributing computation, and having machines work well with each other. These are extremely challenging, fascinating, fundamental problems in computer science. But we’re so much more than that as well, in terms of taking these machines out into the world and solving problems that involve people.
“It moves beyond just the pure technology into how to use computers to affect positive change in the world, and make the world a better place.”
