About the UMass Amherst Computer Science Department

The Department of Computer Science offers a comprehensive curriculum from introductory-level courses to graduate seminars focusing on critical research areas. Students find a unique set of opportunities available to study for the Bachelor's degree, the Master's degree or the Doctoral degree. The M.S. program thoroughly prepares and qualifies students for advanced careers within the computer industry, and the Ph.D. program directly involves students in some of the most exciting and significant research being conducted anywhere in the world.

The Department has created an outstanding research program. Research efforts are strongly supported by government at all levels and by private industry. The program has grown dramatically as the University continues to gain recognition for dynamic, high-quality research. Our research program works closely with other top university computer science departments and major companies in the computer industry to advance computer science research.

We have developed a highly respected program of teaching and research organized around three primary areas: computer systems, theory of computation and artificial intelligence. Department faculty represent some of the most distinguished individuals active in computing research and education. The curriculum is designed to take advantage of the breadth and quality of the research program, providing a rich basis for the development of new perspectives and research directions.

Systems research focuses on software development environments, software testing, distributed computation, distributed and real-time databases, real-time systems, computer networks, performance evaluation, operating systems, parallel computation, computer architecture, programming languages and database and information systems. Primary interests in the theory of computation are combinatorial and graph-theoretic models of computation, complexity of algebraic computations, descriptive and computational complexity, and applications of theoretical studies to "real" computation situations. The Department's artificial intelligence (AI) research includes: computer vision, language technologies, robotics, multiagent systems/distributed AI, machine learning, intelligent tutoring systems, natural language processing, computational neuroscience, autonomous systems, data mining, decision-theoretic planning, computation genomics, automated reasoning, information extraction, meta-cognition, and knowledge discovery.

Our research program benefits from close ties with other University departments, many of which are also nationally recognized. A close and cooperative relationship with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department is maintained for both teaching and research in the areas of distributed computation, VLSI,graphics, architecture, theory of computation, and robotics. Ongoing study and research in the area of theory of computation benefits from ties with the Mathematics Department. Our faculty also participate in both the University's Neuroscience and Behavior Program and the Cognitive Science Program. Other cooperative ventures have involved such diverse schools and departments as Art, Education, Management, and Engineering.

Read more about our faculty, students, education, and research programs in our new Computer Science booklet (5.11MB pdf file). CS Booklet in 2 page spread (lower resolution -- 2.29MB pdf file).

By the numbers -- more details on the Department of Computer Science.
"Pioneer Valley is about perfect" -- article by Knight Ridder's Denis Horgan touting our area.