Celebrating 50 Years

The Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington is commemorating its 50th anniversary of computing. Since its inception in 1973, the department has grown from offering a master's degree in computer science as part of the Industrial Engineering department to becoming an independent entity. Presently, the department takes pride in providing a wide array of degree programs in computer science, computer engineering, and software engineering, attracting a diverse student body of over 4,000 enrollees. Join us as we reflect on five decades of innovation, education, and impactful research in the field of computer science.

Dr. Steve Underwood at a terminal in 1977

"As a computer science project, Dr. Steve Underwood worked with a psychiatrist from Baylor College of Medicine at Houston. Underwood designed a microcomputer system to monitor patients at the Houston sleep laboratory. The computer monitored body functions while sleeping." - 1977 UTA Yearbook

Program - October 13th - 14th, 2023

DAY 1: Friday, October 13th
Science & Engineering Innovation & Research Building Room 198 (SEIR 198)

  • 10:00am - 10:30am
    Blazing From Cards To Cloud: 50 Years of Computing at UTA
    Introduction by Computer Science and Engineering department Chair Dr. Hong Jiang
  • 10:30am - 11:30am
    Sparks To Blazes: History of CSE and Contributions to the Computing Community
    Panel on the historical impact the CSE department has had in the computing community, featuring past department chairs
  • 11:30am - 12:15pm
    Fireside Chats: Networking and Lunch Selection Interval
  • 12:15pm - 1:30pm
    Bright Light: Computing Then, Now, and To Be
    Keynote with Turing Award Winner, Dr. Jack Dongarra with introduction by Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad
    Dr. Jack Dongarra
    Dr. Jack Dongarra
  • 1:45pm - 3:15pm
    Blazing Bright: Faculty Impact To The Computing Community
    Faculty talk on how faculty-led research is pioneering innovation, driving technological advancements and addressing the pressing challenges faced by the computing community today
  • 3:30pm - 5:00pm
    Lightning and Thunder Talks: CSE Students
    CSE Ph.D student lightening talks on the origins of their research
  • 5:00pm - 6:00pm
    Luminarias: Guest Reception
    Pizza will be served on the first floor for general audience. Invitation-Only Event Reception on second floor.
  • 6:00pm - 7:00pm
    Fanning The Flame: Decisions That Shaped Computing History
    Community Talk with Keynote Speaker Dr. Jack Dongarra, with introduction by Giri Amaravadi
    Dr. Jack Dongarra
    Dr. Jack Dongarra

DAY 2: Saturday, October 14th
Bluebonnet Ballroom, University Center

  • 10:30am - 12:00pm
    Forges of CSE: Lab Tours and Location History
    Guided and self-guided tours of current CSE research labs
  • 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    Igniting Innovation: Future Computing
    Lunch with entrepreneur and alumni keynote speaker, Dr. Jeff Smith. Introduction by Dr. Farhad Kamangar
    Dr. Jeff Smith
    Dr. Jeff Smith
  • 2:00pm - 3:30pm
    Flame Keepers: Stories of Life After CSE@UTA
    Panel with CSE PhD Alumni sharing their journey after graduating from UTA
    Dr. Damla Turgut
    Dr. Damla Turgut
    Dr. Samee Khan
    Dr. Samee Khan
    Dr. Vangelis Metsis
    Dr. Vangelis Metsis
    Dr. Frederick Sheldon
    Dr. Frederick Sheldon
    Vijai Mohan
    Vijai Mohan
  • 3:45pm - 5:15pm
    Fire It Up!: Getting the Scoop on Industry and Careers
    Panel with Industry & Entrepreneur guest speakers followed by a Q&A
    Dr. Gregory Berg
    Dr. Gregory Berg
    Eric Yang
    Eric Yang
    Dr. Ren Wang
    Dr. Ren Wang
    Gen Sasaki
    Gen Sasaki
    Dr. Raghav Vadhera
    Dr. Raghav Vadhera
    Brandon Gallagher
    Brandon Gallagher
  • 5:15pm - 6:00pm
    Feel the Heat: Student Research Exhibits
  • 6:00pm - 8:00pm
    Fireworks: The Future of UTA
    Invitation-only banquet for honored guests. Keynote by UTA President Dr. Jennifer Cowley.
  • 8:00pm
    Blazing From Cards To Cloud: 50 Years of Computing at UTA Drone Show

Event Highlights

Former chairs Dr. Roger Walker, Dr. Lynn Peterson, Dr. Bill Carroll, and Dr. Fillia Makedon joined the current department chair, Dr. Hong Jiang, for a panel discussion.
Former chairs Dr. Roger Walker, Dr. Lynn Peterson, Dr. Bill Carroll, and Dr. Fillia Makedon joined the current department chair, Dr. Hong Jiang, for a panel discussion.
Dr. Jack Dongarra, our Friday's keynote speaker, stayed for a Q&A session with students after his inspiring talk.
Dr. Jack Dongarra, our Friday's keynote speaker, stayed for a Q&A session with students after his inspiring talk.
UTA President Dr. Jennifer Cowley accepts a gift from the department, presented by Dr. Carter Tiernan.
UTA President Dr. Jennifer Cowley accepts a gift from the department, presented by Dr. Carter Tiernan.
Dr. Jeff Smith, an alumnus and entrepreneur, delivered Saturday
Dr. Jeff Smith, an alumnus and entrepreneur, delivered Saturday's keynote address.
The celebration of the anniversary concluded with a spectacular drone show.
The celebration of the anniversary concluded with a spectacular drone show.

Before and After

Field trips

“Field trips to LTV, General Dynamics, Texas Instruments, and the DFW Airport Traffic Control Center helped to enlighten ACM members about the field of computing. The Associations for Computing Machinery held a forum which gave local experts in this field the opportunity to talk to UTA students. Together with the National ACM, this association sponsored a high school programming contest and an annual spring picnic.” - 1978 UTA Yearbook

Today, ACM

Today, ACM provides enriching learning opportunities through workshops and projects and has a membership of over 50 students. Notably, it hosts HackUTA, one of North Texas' largest 24-hour hackathons, where students innovate, design, develop, and present projects from the ground up.

Student at a 1960s computer.

1960's

  • 1966 - First Computer Science courses offered (through IE Department)
 
Student standing by tape drives in the 1970s

1970's

  • 1973 - An interdisciplinary Master's degree in Computer Science was approved
  • 1973 - Dr. Roger Walker was selected as Chairman of the Graduate Studies Committee and Graduate Advisor for the program
  • 1974 - First interdisciplinary MS CS degrees awarded
  • 1976 - Ph.D. in Computer Science established under the engineering umbrella
  • 1977 - Computer Science Section in the College of Engineering was established with its own budget
  • 1978 - Bachelor of Science in CSE degree program established
  • 1979 - First BS CSE degree awarded
Students at a 1980s computer.

1980's

  • 1980 - Computer Science and Engineering Department established
  • 1980 - Dr. Walker becomes the first CS Chairperson
  • 1981 - First Ph.D. in CS awarded
  • 1981 - Dr. Bill Carroll becomes Chairperson
  • 1983 - CSE undergraduate program accredited by ABET
  • 1983 - MS in Computer Science and Engineering (Computer Engineering) established
  • 1989 - Software Engineering Center for Telecommunications established
 
Nedderman and Carrol

1990's

  • 1990 - Honors Program in Parallel Processing (HiPP) established
  • 1994 - Master of Software Engineering program established
  • 1995 - CSE undergraduate program accredited by CSAB (first dual ABET/CSAB accredited program in Texas)
  • 1996 - UTA ranked 20th in the USA in computer science research expenditures [$8,641,000]
  • 1997 - UTA ranked 9th in the USA in computer science research expenditures [$15,187,000]
  • 1998 - First offerings of CSE courses at distance via the web
  • 1999 - Dr. Behrooz Shirazi becomes Chairperson
Faculty and students at a computer rack Faculty and students in a computing research lab Faculty and student in a computing research lab

2000's

  • 2000 - Total students enrolled reaches 1,000
  • 2005 - Dr. Walker serves as Interim Chairperson
  • 2006 - Dr. Fillia Makedon becomes Chairperson
  • 2006 - First joint PhD program internationally with the National Center for Scientific Research (NCSR), Demokritos, Greece established
  • 2007 - First UTA-led International Conference PETRA
  • 2007 - First joint MS program internationally and productively with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) program established
 
Faculty in front of some PCs

2010's

  • 2011 - Engineering Research Building Completed
  • 2013 - Dr. Lynn Peterson becomes Interim Chairperson
  • 2014 - IUCRC NSF Center iPerform established
  • 2015 - Dr. Hong Jiang becomes Chairperson (Current)
  • 2015 - Total student enrollment exceeds 2,000
  • 2017 - First Hackathon Hosted
  • 2019 - CARIDA Research Center Opens
Circuit board Students at a hackathon

2020's

  • 2020 - First time OurCS@DFW and Student Computing Research Festival (SCRF)
  • 2021 - Graduate certificates in CS and CpE created
  • 2021 - MS in Data Science program established
  • 2021 - Total student enrollment exceeds 3,000
  • 2022 - Total student enrollment exceeds 4,000
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Degrees Offered

Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, Ph.D. in Computer Science,
M.S. in Computer Engineering, M.S. in Computer Science, M.S. in Data Science,
Master of Software Engineering,
B.S. in Computer Engineering, B.S. in Computer Science, B.S. in Software Engineering

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Our 50th Year in CSE

Faculty Highlights

  • Faculty
    • 44 Tenure-Track
    • 27 Non-Tenure-Track
    • 18 Adjunct
  • Current faculty members include:
    • 10 NSF Career Awardees
    • 4 IEEE Fellows
    • 2 AIMBE Fellows
    • 1 ACM Fellow

Students

  • Current Enrollment:
    • 2,337 Bachelor's
    • 2,139 Master's
    • 161 Ph.D.
  • Graduates (Since 1974)
    • 3,784 Bachelor's
    • 5,767 Master's
    • 323 Ph.D.

Achievements

  • R-1 University - Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Ed.
  • Texas Tier One University
  • #1 in Texas for First Generation Students
  • #4 in the nation for Veterans and Their Families, Military Times, 2023

Rankings

  • #60 Overall
  • #20 Operating Systems
  • #14 High Performance Computing
  • #59 Mobile Computing
  • #29 Databases
  • #79 Computer Security
  • #53 Software Engineering
  • #60 AI, Machine Learning & Computer Vision and NLP
    [CSRankings.org, 2018-2023 publications in all venues including non-default ones, as of July 2023]

Major Research Areas:

  • ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
    • Computer Vision, Medical Imaging, Image and Video Processing
    • Machine Learning, Neural Networks and Deep Learning, Data Mining
    • Robotics
  • BIG DATA AND DATA SCIENCE
    • Big Data Modeling, Analysis, Optimization, Scalability
    • Databases, Knowledge Bases, Information Systems
    • High Performance Computing, Cloud Computing
    • Spatial, Temporal, Spatio-Temporal and Moving Objects Databases
    • Bioinformatics and Health Informatics
  • COMPUTER AND NETWORK SYSTEMS
    • Computer Networks
    • Internet of Things, Embedded Systems, Mobile Computing
    • Sustainable Computing
  • HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACES
    • Assistive Technologies, Pervasive Computing
    • Human-Computer Interaction, Human Robot Interaction
    • Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
  • SECURITY
    • Cybersecurity
    • Information Security
    • Privacy
  • SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
    • Agile Methods and Software Project Management
    • Software Design
    • Software Testing and Program Analysis
    • Automated Software Engineering
  • Research Highlights:
    • Over $11.23M research grants awarded between 9/21-8/22
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Historical photo of people in the Computer Science and Engineering Department
Walker
Bill Carrol
Behrooz Shirazi
Fillia Makedon
Lynn Peterson
Hong Jiang