Why UTCS?

— Professor J Strother Moore, Chair

I'm happy that you're interested in joining the faculty of the Department of Computer Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.

UT Austin is the flagship university of the State of Texas. So what would that have to do with the success of your career as a computer scientist here? The Texas economy is based on computing!

According to Cyberstates 2005, a state-by-state overview of the high-tech industry published by the American Electronics Association, Texas ranks second only to California in the number of high-tech jobs (446,000), high-tech firms (21,400), high-tech exports ($34.7 billion), and high-tech payroll ($30.4 billion). This makes the department a key asset to the university and the state — and an excellent place to start a professional career in computing.

The department is ranked among the top-ten computer science departments in the country. Our 46 tenure-track faculty members, 250 graduate students, and many of our 1000 undergraduates pursue research in almost all areas of computer science. Within the last 10 years our faculty has been awarded
Steve Keckler and Doug Burger,
recent NSF CAREER awardees 10 NSF CAREER Awards, 7 Sloan Fellowships, 2 Packard Fellowships, a Guggenheim, the ACM Kanellakis Award, the Herbrand Award, the Karlstrom Award, the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, the IEEE Computer Society's W. Wallace McDowell Award, and the ACM Software System Award.

The Department is engaged with industrial partners to solve problems and create new computing paradigms, including fast linear algebra packages, a new shortest path algorithm, hardware applications of neural nets, new clustering algorithms, biologically meaningful metrics for bioinformatics data bases, new analytical methods of establishing security and correctness of hardware and software, and an AI based video game.

Between our contract research partners and our industrial affiliates program, the department is currently working with such companies as AMD, Boeing, Cisco, Google, HBK, HP, IBM, Intel, JBoss, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, National
UT Austin is leading Texas'
technology transformation Instruments, Obsidian, Rockwell, Sun, and Telcordia. We also have research links with many government agencies and national labs, including DARPA, NASA, NIH, and NSF. We encourage entrepreneurialism, among our faculty and our students, and have many valuable contacts in Austin's dynamic venture community.

Because our science is so broad and pervasive, we have close ties to many other programs on campus including the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Institute for Computational Engineering and Science, the Texas Advanced Computing Center, the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, the Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology and the Digital Media Collaboratory, to name but a few.

We have an honors undergraduate program, called Turing Scholars, that attracts top students with accelerated courses and early research experience.

All tenure-track faculty members teach undergraduates. Assistant Professors are generally given a two course load: one undergraduate course and one core graduate course per year. About half of our faculty teach two courses per year; the rest generally teach three, with the third course being a research seminar. Course load is determined by a formula that factors in the size and type of the class, the number of graduate students being supervised, and other considerations.

Students master core skills
to last a lifetime Our undergraduate program focuses on core computing principles and we try to encourage both research and innovation among our students because we believe that is key to their success. Our average lower division class size is 47; our average upper division class size is 36.

We put a high premium on analysis and precision. We value scientific and mathematical rigor. We value well-designed experimentation as a means of shaping hypotheses and confirming theories. Our scientific tendencies are reinforced by being in the College of Natural Sciences, where our sister departments include such classic disciplines as math, physics, chemistry, and biology. We have an active industrial affiliates program that constantly exposes us and our students to industrial speakers and concerns.

We have an excellent departmental technical staff of 16 that maintains the computing infrastructure for both the research and educational missions of the department. Individual researchers or groups assemble and maintain special-purpose networks.

Life in the department is very collegial.
The popular O's Café is just
down the hall from your office The entire faculty meets for a group lunch every Wednesday. The table discussions are wide ranging and may include any of the things a group of friends might discuss over lunch: science, education, politics, current events, hobbies, etc. There is an excellent café in our building and we often meet in smaller groups for lunch or discussions over coffee.

Nevertheless, the life of a university professor can be stressful, with the competing demands of research, teaching, publishing, and proposals.

Fortunately, the campus recreation center is nearby. Groups of faculty members and students often exercise or play together.

Joggers and rowers enjoy
the beauty of Town Lake In addition, Austin itself is a relaxed and eclectic city that provides a wide variety of recreational activities. It is famous for its live music, film production, outdoor recreation, and high-tech community — in addition to the University of Texas at Austin. Check out the links at Austin Chamber of Commerce to see data on our low cost of living and relaxed lifestyle. For a daily review of what's going on in town, see The City Guide at the Austin Chronicle.

With strong faculty and student colleagues, an excellent infrastructure, and a supportive environment, this is a great place to start your career!