The Department of Computer Science and Engineering implemented a 10-year initiative in 2000 to enhance research and teaching excellence and advance the department to among the 25 top-ranked computer science and engineering programs in the nation. Known as the Top 25 Initiative, the program has been highly successful and produced significant results.
Research under the initiative has grown significantly. The department is currently ranked No. 1 in active research funding at UTA, with almost $7 million in external funding. For the past three years, the department has led all academic departments at UTA in new research funding.
Under the initiative, the department has increased by 40 percent its tenure-track faculty and has increased the number of its doctoral students 118 percent. It has also opened two new research centers, plus established new research tracks. In addition, scholarly output in the department has almost doubled since 1999.
The department in 2003 founded an international conference on pervasive computing, PerCom, which it co-sponsors with IEEE. In 2004, about 300 leading computer scientists from around the world attended the conference. PerCom 2005 will be held in Hawaii.
Under the initiative, the department's Industry Advisory Board has become a vital industry support group of top representatives from North Texas' leading companies, including Lockheed-Martin, EDS, Raytheon, Motorola, Sabre Holdings and others. Industry financial support is endowing a scholarship fund for top computer science and engineering students, and providing other support to the department.
Under the Top 25 Initiative, the department launched an annual Distinguished Lecturer Series that is bringing in America's top leaders in the computer science field from industry and academia to speak to students and faculty. And a successful outreach program to high school students has been established through an annual robot programming contest.
More plans are under way to further boost the department's research and teaching excellence.