Welcome to the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln!

What a great time to be a computer scientist or computer engineer!  The computer industry is continuing its expansion.  In recent surveys, projected demand and pay for new computer science graduates remains at or near the top of all professions. Last year, 100% of our graduates actively seeking jobs were hired prior to graduation—and this in the middle of the worst recession in 70 years!   According to a report by UNL Career Services, the average starting salary of recent computer science and computer engineering majors was $53,708 and $56,000 respectively (with some receiving offers over $80,000).  Top students can expect to be recruited by industry leaders such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, Garmin and Union Pacific, and many local companies, such as Design Data, GC Image, GIS Workshop and Information Analytics.

The Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Department is Nebraska’s premier port of entry to the most promising and challenging careers of the 21st century.  Successful students in the CSE Department are enthusiastic problem-solvers and high achievers in mathematical, analytical, and quantitative skills. They excel in their ability to grasp the intricacies of both the natural sciences and social sciences.  They also have highly developed communication and organizational skills.

The faculty maintains an active research program that involves both graduate and undergraduate students.  Students in the University Honors Program and candidates for degrees with distinction are expected to engage in research with their professors. Further, many of our undergraduates gain valuable experience while getting paid for participating in faculty-supervised research supported by the Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences (UCARE) program or through research grants.  As graduation approaches, the most talented undergraduates may be invited to enter the Department’s graduate studies programs through a special “fast track” plan.

To our new and returning undergraduate and graduate students: the CSE Department is ready to serve you. There is an open-door policy to both your professors and your advisers.  The Student Resource Center, Avery 13A, is open 50 hours per week for mentoring and homework help. The Chief Undergraduate Adviser, Dr. Riedesel, has extended evening hours for your convenience.

I encourage you to take advantage of the many academic, social, cultural, and political activities and groups available to UNL students. Of special interest to computer science students is a chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), an international organization serving the needs of computing professionals and representing their interests to the public. ACM sponsors presentations by industry representatives, conducts programming contests, organizes social events, and elects representatives to active roles in the CSE Department.  Top students are often invited to join the Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) Honor Society, and all students are encouraged to get involved in the new Game Developers Club exposing them to the latest in video gaming, including development competitions.

Here are just a few of the many things of which we are extremely proud:

Faculty

• We recently hired two outstanding faculty members:
• Dr. Anita Sarma, Software Engineering
• Dr. Xue Liu, Cyber Physical Systems (effective January, 2010)
• Dr. Charles Riedesel was awarded the 2009 James V Griesen Exemplary Service to Students Award.
• Donald F. Costello was awarded the prestigious status of Emeritus Associate Professor. He joins Emeritus Professor Alvin Surkan in the ranks of the recently retired but still active faculty.
• 8 of 22 faculty have received NSF Career Awards
• 7 of 22 faculty have received College and University teaching awards

Research

• Recent rankings of software engineering scholars place two of our software engineering professors in the top 10 in the world and three in the top 50!
• Dr. Gregg Rothermel is ranked 1st (Ren& Taylor’08) and 4th (Wohlin 09);
• Dr. Matt Dwyer is ranked 9th (Wohlin’09) and 28th (Ren& Taylor’08);
• Dr. Sebastian Elbaum is ranked 50th (Ren& Taylor’08).
• Research expenditures are now approximately $5,000,000 per year
• 100% of our tenured and tenure-track faculty have active research programs:
• Average 145 peer-reviewed research publications per year
• Each faculty member, on average, supervises 4 graduate students
• Undergraduate students are actively involved in research
• Interdisciplinary research is being conducted with faculty from seven different colleges

Academics

• CSE students continue to receive nationally competitive fellowships and scholarships:
• CSE graduate student Adam Eck was awarded a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
• CSE undergraduate student Robert J. Woodward was awarded the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, one of nine such scholarships awarded nationwide to computer science students last year.
• Our new student enrollment increased by 20% over last year!
• CSE programming teams continue to dominate:
• A team of three CSE students, Tim Echtenkamp, Tyler Lemburg, and Steve Trout, beat out more than 200 teams to win the North Central North America Regional competition of the IBM-sponsored Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest. This feat allowed them to compete in the World Finals, which was held in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Our programming teams have been advanced to the international round of the International ACM Programming Contest in 7 of the last 11 years travelling to places like Stockholm, Vancouver, Hawaii, Tokyo, San Antonio, & Shanghai.

In closing, I invite you to visit our department in person. Our faculty and students are conducting research on the cutting-edge of technology in state-of-the-art facilities. We are very excited about our future, and we enjoy sharing that excitement with others!

Steve Goddard
Department Chair