What is Computer Science?

Quite simply, it's the hottest, coolest, most exciting, and most dynamic field there is! Choosing computer science as your area of study is a choice that will change your life and open a world of opportunities, limited only by your imagination and creativity.

As you know, computers are involved in practically every aspect of your life, including medicine, genetics, finance, agriculture, energy, aeronautics, entertainment, construction, education, manufacturing, transportation, leisure, and communication.

If you enjoy challenges and you are good at solving problems, then Computer Science (CS) may be the subject for you. A degree in Computer Science will develop expert problem-solving skills, which will allow you to apply your talents in a wide variety of settings, and adapt to a world where the role of technology is changing at record-breaking speed.

Now only about 50 years old, computer science has become the basis for much of the world's global economy. New computing technologies, which have a profound effect on the marketplace, are emerging at an astonishing rate. All this adds to the excitement and freshness of the curriculum for computer science education. At the same time, the underpinnings of computer science are stable, well-defined, and solidly rooted in areas such as logic, language theory, and mathematics.

As a computer science student you will engage in the study of a wide-ranging subject, spanning from software engineering, new programming paradigms, networking and the Internet, databases, formal methods, computer graphics, processors, robots, human-computer interaction, agents and distributed systems, neural nets, mobile computing, artificial life, bioinformatics cognition, and a myriad of other areas.

Your study will be a blend of both practice and theory. Computer programming is only one aspect of computer science; computer scientists are also problem-solvers. In some cases, these problems are abstract in nature and require the design of complex new algorithms. In other cases, problems are of a more practical nature, requiring the design of systems that are easy for humans to use.

If you are interested in pursuing studies in computer science, the department offers a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in computer science. A co-operative education option for this degree program is a popular choice among students, allowing you to integrate valuable industry experience into your program of study. If you would rather take computer science as a secondary area of concentration, we also offer a minor in CS.

What is Information Technology?

The term "information technology" (IT) has a broad, and sometimes ambiguous, meaning. Often it is used to describe the entire computing industry. However, we use this term to describe an applied stream of courses within our department's offerings. This Information Technology stream has two primary audiences: students in areas of study other than Computer Science, and current practitioners in the IT industry who may wish to enroll on a part-time basis.

In comparison with the Computer Science stream, IT courses are less theoretical, have lower prerequisite requirements, and have a greater focus on current trends and technologies. The Information Technology stream is brand new. A large selection of courses have recently been approved for this stream and will be 'rolled out' as students enter this exciting new course area to augment their knowledge and skills.

History of CS/IT at UPEI

UPEl started teaching Computer Science (CS) in the early 1970s. Jim Hancock, Director of the campus Computer Centre at that time, created and taught an introductory level BASIC programming course, soon to be followed by a second course that focused on both computer applications and the impact of computers in society. Ed Lawlor, now President of DeltaWare Systems Inc., was engaged to teach this course. The campus computing environment consisted of a single PDP-11/45 minicomputer, which handled both administrative and academic applications. Teletype terminals and card punches were the main sources of user input.

Responsibility for Computer Science courses was assigned to the Mathematics Department in 1977, under the leadership of Professor Winston Pineau. Subsequently, the department changed its name to the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

A two-year Computer Science core was established in the early 1980s, along with formal transfer agreements with Acadia, Dalhousie, the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS), and the University of New Brunswick. This allowed UPEl students to take two years at UPEl and then transfer into the third year at one of these partner institutions. At this point, the department had three faculty dedicated to teaching CS. In 1996, a Computer Science degree program (BSc in Computer Science) was approved and commenced operation in the 1997-98 academic year. Students already enrolled in the two-year core were integrated into the new program and thus the first class graduated in the spring of 1999.

With start-up funding provided by Technology PEI, a co-operative education stream was added in the 1999-2000 academic year. This is a five-year program that integrates eight study terms and four work terms. Students enter the program after their second year of study. To better fulfil its service role to other disciplines and to practitioners in the IT industry, the department added an "Information Technology" stream in the spring of 2003, and began to roll out a set of IT courses that are more applied in nature, consisting of less theoretical material and less stringent prerequisite requirements. About that same time in 2003, the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science split into two academic units; the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology (CSIT), and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Currently, the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology has six full-time faculty, a systems administrator/laboratory instructor, an administrative support person, and several sessional instructors.