As demand for data skills grows, big gift bolsters UW comput
Source: Karen Herzog and Kathleen Gallagher
Tyler Lane (left), 20, Sophia Ehlen, 23, and Goayuan Chen, 21, attend a “Foundations of Mobile Systems and Application” class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Madison ― Computer science classes, once the exclusive realm of computer geeks planning careers at software companies, are fast becoming part of the mainstream college experience.
That fact isn't lost on Milwaukee philanthropists Sheldon and Marianne Lubar, whose $7 million gift to the University of Wisconsin-Madison's computer sciences department was announced last week to help the university retain and attract top professors.
Last month, recruiters from Microsoft jockeyed at UW-Madison's annual Computer Sciences Job Fair with a variety of companies that mine big data such as Google, Humana, American Family Insurance, GE, Ashley Furniture, IMC Financial Markets and 3M.
Undergraduate enrollment in classes offered by UW-Madison's nationally ranked computer sciences department has nearly doubled in the last five years ― from 2,400 in 2010 to 4,650 this fall. The waiting list of those trying to get into already-filled classes has more than doubled just since last year ― from 400 in fall 2014 to 920 students this fall.
Many of those students are majoring in history, anthropology, finance, engineering and journalism, among other fields. They realize the world runs on computers and recognize the value employers place on computational thinking ― using concepts fundamental to computer science to request information from a database, organize data into smaller pieces and define the steps to build a system or solve a problem.
"We've had an explosion in enrollment," said Mark Hill, chairman of the computer sciences department. "We are getting hammered because classes have doubled and faculty hasn't. Insurance companies, car companies, banks all want our graduates."
The timing of the gift from the Lubars could not have been better, Hill said.
"Sheldon and Marianne Lubar demonstrate considerable vision regarding the foundational role of computer science in the 21st century by directing a gift to us even though they did not have prior connections with us," Hill said.
"Educating our students and citizens in this science is a very high priority by any measure if our country is to maintain and grow our standard of living," Sheldon Lubar explained in a prepared statement.
Prestigious program
UW-Madison's computer science department ― the second oldest in the country ― tied with California Institute of Technology for 11th place in U.S. News & World Report's 2014 national rankings. It ranked eighth in computer systems, 10th in programming language and 18th in artificial intelligence, the magazine calculated.
Seventy-one percent of the job growth in STEM ( science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields involves computer science, Hill said.
Funds from the Lubars will endow two chairs and two professorships, plus establish an endowed discretionary fund.
The Lubars' gift was enhanced in part by the Morgridge match, a challenge issued by fellow alumni John and Tashia Morgridge to encourage gifts of named professorships, chairs and distinguished chairs at UW-Madison.
To broaden accessibility for non-majors, the department just introduced an "Introduction to Data Programming" class for those in majors "intellectually similar" to computer sciences, such as statistics and economics. Students can write basic computer programs by the end of that class.
The department also recently introduced an undergraduate computer sciences certificate program ― the equivalent of a minor ― for those majoring in a physical, biological or social science to enhance career options with a background in computer systems. Some computer science courses now satisfy the quantitative reasoning core requirement that all students must satisfy as part of their foundation education.
Computer science is expanding into areas like how robots work, and what to do with sensory data from automobiles. UW-Madison psychologists are working with computer scientists on questions such as how humans behave so that robots can be programmed to behave like humans, Hill said.
Some of the world's most popular digital devices have been influenced by UW-Madison's computer science department.
The university recently won a $234 million judgment in a lawsuit against Apple Inc. that accused the California company of infringing on computer science professor Guri Sohi's patent involving microprocessor instructions in some of its newest products, including the iPhone 6S and iPad Pro. UW-Madison in 2009 settled for an undisclosed amount in another lawsuit against chip-maker Intel Corp. involving the same patent.
The computer sciences department also has been critical to creating companies, as well as luring them to the state.
Verona-based Epic Systems, one of the country's largest electronic health records software firms, was founded by Judy Faulkner, who got her graduate degree in computer science at UW-Madison.
In the last 12 months, two of the department's professors have sold companies they founded: Paul Barford's MdotLabs was sold to comScore; and Jignesh Patel's Quickstep big data project was sold to Pivotal. In 2013, Patel sold another company he founded to Twitter.
The department has helped attract big-name tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Zendesk to establish satellite offices in Madison.
"They have come to realize they can further their mission and add value to their companies by tapping in locally to that talent," said Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce.
In a recent class on mobile programming, in which students learn to write smartphone apps, computer science professor Suman Banerjee lectured about Wi-Fi, which has only had recognized standards since 1997.
He talked about the evolution of mobile wireless. He showed students a picture of a gray-haired man holding one of the first mobile phones ― ancient history in the quickly evolving world of computer science.
The phone was from the 1980s.
"This course is unique because the technology changes each semester," Banerjee said.
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