March 2005

Computer Science Department works to attract and retain majors

The Information Technology boom of the mid- to late-1990s brought a flood of students to Computer Science, both nationally and at Purdue. In the years between 1995 and 2001, enrollment in Computer Science more than doubled.

By the turn of the century, the dot-com revolution began to cool down, and the tide of high enrollment in Computer Science began to turn. “With the dot-com bust, the perception began to take hold that there were no jobs in Computer Science, that they’re all being outsourced,” says Professor H.E. (Buster) Dunsmore, Chair of the Undergraduate Committee of the Department of Computer Science. “The fact is that the kinds of jobs our graduates take would be very difficult to outsource. But the perception that there are no jobs has hurt Computer Science enrollment nationwide, including at Purdue. High school counselors are not recommending Computer Science as a major to talented students, and parents are discouraging their children from going into Computer Science because they think there won’t be jobs for them when they graduate.”

The Department of Computer Science at Purdue is taking steps to make more students aware of the excitement and versatility of a Computer Science degree. One way is a new course, CS 177, taught for the first time in the Fall 2004 semester and aimed at Computer Science majors who need extra preparation for CS 180, the first course in the major sequence. The course was created by CS Prof. Aditya Mathur with help from Dunsmore. It replaced CS 178, another CS 180 preparatory course. “CS 178 was aimed not only at retaining our own majors, but also at attracting some of the students who are undecided about what their major will be,” says Prof. Dunsmore. “CS 178 was a scaled-down version of CS 180—more user friendly, but all the same pretty dull and boring. Even the brightest of our students don’t always see the excitement and the relevance in what they’re learning in their Computer Science courses, and we haven’t done a good job of communicating that in the early courses. CS 177 includes more multimedia applications, Web applets, interactive things. It’s more exciting and motivating.”

Another factor in the enrollment change is that many of today’s most talented students are attracted to new fields like biotechnology and nanoscience — hot new disciplines where they see exciting new things happening and where they feel they can make a difference in the world. Students don’t always see Computer Science as an opportunity to do that, Prof. Dunsmore says. For that reason, CS 177 includes examples from other sciences to show the impact of Computer Science and its interaction with the other fields. “We have brought in examples of DNA technology, and some examples from chemistry,” he says. “The students are beginning to realize that computer scientists don’t sit in a cocoon and do nothing for the rest of the world. At the same time, I’m teaching them a lot of the principles of Computer Science that they will need in CS 180.”

So far, the results seem to be positive. The students who took CS 177 in the Fall 2004 semester are now in CS 180 and are doing better than those who previously took CS 178 in preparation for CS 180.

The new Richard and Patricia Lawson Computer Science building, currently under construction and due to open in 2006, will include space and facilities for students to interact with faculty and to collaborate on projects in a team setting. CS faculty feel the opportunities for students provided by new space and capabilities will also help retain students in the major.

While retaining current Computer Science students is a priority, Prof. Dunsmore and others assert that strong efforts to recruit the best high school students to the major are also necessary. “One of the things over the years that has affected our retention rate in Computer Science is the lack of knowledge on the part of the high school students, high school teachers, and high school counselors about what Computer Science is,” says Prof. Dunsmore. “I gave a talk at a high school about 5 years ago, and a young man came up to me afterwards, all excited, to tell me he was going to major in Computer Science. I asked him why he had decided to major in CS, and he told me ‘because I have the highest score in this school on Thunder Doom!’ The fact that he was very adept at playing computer games translated for him into the idea that he wanted to go into Computer Science.”

“Computer Science isn’t about using computers. It’s not about Web browsers, or being really good at Powerpoint, or being able to do Excel spreadsheets or desktop publishing. There’s a lot more to it than that,” says Dunsmore.

Prof. Dunsmore sees a critical need to educate high school students about what Computer Science is. He would like to reach not only the students who have already decided to major in Computer Science, but also talented students who are generally interested in science, medicine, and engineering, and explain why Computer Science is relevant to them. “I particularly want to talk to women and minority students. I want to show them that they can use Computer Science to make a difference in the world, to solve some of the huge problems in our society,” he says. “I’d also like to develop materials for teachers to use in the classroom, exciting projects that can help them teach the subject. We could make a real contribution not only to increasing the number of students majoring in Computer Science, but to maintaining the high quality of those students.”

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