Undergraduate DegreeS
	BA in Computer Science, BA in Informatics, BS in Computer Science, BS in Informatics from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
MinorS
	Computer Science, Informatics
Four-year Graduation Plan
	Yes
Links
	Web Site Courses General Catalog

Computing has changed the world and will continue to play an increasingly important role in nearly every aspect of our lives, including medicine and health care, business and finance, politics and government, and entertainment.

• Why Study Computing at Iowa?
• Course Work
• Computer Science
• Informatics
• Research
• Facilities
• Student Activities
• Careers
• Internships
• Scholarships

Why Study Computing at Iowa?
Both majors in the Department of Computer Science—computer science and informatics—provide students with an understanding of the fundamental ideas in computing—computation and algorithms, software and hardware systems, and networking—but informatics degrees are more focused on computing applications.

One of this program’s many advantages is its strong commitment to fostering undergraduate research.

Both majors provide outstanding preparation for the enormous variety of 21st-century careers in which computing knowledge plays a key role.

Course Work
The Department of Computer Science offers two majors: computer science and informatics.

Computer Science
The undergraduate program in computer science provides the knowledge required for long-term success in a rapidly changing field. Computer science emphasizes not only current techniques, tools, and programming languages, but also emerging conceptual frameworks that provide a view of the future.

The BA program offers a solid computer science foundation plus substantial freedom to combine computer science with a second major (or minor) or explore other interests. The BS program provides more extensive education in computer science and somewhat greater emphasis in natural sciences and mathematics.

The basic curriculum for both BA and BS degrees in computer science includes the following courses:

• Computer Science I: Fundamentals
• Computer Science II: Data Structures
• Discrete Structures
• Object-Oriented Software Development
• Computer Organization
• Algorithms
• Programming Language Concepts
• One “systems” course
• One elective course
  

Both degrees also require Calculus I and II. The BA requires one additional mathematics course, while the BS requires two. The BS also requires several additional computer science courses.

Informatics
The informatics core provides more applications-oriented content than the traditional computer science curriculum, and emphasizes data manipulation, databases, and networking. Yet it is designed to provide students a sound base in underlying computer science themes.

To fulfill informatics major requirements, students combine informatics course work that provides a strong foundation in computing with course work in one of several cognate disciplines. This enables a wide variety of multidimensional programs well suited to the educational and economic needs of the 21st century. Specifically, students complete the informatics core, one informatics elective, an approved statistics course, and an approved set of six or more courses within a cognate area.

Most cognates yield BA degrees. Others, such as bioinformatics, lead to BS degrees.

The informatics core includes six courses:

• Introduction to Computer Science
• Programming for Informatics
• Human Computer Interaction
• Databases for Informatics
• Networking and Security for Informatics
• Informatics Project
  

The cognate areas include:

• Fine and applied arts: art or music
• Human-computer interaction
• Linguistics
• Social sciences: sociology, economics, or geography
• Bioinformatics
• Health sciences
• Individualized study (examples include journalism, political science, and communication studies)

Research
The department’s faculty members conduct internationally recognized research in areas including:

• Algorithms
• Automated reasoning and verification
• Computer graphics, virtual environments, and human-computer interaction
• Informatics, including machine learning and information retrieval
• Distributed systems, networks, and security
• Algorithms
• Automated reasoning and verification
• Computer graphics, virtual environments, and human-computer interaction
• Databases, data mining, and information retrieval
• Distributed systems, networks, and security
• Human-computer interaction
• Informatics (bioinformatics, computational biology, and other interdisciplinary areas)

The department is known for its commitment to fostering undergraduate research. Iowa has been a national site for the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

Facilities
The department has extensive computing facilities involving hundreds of workstations, servers, and specialized computing systems. The department also has two educational computing laboratories open to all majors and housing approximately 50 workstations.

In addition, the department has several specialized research computing facilities, including high-performance computing clusters; distributed sensor network systems; and large, immersive, multiscreen, multicomputer virtual reality systems. For a complete list of departmental resources, see the Department of Computer Science web site.

Computer science majors have convenient access to the Mathematical Sciences Library, located within MacLean Hall, as well as to the nearby Main and Engineering Libraries.

Student Activities
Among the hundreds of student groups on campus, there are some specific to computer science, including Women in Informatics and Computer Science (WICS) and the student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Careers
Graduates work primarily in two market sectors. One is the software and computer industry, from small start-ups to giants such as Microsoft and IBM. Job opportunities come in software development and design, systems analysis, user-interface development and design, web development, and many other areas.

A growing number of graduates work for organizations whose primary business is not computing, such as banks, insurance and other financial groups, health care organizations, consulting, media firms, legal firms, entertainment companies, and the military. A deep understanding of the principles and techniques of computing is valuable for nearly all of today’s successful organizations, and computer science majors can play key roles on their problem-solving teams.

In addition, as many as one-third of our graduates go into research or elect to pursue graduate studies in computer science, business, or other areas for which an undergraduate computing education provides a strong foundation.

Internships
Internships are strongly encouraged for career preparation and often lead to full-time employment after graduation. Many are available with high-profile companies such as John Deere, Rockwell Collins, Cerner Corporation, State Farm Insurance, NCS, IBM, and Microsoft, which have strong, long-standing relationships with the department. You’ll also have opportunities to pursue individual research projects and work one-on-one with a professor in a specialized field; this is a requirement for those who graduate with honors.

Scholarships
Consult multiple sources for scholarship information, including the Office of Admissions, the Office of Student Financial Aid, and departmental web sites.

The computer science department has several corporate scholarships available each year. Most are open to computer science majors in their second year and beyond. Recent and current scholarship sponsors include John Deere, Rockwell Collins, Cerner Corporation, Allied Insurance, Principal Financial Group, and the Gerard P. Weeg Scholarship Foundation.

Other awards available include the Goldwater Scholarship and the George S. Schaeffer Scholarships.