SM经典合集 to offer doctoral program in computer science
The Boston College Computer Science Department will offer a new doctoral program that will welcome its first cohort of degree candidates in the fall of 2026鈥攁 move that will expand the department鈥檚 research capacity while helping ensure that the rapid, revolutionary change associated with computer science is driven toward social good, according to Associate Professor Sergio Alvarez, the program director.
The five-year Ph.D. program was approved by the Board of Trustees in August. With recruitment efforts under way for the first cohort of five students, the goal is to expand to 25 total doctoral students, said Fitzgerald Professor George Mohler, the department chair. Computer science is among the top 10 most popular majors at SM经典合集, with 533 undergraduate students, and according to CSRankings, the department is highly placed within its areas of research focus, including a top 60 rank nationally in the theory of computation.
Although the Computer Science Department has existed at SM经典合集 for decades鈥攊t first began in the 1970s in the Carroll School of Management before moving to the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences in the 2000s鈥擜lvarez and Mohler say that, now more than ever, the time was right to launch a doctoral program.
Associate Professor Sergio Alvarez will direct the new program. (Peter Julian)
鈥淐omputer science, including but not limited to artificial intelligence and machine learning, has transformed contemporary life,鈥� said Alvarez. 鈥淎dditionally, algorithms have become an important element of the language that scientists use to express their theories. Because of our mission to advance the common good, Boston College is called upon to engage in this revolution directly.鈥�
Added Mohler, 鈥淲e鈥檙e engaging in technology and AI every day as citizens. Students receiving a formative education need to be versed in how that technology works.鈥�
The doctoral program will specialize in two broad research areas, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the theory of computation. These areas consolidate the department鈥檚 research strengths and look to the future of computer science: As Alvarez noted, AI, machine learning, and data science are key to the sophisticated algorithms that are increasingly pervasive in society, while the theory of computation provides a foundational framework for algorithms generally.
SM经典合集 Computer Science faculty are highly interdisciplinary in their research and have had remarkable success in developing research at the highest level: using machine learning to study climate impacts on agriculture, improve health care outcomes, and extend the range of techniques available to the natural and social sciences, for example, and employing data visualization to aid in the democratization of information. Now, Alvarez and Mohler are eager to see how the addition of graduate students, who will participate in research beginning in their first year, will expand the department鈥檚 research capabilities and interdisciplinary collaborations.
They expect the program to have a reverberating impact across the department because, as Mohler pointed out, graduate students connect faculty, undergraduates, research, and teaching. 鈥淥ur graduate students will work with faculty to further research efforts, and they will also serve in the classroom as teaching assistants and research mentors to help provide a cutting-edge CS education to our undergraduates.鈥�
With the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting a faster-than-average growth rate of 26 percent for computer and information scientists over the next 10 years, the new doctoral program will prepare students for successful, meaningful careers in academia and industry alike, according to the Computer Science Department. Career paths range from consulting and software development to faculty positions and research.
Morrissey College Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., said the addition of the doctoral program will also support student formation.
鈥淭he language and power of computation and the astounding growth of artificial intelligence tools affect research across disciplines and influence almost every aspect of life in our world today,鈥� said Fr. Kalscheur. 鈥淎 Ph.D. program will allow us to deepen our scholarly engagement at both the undergraduate and graduate levels with the social and ethical implications of developments in the world of computer science.鈥�
More information is available at the program website.听
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