5 ms·

Yale Launches Expansion of the Department of Computer Science

86 points by plg 12y ago

therobot24 12y ago
given the previous bad press is this any surprise?
- smackfu 12y ago
  This bad press? http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/03/02/student-petition-calls-for-cs-faculty-increase/ http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/03/02/student-petition-ca...
  - keda 12y ago
    Also this one: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-06/want-a-job-in-silicon-valley-after-yale-good-luck-with-that http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-06/want-a-job...
plg 12y ago
"... seven faculty positions in the Department of Computer Science over the next few years, including two searches this year and three more next year ..."
- cesarbs 12y ago
  Thank you. I wish every single article on the Internet had a tl;dr like this.
  - AtmaScout 12y ago
    How I miss Summly, although this article likely wouldn't have been found there.
    - praneshp 12y ago
      https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yahoo-news-digest/id784982356?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yahoo-news-digest/id78498235... Disclosure: I work for Yahoo, not on Summly/News digest however.
      - AtmaScout 12y ago
        Thanks for the link! BTW I am really enjoying the apps that are coming out of Yahoo lately.
        praneshp 12y ago
        That's good to hear!
  - gallamine 12y ago
    One of Jason Calacanis' latest projects is of use here: https://www.inside.com/ https://www.inside.com/ I find myself using the iOS app fairly frequently.
- _delirium 12y ago
  And fwiw, they currently appear to have somewhere between 20 and 27 professors in CS, depending on how you count people who have cross-appointments in multiple departments (some are clearly primarily CS, some primarily elsewhere, and some don't make it obvious from their website). So adding 7 is an expansion of ~25-35%.
davenbuster 12y ago
(full disclosure: I'm a Yale EE grad working as a software engineer for the last 17 years in the valley). The school has had an ambivalent relationship with applied sciences through its history. They considered closing the engineering departments in the early 90's when I was a student. I am glad to see the school investing in this area, even if it less out of intrinsic interest and more out of market demand and perceiving it as a growth area.
- eugenejen 12y ago
  It is the same as NYU did in 70s. But now NYU merge NYU-Poly as its school of engineering. I am always amazed at what criteria are used by school administrators to decide which departments to fund. It is very surprised to me as a foreigner born that U.S. doesn't need engineers from Ivy League....
  - goldfeld 12y ago
    That's because the Ivy League engineers have come out of Germany, China, India, and ostensibly out of Russia and other ex-soviet block members.
  - kelukelugames 12y ago
    Ivy League schools breed leaders not us over paid worker bees. Only engineers complain about working under non-engineers. Lawyers at law firms don't have that problem.
    - chris_b 12y ago
      As a senior at Yale right now, and seeing what most of my fellow students are going into next year, the Ivy League is great at pumping out over paid worker bees. See here http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/02/13/finance-continues-to-draw-yalies/ http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/02/13/finance-continues-t... for the numbers going into finance (~20%) and just anecdotally I would guess there are only slightly less going into consulting. Finally, there are a not insignificant number (maybe 10%) doing some sort of engineering.
inverba 12y ago
It's worth mentioning that this is still bare minimum even compared to other Ivy League colleges. Harvard plans to expand their faculty by 12 members with Balmer's recent grant and Cornell is in the process of adding faculty for their new campus in New York City (Cornell Tech - which is basically a startup incubator).
dsg42 12y ago
This was overdue, but definitely a good announcement. For people who think this is absurdly slow, I would point out that undergraduate enrollment in the department has grown 5-10x in the last four years. In 2011, I was in a four person class with a professor and a TA, and some core classes had <20 students. Now those same classes have well over 100 students. Top tier universities just can't react and find talented faculty that quickly.
- jseliger 12y ago
  Top tier universities just can't react and find talented faculty that quickly. In a sense I think this is right—they can't, right now—but in another sense I think slow reaction times are a choice: they can react much faster but choose, for cultural and bureaucratic reasons, not to. I'd also like to see universities move away from tenure-based hiring and towards long-term-contract-based hiring that effectively rewards strong instructors. Doing so may among other things alleviate some of the current slowness in university action.
  - munin 12y ago
    > universities move away from tenure-based hiring and towards long-term-contract-based hiring they already do, see the army of adjuncts
- Chronic31 12y ago
  Stanford and MIT don't have that problem. Or at least they're in better shape than Yale (with the same problem)
freditup 12y ago
Slightly off-topic, but I think these are conservative figures: "Top college computer science graduates may get as much as $120,000 from tech leaders such as search giant Google and social networking leader Facebook, according to Kai Fortney, marketing director for Hired, a Web-based employment service for the industry. Some new hires may receive signing bonuses of as much as $25,000, he says." Anyone else find them somewhat low?
- mindcruzer 12y ago
  Yeah. Some of my friends have been given signing bonuses 4x that amount, and salaries > $150k.

86 points by plg 12y ago

therobot24 12y ago

given the previous bad press is this any surprise?

smackfu 12y ago
This bad press? http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/03/02/student-petition-calls-for-cs-faculty-increase/ http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/03/02/student-petition-ca...
- keda 12y ago
  Also this one: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-06/want-a-job-in-silicon-valley-after-yale-good-luck-with-that http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-06/want-a-job...

plg 12y ago

"... seven faculty positions in the Department of Computer Science over the next few years, including two searches this year and three more next year ..."

cesarbs 12y ago
Thank you. I wish every single article on the Internet had a tl;dr like this.
- AtmaScout 12y ago
  How I miss Summly, although this article likely wouldn't have been found there.
  - praneshp 12y ago
    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yahoo-news-digest/id784982356?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yahoo-news-digest/id78498235... Disclosure: I work for Yahoo, not on Summly/News digest however.
    - AtmaScout 12y ago
      Thanks for the link! BTW I am really enjoying the apps that are coming out of Yahoo lately.
      - praneshp 12y ago
        That's good to hear!
- gallamine 12y ago
  One of Jason Calacanis' latest projects is of use here: https://www.inside.com/ https://www.inside.com/ I find myself using the iOS app fairly frequently.
_delirium 12y ago
And fwiw, they currently appear to have somewhere between 20 and 27 professors in CS, depending on how you count people who have cross-appointments in multiple departments (some are clearly primarily CS, some primarily elsewhere, and some don't make it obvious from their website). So adding 7 is an expansion of ~25-35%.

davenbuster 12y ago

(full disclosure: I'm a Yale EE grad working as a software engineer for the last 17 years in the valley). The school has had an ambivalent relationship with applied sciences through its history. They considered closing the engineering departments in the early 90's when I was a student. I am glad to see the school investing in this area, even if it less out of intrinsic interest and more out of market demand and perceiving it as a growth area.

eugenejen 12y ago
It is the same as NYU did in 70s. But now NYU merge NYU-Poly as its school of engineering. I am always amazed at what criteria are used by school administrators to decide which departments to fund. It is very surprised to me as a foreigner born that U.S. doesn't need engineers from Ivy League....
- goldfeld 12y ago
  That's because the Ivy League engineers have come out of Germany, China, India, and ostensibly out of Russia and other ex-soviet block members.
- kelukelugames 12y ago
  Ivy League schools breed leaders not us over paid worker bees. Only engineers complain about working under non-engineers. Lawyers at law firms don't have that problem.
  - chris_b 12y ago
    As a senior at Yale right now, and seeing what most of my fellow students are going into next year, the Ivy League is great at pumping out over paid worker bees. See here http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/02/13/finance-continues-to-draw-yalies/ http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/02/13/finance-continues-t... for the numbers going into finance (~20%) and just anecdotally I would guess there are only slightly less going into consulting. Finally, there are a not insignificant number (maybe 10%) doing some sort of engineering.

inverba 12y ago

It's worth mentioning that this is still bare minimum even compared to other Ivy League colleges. Harvard plans to expand their faculty by 12 members with Balmer's recent grant and Cornell is in the process of adding faculty for their new campus in New York City (Cornell Tech - which is basically a startup incubator).

dsg42 12y ago

This was overdue, but definitely a good announcement. For people who think this is absurdly slow, I would point out that undergraduate enrollment in the department has grown 5-10x in the last four years. In 2011, I was in a four person class with a professor and a TA, and some core classes had <20 students. Now those same classes have well over 100 students. Top tier universities just can't react and find talented faculty that quickly.

jseliger 12y ago
Top tier universities just can't react and find talented faculty that quickly. In a sense I think this is right—they can't, right now—but in another sense I think slow reaction times are a choice: they can react much faster but choose, for cultural and bureaucratic reasons, not to. I'd also like to see universities move away from tenure-based hiring and towards long-term-contract-based hiring that effectively rewards strong instructors. Doing so may among other things alleviate some of the current slowness in university action.
- munin 12y ago
  > universities move away from tenure-based hiring and towards long-term-contract-based hiring they already do, see the army of adjuncts
Chronic31 12y ago
Stanford and MIT don't have that problem. Or at least they're in better shape than Yale (with the same problem)

freditup 12y ago

Slightly off-topic, but I think these are conservative figures: "Top college computer science graduates may get as much as $120,000 from tech leaders such as search giant Google and social networking leader Facebook, according to Kai Fortney, marketing director for Hired, a Web-based employment service for the industry. Some new hires may receive signing bonuses of as much as $25,000, he says." Anyone else find them somewhat low?

mindcruzer 12y ago
Yeah. Some of my friends have been given signing bonuses 4x that amount, and salaries > $150k.