Computers are increasingly fundamental to our highly technical society, including the most innovative and significant advances in medicine, science, education, business, industry, and government. They have become essential to the engineering and scientific fields which produce the technological breakthroughs at which we marvel on a seemingly daily basis. They enable us to improve the quality of our lives and to dramatically increase our productivity. The study of information structure and processing in all its forms has increased and broadened as the computer has permeated our lives. Understanding how computers work, what they can do, and the possibilities out there in the future is what a degree in computer and information science is all about.
Computer science is the study of how computers work and how to create computing applications.
Information Systems is the study of what computers can do, how they can be applied, and how to architect practical computing solutions in business enviornments. They provide general support for teaching, learning and research for all students and faculty. A central computing complex comprised of a cluster of Digital Alpha Unix based systems, including a Digital Alpha 8200, two Digital Alpha 4100s and two Digital Alpha 2100s form the basis for the cluster. Each of these systems has from two to four CPUs and at least 1 Gigabyte of main memory. These systems also provide a variety of peripheral devices from CD-ROM jukeboxes for program data and document storage and distribution, to printers distributed on the University network.