Department of Computing
What was the name of Department of Computing, Imperial College London from 1979 to 1980?
Department of Computing , Imperial College London The Department of Computing ( DoC ) is the computer science department at Imperial College London . The department has around 50 academic staff and 1000 students , with around 600 studying undergraduate courses , 200 PhD students , and 200 MSc students . The department is predominantly based in the Huxley Building , 180 Queens Gate , which it shares with the Maths department , however also has space in the William Penney Laboratory and in the Aeronautics and Chemical Engineering Extension . The department ranks 7th in the Times Higher Education 2020 subject world rankings . History . The origins of the department start with the formation of the Computer Unit in 1964 , led by Stanley Gill , out of the Department of Electrical Engineering . However , earlier work had also been done by the Department of Mathematics , which had built the Imperial College Computing Engine , an early digital relay computer . In 1966 , the postgraduate Centre for Computing and Automation came into being and consumed the pre-existing Computer Unit , with John Westcott migrating his Control Group from the Electrical Engineering department and joining Stanley Gill as joint head . In 1970 , Gill left for industry , the department was renamed to The Department of Computing and Control , and Westcott became the head . In 1972 , Manny Lehman joined the department and with Westcott , developed the first undergraduate course ( BSc ) . Before Lehman joined , there was some progress towards the design of an undergraduate course ; however , Lehman found this to be too mathematical and also Westcott didnt wish to compete with the hardware focus of Manchester University . Therefore , it was decided to focus the course on the creation of software and related methodologies . The first intake for the course was in 1973 , and the first graduates in 1976 . On the research front , the department held a logic programming workshop , which evolved into the ICLP ( International Conference on Logic Programming ) . The department moved to the Huxley Building in 1977 . In 1979 Westcotts term as head of department came to an end and the position was up for renewal , it was given to Lehman . During Westcotts term , the control engineers had been doing most of the research in the department , and the computer scientists doing most of the teaching ; in order to establish Computing as its own subject , then Rector Lord Flowers advised Lehman to send Westcott and his control group back to Electrical Engineering , and the department assumed its current name , the Department of Computing . Lehman started designing a Software Engineering course , his belief was that software engineering is practical by nature and as part of the course wanted students to have industrial experience . However , professional software engineering was not as it is today and Lehman founded IST to provide a place for Imperial students to get some practical experience . Throughout the 80s , the department was recognised as a leading centre for logic programming , and by 1985 the size of the logic programming group had grown to 50 . In 1980 , Keith Clark co-founded Logic Programming Associates , which aimed to apply the results of the logic programming groups research to industrial problems . When Lehmans term came up for renewal in 1984 , he was not reappointed and instead went to work full time for IST . Bruce Sayers , the then head of Electrical Engineering was appointed as head of the department . Over the course of his term , Sayers doubled the size of the department , but this increase caused office spaces to become over-occupied , and required more teaching space . To remedy this the Holland Club moved out of the Huxley Building and lecture theatres 308 and 311 were constructed in their place , furthermore , the William Penney Laboratory was constructed in 1988 . Sayers later became the head of the Centre for Cognitive Systems , which resided in the newly built William Penney Laboratory . In 1993 , IC-PARC was founded , also residing in the William Penney Laboratory . It span out in 1999 to create Parc Technologies and the centre was later shut down in 2005 . Academics . Study . Undergraduate . The department offers both courses in Computing and joint courses in Maths and Computing . Students can apply for either the three year BEng or four year MEng course , however , the first two years are common and so students are able to switch between these courses up until the start of the third year ( provided they meet academic requirements ) . Masters students can choose to specialize in a particular field , or also study management and finance as part of their degree . The department also has ties to universities in Europe and further abroad , including UC Berkeley and MIT , allowing students on the masters course to study abroad for one year of their program . All students who obtain an undergraduate degree from the department are also awarded the Associateship of the City & Guilds Institute , ACGI . Postgraduate . The department offers MSc taught masters programs in either Computer Science , designed for graduates of other subjects , and Advanced Computing , designed for graduates of bachelors courses . The department also offers specialist masters degrees which focus on particular fields of study within computer science . The department also offers an MRes course as part of the EPSRC , and takes on PhD students . All students graduating with any of the postgraduate degrees ( MSc , MRes or PhD ) are also awarded the Diploma of Imperial College , DIC . Reputation . The department ranks seventh in the world in the Times Higher Education 2020 subject rankings , ranking third in the UK , as well as twelfth in the QS World University Rankings . Domestically , the department ranks third on the Complete University Guides 2020 computer science table , and fourth in The Guardians 2020 computer science university subject rankings . The department also produces graduates with the highest average pay of any course six months after graduation , and the highest in the subject five years out , earning an average of £60,000 , ahead of second place Oxford by £4,200 . Student Life . Student activities are organised by DoCSoc , the departmental society for computing students . DoCSoc is organised by a team of student volunteers , and is funded by corporate sponsors , organised as part of the City and Guilds College Union , a constituent union of Imperial College Union . It runs events social and educational events throughout the year , including ICHack , an annual hackathon open to university students from both the college and elsewhere , with over 300 participants in 2018 . DoCSoc was refounded in 1986 , and ran a magazine Whats up DoC ? by 1995 . By 1997 , student magazine was called Data , however , today the society no longer runs a magazine . People . Heads of Department . - 1964-66 , Stanley Gill ( also British Computer Society President 1967-68 ; Founding member of Real Time Club ) - 1966-1970 , Stanley Gill ( computing ) and John Westcott ( automation ) - 1966-79 , John Westcott - 1979-84 , Manny Lehman ( also known for Lehmans laws of software evolution ) - 1984-89 , Bruce Sayers - 1989-97 , Tom Maibaum - 1997-99 , Robert Kowalski - 1999-2004 , Jeff Kramer ( also Director of Studies 1990-95 ) - 2004-2010 , Jeff Magee - 2010-2016 , Susan Eisenbach - 2016–2020 , Daniel Rueckert ( also co-founder of IXICO ) - 2020–present , Michael Huth Faculty . - Abbas Edalat ( Professor 1997- ) - Alexander L . Wolf ( Professor 2006- ) - Anthony Finkelstein ( Visiting Professor ) - Igor Aleksander ( Deputy Head of Department ) - Keith Clark ( Professor , founder of Logic Programming Associates ) - Maja Pantić ( Professor ) - Marek Sergot ( co-creator of Event calculus ) - Murray Shanahan ( Professor of AI ) - Nick Jennings ( Professor of AI ) - Nobuko Yoshida ( Professor ) - Peter Cornwell ( Visiting Professor and former director of Visual Computing Group ) - Peter G . Harrison ( Professor 1972- ) - Philippa Gardner ( Professor of Theoretical Computer Science 2009- ) - Ruth Misener - Sophia Drossopoulou ( Professor , known for her paper on the soundness of Java ) - Stephen Muggleton ( Professor ) Former . - Samson Abramsky ( Lecturer 1983–1988 , Reader 1988–1990 , Professor 1990–1993 ) - László Bélády ( Spent 1974 in the department ) - Dov Gabbay ( Professor 1983-98 ) - George Coulouris ( Lecturer 1965-75 ) Alumni . - Bashar Ahmad Nuseibeh ( MSc 1989 , PhD 1994 ) - Chris Harrison ( Winner of University Challenge in 1996 ) - Danny Lui ( Founder of Lenovo ) - Diomidis Spinellis ( 4x winner of the International Obfuscated C Code Contest ) - Edwige Pitel ( Professional cyclist ) - Gavin Estcourt ( Winner of University Challenge in 2001 ) - Guido Jouret ( PhD 1991 , ABB Chief Digital Officer ) - Ian Bayley ( Winner of multiple international quiz competitions ) - Ian Foster ( Winner of Lovelace Medal and Gordon Bell Prize ) - Jeff Magee ( PhD 1984 , Former Head of Department ) - John Shawe-Taylor ( MSc 1987? ) - Leslie Valiant ( Winner of Turing award , 2010 ) - Mark Harman ( MEng 1988 ) - Mark Morris ( co-Founder of Introversion Software ) - Peter Lipka ( COO of Improbable ) - Richard Veryard ( MSc 1977 ) - Robert Cromwell ( co-Founder of Inkling ) - Siegfried Hodgson ( Winner of University Challenge in 2001 ) - Teo Chee Hean ( MSc 1977 , Deputy PM of Singapore ) - Zehan Wang ( CTO of Magic Pony Technologies , acquired by Twitter for $150m ) Spinoff Companies . - Logic Programming Associates ( Cofounded by Keith Clark in 1980 ) - Imperial Software Technologies ( Created by Manny Lehman in 1983 ) - Parc Technologies ( acquired by Cisco for $9m in 2004 ) - GraphicsFuzz ( Acquired by Google in 2018 ) - FaceSoft ( raised £500k in funding in 2018 )