I welcome you to the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University.
2021-2022 is an exciting academic year, as our community has returned to campus. We welcome back the largest, most diverse, and most accomplished classes of undergraduate and graduate students in the department’s history. The laboratories and classrooms of Malone Hall, our department’s home, are full of people and energy as we renew our mission to accelerate discovery in science and engineering, and to lead the ethical implementation of computing to create prosperity, wellness, and fairness in a technological world.
The last few years have highlighted the critical role that computing plays in tackling society’s most pressing issues. Our discipline is fundamental in fighting disinformation, building fair artificial intelligence for a just and antiracist society, analyzing the genomic information that describes the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and protecting our nation’s infrastructure from cyberattack. Computer science at Johns Hopkins embraces these and many other challenges as we inform the design, implementation, and deployment of computing in science and society.
I invite you to explore our many centers and institutes that reflect our commitment to multidisciplinary research. We have recently launched the Institute for Assured Autonomy, where researchers ensure that automated and human/AI systems are safe, secure, and reliable. This augments our established excellence in medical robotics, speech and language processing, data science, bioinformatics, and healthcare engineering.
The department also has a profound impact beyond campus. We are active in our Baltimore community. Our students and faculty are often featured in national media outlets. I refer you to our News and Events pages, which relates a constant stream of accomplishments and happenings related to scientific discovery, community outreach, and events on and off campus.
Please explore our website to learn more about our research and education programs. I also invite you to contact or visit us if you have additional questions, have a vision for how to join or partner with us, or just want to learn more about our department.
Randal Burns, Professor & Head