Overview
Eugene, Oregon is a Hub of Cultural and Recreational Opportunities
Eugene, Oregon's second most populous city, is renowned for its natural beauty, a politically and socially active citizenry, alternative lifestyles, and robust recreational opportunities, in addition to its century-and-a-half history as a center for higher education. The city is positively ripe with opportunities for personal and educational enrichment. The Hult Center for the Performing Arts schedules a wide range of musical, dance, and theatrical programs, and there are several world-class museums in the region. The city's famous Eugene Celebration has a diverse range of activities, including art shows, cultural exhibits, the ever-popular Celebration Parade, and various community sporting events.
Sports are more than a mere pastime here. Eugene's official motto is "The World's Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors," which is backed up actively. The city offers the most extensive system of jogging trails in the United States. Jogging, in fact, was "born" in Eugene after Bill Bowerman, coach of the University of Oregon's championship track and cross-country teams for 24 years, invented "waffle" running shoe soles. In addition, the area abounds with cycling, hiking, rafting, and camping opportunities available to enthusiasts of all ages. College football is hugely popular in Eugene, and the Oregon Ducks are loyally supported by students and locals alike.
Since the university first opened in 1876 it has been a major influence on the character of the city and surrounding region. The interaction and interrelations between the larger community and the university transcend all other boundaries, including those of politics and class, making Eugene a uniquely active, involved, and evolving place. There is no city without the university, and no university without the city. That is the essence of Eugene.
Dedicated Faculty and Commitment to Research Provide Top Education
The faculty members of the university's CIS department exemplify the qualities of scholarship, ongoing research, publication, and love of teaching that are the hallmarks of all UO teaching staff, whatever the level. From lecturers to tenured professors, the level of commitment by the faculty is uniformly deep and broad. The opportunities for students to advance in the specialties of their choice, while benefiting from creative interdisciplinary studies and projects, ensure an environment rich with challenges and ripe with new experiences.
There are a number of different research facilities that maintain close, collaborative research ties to the CIS Department. There are nearly as many ways for a graduate student to combine classroom time with hands-on laboratories and interdepartmental research programs as there are students at UO. In fact, the structure of an individual's graduate degree program is uniquely flexible, and the university's commitment to research as a prime component of modern education is longstanding.
Graduate students can avail themselves of opportunities for study, research, mentoring, and project design at numerous research facilities, including the Performance Research Lab, Neuroinformatics Center, Institute of Neuroscience, Advanced Network Technology Center, Computational Science Institute, and Computational Intelligence Research Lab. The various essential components of a truly world-class education in computer and the information sciences are in good supply at UO, and the ways in which they can be assembled into unique curricula for graduate and post-graduate programs are as numerous as at any educational institution anywhere.
Computer Science Programs and Degrees Help Launch Careers
The CIS department at the University of Oregon offers total flexibility to graduate students, regardless of career intentions. Advanced computer science degrees are launching pads for careers in teaching, software development, research, or some combination of these pursuits. In addition to specially designed projects and interdepartmental activities, graduate students will benefit from the many opportunities for conducting hands-on research, through internships as well as scholarships. There is also a strong, committed focus on community service, and those deciding on an academic career can get significant teaching experience while at UO. Graduate computer science degrees offered at the university are a Master of Arts, a Master of Science, and a Ph.D.
Computer science program specializations include networking, artificial intelligence, software development, database and informatics, human-computer interaction, mathematical foundations of computing, and more. Among the many possible interdisciplinary specializations are various partnerships with the other sciences, plus arts and business programs, too, as well as computational arts/multimedia, neuroinformatics, bioinformatics, business information technology, computational science, and others. As progress continues and technology expands, course developers will incorporate these advances into the structure and content of future computer science programs and offerings.
The University of Oregon's computer and information sciences department is at the forefront of our nation's, and our planet's, move into the future. By combining classic values of learning and discovery with a commitment to the various communities, physical and virtual, that comprise our society and our world, UO's CIS department is closing the gap between the possible and the practical. It is a most exciting adventure.
