Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences - University of California, Irvine - Overview
Study Virtually Every Area Within Computer Science, Informatics, and Statistics as well as Many Interdisciplinary Areas
The Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (Bren:ICS) comprises three departments that teach the broad foundation of each discipline but allow students the flexibility to explore many areas of computer science with carefully crafted curriculums that appeal to students' diverse interests. With 68 full-time faculty members, over nearly 250 graduate students, and over 800 undergraduates, Bren:ICS provides a world-class research environment spanning not only the classical areas of computer science, but also highly interdisciplinary programs that include design, application, use, and impacts of information technology.
The Department of Computer Science engages in the full spectrum of intellectual activity in computer science, ranging from fundamental theoretical principles to design and analysis of computer systems and networks to new and exciting applications in areas as diverse as bioinformatics and computer security. Focus areas include computer science, information and computer science, and computer science and engineering, as well as the graduate program in networked systems.
The Department of Informatics engages in the interdisciplinary study of the design, use, applications, and implications of information technology. Informatics research focuses on the relationship between information system design and use in real-world settings. These investigations lead to new forms of system architecture, new approaches to system design and development, new means of information system implementation and deployment, and new models of interaction between technology and social, cultural, and organizational settings.
The Department of Statistics emphasizes research in statistical theory and interdisciplinary collaborations. Interdisciplinary collaborations with virtually every discipline at UC Irvine had increased manifold over the last decade with the abundance of large databases in fields like computer science (internet and web traffic), business and marketing (transaction records), and biology (the human genome and related data). It is the substantial questions in the various areas of application that drive the development of new statistical methods and motivate the mathematical study of the methods' properties.
Graduate Housing and Financial Assistance Are Virtually Guaranteed
Virtually all of Bren:ICS Ph.D. students receive financial aid in the form of teaching assistantships or research assistantships during their time at UC Irvine. Although assistance varies, it is the school's to support all entering Ph.D. students, subject to availability of funds. Financial assistance may be available through teaching assistantships and corporate internships for master's students. Financial aid and loans are also available.
The University of California, Irvine, guarantees an offer of on-campus housing to every newly admitted, full-time Ph.D. student. Ph.D. students will be guaranteed housing for a term of one year less than normal time to degree for the academic program.
Three different types of housing options are available: 1) Palo Verde is a graduate and family community with unfurnished apartments in three- and four-story buildings; 2) Verano Place is a graduate and family apartment community that serves students who are 25 or older, and students with families; and 3) Vista del Campo and Vista del Campo Norte are privately owned and managed apartment communities located on the UC Irvine campus, offering furnished apartments to single students.
Nearby off campus housing is also readily available.
The Bren School's Excellence in Research and Education Is Demonstrated Through Its Diverse Faculty, Research Facilities
Faculty members in the Bren School are of national and international renown, including ACM and IEEE Fellows, AAAI Career Fellow, and many respected authors, leaders,, and directors of preeminent research and academic endeavors. Despite an exhaustive list of accolades, the most notable trait of each faculty member is the unparalleled commitment to teaching and instruction as demonstrated in the classroom. Currently, nearly 150 professors, researchers, and lecturers support the learning efforts at the Donald Bren School.
Organized research programs provide a mechanism and organizational structure within which collective research activities can take place that are fundamentally different from those that occur normally within the schools and departments. Bren School's centers are intended to foster the development of short- and long-term research programs that span disciplines and academic units thereby making it possible for faculty to acquire extramural resources for which they might not otherwise qualify.
Bren:ICS research centers include: Ada Byron Research Center, California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds, Center for Embedded Computer Systems, Center for Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems, Center for Emergency Response Technologies, Center for Organizational Research, Center for Pervasive Communications and Computing, Center for Research on Information Technology and Organization, Computational Vision Lab, Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Institute for Software Research, Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing and Interaction, Secure Systems and Software Laboratory, and Secure Computing and Networking Center.