To Lead The Nation in Reinvigorating High School Computer Science Education

The University of Alabama at Birmingham's Computer and Information Science Department has dedicated itself to an awesome goal - to reintroduce teaching and interest in Computer Science (not word processing and spreadsheets) to the more than 480 high schools in Alabama, and as many of the secondary schools as we can interest as well.

Why? Because the national trend away from Computer Science education at the pre-college level and the substantial decrease in Computer Science undergraduates in the USA since 2000 are bad for the US economy, competitiveness, and future. Computer Science is a vital career path for students in America, and Alabamians stand to gain hugely from first class education in our field.

What are we doing? We're reaching out to high schools, hosting field trips, supporting science fair projects, organizing state-wide competitions, and working hard to refute the idea that Computer Science jobs are all moving overseas. In fact, with over 500 technology companies just in Birmingham alone, our graduating seniors could find more than 10 jobs each, on average, without ever leaving this immediate area.  Many stats have shown that the jobs are well paying, and the opportunities abound, nationwide and the future for a life time of learning and growing in Computer Science are clear.

If you're reading this column, and deciding on your major at UAB, or anywhere, consider these facts. The Internet has transformed the entire world in under ten years, amplifying all aspects - positive and negative - of human behavior. Now comes the challenge of making the Internet better, safer, and helping it achieve its goal of spreading knowledge and all the benefits of civilization to the entire world, while diminishing the negative impacts of issues like cyber crime. Computer Scientists that are highly trained in algorithms, systems, software engineering, networks, and who work on interdisciplinary problems will make the future world a reality, including the future Internet, and the intertwining of all the world's peoples and economies. Among our activities at UAB CIS is a leading effort to fight SPAM - unwanted commercial e-mail - using high performance computers, massive storage, and innovative algorithms.

Besides the daunting goal of the future of information infrastructure, and its profound political import, UAB is a highly focused, world renowned medical and biological research institution. As Computer Scientists working alongside our colleagues in Medicine, Biology and related fields, we see the huge potential for computation, data warehousing, simulation, and optimization to lead to drug discovery, new solutions for medical problems, and transformational change about how scientists explore the world - through computing. Computer Scientists educated at UAB and across the country will make such possibilities a reality. Among our recent accomplishments at UAB is a patent that was developed by two of our professors and commercialized to help "data mine" patient records.

Although nighttime news pundits worry about "attacks on the middle class" and erosion of well paying jobs in America, students with strong skills and a commitment to lifetime learning need look no further than UAB CIS for an exciting career trajectory in Computer Science - learning to make computers solve problems, share those problems through networks, and bring value to people in all walks of life - here in Alabama, and across the globe.

As an indicator of the impact of these efforts, UAB CIS has been recognized nationally in the area of K-12 awareness of computing issues:

• CSTA Executive Director Chris Stephenson wrote an article in her blog entitled "What if Alabama Led the Way?" - this article is a summary of the results from our K-12 Computing Workshop.
• Addison-Wesley mentioned UAB CIS in their LoopNews national newsletter.