Terrible, short-sighted decision. Chopping the trunk of the tree in the hope of increasing the number of leaves. A "university" without fundamental research can no longer claim any _universitas_, let alone excellence --- it is little more than a second-rate diploma emporium.
Moreover, research in pure mathematics and in the foundations of computer science is currently undergoing intense and revolutionary development. To rid oneself of expertise at the cutting edge of scientific research seems doubly foolish.
A
Anonymous
5 years ago
Foundations are exactly what they are: You can not build anything without these. You will break the whole building.
T
Takuo Watanabe
5 years ago
It is an incredible outrage. The success of all computing technologies, including AI and the Internet, is definitely the outcome of theoretical CS research.
M
Mark Jerrum
5 years ago
This is an ill-considered decision that damages the long-term viability of the department for (probably illusory) short-term gain.
R
Ronald Greenberg
5 years ago
These plans are shortsighted.
W
Wolfgang Merkle
5 years ago
Germany is currently pushing AI and data mining with billions of Euro both on federal and state level, and positions cannot be filled. What do you think who will apply for your openings?
Discontinuing tenured positions in academia without necessity is pretty rare, and institutes that got a reputation for doing that are surely less attractive.
A
Andras Farago
5 years ago
If you cut out the roots of the tree, you are not going to have fruits either. It is extremely shortsighted decision!
N
Nihil Shah
5 years ago
Foundations of CS is a large part of forming a full understanding of the more applied fields. This proposal betrays a significant misunderstanding of the field.
D
Diego Calvanese
5 years ago
Professor in Computer Science, Free Univ. of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
Wallenberg Professor in AI for Data Management, Umeå Univ., Sweden
ACM Fellow
EurAI Fellow
It is depressing to see such shortsightedness and ignorance in the management of a university. Without foundational research in CS and mathematics we would not have relational databases, concurrency control, modern compilers, cryptography on the web, or deep learning and AI, just to name a few areas that might ring a bell with the university VC.
G
Gerald Luettgen
5 years ago
Theoretical Computer Science has been, is and will be at the heart of modern software systems.
H
Hugues Fauconnier
5 years ago
director of UFR informatique (computer science department) Université de Paris
C
Cristopher Moore
5 years ago
This is like firing everyone from the Physics department who doesn't work on rockets. Without theory, data science has no mathematical grounding, and students will not learn how to invent or evaluate algorithms in a principled way.
P
Paweł Krupski
5 years ago
My strong objection to "shaping for excellence"
K
Krishnamurthy Vidyasankar
5 years ago
Importance of foundations is recognised more and more every day. An example is The Natural and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the major funding agency for university researchers in Canada.
A
Ayrat Khalimov
5 years ago
Instead fire the managers that do not align with "Foundations of CS" .-)
P
Prof Rajagopal Nagarajan
5 years ago
I have been an External Examiner for undergraduate programs at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Leicester. I also have research collaborations with academic staff there. Through these interactions I have come to know the department very well. People working in the foundations of computer science area form the backbone of the department, carrying out world class research and doing excellent teaching. As EE, most of my interactions were with staff in this area, demonstrating that they were also doing quite a bit of the administration. Several previous HoDs were also from FoCo. Apart from being extremely capable, they are also among the nicest people you can find. I started doing the Guardian crossword with some of them during lunch when I visited them. I have continued this online for many years. It is a shame that the university is putting my esteemed colleagues and friends in such a position instead of supporting them through the pandemic. If the university goes through with this, I am sure it will be a decision they will come to regret.
P
Professor Dario Colazzo
5 years ago
The word is becoming more and more complex, and future students not having studied and understood FoCo topics will largely fail in fully understanding and providing effective solutions for current and future challenges. At Dauphine-PSL (Paris) we have recently done the opposite: added FoCo courses in AI related programs.
D
Debajyoti Bera
5 years ago
Today's new applications would not have existed without yesterday's theory, and tomorrow's won't without today's.
P
Piotr Zielinski
5 years ago
After receiving a PhD in Distributed Computing, and doing a post doc, I've worked in industry for over 15 years.
Where I work, we solve new, challenging problems. These problems keep changing. You can't predict today what problems we'll be solving a year from now, let alone a decade.
For this reason, what we most value in applicants is not specialized knowledge in one field, but
broad and solid understanding of CS fundamentals, so that they'd be ready to meet these challenges, whatever they'll turn out to be.
Your proposed restructuring and focus on AI / data science makes your students simply less attractive to us. We can train people in specific technologies on the job. What we can't do, is to give them broad CS education, that you seem to want to deprive them of.
M
Maria Francesca Costabile
5 years ago
It is called foundational research because it is the basis for applications. Please, reconsider this decision
Terrible, short-sighted decision. Chopping the trunk of the tree in the hope of increasing the number of leaves. A "university" without fundamental research can no longer claim any _universitas_, let alone excellence --- it is little more than a second-rate diploma emporium. Moreover, research in pure mathematics and in the foundations of computer science is currently undergoing intense and revolutionary development. To rid oneself of expertise at the cutting edge of scientific research seems doubly foolish.
Foundations are exactly what they are: You can not build anything without these. You will break the whole building.
It is an incredible outrage. The success of all computing technologies, including AI and the Internet, is definitely the outcome of theoretical CS research.
This is an ill-considered decision that damages the long-term viability of the department for (probably illusory) short-term gain.
These plans are shortsighted.
Germany is currently pushing AI and data mining with billions of Euro both on federal and state level, and positions cannot be filled. What do you think who will apply for your openings? Discontinuing tenured positions in academia without necessity is pretty rare, and institutes that got a reputation for doing that are surely less attractive.
If you cut out the roots of the tree, you are not going to have fruits either. It is extremely shortsighted decision!
Foundations of CS is a large part of forming a full understanding of the more applied fields. This proposal betrays a significant misunderstanding of the field.
Professor in Computer Science, Free Univ. of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy Wallenberg Professor in AI for Data Management, Umeå Univ., Sweden ACM Fellow EurAI Fellow It is depressing to see such shortsightedness and ignorance in the management of a university. Without foundational research in CS and mathematics we would not have relational databases, concurrency control, modern compilers, cryptography on the web, or deep learning and AI, just to name a few areas that might ring a bell with the university VC.
Theoretical Computer Science has been, is and will be at the heart of modern software systems.
director of UFR informatique (computer science department) Université de Paris
This is like firing everyone from the Physics department who doesn't work on rockets. Without theory, data science has no mathematical grounding, and students will not learn how to invent or evaluate algorithms in a principled way.
My strong objection to "shaping for excellence"
Importance of foundations is recognised more and more every day. An example is The Natural and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the major funding agency for university researchers in Canada.
Instead fire the managers that do not align with "Foundations of CS" .-)
I have been an External Examiner for undergraduate programs at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Leicester. I also have research collaborations with academic staff there. Through these interactions I have come to know the department very well. People working in the foundations of computer science area form the backbone of the department, carrying out world class research and doing excellent teaching. As EE, most of my interactions were with staff in this area, demonstrating that they were also doing quite a bit of the administration. Several previous HoDs were also from FoCo. Apart from being extremely capable, they are also among the nicest people you can find. I started doing the Guardian crossword with some of them during lunch when I visited them. I have continued this online for many years. It is a shame that the university is putting my esteemed colleagues and friends in such a position instead of supporting them through the pandemic. If the university goes through with this, I am sure it will be a decision they will come to regret.
The word is becoming more and more complex, and future students not having studied and understood FoCo topics will largely fail in fully understanding and providing effective solutions for current and future challenges. At Dauphine-PSL (Paris) we have recently done the opposite: added FoCo courses in AI related programs.
Today's new applications would not have existed without yesterday's theory, and tomorrow's won't without today's.
After receiving a PhD in Distributed Computing, and doing a post doc, I've worked in industry for over 15 years. Where I work, we solve new, challenging problems. These problems keep changing. You can't predict today what problems we'll be solving a year from now, let alone a decade. For this reason, what we most value in applicants is not specialized knowledge in one field, but broad and solid understanding of CS fundamentals, so that they'd be ready to meet these challenges, whatever they'll turn out to be. Your proposed restructuring and focus on AI / data science makes your students simply less attractive to us. We can train people in specific technologies on the job. What we can't do, is to give them broad CS education, that you seem to want to deprive them of.
It is called foundational research because it is the basis for applications. Please, reconsider this decision