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原标题：
Panel Discussion on “The Role of Computer Science in University Development Strategy”
1 Introduction
The backdrop for the panel is the key challenges surrounding computer science education and research in the modern era stemming from the rapid growth of the field, particularly in regards to machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) . Advances in ML seem to occur on a yearly or even monthly basis, making it difficult to stay on top of the latest developments. At the same time, ML has tremendously impacted various fields outside computer science. In terms of education [1], preparing non-computer scientists in other fields to be familiar with the latest techniques is especially challenging as ML techniques tend to require an expert in order to use them. Likewise, in terms of research programs, much of the recent advances in computer science have been fueled by wide industrial needs, calling into question whether there still remains a need for computer science to be treated as a fundamental discipline or rather as an interdisciplinary one.
Panel Format. The format of the panel was to consist of three 20-minute segments with one topic per segment [2], but due to time constraints the middle segment was dropped. Attendees were given a chance to give a 2-3 minutes reply, followed by a discussion. The first segment focused on the role of computer science departments in universities today, given the fast pace of change compared to other fields. The second segment was to focus on the state of the computer science discipline as a fundamental scientific discipline or as an engine for the economy, but again this segment was dropped. The third segment focused on computer science education. The discussions from the first and third segments are summarized below.
2 Role of Computer Science
2.1 Computer Science and Interdisciplinary Disciplines
The tremendous pace of change of computer science, and especially of AI, sheds a new light on the role of computer science education in universities. Leaders in education are now finding it hard to adapt curricula and research programs to best integrate new advances, and as these new advances are finding increasing application in other academic fields, the boundary between computer science and other disciplines is becoming blurred.
How are universities coping with this dilution of computer science? The answer seems to be to continue offering core education but invest in programs that foster interactions across other fields. In the past two decades, Keito University has witnessed a decline in computer science enrollment and an increase in enrollment in interdisciplinary fields. To keep up with this trend, the university launched the Cyber Civilization Research Center in order to more easily bring computer science expertise to other research fields. At MIT, computer science is treated as a technical discipline within a larger College of Computing. The college itself encompasses a broader scope beyond the fundamentals in order to support applied computing across different disciplines. At NUS, the School of Computing was purposely moved out of the Faculty of Science in 1998 in order to facilitate interaction with other schools and faculties. Today, the School shares joint education and research programs with a multitude of other Schools, including engineering, science, arts and social sciences, the business school, the medical school, public health, public policy, and law. At Imperial College London, the university recently launched the I-X initiative to facilitate interdisciplinary research involving computer science.
2.2 Computer Science is the New Mathematics
A future where every research lab has someone professionally trained in computer science could be a worthy goal, as research increasingly depends on capabilities such as ML and AI. At NUS, for example, a professor of computer science trained in programming languages and databases has become an export in biology and now holds a joint appointment in the pathology department that is part of the medical school. As another example, a professor who is an expert in complexity theory now works jointly in the physics department studying quantum information science among physicist peers.
But while there are researchers who possess deep knowledge of computer science in addition to another field, there seem to be no programs that can produce these kinds of researchers at scale. By comparison, mathematics is used in nearly all fields today and taught at all levels of education. But the mathematics that is being taught and used is typically centuries old. Computer science, on the other hand, is changing at a rapid pace, and academia may not be prepared to give people enough tools so that they can keep up with the changes.
2.3 Computer Science and Industry
Many of the recent advances in computer science, especially in AI and ML, have been driven by industrial needs. Industry often also possesses the data, funding, and computing power needed to drive new advances. Computer science departments are often faced with competing with industrial labs for top talent, and faculty members are finding it increasingly necessary to partner with industry to conduct research. At Imperial College London, the trend has been for faculty to be involved in industrial ventures, and the department has become prepared to offer this flexibility. Keio University has allowed industrial partnership to play a major role in establishing an advanced interdisciplinary medical research center. At MIT, the college has made efforts to enable industrial interactions to occur on campus so that the campus remains a vibrant place.
3 Computer Science
The tremendous pace of change and evolving interdisciplinary nature of computer science has led to a need to revisit how computer science is taught. The best outcome is to have programs that nurture talent, foster creativity, and teach people to master skills. At MIT, the idea is to bring computer science education with other disciplines in ways that are deep and fundamental. For example, the linear algebra course was recently revised to be more tailored for a computer science focus while emphasizing fundamental techniques such as singular value decomposition. At NUS, curricula include group projects where students in each group are from different disciplines. The goals of the projects are to give students a chance to work together to solve problems that go beyond a single discipline. Project-based curricula are also used in Keio University.
4 Conclusion
As computer science increasingly pervades other disciplines, universities have reacted by restructuring research programs and curricula, and reevaluating their relationships with industry. But as the field advances, academia may need to explore new approaches that can foster highly skilled interdisciplinary researchers and prepare professionals to keep up with the rapidly changing field.
References
[1] Schilling J, Klamma R. The difficult bridge between university and industry: a case study in computer science teaching[J]. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2010, 35(4): 367-380.
[2] Yao A, Yin X, Liu Y, et al. Perspectives from the second Global Forum on Development of Computer Science[J]. Science China Information Sciences, 2022, 65(7):234-244.
Andrew Yao is Dean of Institute for interdisciplinary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University. He received a PhD in Physics from Harvard University, and a PhD in Computer Science from University of Illinois. Professor Yao served on the faculty of MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Princeton University before joining Tsinghua in 2004.He received the Turing Award in 2000 and Kyoto Prize in 2021. At Tsinghua, Professor Yao founded an elite undergraduate CS program (‘Yao Class’) in 2005, an AI program (Zhi Class’) in 2019 and a quantum information program in 2021.Professor Yao is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and foreign member of the US Academy of Sciences.
Daniel Huttenlocher is the inaugural dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, came to MIT following a distinguished career at Cornell University, where he was recognized for his outstanding teaching through multiple awards: the New York State Professor of the Year award, a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow award (Cornell’s highest teaching honor), the Faculty of the Year award from Cornell’s Association of Computer Science Undergraduates, and other Outstanding Educator awards. Huttenlocher joined the Cornell faculty in 1988, becoming a professor of computer science, Dean of Computing and Information Science, and, most recently, the Inaugural Dean and Vice Provost at Cornell Tech. He co-led a startup Intelligent Markets in the early 2000s and held a concurrent industry appointment at Xerox Parc during the 1990s.
Michael Huth is Head of Department Computing at Imperial College London and Co-founder and Chief Research Officer at Xayn, a private search and discovery browser with personalized AI that users control. His research focuses on Cybersecurity, Mathematical Modelling, Cryptography, as well as Security and Privacy in Machine Learning.
Professor Huth studied Mathematics at the Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany), received his PhD from the Tulane University of Louisiana (USA), and held positions in the US, the UK, and Germany before joining Imperial College London in 2001. Since 2020, he provides leadership across Education, Research, Transfer, and Innovation to prepare his department for the future of Computing in 2030+.
Mohan Kankanhalli is Provost’s Chair Professor of Computer Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also the Dean of NUS School of Computing. Before becoming the Dean in July 2016, he was the NUS Vice Provost (Graduate Education) during 2014—2016 and Associate Provost during 2011-2013.
Mohan obtained his BTech from IIT Kharagpur and MS & PhD from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His current research interests are in Multimedia Computing, Information Security & Privacy, Image/Video Processing and Social Media Analysis. He directs N-CRiPT (NUS Centre for Research in Privacy Technologies) which conducts research on privacy along the entire data life cycle. He is on the editorial boards of several journals including the ACM Transactions on Multimedia, Springer Multimedia Systems Journal, IEEE Multimedia and Springer Journal of Big Data. He is a Fellow of IEEE.
Jun Murai received his Ph.D. in Computer Science, Keio University in 1987, majored in Computer Science, the Internet and Computer Communication. He established JUNET, the first network in Japan connecting multiple universities, in 1984. In 1988, established the WIDE Project, a Japanese Internet research consortium. Has long been engaged in research related to Internet technology platforms, and is known as the “Father of the Internet in Japan” and in international circles as the “Internet Samurai”. He serves on many other governmental committees in Japan, and is active in numerous international scientific associations. He was inducted into 2011 IEEE Internet Award / the 2013 Internet Hall of Fame (Pioneer) / 2019 the Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French Government / 2020 The NEC C&C Prize.
• Andrew Yao is with Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. E-mail: andrewcyao@tsinghua.edu.cn.
• Daniel Huttenlocher is with Schwarzman College of Computing, MIT, US. E-mail: Huttenlocher@mit.edu.
• Michael Huth is with Department of Computing, Imperial College London, UK. E-mail: m.huth@imperial.ac.uk.
• Mohan Kankanhalli is with School of Computing, NUS, Singapore. E-mail: mohan@comp.nus.edu.sg.
• Jun Murai is with Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University. E-mail: junsec@sfc.wide.ad.jp.
引文格式：Andrew Yao, Daniel Huttenlocher, Michael Huth, etal. Panel Discussion on “The Role of Computer Science in University Development Strategy”[J].计算机教育,2022(12):186-189.
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