Harvard CS Profs Question Trend

Despite a recent report saying that the number of students nationwide who concentrate in computer science has hit its lowest point in the last decade, Harvard computer science professors say that the trend is not troubling.

In a report aired on National Public Radio (NPR) on Wednesday, one correspondent said that computer science programs across the country are facing an “enrollment crisis.” NPR reported that since the “dot-com” boom ended in 2001, the number of concentrators has been decreasing and now the number has reached its lowest national level.

But co-director of Undergraduate Studies in Computer Science Steven J. Gortler said the number of computer science concentrators has been increasing in recent years.

“I don’t think the news is new at all,” Gortler said, adding that although the number of concentrators decreased after the end of the “dot-com” boom he doubted that the number has continued to decline.

“The number is slowly building back up since 2004, actually,” he said.

Gortler cited the expansion of information technology as a potential reason for the recent increases in the number computer sciences concentrators.

“Technology and industries have become healthier, and they are doing better in general, like Google or Facebook,” he said.

David J. Malan, the head lecturer of Computer Science 50: “Introduction to Computer Sciences I,” said that computer science courses at the College have seen an increase in enrollment.

“Harvard’s own CS courses have seen a resurgence of interest this year,” Malan wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Enrollments in CS50 and CS51 more than doubled what they were last year, and new courses like CS61, CS171, and CS179 are similarly full.”

When asked about the nationwide trend of decreasing numbers of computer science concentrators, Malan said the trend did not worry him.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if recent declines in concentrators represent a restoration of equilibrium more than they do a worrisome trend,” he said.

Gortler said he thinks the number of computer science concentrators has been increasing in recent years because the field is “relevant in lots of areas.”

“Whatever you are doing, if you don’t understand technology, it is difficult to understand what you are doing,” he said.

Malan also emphasized the importance of computer science to areas beyond the field.

“I think that computer science is truly one of those fields that teaches you how to think: more methodically, more carefully, more algorithmically, so to speak,” he wrote. “As such, courses in computer science are useful far beyond the discipline itself.”

While Or Gadish ’10, a biomedical engineering concentrator with a secondary field in computer science, said he thinks technology is important, computer science has its limitations.

Although Gadish said that because many areas are interdisciplinary, computer science may suffer because the courses at the College do not combine computer science with other disciplines.

“Computer science is kind of falling behind,” he said.