Our Vision and Mission

Our Vision: To be broadly recognized as a national model for computing and information science education and research both within and across disciplines, seeking solutions to contemporary problems made possible only by a world increasingly interconnected through technology, yet grounded in the other disciplines that help us understand and appreciate the world around us.

Our Mission: To create the educational and research foundations of the information age through investments in collaborative education and research that build strong and deep ties between students, researchers and faculty within the CIS disciplines and across the university.

Our Plan

Be a national model for 21st century computing research and education. In order to ensure excellence and leadership, we will strengthen the already outstanding reputation of Computer Science for world-class education and research, continue to build Information Science into a nationally leading Department which competes successfully with the top I-Schools and Informatics programs, and create a world class Statistics Department, bringing today’s fragmented educational and research efforts into a coherent whole.

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Our Priorities

Faculty Renewal and Endowed Professorships - Overall, CIS faculty are younger than many other colleges. Nevertheless, retaining faculty who are top in their fields who otherwise have many other attractive opportunities in academia or industry, and attracting new, younger faculty in computer science, information science and statistics that broaden Cornell's reach in these disciplines is key to achieving our vision to be a national model for information age education. Continued investments in this area will keep CIS on the cutting edge of computing and information science education.

Graduate Fellowships - Our goal is to provide fellowships to all first year students in CIS PhD programs so that they have the opportunity to experience the breadth of their doctoral field before diving deeply into sponsored research and teaching in the remaining years of their degree program. First year fellowships are also important for competing with other schools for the best students.

Undergraduate Research and Teaching Assistantships - Supporting the undergraduate Teaching Assistantship program and increasing support for undergraduate research assistants are key to engaging undergraduates more deeply in their fields of study. The skills they learn through teaching and research are important keys to helping students apply the knowledge they acquire at Cornell after they leave campus.

Dean's Discretionary Fund - Gifts to the Dean's Fund provide CIS with the flexiblity to support the changing and emerging needs of CIS faculty and students. By creating such a pipeline, these funds can be used in a variety of ways. As a dynamic college-level unit with ties across the university, CIS, our faculty and students benefit greatly from our ability to contribute to special projects and initiatives - both university-wide and external - that, for example, expand opportunities for our students to engage in and present their research, develop their entrepreneurial skills or gain access to a variety of employment opportunities.