Cornell University undertook a bold experiment in 1999 when it created its combined Faculty of Computing and Information Science (“CIS”) as an interdisciplinary unit that would see its people, programs, and projects embedded throughout the university. That integration envisioned and executed decades ahead of its time evolved from the understanding that data, computation, and emerging technologies would transform virtually every area of academic inquiry and every aspect of our lives. It built on Cornell’s longstanding, behemoth, and continuing strengths in computer science as well as in artificial intelligence and in the social and behavioral sciences that inform the full range of CIS’s innovative, cross-disciplinary teaching and research.
In forging its path over the last two decades, CIS has continued to develop new understandings, ethical approaches, and technologies for the information age and created the blueprint for the field of computing and information science that others still emulate today.
Cornell Bowers CIS comprises three departments: Computer Science, Information Science, and Statistics and Data Science with top-ranked programs in computer security, web information retrieval, computational social science, economics and computation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining. Combined, and in their interactions with adjoining fields, these disciplines position Cornell as a leader in developing and driving the visionary research and technological advances that connect people, information, and ideas.