FSU computer science feeds job pipeline

Computer science program at FSU addressing critical state requirements

"The fast-growing department pays for itself, thanks to federal and state grants secured by the 17 tenure-track faculty. Many of its 600 plus students pay little or no tuition, as a result of scholarships that those grants provide.
Almost every student in the program has a job before he or she has even walked across the stage at the Civic Center to receive their diploma. And it is the “T” in STEM, properly crossed.
Penny Kincannon, the chief information officer at Florida Department of Law Enforcement, is keenly aware of how important FSU’s computer science program is to her — and the state’s — urgent needs. This spring, she worked with Robert van Engelen, chair of FSU’s department for the past three years, to establish 13 paid internships at FDLE beginning this summer.

“There’s a tremendous demand for IT (information technology) professionals. Computer science graduates can pretty much work where they want to work, do what they want to do and say how much they’re going to get paid,” Kincannon said. “It’s a big enough issue that we need to be looking at how we partner with our universities to try and solve it. This is a problem that really hasn’t gotten too much attention.”

“Information security and homeland security are very hot topics these days, and many of our students are focused in these areas. There’s a strong relationship between computer science and security,” van Engelen said. “Our placement of students is perfect, or almost perfect. Our students will find a job before they graduate.”

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FSU’s computer science department has experienced significant growth in the past 15 years, despite the ups and downs in the economy. There were 12 total faculty when van Engelen arrived in 1998; today there are 22. The number of undergraduate and graduate students – a total of 620 – is almost double what it was just three years ago, van Engelen said.
“We’ve been doing more advertisements, but we also make it clear while we’re advising the students that they are aware of the many career opportunities in computer science,” he said.
Xiuwen Liu joined the department’s faculty in 2000. He is a co-principal investigator on two grants totaling almost $4 million that can support up to 45 students at any one time. He has also been in charge of the department’s graduate division for the past few years.
Liu credits van Engelen for establishing internship programs for students, and connecting students with jobs.
“Robert’s made a lot of changes to the department. He’s streamlined a lot of things,” he said. “I think we’re much more efficient.”
Van Engelen also works closely with the Jim Moran Institute at FSU’s business school, the entrepreneur focused center that encourages undergraduates to develop their own start-up businesses.
Van Engelen and his wife, Susan, have a thriving computer consulting firm, Genivia, and have committed to donating $150,000 to the Jim Moran Institute to help students develop business ventures."