Siebel School of Computing
and Data Science FAQ
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger Engineering proudly announces the establishment of the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, made possible by a transformative $50 million gift from Thomas M. Siebel. This cornerstone contribution will propel the university's leadership in computing and data science education and research, shaping the future of technology and innovation.
Further integrating Computing and Data Science as the new third pillar of engineering, alongside the historical Physical Sciences and Mathematical Sciences, the new school will define and advance the future of computing and the intersections of computing and data science. We are poised to chart this new frontier of computing, data science, and AI, building upon the university’s deep history of computing innovation in computer engineering and computer science, and deep collaborations in data science with mathematics, statistics, and information sciences across the campus.
Frequently Asked Questions
This list of frequently asked questions is designed to answer questions for current students, faculty and staff. If you have a question not addressed here, please email us.
The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science will be within the part of The Grainger College of Engineering and include the prior department of computer science. We believe this model allows for the best connectivity and increased collaborations across computer engineering, computer science, data science, and other units.
Will there be separate departments in the school?
The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science will not have any departments in the school as we do not want to increase administrative overhead that could result from it. The new school will be organized into forward looking cutting edge research areas that advance the fronters of computing and data science and their applications into all domains.
The names of current undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees offered by the new school will remain the same. These current degrees includes all Computer Science degrees (BS in Computer Science, MCS in Computer Science, MS in Computer Science, MS in Bioinformatics (Computer Science concentration), and PhD in Computer Science).
We are excited about the future degrees at the intersection of computing and engineering domains (CS+Engr), and engineering domains and data science (Engr+DS).
Enabled by the new School, we will continue to permeate computing and data science in degrees and majors across campus. And very importantly, we plan to initiate new blended degrees at the masters and PhD level in order to create new scholarship and new scholars who are trained at the depth and intersection of the computing and other domains.
Will the courses offered by the school have a new rubric (e.g., CS 225)?
The course designations will not change. For example, CS 225 will remain CS 225. We expect to initiate several new courses in computing and data sciences in the coming years.
Will the Computer Engineering (CE) major be in the school?
Our top ranked world class Computer Engineering major will continue to reside in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. While the CE major will be offered by the ECE department, we expect increased faculty collaborations and synergies between the CE faculty in ECE and the new school, increased joint appointments and new courses that are offered across the college.
CE majors will continue to have the same registration priorities for computer science courses.
Will the new school contain the Data Science majors?
No. Data Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a campus-wide effort that combines a core of computing, information sciences, mathematics, and statistics along with diverse domain sciences and scholarship. For comprehensive information about a wide array of Data Science scholarship, education, and events at Illinois see https://datascience.illinois.edu/
I’ve been admitted to the computer science major. Is my admission offer still valid?
Yes. Admission decisions do not change.
The admissions policies remain the same.
No, students do not need to take any action. Their current degrees will move to the new school.
Will the transcripted information change?
No, the transcripted information will remain the same.
No, they will not. Each of these programs is a single major that leads to a Bachelor of Science degree in the college that is home to Mathematics, Statistics, or the X discipline, respectively.
The online master's degree programs offered by the Department of Computer Science will continue to be the same as part of the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science. This includes both the online MCS and the MCS-DS track of the MCS which has a focus on data science. We expect new standalone and blended undergraduate and graduate degrees to be developed in the coming years.
iCAN will continue under the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science.
No. The MCS program offered by the Department of Computer science in Chicago will continue as part of the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science.
No, the admissions process will remain the same.
Depending on context, alumni may use their best judgment, but one example might be: Siebel School of Computing and Data Science (formerly the Department of Computer Science).