The BS Computer Engineering program in the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering (ECE) has the same curriculum as the BS
Computer Engineering program in the CSE Department.
Goals of the Curriculum
Computer science and computer engineering have emerged as fundamental intellectual
and engineering disciplines. Through our courses and research in
bioinformatics, mobile computing, artificial intelligence, system networks, graphics,
and in many other ways, the impact of computer science and computer engineering are
profoundly impacting society. Our programs prepare students for leadership in
high tech jobs and for advancded study in graduate school.
The CSE Department at UCSD is at the forefront of new developments in computer science and
computer engineering. Our faculty and students are influencing the world with a wide
spectrum of leading research, such as making the Internet more secure, decoding the human
genome, applying data mining in business, and inventing the concept of hyper-threading
used in the latest Pentium processors.
Just as important, our faculty members are leaders in classroom instruction. From Java
programming to modern cryptography, our undergraduate students receive a broad education.
Our undergraduate program has a rigorous curriculum, but also encourages individual initiative
in the form of research and independent projects.
The CSE Department offers a vibrant and exciting place for students to study in.
CSE majors are in the top 20 majors at UC San Diego and with-in the University of California system.
The beauty of our department is that we offer an atmosphere of positive competition and one that
prepares students for industrial internships, challenges of technical,
and intellectual leadership in both industry and academia.
In addition, our students visit other countries
through the Education Abroad Program,
gaining valuable experience around the world. Our students participate in undergraduate research which
gives them an excellent opportunity to establish strong relationships with CSE faculty. Some of our top students
will continue their advanced studies at UC San Diego by applying to our integrated five-year
Bachelor's and Master's Program.
On April 1st, US News and World Report released its 2006 reputation rankings of graduate
programs in the United States. UCSD's computer science and engineering department was elevated to the 13th
position overall -- the largest jump of any program in the top 30. In addition, UCSD was ranked
among the top twenty in all computer science specialties (9th in Systems, 14th in Theory, 17th
in Programming Languages and 19th in Artificial Intelligence). Finally, UCSD's interdisciplinary
program in Genomics, Genetics and Bioinformatics was ranked 6th in the nation. Over the twelve
years in which US News has ranked graduate computer science programs, UCSD's rise has been
unprecedented and unmatched by any program in the country. This recognition has mirrored the
tremendous growth of the department over this time, the enthusiasm of its students, staff and
faculty and the widespread impact of our research.
Primary Objective for the Undergraduate Programs
Strong Lower Division Foundation
We offer two tracks for new programmers, Track-One and Track-Two.
Students on Track-One take CSE 8A
and CSE 8AL in their
first quarter, followed with CSE 8B in their second quarter.
Students with programming experience in
a compiled language will start with Track-Two by taking CSE 11.
These two tracks are followed with four more lower division programming courses:
Likewise, CSE majors are required to take CSE 91 - Perspectives in CSE in their
first year of study at UC San Diego. In CSE 91 students are introduced to current areas of computer science and
computer engineering in the course.
CSE 91 in Fall 2007 taught by Dr. Andrew Kahng.
Streamlined Upper Division Curriculum
Ten required upper division core
courses deal with the theory and techniques of algorithms, hardware and
software. Students should complete most of the core requirements by the
end of their junior year. During their senior year, students take
additional computer science and engineering courses to enhance the
breadth and/or the depth of understanding. Upper division core courses are: CSE 100, CSE 101, CSE 105,
CSE 120, CSE 130, CSE 131, CSE 140, CSE 140L, CSE 141, and CSE 141L.
Earlier Graduation
The undergraduate programs are designed so that students from many of
the UCSD colleges (in particular Warren, Muir, and Marshall) will only
need to complete less than 190 units for graduation. Students from
Revelle, Roosevelt (formerly Fifth), and Sixth College will need less
than 210 units for graduation. It is realistic for students to graduate
within four years.
Increased Learning Opportunities
CSE faculty introduce students to new ideas, techniques, methods, problems, theory,
and applications in computer science in an upper division seminar course,
CSE 190,
"Topics in Computer Science and Engineering".
Also established is series of software laboratories to
give students the opportunity to sharpen their skills in working with
various software systems. The first course in this series is
CSE 80,
"UNIX Lab", a course designed for presenting the necessary UNIX
knowledge to improve programmers' productivity. The second course is
CSE 86, "C++ for the Java Programmer,"
2 units, this course helps to bridge the gap for Java programmers to learn
essential C++ programming
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