Welcome to the homepage for the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS). We feature news, resources, research, and people involving our department and the computer science world. We hope that this website proves to be a useful aid for you during your study here at UIS. Also, we would like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to our new students and our returning students. We wish you a successful and rewarding academic semester.

The National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) jointly sponsor the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAEIAE) Program. The goal of this program is to reduce vulnerability in our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in IA and producing a growing number of professionals with IA expertise in various disciplines. Students attending these designated schools are eligible to apply for scholarships and grants through the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program and the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service Program.
The Department Chair, Dr. Mims, and Dean Duley received the award at the 13th Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education (CISSE), Jume 1-3, 2009, Seattle. Official letters of notification are being sent to the University President, the state Governor, Members of Congress, and appropriate Congressional Committees.

Dr. Champaign has earned a doctorate in computer science from the University of Waterloo. His professional interests include computer science, artificial intelligence, intelligent tutoring systems, and recommender systems. Before joining us, Dr. Champaign was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT. Toni Waggoner is finishing a Ph.D. in educational administration and foundations at Illinois State University. Her professional interests include K-12 school finance theory and relational database design.

Cyber Aces Championships help identify and develop the states top cyber talent. Top performers in Cyber Aces Online courses earn an invitation to a state championship. Seven of our students, Chris Beckstrom, James Brubaker, Jack Dozier, Justin Harris, Dale Huber, Nathan Rowe, and Trevor Walraven, were invited to the Cyber Aces State Championship that will be held at Moraine Valley, where they will compete for top honors, prizes, and scholarships. Congratulates to our students! More information about the Cyber Aces competition.

The demand for cloud services, which has been exponentially increasing in recent years, is projected to reach 1.3 billion in 2017. While constantly on the move, we want the convenience of having our personal library of files and applications available to us. At the same time, companies increasingly report data security lapses with the cloud service. What organizational challenges does distributed storage present for business operations? What are best practices for individuals using a personal cloud? How can you avoid accidental leakage of sensitive data? With instant file retrieval from anywhere, on demand, how is distributed storage changing our psychology? Join us as we consider flash storage and the cloud and what you can do to protect yourself from the inevitable risk of this continuously evolving media. Conference website

Three of our faculty members, Joshua Smith, Lucinda Caughey and Tom Sidener have built a submerged PC. Everything is submerged in an aquarium, including the motherboard, the fan and the hard drive. Outside of the aquarium are the monitor, the mouse and the motherboard. The system works quietly and stays cool.

Nearly 60 students representing 18 Illinois colleges and universities registered for the Digital Forensics Challenge 2012, held last November at the University of Illinois Springfield. The event provided an entry-level opportunity for Illinois college and university students to explore computer forensics. Speakers included Dr. Ted Mims, FBI Special Agent Christopher Trifiletti, John Bambenek, and Tim Robert. More information.

According to Best Computer Science Degrees our online program has been ranked second in the list of the top 10 best online schools for computer science and IT. The good quality curriculum and the ability to combine online coursework for both BS and MS programs were mentioned as major strengths of our program.

Dr. Vespa has earned a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2011. He is an expert in the areas of computer security, pattern encoding algorithms and network quality of service. Dr. Vespa has 25 peer-reviewed publications in journals and conferences, including publications in network security. Dr. Loui earned his bachelors degree from Harvard and his Ph.D. degree from University of Rochester. He was a postdoctoral affiliate at Stanford, and a Professor at Washington University, St. Louis for more than 15 years. He has published more than 80 papers and articles in the areas of homeland and network security, artificial intelligence, applied logic, cognitive science, decision theory, e-government, legal technology, multi-agent systems, computing practices, user interfaces, and education.

Computerworld, a leading IT magazine published in many languages and in many countries around the world, published an article called MIT and others launch a tech education revolution, which describes the four leading online programs in the country. The Computer Science Department is considered one of them along with MIT, Oregon State, and Udacity. According to the article, UIS was among the first institutions to bring computer science training online, beginning in 2006, with online enrollments exceeding on-campus enrollments today. The article also features the Department Chair, Dr. Ted Mims, and Michael Bernico, an online CSC student. The article points out that while most online programs attract students who live relatively close to the school's campus, CSC is an exception to that rule, because it started offering online classes much earlier than other institutions. They were really thinking ahead."

A first-time survey of national online programs by U.S. News & World Report gives high marks to the University of Illinois Springfields online graduate degree programs in computer science. The magazine said it undertook the project to begin filling an information gap about the strengths and weaknesses of online programs. U.S. News ranked 196 online bachelor's degree programs and 523 online master's degree programs in business, engineering, nursing, education and computer information technology. Programs considered for the rankings needed to have at least 80 percent of their course content available online. Overall, the UIS computer science masters program ranked eighth in the nation for Student Service & Technology and 21st for Teaching Practices & Student Engagement in the computer information technology category.State Journal-Register Report, USNews&World Report.

Three students and Lance Caughey from the Computer Science Department are helping high school students build a robot as part of a national challenge. Read the news and watch the video.

WCIA TV did a session on online learning at UIS. One of our students Jamie Worthy was interviewed (1st ) She did an internship at State Farm this summer and has a job at State Farm when she graduates in May 2012. She is emphasizing Systems Security and Information Assurance. Dr. Ted Mims explains how our enrollments and program are growing! The video.

State Farm Companies Foundation has awarded the University of Illinois Springfield Computer Science Department a $50,000 grant. The money will be used to enhance the State Farm Virtual Computing Teaching and Learning Laboratory at UIS. More information.

Janis Rose was recently surprised to be honored with a Commendation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Presented by David A. Ford, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Springfield Division. The award recognized her dedication and hard work protecting our national infrastructures for over 10 years. Rose has served as President of InfraGard Springfield, an initiative of the FBI collaborating with subject matter experts in public/private alliances. She teaches computer science at the University of Illinois Springfield where her interest centers on network security. Rose chairs the annual Cyber Defense and Disaster Recovery Conference in March and is spearheading a Digital Forensics Exercise Challenge in November. See a picture from the ceremony.

The Collegiate Cyber Exercise Event (CCEE), held in September 2010 has been awarded the 2011 Meeting the Challenge Award presented by InfraGard, a national, collaborative program between the FBI and private sector Subject Matter Experts. More information.

The World Technology Network announced that Professor Keith Miller has been named a finalist for a prestigious World Technology Award for Ethics, presented by the WTN in association with TIME, Fortune, CNN, Science/AAAS, and Technology Review. Nominees for the 2011 World Technology Awards were selected through an intense process by the WTN Fellows through an intensive, global process lasting many months. Winners will be selected from among the finalists with the input of a select group of prominent Advisors and will be announced in a ceremony at the United Nations. More information.

As part of the Department of Homeland Securitys Stop.Think.Connect. national cyber security awareness campaign, the Computer Science Department at the University of Illinois organizes a Cyber Citizen Forum: Keeping the Internet Safe is a Responsibility We All Share. The forum features the following speakers: Rafael Diaz, Chief Information Security Officer Bureau of Communication & Computer Services State of Illinois; Timothy Fraser, Appointed by President Obama as the Director of the National Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign; Janis Rose, UIS Computer Science Department; Sviatoslav Braynov, UIS Computer Science Department. More information.

The INSEIT/Joseph Weizenbaum Award is presented to "an individual who has made significant contributions to the field of information and computer ethics through his/her research, service, and vision. The 2011winner is Dr. Keith Miller! Don Gotterbarn (Professor Emeritus at Eastern Tennessee State University) is receiving the 2010 award. Both awards will be presented at the CEPE 2011 Conference in Milwaukee in June.

Over the course of the last 20+ years Dr. Miller has made major contributions to the field of computer ethics and to understanding of the social and ethical implications of computers and information technology broadly. He was a pioneer in teaching computer ethics to computer science students. He co-authored a seminal piece on teaching computer ethics (W. R. Collins and K. Miller. Paramedic ethics for computing professionals. Journal of Systems and Software, pp. 23-38, 1992). This article was the first in a long series of publications and presentations at professional conferences and workshops that have shaped the teaching of computer ethics in the U.S. and internationally.

The Shining Star trophy is given by an employee to another employee who has exceeded expectations in some area of his or her work. Wednesday, October 19th, morning Dr. Ted Mims was surprised with the trophy and rewards by his nominator Lori Pinney, HR staff, and colleagues. Dr. Mims was caught in the act of excellence going above and beyond by providing superior assistance to students and colleagues, even when it involved returning to campus.

Each year, one Spencer Faculty Service Award of $5,000 is made to a faculty member. Robert Spencer, the founding President of Sangamon State University, established the expectation that public service and service to the academic community would be highly valued by the faculty at SSU. This year, the award was given to Dr. Ted Mims who has established himself as a model of 'professor-citizen' through public service and service to the academic community as envisioned by Dr. Spencer. Dr. Mims' service includes an impressive record of leadership and service to the Computer Science Department, to UIS and to the whole academic community.

The Schewe Professorship is the first named Professorship in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Dr. Keith Miller is a prolific and influential scholar. He is author or co-author of 60 articles in leading academic journals, a contributor to some 20 books and websites, and the author of 75 papers appearing in conference proceedings. He is in demand as a major conference speaker, appearing in venues as geographically diverse as the Association for Computer Machinery Symposium on Applied Computing in Dijon, France, to the Conference on Computer Ethics at Dartmouth College, from the Cyber Defense and Recovery Conference in Springfield, Illinois, to the EthiComp Conference in Sweden. He is also the recipient of many grants, including funding from the National Science Foundation.

University Scholar is an award honoring and rewarding outstanding teachers and scholars at the three University of Illinois campuses. The award comes with a grant of $10,000 each year for three years for research and scholarly activities. Dr. Braynov has an active research program in the area of computer security, information warfare, electronic commerce, and artificial intelligence. In the last four years, he has published 11 peer-reviewed articles and papers, co-chaired five international conferences, served on the program committees of 25 international conferences, presented seven invited talks, and reviewed 73 papers and articles for 21 journals and conferences.

GetEducated.com evaluates accredited programs and offers listings of the best online programs. This year, the Computer Science Masters online program was ranked 5th among regionally accredited colleagues and universities. The designation indicates that our Masters program has been reviewed and judged to offer a high quality distance degree to a national audience at tuition rates well below the national average. GetEducated.coms Top 30 Ranked Best Buy Masters in Computer Science

Dr. Ted Mims, Chair, Computer Science Department, and Barbara Selvaggio, Online Program Coordinator, Computer Science, were recently interviewed by Getdegrees.com. Please visit www.getdegrees.com to read the full interview.

Academic programs from target schools are selected based on curriculum, makeup of the student body, and unique strengths the department provides for computer science majors. Our students will be able to take advantage of a number of new opportunities, such as additional, meaningful work and research internships; classroom presentations by corporate leaders who manage technology; and campus visits by employment recruiters. State Farm is a leader in providing financial services including insurance, banking, and investment products to clients throughout the U.S. Its systems department, based in Bloomington, Illinois, supports one of the largest private networks in the country.

A UIS feature story tells how the Computer Science Department has become a very successful department. "In 1990, we had approximately 45 graduates and 75 undergraduates," Dr. Mims said. "In the spring semester of 2007, we had 350 graduate students and 200 undergraduates. So we've had more than 500 percent growth since 1990." Watch the video.

NPR aired a report by Larry Abramson about the future of higher education. In the report, Dr. Mims describes the future of online education:
"But I can assure you that the next generation of students are '24/7 students' that want stuff right now. They don't want to come to your class and listen to a professor lecture and tell funny stories, they want just what they need to succeed in that class and get a job and be successful in life."
If you want to know the future of higher education, listen to Dr. Mims!
Here is the web text version with link to the audio.

Dr. Miller, a professor of Computer Science, delivers an astonishing talk on computers and love at the Taste of UIS Luncheon. According to him, computers can love and feel in their own way. The talk is described in a special article in the the State Journal-Register

Jeff Bosch, an online CSC student, won the Distinctive Excellence award in the 2006 Atmel AVR Design Contest! An interview with Jeff is published in the State Journal-Register The interview cites the Computer Science chair, Dr. Ted Mims who said that " The Midwest is known for good schools, but with our online program, we have people from all over the United States."

The IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) publishes a quarterly magazine called IEEE Technology & Society (T&S). T&S is an award-winning magazine with circulation of over 3000, including 1700 members and affiliates of SSIT and approximately 800 research libraries. Professor Miller is appointed the Senior Associate Editor of T&S. Starting from December 2007, he will be the Editor-in-Chief!

National Level Information Assuarnce Subject Matter Experts from the Committee of National Security Systems and the National Security Agency reviewed the courseware offered by the Department of Computer Science and determined that it meets the National Training Standard for: