Academic Departments

Cornell Bowers CIS is home to the three academic disciplines that power the information economy, and part of the new multicollege Department of Design Tech. 

This unique structure fuels collaboration across disciplines and the university’s campuses to position Cornell as a leader in developing and driving the visionary research and technological advances that connect people, information, and ideas.

The college’s academic footprint extends well beyond the university’s Ithaca campus. In New York City, its ties with Cornell Tech have created a powerful technology ecosystem that is unique in all of higher education.

Computer Science:

The Department of Computer Science is consistently ranked among the best computer science departments in the U.S. Organized in 1965, it is one of the first of its kind in the country. The department offers computer science majors in the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Engineering, and Master of Engineering (MEng), MS and Ph.D. graduate programs. With a full-time faculty of 40 across both the Ithaca and Cornell Tech campuses, the department has approximately 120 resident Ph.D. students, 100 M.Eng. students and 350 undergraduate majors. Read more about the history and impact of Cornell Computer Science.

Contact:

107 Hoy Road

402 Bill and Melinda Gates Hall

Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-7501

Phone: 607.255.0983

Department Chair: Lorenzo Alvisi

Elizabeth Estabrook, Director of Administration

Information Science:

Information Science (IS) was born out of the need to provide a home for academics who wanted to study the use of technology rather than the creation of it. It began as an interdisciplinary program in 2002 that grew into a full-fledged department in 2005 with undergraduate, Master of Professional Studies (MPS) and PhD programs. The department's programs examine information systems in their social, cultural, economic, historical, legal and political contexts. Studying technology and the ways people use technology is a central focus of the field. The department offers undergraduate degrees through the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Agriculture and Life Sciences and Engineering, as well as a PhD program and MPS programs in Ithaca and at Cornell Tech.

Contact:

107 Hoy Road

236 Bill & Melinda Gates Hall

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY 14852

Phone: 607.255.6571

ISinfo@cornell.edu

Department Chair: David Mimno

Eileen Grabosky, Director of Administration

Statistics and Data Science:

Statistics is the overarching discipline concerned with everything related to learning from data. This includes developing and applying fundamental theory and methodology, decision making under uncertainty, and the transformation of massive amounts of data into knowledge. Statistical thinking and quantitative reasoning has become pervasive in culture, economy, law, government and sciences, dramatically changing the way people view the world. In an effort to open new avenues for exploring how we can learn from data, in 2005, the Department of Statistics and Data Science (SDS) was formed and became part of Cornell Bowers CIS. The department offers three programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, an undergraduate degree in the College of Arts and Sciences, a professional Master's (MPS) degree, and a Ph.D.

Contact:

212 Garden Ave

301 Malott Hall

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY 14853

Phone: 607.255.8066

sds@cornell.edu

Department Chair: James Booth

Donna Bunce, Director of Administration

Department of Design Tech

The new Department of Design Tech is a multicollege, transdisciplinary initiative pioneering innovation, research, and teaching on topics at the intersection of design and emerging technology that most greatly impact research, industry, and practice in a changing world.