Welcome to the 2023-2024 academic year! I have so enjoyed seeing the returning students: overhearing discussions about comps excitement for the year, getting filled in on the fun of an internship and the new questions raised during a research experience, and seeing friends and classmates reunited. The faculty at the academic fair were impressed by the energy of our new students, and it has been delightful to meet a few of you – I look forward to meeting more as the year goes on. In the CS Department, I’m excited for this to be a year of rich academic engagement and strong building of community through events like our CS Tea Colloquium series and student groups. We have several new faces in the department this year – Assistant Professor Tanya Amert, Visiting Assistant Professor Tom Finzell, Benedict Distinguished Visiting Professor Matt Lepinski, and Educational Associate Quoc Nguyen – and I hope you’ll introduce yourselves to them and come say hi to the other faculty and staff in the department as well. We’re excited for Quoc to help with community building initiatives, both among all students and with course staff specifically, and we appreciate all of the student involvement in the department, both through formal and informal channels. Throughout the year, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me as department chair if there’s anything I can help with, and I hope you have a fabulous fall term!
Anna Rafferty, Department Chair for Computer Science