Posted:Â November 22, 2024
Raising $43 million is ambitious, but the Faculty has aspirational plans. Plans to attract the best and brightest students and faculty. Plans to use innovation, entrepreneurship and world-leading research to solve complex challenges—from AI and cyber resiliency, to health care and sustainability. And plans to create pathways for more equitable access to computer science for all.
As the premier computer science faculty in Atlantic Canada, with ambitions to be the best in Canada, Dalhousie’s Faculty of Computer Science strives to anticipate, shape and respond to the demands of an increasingly digital world.
Through Bringing Worlds Together: Dalhousie’s campaign for transformational change, the faculty will help make Nova Scotia one of the most attractive jurisdictions for digital talent and companies, fuelling the economic health of the region. Campaign support will drive research and innovation that finds solutions for real-world priorities. And it will enable the faculty to fill the voracious technology talent pipeline with highly skilled, industry-ready graduates and create an inclusive, diverse tech workforce. Â
Faculty of Computer Science fundraising efforts fall under three pillars:
1. Inspiring Future-Ready Leaders
The Faculty of Computer Science offers exceptional education and experiential learning opportunities, employing industry-leading technology and inclusive student supports. Graduates are skilled, innovative and community-minded leaders.
With campaign support, the faculty will inspire future-ready leaders through two main initiatives.
Working with grade school, industry and community partners, the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøCentre for Diversity in Tech will increase diversity in the field by offering programs to recruit, educate and support students from historically underrepresented groups in technology. This will ultimately make computer science more beneficial, serving and representing our full communities.
The Faculty will provide innovation, entrepreneurship and extracurricular programs for students that align with today’s tech needs. Focusing on skills for career development and supporting student start-ups, these programs will enhance the Faculty’s tech innovation hub, .
2. Engaging in High-Impact Research
Dal Computer Science’s outstanding faculty and talented trainees collaborate across disciplines with industry, academia and government to translate innovative ideas into evidence-based solutions for real-world challenges. Three campaign-funded initiatives will help the Faculty elevate research, fuel social innovation, pioneer climate and health-care technology, and harness expertise in big data and machine learning.
The ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøNexus for Advanced Artificial Intelligence Research will foster the next generation of AI innovators in a state-of-the-art facility, with research on the multidisciplinary application of new technologies—a unique focus among Canadian universities. AI-driven models will predict and mitigate the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems and personalize health care technologies.
The Centre to Build Resiliency in the Cyber-Connected World will maximize the faculty’s research strengths in cybersecurity and resiliency, addressing gaps in hardware that make systems susceptible to malicious attacks, while developing more resilient software to create a safer, more innovative digital future.
The Centre for Sustainable Software Innovation will improve the environmental, social and economic sustainability of technology, drawing on research expertise to impact marine life, agriculture, blockchain applications, automation and unemployment, and more.
3. Lifting Our Communities
By engaging NS youth through enhanced computer science education, the faculty is committed to training enough future-ready graduates to fill tech roles across industries and to ensuring everyone can access digital world opportunities regardless of their location or background. With campaign support, the faculty will increase exposure to computer science in schools, create a provincial hub for computer science curriculum, programming and professional development for teachers, and create EDIA and rural pathways to computer science.