The Nevada Sagebrush

Enrollment in computer science classes has been on the rise at the University of Nevada, Reno for the past two years, putting UNR in line with a recent national report by the Computing Research Association.

In a recent report analyzing enrollment data from the 2008-09 school year, the CRA said the total number of national computer science majors increased by 14 percent over two years.  According to department chair Yaakov Varol, UNR’s computer science and engineering programs had 257 undergraduate majors in fall 2009, a roughly 25 percent total increase over 2006-07.

Varol said the increase is largely due to the “huge” technology needs of today’s industrialized world.

“People realize there’s a greater need, and so there’s a renewed interest,” he said.

The uptick is a reversal of a downward enrollment trend over the first part of the decade, when computer science majors decreased due in part to the bursting of the dot-com bubble and in part to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“9/11 especially affected graduate enrollment because it was difficult for students to get visas,” said Frederick Harris, a computer science professor.

Despite this, graduate enrollment has increased along with undergraduate enrollment. The university now has 67 computer science graduate students. Harris suggested the recession has contributed to the increase.

“Historically, economic downturns lead to increased grad school enrollment in all programs,” he said.

Harris said that the increased number of students has not had an impact on the quality of instruction in the department. Lab section sizes for most classes are capped at 24 students due to the number of available computers. Students are still able to receive individual attention from professors.

As the students begin to graduate in larger numbers, they will enter an expanding computer science job market. According to Harris, many students will enter companies like International Game Technology and the Sierra Nevada Corporation in Reno as well as game development companies such as 3G Studios.

Alexis Oyama, a 21-year-old computer science major graduating in May, hopes to work for a gaming company or an animation studio. He said many other computer science students he knows got involved with the subject because of their love of video games.

“If you’re interested in them and you’re good at math, you tend to go into computer science,” he said.

Skyler Dillon can be reached at sdillon@nevadasagebrush.com.

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