The Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering (abbreviated as the Allen School) is a department-level school within the College of Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. The school is housed in two adjacent buildings: the Bill & Melinda Gates and Paul G. Allen Centers for Computer Science and Engineering. It offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Originally known as the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, it was renamed the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering following a $50 million endowment from Paul Allen and Microsoft in 2017.
History The Computer Science Group was created in March 1967 as a graduate program under the Graduate School. In 1973, the Department of Computer Science was established as an inter-college unit between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering. An undergraduate major started accepting students in the 1975–76 academic year. In 1989, the department became a unit of the College of Engineering and the Computer Engineering degree program was added. The professional master's program, which features evening courses, debuted in 1996. The five year combined BS/MS program started in 2008. On March 9, 2017, CSE's 50th anniversary, the UW Board of Regents voted to elevate the CSE department to a school, naming it after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen with a $50 million endowment from Allen and Microsoft. As of 2023, the Allen School employs an equivalent of 92 full-time employees across tenure-track, teaching-track, and research professors. Turing Award laureate Richard M. Karp was on the faculty from 1995 to 1999. Over 650 PhD students have graduated from the school.
Buildings
In 1964, the UW Computer Center was constructed near Roberts Hall in a building then known as Roberts Hall Annex, now known as Wilcox Hall. Offices for the Computer Science Group were housed in Roberts Hall, until they moved to Sieg Hall in 1974 when it became a department. They stayed there until the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering was constructed in 2003. The building was completed in 2003, along with the adjoined Electrical & Computer Engineering building. It was designed by LMN Architects. In 2015, the school started the campaign to build a second building, sited across the street from the Allen Center, on the site of the decommissioned UW nuclear reactor. This 135,000 square foot building was designed by LMN Architects, who also designed the Allen Center. It contains a 250-seat auditorium, two large classrooms, undergraduate work spaces, and office space for faculty and graduate students.
Funding was secured through a combination of $41.5 million in public funds and $68.5 million in private donations, mostly from Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, totaling $110 million. Although Bill & Melinda Gates did not donate any money themselves, a group including Microsoft and 13 couples who called themselves "friends of Bill & Melinda Gates" succeeded in naming the building after the couple. On February 28, 2019, the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering officially opened, with classes starting inside the following quarter. The site formerly housed More Hall Annex, which contained a nuclear research reactor.
Academics The school offers two bachelors of science degree programs: computer science and computer engineering. 90% of undergraduates are enrolled in the computer science major. The size of the undergraduate program has risen rapidly, more than tripling from 558 students in 2012 to 1,996 in 2021.
Admissions Admission to the undergraduate majors is highly competitive. Since 2017, computer science has been the most desired major for confirmed incoming freshman at UW. Applicants to both majors are considered as one pool, so neither is more competitive. There are four pathways to admission into either major:
Direct to major for freshman applicants Current UW student admission Washington State Academic Redshirt (STARS) Program Transfer admission For most of the school's history, current UW student admits made up the majority of students. Starting in fall 2019, the school shifted its admission strategy from prioritizing current UW student admission to admitting the majority of its undergraduate majors directly admission for freshman applicants. Of those current UW students who are admitted, the Allen School gives preference to "interest changers" - people who only discover an interest in computing after starting at UW. In the 2019-20 admissions cycle, about 200 students were admitted directly, 100 students were admitted from current UW students, and 60-70 students were admitted as transfer students. As of 2023, most undergraduates are direct admits, and about 25-30% of majors are current UW student admits. In 2021 and 2022, only 9% and 8% of direct admits were accepted. The direct admission pathway is designed primarily for Washington state residents, and approximately one quarter of applications from in-state are accepted. The STARS program is a program in College of Engineering designed to support students from low-income, first-generation, and other underserved backgrounds. The term "redshirting" is derived from athletes in US college sports who delay their entrance into games by spending a year training. Similarly, students in the STARS program spend a year in STEM courses with a cohort of STARS students before entering their undergraduate STEM major. Transfer admission is for students transferring to UW from another college. Applicants must submit a supplemental application to the Allen School in addition to the UW transfer process. Preference is given to students transferring from a Washington state community college.
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