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Computer Science and Software Engineering
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The CSSE Department first originated in the late 1960s as a branch of the Electrical Engineering (EE) department. Dr. Darrell Criss was the person who steered the course of the department in the early years, and other professors were borrowed from various departments. Dr. Herman Monech was even listed as a CS professor at one point. The required courses to major in computer science specialized along the lines of EE and physics majors. Computing systems of the day were the PDP 11/40 timesharing system, and the Xerox 530 batch system. In 1971, Rose Polytechnic graduated its first CS majors - Joseph Cahill, John Kleinschmidt, George Mells, and Landolin Walter. Roger Martindell also graduated that year as a EE/CS. The 1977 Modulus (yearbook) reflects on the life of a Computer Scientist: One of the places all freshman discover, next to ISU and The Rafters, is the computer center. Between experienced programmers that whip off 50 to 100 step programs that postulate Truth, God and Existence, and absolute neophytes that are 'resigned' to playing Star Trek for hours on end, the center's terminals and batch systems are known to all. Quickly though, the magic is lost for most. Those who remain belong to one of two sometimes indistinguishable groups: computer knurds, and 'comp sci' majors." 1987 marked the start of a completely independent Department of Computer Science at Rose-Hulman. Dr. Frank Young came from Knox College to be the department chairman, a role which he held until his retirement in 2002. Professors Ken Curry, Dale Oexmann, and Cary Laxer rounded out the CS faculty. In that first year, the CSSE Department was located where the WCC helpdesk is now. However, in 1989, the department moved to larger space in the basement of Logan Library. During the fall of 2001, in order to more closely reflect the contents of our curriculum, we changed the name of our department to "Computer Science and Software Engineering." A year later, Cary Laxer became the department head and the faculty grew to 11 people. An undergraduate major in software engineering was introduced in the fall of 2003. As of May 2004, Rose-Hulman has graduated a total of 722 CS majors (including those that opted for more than one major). The pictures you see in the background of this page represent only a tiny fraction of the hands-on education that Rose-Hulman has given each of those computer science majors through the years. With more students, faculty, and computer power than ever before, Rose-Hulman is primed to offer the best computer science and software engineering education in the world.
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Rose-Hulman
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