50 Years of Computer Science at CSU

On March 16, 1974 the Colorado Board of Agriculture peered into the future and made a bold decision. Computing would be big, and Colorado State University needed a department that could understand and harness the new technology. 

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the Department of Computer Science at CSU. Five decades have seen exponential growth in computing. In fact, today’s smartphones are over a thousand times more powerful than the mainframe that served the entire campus in the 1970s. 

Technological advancements continually transform the department’s research, teaching, community and computing infrastructure. But amid the waves of change, the department has been, and remains, guided by CSU’s land grant mission – how can this evolving technology be used to improve people’s lives? 

Genevieve Garst
Professor Genevieve Garst taught the first computer science classes at CSU from 18958 – 1963. Photo courtesy of Colorado State University Archives & Special Collections.

In 1974 new computer science Assistant Professor Dale Grit walked to the keypunch room across the parking lot. He punched a stack of input cards and handed them to the operator to enter into the campus CDC 6400 mainframe. The single processor could only execute one instruction at a time. An hour later – fast for the 1970s – he retrieved the output printed on green and white bar paper. 

50 years later, manually punching input cards is not only obsolete, but computing permeates every area of life. It drives the department’s interdisciplinary research collaborations with CSU units, industry, government, universities and organizations around the world. 

How did we get here? Early funding from the NSF and DARPA supported department research that built computing foundations and infrastructure brick by brick. Faculty studied parallel programming to speed up computing, computer graphics to generate images and art, and systems programming to make machines usable for application developers. 

The Computer Science building on the CSU campus.
The Computer Science Building on the Colorado State University campus, Fort Collins.

Soon a potent cocktail of advancements fueled a computing revolution. An invention called “email” transformed communications. Processors became faster, smaller and cheaper, making computers affordable. Demand for software and applications exploded, and the Internet emerged to connect devices virtually. 

In 1991 a World Wide Web of information became available to anyone, and CSU Professor Adele Howe developed the first metacrawler search engine to make navigating it faster and easier. 

Today computer science at CSU is pioneering virtual nature therapy for aging adults, cybersecurity for national infrastructure, precision irrigation tools for farmers, and artificial intelligence (AI) applications that can speed recovery for injured athletes, aid pollinator conservation, predict weather and climate changes, and help students learn in the classroom. Fifty years of research funding and over $100M from dozens of sponsors has supported the department’s research evolution and expansion. 

“We moved from systems programming to make machines usable for people developing applications to creating sophisticated applications like AI,” said Grit, who retired in 2012. “We’ve impacted so many areas – weather, AI, healthcare, finance, and more.” 

The department has always embraced teaching as a powerful tool for improving people’s lives. Computer science students develop technical and critical thinking skills, and graduates enter the global workforce prepared to navigate a rapidly changing field. 

In its early years, the department taught basic hardware and software skills and expanded into applications such as graphics, networking and artificial intelligence. The computing explosion beginning in the 1980s made computers commonplace, ignited broad demand for computer scientists, and shifted the technical emphasis from hardware to software, where it remains today. 

Computer science courses at CSU have adapted to a field where obsolescence can be measured in months. Gone are the days of teaching a library of computer languages. The accelerating evolution of technology requires students to become fluent problem solvers who can continually learn. 

A graphic containing a series of images from the computer science department, including a photo of the faculty/staff of the computer science department, a student wearing a grad cap, and an old photo of the computer science building.

An inclusive, collaborative approach helps the department meet the need for computing professionals across many sectors. Students can build customized degree programs from eight undergraduate concentrations, interdisciplinary programs, undergraduate and graduate research, and hybrid and online learning through the department’s award-winning distance programs launched in 1982. 

The department’s 50-year history contains impressive teaching achievements. It has conferred 4298 bachelor’s degrees, 1298 master’s degrees and 157 doctoral degrees. Multiple faculty have been recognized with College of Natural Sciences and University teaching awards. The 40-year-old distance learning program consistently ranks among the nation’s best. Graduates are leaders at the world’s largest technology companies. Diversity and inclusion efforts have doubled the number of women and underrepresented minority students, infusing the discipline with fresh perspectives and reducing barriers to access. And record enrollments – currently over 1,100 undergraduate majors and 150 graduate students – are filling the workforce pipeline as employers from every sector compete to hire graduates. 

Professor Darrell Whitley, who came to CSU in 1986 to start the AI program, reflected on the department’s teaching contribution. 

“At the end of the day, we’ve put a lot of good people and good ideas out there, and that’s made a difference.” 

A graphic containing computer science images - two students working on a computer, computer code, a person in front o of large computer equipment, and a robot.

Computer science not only uses computing technologies, it creates them. 

That requires systems administrators who can support a wide range of complex, ever-changing equipment and applications along with technically sophisticated users. It’s a challenging job Systems Administrator Wayne Trzyna has been doing for 33 years. “I never know what to expect when I come in in the morning,” he said. “I’m always working on something new.” 

When Trzyna came to CSU in 1991, the department had moved from its original home in Rockwell Hall to the University Services Center. Two VAX minicomputers sat in a room cooled by a rickety air conditioner. The entire department had about 20 computers, no servers, and disk space scattered across various machines. 

Since 1991 Trzyna has continually upgraded the department’s infrastructure to support new research, teaching, and operational needs. The process requires evaluating which technologies will emerge or survive, calculating the risks, and determining the best investment of resources. 

Perhaps the most critical need is a building with sufficient power and cooling. In the 2000s the department overflowed its two-floor space in the USC and moved to the new, dedicated Computer Science Building in the center of campus in 2009. From his office on the top floor, Trzyna now leads a team of systems administrators who manage and support millions in infrastructure, including 1000 machines, manifold tools and software, a dozen research laboratories, and over 4000 user accounts. 

For the Department of Computer Science, computing infrastructure is critical to the research and teaching environment. Trzyna and his team are already preparing for the next wave of change. The COVID-19 pandemic normalized remote education, and over a thousand computer science students increasingly work from home. “Computer science students are spending more time struggling to interconnect their home machines to the campus and department networks,” he said. “We need to continue to look for ways to make this process smoother for them.” 

When the department’s first chair Bernard “Barney” Marschner took the helm of a nascent department in 1974, he couldn’t accurately predict its evolution. The field has undergone unimaginable change in 50 years. 

Current department chair Bruce Draper faces the same challenge Marschner did – understand the department community, choose directions, and deftly navigate toward the ever-advancing horizon of technology. The challenge grows more complex every day. 

First, where is the field of computer science headed? Draper envisions the technology will become increasingly personalized and integral to our everyday lives. 

“Imagine a digital personal assistant that keeps track of your appointments, reminds you of meetings, and drives your car to pick up the dry cleaning,” he said. “And it will do all the boring parts of your job for you.” 

At the same time, how will the department prepare students for a dynamic field woven into everyday life? As personal experiences integrate with computers, every discipline – all the sciences and arts – merge with computer science. 

Draper foresees technologies like AR/VR transforming teaching by “merging with reality, overlaying instructions, diagrams, and immediate feedback on students’ field of vision.” Think of biology students identifying birds in a field by image or song. AR/VR can both teach them and help them do it. 

Computer science, once a niche field, is now part of the fabric of our world. After half a century of extraordinary evolution, Draper is confident in the department’s ability to transform. 

“I am honored to lead this talented, dedicated community of people who care about and are trying to shape the future,” he said. “There are so many possibilities for this technology, and we’re here to ensure it evolves in ways that benefit the people and economy of Colorado.” 

Keep Reading