You are here: American University College of Arts & Sciences Computer Science

Why CS at AU?

The Department of Computer Science at American University balances the practical and theoretical aspects of computer science and provides students with a background for professional employment or further study in the discipline.

Computer Science at AU

Students whirring through DMTI.

The Department of Computer Science at American University balances the practical and theoretical aspects of computer science and provides students with a background for professional employment or further study in the discipline. Our graduates move on to a wide range of careers that includes software development and design, multimedia computing, artificial intelligence and computer vision, and other technical computing professions.

As a student in our department, you will:

  • Master state-of-the-art technologies necessary to keep pace with this rapidly changing field.
  • Receive individual attention in classes with fewer than 20 students.
  • Conduct research and complete independent studies with faculty members actively researching a variety of fields, including: artificial intelligence, scientific computing, databases and knowledge discovery, computer architecture, computational geometry, and computer vision.
  • Obtain internships and utilize resources at the various high-tech companies and government agencies in the Washington, DC area, including: IBM, Mellon Bank, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and a variety of nonprofit organizations and start-up companies

Bulletins

Patrick Wu joined the computer science department as of August 2024 as Assistant Professor. He specializes in applied AI/ML approaches to computational social science. Welcome!

The AU Computer Science and Physics departments have a joint open-rank faculty opening for a new professor to start in August 2025.

AU was awarded $5.7 million by the National Science Foundation to translate academic research into real-world impact. Computer Science professor Bei Xiao is one of the cross-school faculty leading the project.

Three computer science students won awards at the Mathias Student Research Conference: Milton Garcia (MS '23), Sydney Sachs (MS '23, BS '22), and Ian Whitehouse (BS '24).

More CS News

Worktables in the DABL

Labs and Research

The department hosts and works with many labs on campus including the Design and Build Lab, Game Lab, and the Center for Innovation.

Read More

Hack-for-a-Change Green Bar team presentation

Student Life ·

Making a Difference One Hack at a Time

Read More

Students Maya Kinley-Hanlon, David Bialy, and Jacob Vancampen with Philip Johnson in AU’s gravitational wave detector lab.

Student Opportunities

CS students participate in a variety of clubs, organizations, competitions, conferences, internships, and scholarship programs.

Read More

Face model on a diagram.

AI Virtual Teaching Assistant “Sarah” Makes Her Debut

Read More

A group of 2022 graduates exemplify AU's changemaking efforts.

On Campus ·

Making Meaningful Change at AU

Read More