Why no European Computer Science
Department is in the World’s Top-10
Willy Zwaenepoel
Why no European Computer Science
Department is in the World’s Top-10
Is it true?
Shanghai Jiao’Tong 2010
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Stanford
MIT
U of California - Berkeley
Princeton
CMU
Cornell
U of Southern California
U of Texas - Austin
Harvard
Toronto
Shanghai Jiao’Tong 2010
1
Stanford
2
MIT
3
U of California - Berkeley
4
Princeton
At5 best meaningless
and at worst misleading.
CMU
6
Relies
on Cornell
WoS for publications and citations.
7
U of Southern California
8
U of Texas - Austin
9
Harvard
10
Toronto
US News and World Report 2010
1
5
7
8
9
10
11
13
14
17
20
CMU
MIT
Stanford
U of California - Berkeley
Cornell
UIUC
U of Washington - Seattle
Princeton
U of Texas - Austin
Georgia Tech
Cal Tech
U of Wisconsin - Madison
Michigan
U of California – Los Angeles
U of California – San Diego
U of Maryland – College Park
Columbia
Harvard
U of Pennsylvania
Brown
Purdue
Rice
U of Massachussets - Amherst
U of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
U of Southern California
Yale
US News and World Report 2010
1
5
7
8
9
10
11
13
14
17
20
CMU
MIT
Stanford
U of California - Berkeley
Cornell
UIUC
U of Washington - Seattle
Princeton
U of Texas - Austin
Georgia Tech
Cal Tech
U of Wisconsin - Madison
Michigan
U of California – Los Angeles
U of California – San Diego
U of Maryland – College Park
Columbia
Harvard
U of Pennsylvania
Brown
Purdue
Rice
U of Massachussets - Amherst
U of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
U of Southern California
Yale
US News and World Report 2010
1
5
7
8
9
10
11
CMU
MIT
Stanford
U of California - Berkeley
Cornell
UIUC
U of Washington - Seattle
Princeton
U of Texas - Austin
Georgia Tech
Cal Tech
U of Wisconsin - Madison
Michigan
U of California – Los Angeles
U of California – San Diego
U of Maryland – College Park
Columbia
Harvard
U of Pennsylvania
Brown
Purdue
Rice
U of Massachussets - Amherst
U of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
U of Southern California
Yale
Mostly
makes sense, but restricted to U.S.
13
14
17
20
The Z-factor
Z-factor = number of ACM Fellows
USNWR
Consistency check: USNWR vs. Z
CMU
MIT
Stanford
UCB
Cornell
UIUC
U Washington
Princeton
UT Austin
Georgia Tech
CalTech
U Wisc
U Mich
UCLA
UCSD
U Maryland
Columbia
Harvard
U Penn
Brown
Purdue
Rice
U Mass
UNC
USC
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
No. of ACM Fellows
Where are the European departments?
Stanford
UCB
CMU
MIT
Princeton
UIUC
Cornell
UT Austin
U Wisconsin
U Maryland
U Mass
Georgia
UCSD
U Washington
Purdue
U Michigan
Brown
Columbia
Top-10
USC
Duke
Rice
European schools
NYU
OSU
Rutgers
UCLA
Virginia
Yale
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
No. of ACM Fellows
Why no European Computer Science
Department is in the World’s Top-10
Why is this so?
Ten Days in Amersfoort …
Ten Days in Amersfoort …
Ten Days in Amersfoort …
Ten Days in Amersfoort …
The Reasons
1. They are not departments.
They are loose confederations of fiefdoms.
2. They do not do computer science.
They do applications of computers.
Disclaimer
All examples discussed next are from the
Netherlands. Any resemblance to situations
at EPFL, past or present, is purely coincidental.
Symptoms
1. They are not departments
•
•
•
•
•
•
They do not call themselves departments
Curriculum = ∑ professors’ pet topics
Doctoral program = ∑ professors’ labs
Over-representation in one or two areas
Under-representation in others
…
Symptoms
2. They do not do computer science
• Computer science has applications
• Computer science ≠ applications of computers
Symptoms
2. They do not do computer science
• Computer science has applications
• Computer science ≠ applications of computers
in the sciences
HPC, supercomputing, computational science, escience, simulation-based science, …
2009 HPC vs. IT Market
IT Market ($1.4T)
HPC Market ($8.6B)
Symptoms
2. They do not do computer science
• Computer science has applications
• Computer science ≠ applications of computers
in the sciences
HPC, supercomputing, computational science, escience, simulation-based science, …
• Why?
– Press likes it
– Administrators like it
– Funding agencies like it
Why no European Computer Science
Department is in the World’s Top-10
Why am I saying this?
Because I believe that at EPFL we have
a unique chance to make it into the
world’s top-10. If anywhere in Europe
it is going to happen, it is here!
We are in Switzerland
Switzerland
Real World
Map of the academic world, anno 2011, © Willy Zwaenepoel
The competition is not doing so well
Switzerland
Real World
Map of the academic world, anno 2011, © Willy Zwaenepoel
Brain Gain
We may have problems, but we are
lightyears ahead of others in Europe
1. They are not departments
Tenure track, little inbreeding, attracting MS and
PhD students, balance, etc.
Main impediment: EPFL lab culture.
2. They do not computer science
We are in good shape
Stay the course !
We are doing well: ACM Fellows
Institution
Active ACM Fellows
Institution
Total ACM Fellows
EPFL
5
ETHZ
8
ETHZ
4
Cambridge
6
Imperial
3
EPFL, Imperial
5
5 institutions
2
5 institutions
2
26 institutions
1
27 institutions
1
We are doing well: ERCs
Institution
PE6 ERCs
INRIA
8
EPFL
6
CNRS, Technion, Weizmann
4
Bar-Ilan, Imperial, Oxford
3
ETHZ, KUL, Roma, VU A’dam
2
33 institutions
1
ENAC
IC
SB
STI
SV
The glass is half-full!
Even if you are on the right track, you are
going to get run over if you just sit there