Should I Study Computer Science?
Are you curious about studying computer science, but uncertain where this field could lead you?
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What does it mean to study Computer Science?
Computer Science is the science behind any software, from computer software, mobile applications and games, to large IT systems, databases and web portals. Computer Scientists are needed in all phases of the development of such software: problem formulation, problem solving, design, development and programming.
Computer Science students at UiB will start by learning to program, i.e. to get computers or mobile phones to perform exactly what we want them to do. This way, as early as their first semester, students will be able to create their own programs. Students will then study in depth the steps that precede actual programming and will learn the skill necessary to develop IT systems and software, to troubleshoot effectively, and to design and development algorithms.
Computer scientists are not only highly sought after in the job market, but there is also a great shortage of computer scientists. Our society has become dependent on information technology. Computer Science is integral to many different types of work, so that this type of education can be used in such diverse fields as medicine, finance, space research, oil and gas, entertainment, and clean technology.
With a wide range of masters programs taught in English, competitive PhD positions and six internationally-recognized research groups, the Department of Informatics at UiB has you covered.
What research fields are available at UiB?
There are 6 Research Groups and one Research Center, the Computational Biology Unit (CBU), associated with the department. Each group supervises masters student projects and offers diverse and exciting PhD and research positions.
Algorithms
Algorithms research aims to develop efficient algorithms that increase the speed of computer software. It focuses on computationally difficult, so-called NP-complete, problems and attempts to find practical algorithms for these.
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics develops applications for biotech issues in close collaboration with molecular biologists, biologists and researchers in medicine. Techniques from algorithm theory, artificial intelligence, database theory and statistics are used in Bioinformatics.
Machine Learning
The research group in Machine Learning conducts research in fundamental principles and algorithms for machine learning, including Bayesian networks, deep learning, and artificial intelligence.
Optimization
Optimization is used in financial and technical contexts to determine the value of unknown variables, so that a specific criteria can be minimized or maximized.
Programming Theory
Programming Theory is the basis of software development. The field ranges from purely theoretical to the development of new programming techniques for supercomputers.
Reliable Communication
Reliable Communication develops secure wireless communication. Using coding theory to protect digital transmissions against loss from noise (e.g. atmospheric disturbances) and to reduce transmission time by packing data efficiently. Cryptography is used to protect information from disclosure and unauthorized modifications.
Visualization
Visualization allows people to explore and analyze complex data using 3D technology, for example, to present data from medical scans or seismic surveys.
The Computational Biology Unit
The Computational Biology Unit (CBU) aims to conduct competitive bioinformatics research and to expand the interface between bioinformatics and experimental biological and biomedical research. The six research groups explained above are currently associated with CBU with projects that include sequence and structure analysis, molecular evolution, genome annotation and genomics data analysis. CBU also provides services and contributes to bioinformatics education primarily through training courses.
