NDSU Computer Science Receives 15% of New 2017 National Science Foundation Awards to North Dakota

FARGO, N.D., January 4, 2018 (Newswire.com) - The level of federal awards received is a key metric for departmental research productivity. The National Science Foundation is a lead – if not the principle – federal funding agency for most sciences, besides medicine.  In 2017, the North Dakota State University Department of Computer Science received approximately 15% of all new NSF awards to North Dakota-based institutions.  Investigators within the department were awarded $1.35 million of the $9.07 million awarded to institutions within the state.

Federal funding to universities, like NDSU, is used to support faculty research efforts that benefit society at large.  It also benefits student researchers who receive employment, stipends and tuition payments from the grants.

I am extremely proud of the recent successes of our Computer Science faculty members in securing grants from the National Science Foundation. Securing Federal grants is very difficult in today's competitive environment. Our faculty members excel and are determined to succeed in research, particularly in application areas that serve our citizens.

Kendall E. Nygard, NDSU Computer Science Chairman & Professor

“I am extremely proud of the recent successes of our Computer Science faculty members in securing grants from the National Science Foundation,” said NDSU Computer Science professor and department chairman Kendall E. Nygard.  “Securing Federal grants is very difficult in today’s competitive environment. Our faculty members excel and are determined to succeed in research, particularly in application areas that serve our citizens.”

Research in the computational sciences serves to advance computing itself, through the development of new techniques and algorithms.  In many cases, the research also advances an area of application, which benefits from the development and use of computing capabilities to solve a problem in this domain.  In 2017, one such NSF award received by faculty within the department focused on the advancement of diabetes self-management for Native Americans. 

“Shortly after I joined NDSU in 1977, I got an NSF grant and that was the first NSF grant in the history of Computer Science and Mathematical Sciences NSF grants at NDSU,” commented Nygard.  “That award was for $19,970 and I purchased graphics terminals and developed instructional models using them.  Now the department regularly receives much larger NSF awards.  The prospects for continued success in the future are bright.”

The NDSU Computer Science Department was founded in 1988 (though computer science courses were offered as part of Mathematical Sciences since 1973). It offers Ph.D. degrees in computer science and software engineering, three master’s degrees and two bachelor’s degree programs. It occupies 7,460 square feet in NDSU’s Quentin Burdick Building and has approximately 600 graduate and undergraduate student majors.

Source: NDSU Computer Science