Chazelle issues call-to-arms to computer scientists At the
annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, Bernard Chazelle, Princeton professor of computer
science, plans to issue a call to arms for his profession,
challenging his colleagues to grab society by the lapels and
evangelize the importance of studying computer science.
According to the most recent data available, the top 36 computer
science departments in the United States saw enrollments drop
nearly 20 percent between 2000 and 2004. “The big paradox is
that the computer science revolution is just unfolding,”
Chazelle said. “Why, then, are students are running away from
it; why is there this decline when the field has never been more
exciting?” In the following Q & A, Chazelle discusses the
promise and potential of computer science. What is computer
science? Most people think of computer science, if they think of
it all, as being something useful -- the way that, say, people
think of plumbing as being useful. And it is u