Department of Computer Science in 2006
The year 2006 proved a productive one at the Department of Computer Science. In January, it was announced that the department had been elected as one of twenty quality university education units for the period 2007-2009; in March the results from the 2005 research review of the University of Helsinki were published, giving the department (and the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology that operates with the department) the top score; and in December the Algoda research group, stationed at the department, was declared one of 12 national centres of excellence for the period 2008-2013.
In addition to its success as a unit, the department's research and teaching staff received personal recognition. Both well-established thesis prizes for computer science were awarded to the department, as the PhD thesis prize from the IT research foundation (TTL) was awarded to Taneli Mielikäinen and the Master's thesis prize of the Finnish Society for Computer Science was awarded to Gian Donato Colussi. In addition, the Magister Bonus prize of the student organisation at the University of Helsinki was awarded to lecturer Arto Wikla as ‘a teacher who has shown skill and interest in both his teaching and his students in the course of his work'.
In 2006, the department furthered its interaction with society by arranging several public events; the Baltic Olympiad in Informatics was held in May, the national computer science event in June, and the 15-year anniversary seminar on Linux as well as the open-house event of the Kumpula campus (with the other departments in Kumpula) in September.
The year 2006 also saw the development of a new strategy, as the target programme and personnel plan for the years 2007-2009 were sketched. They contain an outline for the department to be able to continue its quality work in the face of dwindling basic funding. The target programme and personnel plan will be implemented forcefully during 2007, when the department will decide on which sectors to cut back and which to build up, among other things by intensified cooperation with other departments at the Faculty of Science.
The above-mentioned achievements show that the department is on the cutting edge when it comes to research and teaching. Though last year was especially fruitful, the quality work is not a coincidence or the result of the magic of the moment, but is based on long-term, systematic and focused development of operations at the department. On the basis of this it is easy to predict that the department will also be successful in future in the face of any turbulence in the academic world.
Jukka Paakki
Department Chairman 2001-2006