Franklin & Marshall has offered a minor in computer science for almost 20 years.  Recently, the College committed to offer a major in Computer Science, staffed by three full-time faculty.  With the retirement of Jay Martin Anderson, the founder of the program, we are in the process of hiring the faculty members who will develop the major, which could be in place as early as the Spring of 2012. 

Janardhan Iyengar and Jing Hu began in Fall 2008  and Fall 2009, respectively.  This year we are conducting a search for our third computer scientist.  In addition to assisting in the development of a new major, this new hire will join a faculty committed to research, whose work is supported by both internal  and external grants.  The College also supports  student collaborations with faculty.

The College has a long history of offering majors in interdisciplinary programs.  Recent additions in science-related fields include biochemistry and molecular biology, biological foundations of behavior, cognitive science, and the emerging program in bioinformatics.  Not only do these established programs offer inter-disciplinary curricula that allow undergraduates to study problems from a variety of perspectives, they offer faculty the opportunity to do research at frontiers where disciplines meet.  In this way, cognitive science [1]  may be of particular interest to a computer scientist . Depending on area of expertise, computer scientists looking for cross-disciplinary collaborations may also be able to connect with colleagues interested in computation in departments of biology, business, organizations, and society, chemistry, geosciences, mathematics, and physics and astronomy.

Franklin & Marshall College is a highly selective liberal arts college located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, approximately one and one half hours from both Philadelphia and Baltimore.  Additional information:  about the College, about working at Franklin & Marshall, and about the local area.

[1] The College offers a major in Cognitive Science, as part of the Scientific and Philosophical Studies of Mind Program, and has an active community of researchers in the cognitive sciences. These researchers come from across the College, including from the Departments of Business, Organizations and Society and Economics, along with departments more traditionally involved in the cognitive sciences such as Biology, Computer Science, Philosophy, and Psychology. Among the many research areas these faculty work in are artificial intelligence, behavioral analysis, cognitive and neural modeling, cognitive development, cognitive neuroscience, comparative cognition, mathematical modeling, philosophy of cognitive science and mind, and robotics. This research is typically done in close collaboration with students from the departments mentioned above, as well as those who major in Animal Behavior or Neuroscience.