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C O L L E G E O F C O M P U T I N G A N D I N F O R M AT I C S
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Kat Lawrence
A COMPUTING REVOLUTION:
CCI at 20
Data Science
BY MIKE FRESINA
In January 2020, in collaboration with UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Health and Human Services and the William States Lee College of Engineering, CCI co-launched the School of Data Science (SDS), the first in the Carolinas. SDS will tap into the region’s research, industry and community engagement expertise to revolutionize the education and application of data science. See page 11.
22 UNC CHARLOTTE magazine
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Winter 2020
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n 2000, UNC Charlotte established the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) to address and get ahead of the dynamic needs being created by the everincreasing presence—and dominance—of technology, not only in higher education but in the everyday sightlines of those working in the business, government and nonprofit worlds. Spun from the William States Lee College of Engineering, CCI opened its doors with an initial enrollment of approximately 700 students. Today, with 2,320 undergraduate and 900 graduate students, CCI is the fastest-growing college in the UNC System—and delivers the largest computer
science program in North Carolina. “In its first 20 years, CCI distinguished itself through its agility, responsiveness to the times and willingness to be bold and experimental,” said Fatma Mili, CCI’s dean. “Our founders made a strategic bet and it paid off.” Now an established leader in high-tech education, CCI operates three departments that offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs: Bioinformatics and Genomics (BiG), Computer Science (CS) and Software and Information Systems (SIS). Through its programs, CCI expresses its longstanding commitment to access, equity and inclusivity, principles responsible for shaping the college’s time-earned reputation as:
