Chair’s Message
Computer science today is not just a discipline — it is a catalyst. It is transforming how we practice medicine, run businesses, secure critical infrastructure, and understand the natural world. At TCU, we are building a department that reflects that reality: one where students don't simply learn to code, but learn to apply computing in ways that matter.
What makes our department distinctive is the combination of technical rigor and genuine mentorship. Our classes are small enough that faculty know every student by name. Our senior design program pairs teams with real industry clients — more than 50 projects and counting — so that graduates leave with professional experience, not just a transcript. And our student organizations, from the Computer Science Society and ACM chapter to Women in Computer Science, SWE, and SHPE, ensure that no one navigates this journey alone.
We are also in an extraordinary period of growth. In Fall 2026, we will welcome our first cohort of Ph.D. students — a milestone not only for the department but for the university. Our faculty is growing quickly — to eleven tenured and tenure-track professors by 2027 — bringing new research strength in AI for healthcare, cybersecurity, data science, and explainable AI. And through TCU's AI² initiative, our students and faculty now have access to research-grade computing infrastructure — 16 NVIDIA H200 GPUs and over 300 terabytes of high-performance storage — right here on campus.
This is the vision that drives us: to graduate students who are AI-native. By that I do not mean students who depend on AI — I mean students who can build it, direct it, and judge it well. They learn alongside the same AI tools used in industry, train real models on our high-performance computing, and ground that fluency in the fundamentals of machine learning, systems, and software engineering, so they understand what happens beneath the tools. Anyone can prompt a chatbot; our graduates can build the system behind it, and know when to trust it, when to check it, and how to put it to work. In a market crowded with people who can use AI, that is what makes them stand out.
None of this changes what has always been at the heart of a TCU education: the commitment to developing ethical leaders who think critically and serve their communities. We are simply expanding what is possible for students who choose to pursue that mission through computer science.
Whether you are a prospective student exploring where to begin, a parent looking for a program that combines opportunity with genuine support, an industry partner interested in collaboration, or a fellow researcher considering TCU, I invite you to explore what we are building. I believe you will find a department with momentum, purpose, and a deep commitment to the people it serves.
Bingyang Wei, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Department Chair
Department of Computer Science
Texas Christian University
b.wei@tcu.edu
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