Introducation :-

The University Department of Computer Science (UDCS) is housed in the Ground Floor, Ranade Bhavan, B-Wing. The Department was established in 1978 and had a full time M.Sc. Computer Science course from 1979. Dr. M. V. Pitke, School of Physics, T.I.F.R. was the first Head of the Department. The Department received a number of projects from C-DOT, housed in T.I.F.R. at that time. The Department worked closely with T.I.F.R. during its initial period. Later, Dr. V. N. Joshi took charge as the Head of the Department. The Department added short term and medium term courses during his tenure. These include the Diploma in Computer Software Techniques (DCST), Diploma in Computer Programming (DCP) and Diploma in Computer Software Applications (DCSA). The core research of the Department was in the area of Computer Aided Geometric Design (CAGD), which includes the work by Dr. M. A. Sanglikar present Head of the Department. Large number of research papers were published in parametric curve and surface design. Due to the influence of it’s research students, the Department had a strong base in research in CAD and computer graphics. The Department worked closely with CAD and Graphics groups, A.I. and Knowledge Based Computer System groups of different Research Institutes during this period.

     The paradigm shift to technology occurred in the mid nineties with the Department taking the initiative in developing Internet technologies. This phase saw a number of projects on Parallel Processing, Computer Graphics, Animation, Fractal Geometry and Indian Language Font Design being carried our by M.Sc. students as part of their project. This has culminated in development of topics today that overlap in Computer Science and computer engineering. Thus, the present syllabus in M.Sc. Computer Science encourages the study of Digital Signal Processing and Image Processing, Mobile Communication and embedded system traditionally belonging to computer technology.

     Mumbai University began a course B.Sc. in Computer Science in 1999. The first batch of graduates from this course took admission to the Department in June 2002. The B.Sc. Computer Science course is very strong in applications. Thus, these students are comfortable in working in a very professional environment. This helped in establishing a Linux Club in collaboration with IBM and in exploring IBM technologies. This led to Judith Escort (Project Executive – Open Standards Skills Development, IBM USA) visiting the Department and speaking on Open Source Development. The Department in conjunction with IBM conducted a two-day Workshop on DB2, UDB 8.1 and WSAD 5 for college teachers in Computer Science and Information Technology. The students of Department have taken workshops on Linux at IEEE technical festivals.

Laboratory :-

The Department has four laboratories dedicated to different application areas. One laboratory is dedicated to Digital Signal Processing and Image Processing. Another to Data Mining and Data Warehousing. The third is used as a Linux and networking Laboratory. The fourth is used for Programming. These laboratories and the work of the student is monitored by the permanent as well as visiting faculty of the Department. The faculty is engaged in research in the area of Computing technologies, Neural networks, surface design and mobile databases. The Department has organized a number of workshops and seminars for college teachers in Computer Science and IT.

The laboratories are incorporated with high quality software and hardware

·         70 personal computers each with Internet facility

·         5 servers

·         laser printers and scanners