November 5, 2007
The department programming competition teams ‘swept’ the eighth annual Digi-Key Collegiate Computing Competition (DKC³) on Friday, October 19. We were represented by two teams of four students each and both won by a wide margin. This is the first time in the history of the DKC³ that any university has won both first and second place. The department congratulates the students, listed below, and their coach, Richard Rummelt. The competition included Bemidji State University, St. Cloud State University, University of Minnesota - Duluth, University of Minnesota - Morris, University of North Dakota, Concordia College, and Mayville State University as well as NDSU.

Team ‘Pi Rho’ (First Place) won $200 for each team member, $3000 for the Computer Science Department, and a huge brass trophy.
    Adam Helsene
    Dustin Kerber
    Eric Odegaard
    Evan Braaten

Team ‘Dacodas’ (Second Place) won $150 for each team member and $1800 for the Computer Science Department.
    Aaron Feickert
    Abram Jackson
    Amar Nishant Singh
    Robert Foertsch

The competition was held in Thief River Falls, MN at the Digi-Key corporate headquarters. Representatives of the Digi-Key corporation's Information Technology department then visited NDSU on Friday, November 2 where they presented the trophy / prize money as well as recruited for two permanent positions and student internships.

May 1, 2007
Brian M. Slator, a long time Professor within the Department, has been selected as the first Department Head.  His service will commence on July 1, 2007.  Prior to that date, the Department was directed by a Department Chair.  Unlike Chairs, Heads serve an indefinite term.

The Department has had a very successful, productive two years (2005, 2006) by almost any measure.  When one considers that the Department spent these two years with at least two (often three) vacant positions, the results are even more impressive.

Research
The eleven tenure-track faculty who submitted brag sheets had a total of 136 fully refereed publications during 2005-06.  Particularly gratifying is the split between the six tenured faculty who had 76 refereed publications and the five non-tenured faculty who had 60 refereed publications.  Ten distinct faculty published during 2005-06. The faculty submitted 88 research proposals during these two years (some are counted more than once since more than one Department faculty member participated).  Only 12 proposals were funded, but nine distinct faculty submitted proposals during this two year period.

Service
The Department continues to be very active in service to the College, University, and profession.  Four faculty serve on a total of five University Committees.  Nine faculty served on College Committees for a total of seventeen committees.  Two faculty serve as associate editors of journals.  Six faculty serve as reviewers of grant proposals and/or publications.

Teaching
In 2005-06, the Department taught 19.25 FTE.  In 2006-07, we are should exceed that FTE production.  The Department had the largest graduate program in the University in both years.

In the past two years, forty-three bachelor's level students, four certificate level students, forty-eight M.S. level students, and eight Ph.D. level students were graduated.  At the graduate level, seven faculty advised at least one of these students.

The Department continues to be a leader in distance education.  We offer a Graduate Certificate in Software Engineering entirely through distanced education.  While we have not advertised the program, its numbers slowly are increasing.