Why UMass Rocks

  • First, the College of Information and Computer Sciences is amazing and growing. There are now around 70 of us, spanning tons of areas of CS!
  • As measured by publishing productivity in the most selective venues across computer science for the past five years, UMass Amherst is currently #18 (we are also #20 per US News). UMass is #10 in AI and #11 in (software) Systems. (See csrankings.org. Full disclosure: I created and maintain this site.)
  • While we have loads of great junior faculty members, we also have fantastic senior faculty, among the most cited in the field — for example, UMass has the fifth largest number of faculty of any department on this list of highly cited computer scientists (more details here.)
  • The department is supremely egalitarian: assistant professors can serve on any committee and vote on any issue but tenure cases. Graduate student representatives are also present at all of our faculty meetings and have two votes. A pair of undergrad representatives also attend.
  • We are the friendliest and most collaborative department ever. Instead of quals, our grad students do synthesis research projects that must include two professors across areas. These often result in publications, grants, and long-term collaborations.
  • The area – Amherst/Northampton – is beautiful, cosmopolitan, and liberal (and cited as among the top 10 college towns in the USA!). We are in the midst of a sea of some of the top academic institutions in the world: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Smith College, and Mount Holyoke College – together with UMass, these are The Five Colleges. The surrounding area is gorgeous (woods and hills, not far from the Berkshires). It’s the bluest city in the bluest state in America, with almost the highest percentage of Biden voters in the US (90.3% — roughly the same as Cambridge, more than NYC). The area is also full of educated folks: 42% have graduate degrees — nearly the highest in America.
  • The restaurant scene is unusually strong. Thai, African, serious Chinese (the owners run an organic Chinese vegetable farm, which is the source of their numerous vegetable dishes), the best ice cream known to man (including a shop created by Steve Herrell, the guy who invented the gourmet ice cream biz, as well as mixins, and Flayvors, which makes their ice cream from milk from their own cows!), French, Indian, Korean, Mexican, Argentinean, Moroccan, Tibetan, Vietnamese, plus a ridiculous (the New York Times says “unsustainable”) number of sushi restaurants. Here’s a recent round-up of other great stuff from HuffPo.
  • Incidentally, the area is also a mecca for beer connoisseurs, with the #1 beer bar in America, according to the Beer Advocate magazine – the Moan & Dove (the site of our monthly faculty beer), surely matched by their sister bar in Northampton, The Dirty Truth (see more on the Beer Advocate’s page). Yet another beer bar / restaurant just opened across the street! Not to mention local brewpubs, including The High Horse, the Amherst Brewing Company, and the Northampton Brewing Company…
  • Great college town means great coffee shops! Rao’s (now Share Coffee, which roasts its own and distributes it throughout the Boston area), Esselon (ditto), Amherst Coffee, Haymarket Cafe, The Roost (coffee from Ithaca’s Gimme Coffee), and the Woodstar Cafe. And a branch of Peet’s Coffee conveniently located on campus and one that serves Peet’s in the CS building itself!
  • The culture part: the presence of a large university, four major colleges, plus institutions like the National Yiddish Book Center means there is a wealth of cultural activity of every stripe: art, music, theater, and fascinating speakers. The educated crowd also supports four screens of independent and art films at Amherst Cinema right in downtown Amherst.
  • And the best local bookstore in the world!, according to the L.A. Times: the splendid Montague Bookmill.
  • Finally, does your school have a (NSFW) rocking theme song by the Pixies? I didn’t think so.