An overview of year 2006
Seven new adjunct professors were appointed at the department in 2006. In his lecture demonstration, Matti Nykänen discussed the basic operations of a red/black tree.
Staff and funding
Since the IT programme funded by the Ministry of Education ended, the finances of the department have tightened. In order to prepare for the increasingly sparse economy, the department has decided to cut back on expenses, especially by reducing monies going towards salaries. This will be attained by discontinuing unmanned office positions and establishing new offices only after rigorous deliberation. Following this plan, only two new staff members were appointed in 2006 for research and teaching positions; University Lecturer Aristides Gionis in information management and University Lecturer Aapo Hyvärinen in intelligent systems. Of the two, Gionis also serves to enhance the orientation towards internationality at the department. An immense gap that will be hard to fill was left at the department when long-time teacher, researcher and erstwhile Head of Department, Lecturer Timo Alanko, retired in August.
On the other hand, the teaching and research staff of the department gained many merits in 2006, as Wray Buntine, Tiina Heikkinen, Lea Kutvonen, Taneli Mielikäinen, Veli Mäkinen and Matti Nykänen were appointed docents. In addition, the department introduced a new discipline among its adjunct professorships when Sampsa Hautaniemi was appointed adjunct professor in bioinformatics. The decreasing trend in staff numbers continued, but at the same time, there was a notable increase in research personnel.
The total funding of the department was MEUR 11.4. The amount of additional funding increased with EUR 800,000 compared to 2005, slightly increasing the total sum of funding.
Results in teaching and research
Reviews showed that both teaching and research at the department kept its high standards in 2006; the Ministry of Education cited it as one of the national centres of excellence during 2007-2009, and the department was awarded the highest possible evaluation when the research at the University of Helsinki was reviewed. In addition to demonstrating without a doubt that the department has maintained its quality in teaching and research, these distinctions will also bring the department some additional funding for the coming years.
During 2006, four doctoral degrees and 73 Master's degrees were completed at the department. The amount of doctoral degrees, especially, could be improved significantly to match the department’s record from year 2004, nine PhD degrees. The number of annual Master’s degrees seems to have settled at between 70 and 80, a reasonable result that could be raised significantly considering the number of computer science undergraduates. One means of increasing the number of degrees is the new Master’s programmes and research schools; in 2006, a multidisciplinary international Master’s programme in bioinformatics was established under the management of the department.
The number of refereed publications remained high. The number of articles published in scientific journals increased with a fourth, but at the same time, the number of conference papers decreased.
The department awarded the traditional rewards for good teachers and researchers at the Christmas coffee get-together. Patrik Hoyer was awarded the senior researcher prize and Teemu Roos the junior researcher prize. The awards for good teaching went to Matti Nykänen (senior instructor) and Sebastian Siikavirta (junior instructor).
Department structure
The department’s operations were based on an established organisation with separate sectors in research, teaching and administration, each led by its own manager.
The steering committee of the department had the following members in 2006:
Professor Jukka Paakki, chairProfessor Hannu Toivonen, assistant chair (deputy: Professor Seppo Sippu)
Professor Jyrki Kivinen (Professor Matti Nykänen)
Professor Lea Kutvonen (Professor Kimmo Raatikainen)
Assistant Jan Lindström (Researcher Juha Gustafsson)
University Lecturer Pirjo Moen (Lecturer Markku Kojo)
Scientific Assistant and Secretary Inka Kujala (Research Secretary Tiina Väisänen)
Student member Otso Kivekäs (student Eeva Saviranta formerly Nevalainen)
Student member Panu Mäntylahti (student Misa Munde)
Student member Timo Oksala (student Sampo Lehtinen)
Department Secretary Sirkka Palander (1 January – 9 July) and Department Secretary Pirjo Kokkonen (10 July – 31 December) have acted as secretary for the steering committee.Professor Timo Alanko, Lecturer (Head of Studies) Hanny Erkiö and Office Manager Päivi Karimäki-Suvanto have acted as rapporteurs for the steering committee.