The technologies defining our era aren’t shaped by code alone. Building powerful computational systems is only part of the challenge. We also need to understand the data behind them, whether we can trust the answers they produce and how they affect the people who use them.
That broader view of computing is at the heart of UT Austin’s new School of Computing, which brings together the departments of Information, Statistics and Data Science and Computer Science.
“Computing today is about much more than writing code or building faster machines,” says Peter Stone, Head of the School of Computing. “It encompasses how we design computational systems, how we draw reliable knowledge from data and how people interact with and are affected by technology.”
So how is computing more than code? Leaders from the School’s three departments share different perspectives that answer: how technology works for people, how data becomes trustworthy knowledge and how new computational systems expand what is possible.
Information: Start With People
People interact with computational systems. Someone has to use them, understand them, trust them and live with the decisions they help make. That means questions about accessibility, information, user experience and human behavior are not secondary to computing, but foundational to it.
UT Information (the iSchool) brings that perspective, and a 78-year legacy, into the new School of Computing. Its roots in library and archival science have grown to include informatics, human-centered AI, human-computer interaction and user experience (UX) research and design. Spanning these areas is a longstanding interest in the relationships among people, information and technology.
“Our field sits at the intersection of people, information and technology,” says Ken Fleischmann, Chair of the iSchool. “As computational systems grow more powerful, our role is to ensure that they remain trustworthy, accessible and human-centered. At the School of Computing, we have an incredible opportunity to embed user experience, accessibility and human insight into every level of technology right from the start.”
As computing becomes more deeply embedded in daily life, it is no longer enough to ask whether something can be built. We also need to understand who it is being built for, how they will experience it and what happens when it enters the world.
Statistics and Data Science: Can We Trust the Answer?
Computers can process extraordinary amounts of data and find patterns at a scale that would have been unimaginable not long ago. But more data and more computing power do not automatically produce better knowledge.
That is where UT Statistics and Data Science comes in. Statistical modeling, probability theory, machine learning and data science give researchers ways to test what the data actually shows, measure uncertainty and distinguish a compelling result from a reliable one.
“Computing gives us the capacity to do more with data than ever before, but capacity alone doesn't make an answer true,” says James Scott, Chair of the Department of Statistics and Data Science. “Our role in this school is to ask the hard questions: can we really trust this conclusion? Testing, validating and defending what the data really shows is what turns computation into credible knowledge.”
That distinction matters even more in an age of AI, when computational systems can generate an answer almost instantly. We must ask critical questions: How certain are we? What assumptions went into it? What does the evidence actually support?
Within the School of Computing, that statistical rigor can develop alongside advances in computing and a deeper understanding of the people and contexts behind the data.
Computer Science: Building What Comes Next
Of course, none of this diminishes the importance of code. Code is one of the ways computer scientists turn ideas into working systems. But computer science has always been larger than programming.
Computer scientists develop algorithms, software, systems architectures, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and the infrastructure that allows computation to operate efficiently, reliably and at scale. From high-performance computing to autonomous systems and frontier AI research, UT Computer Science is advancing what machines can do and creating technologies that underpin modern industry and discovery.
“Our mission has always been to push the boundaries of what machines can compute and how fast systems can run,” says Işıl Dillig, Chair of the Department of Computer Science. “Being part of the School of Computing ensures that as we build the next generation of AI and computing infrastructure, we are collaborating with partners who bring distinct analytical and human insights to the table from day one.”
That last part is important. A new system does not have to be built first and examined for its data and human implications later. Those conversations can happen while the technology itself is taking shape.
Three Views, One Future.
Put the three perspectives together and a fuller picture of computing starts to emerge.
Computer Science expands what computational systems can do. Statistics and Data Science helps us understand what we can learn from them and whether we should trust the results. Information examines how individuals, groups and society interact with these systems. The boundaries are not always neat, and that is precisely the point.
The School of Computing creates a place where computer scientists, statisticians, data scientists and human-centered researchers can work together from the earliest stages of an idea. For students, that means an education that reflects the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the field. For faculty, it opens new possibilities for research that crosses traditional boundaries. And for industry, alumni and other partners, it creates new ways to work with UT on some of the most consequential innovations of our time.
The future of computing will certainly involve code. But code is only part of the story. It will also depend on the data behind our systems, the knowledge we draw from it, the people who use these systems and the choices we make about what to build next.
At UT Austin, those perspectives now have one home.
Discover the research shaping the future of computing at UT Austin. Explore School of Computing research.