Department of Computer Science at Loyola University Maryland

05/19/2026

Congratulations to our graduating seniors from the Computer Science Department at Loyola University Maryland!

We are incredibly proud of each of you and all that you have accomplished. Your hard work, persistence, creativity, and dedication have brought you to this exciting milestone. Through challenging courses, projects, teamwork, problem-solving, and countless hours of learning and growth, you have shown what it means to be thoughtful, capable, and resilient computer scientists.

As you leave Loyola, we hope you carry with you the knowledge, confidence, friendships, and values you have built here. The Computer Science Department is excited to see all the great things you will do next.

Congratulations, Class of 2026! We are so proud of you, and we wish you the very best in your next adventure!

03/13/2026

In February 2026, Dr. Olsen and Dr. Ho attended the SIGCSE 2026 conference in St. Louis, Missouri, a prominent conference in computer science education. At the conference, Dr. Olsen presented work she has been collaborating on with faculty from 10 other liberal arts institutions since summer 2025.

The collaboration group is developing a list of essential computing concepts that every computer science major should learn. Their collaborative effort reflects a strong commitment to strengthening computer science education across liberal arts institutions. Beginning in spring 2026, the working group has also started sharing its progress more broadly and inviting feedback from faculty in the computing education community.

12/17/2024

Today, Dr. Ho presents the research paper “Predicting ChatGPT’s Ability to Solve Complex Programming Challenges” at the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Big Data in Washington DC. IEEE Big Data is a leading conference gathering the latest advancements in big data management and analytics. This paper is a collaboration with James May, Bao Ngo, Jack Formato, Linh Ngo, Van Long Ho, and Hoang Bui.

The paper explores the performance of LLM-based tools like ChatGPT and Gemini in solving complex programming challenges. The findings have significant implications for assessing whether these tools are advanced enough to replace human software developers and what this means for computer science education.

Check out the conference program below for more details.

https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~ieeebigdata2024/

11/18/2024

On October 18, 2024, our CS senior Jack Formato, together with his co-author Bao Ngo (Oberlin College), presented the research paper, “FACE: a Framework for AI-driven Coding Generation Evaluation,” at the 40th Annual CCSC Eastern Regional Conference. The conference, organized by the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC), serves as a platform for educators to exchange ideas and information on computing and computing curricula.

Jack is mentored by Dr. Ho at the CS department, and the research paper is conducted in collaboration with James May (West Chester University), Nguyen Ho (Loyola University Maryland), Hoang Bui (Loyola University Maryland), and Linh Ngo (West Chester University).

The paper introduces “FACE,” a framework designed to evaluate AI-driven code generation tools. As AI continues to play a significant role in software development, assessing the performance and reliability of these tools becomes increasingly important. The framework aims to provide a standardized method for evaluating various AI coding assistants, ensuring they meet the necessary standards for accuracy and efficiency.

Congratulations Jack! 👏

11/04/2024

Congratulations to Dr. Binkley on receiving the Distinguished Artifact Award at the 2024 International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME). This prestigious award highlights the exceptional quality of both the research paper and its associated artifacts. ICSME serves as a premier international forum for discussing the latest innovations and challenges in software maintenance and evolution.

Dr. Binkley’s achievement reflects his significant contributions to the field. Please join us in celebrating this well-deserved honor with Dr. Binkley 👏👏👏

10/08/2024

On October 9th, Dr. Binkley will present "The Impact of Program Reduction on Automated Program Repair", a joint work with Linas Vidziunas and Leon Moonen from Simula Research Laboratory, at the International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME). Consider joining him in Flagstaff for this most excellent presentation. Congratulations, Dr. Binkley! 👏👏👏

Abstract: Correcting bugs using modern Automated Program Repair (APR) can be both time-consuming and resource-expensive. We describe a program repair approach that aims to improve the scalability of modern APR tools. The approach leverages program reduction in the form of program slicing to eliminate code irrelevant to fixing the bug, which improves the APR tool's overall performance. We investigate slicing's impact on all three phases of the repair process: fault localization, patch generation, and patch validation. Our empirical exploration finds that the proposed approach, on average, enhances the repair ability of the TBar APR tool, but we also discovered a few cases where it was less successful. Specifically, on examples from the widely used Defects4J dataset, we obtain a substantial reduction in median repair time, which falls from 80 minutes to just under 18 minutes. We conclude that program reduction can improve the performance of APR without degrading repair quality, but this improvement is not universal.

Check out the conference program at: https://conf.researchr.org/track/icsme-2024/icsme-2024-papers?

The International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME) is the premier international forum for researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and government to present, discuss, and debate the most recent ideas, experiences, and challenges in software maintenance and evolu...

09/16/2024

Hello CS students! Are you ready for an in-depth discussion on AI and its collaboration with humans to achieve shared goals?

If you’re curious, join us for the first ACM talk of the semester on Wednesday, September 18th. Professor Corso, a Loyola alum, will be giving a research talk on Human + AI collaboration. It’s a fantastic opportunity to dive deep into the topic.

And if you are thinking about graduate school, a chat with Prof. Corso after the talk might open door to opportunities! See you there.

09/16/2024

🎉 Welcome Back, CS Students! 🎉

We are kicking off the semester with a Cupcake Decorating Party and you are all invited! 🧁 Come show off your creativity by decorating your own cupcake, catch up with friends, meet new classmates, chat with professors and enjoy some sweet treats!

When: Wednesday Sept. 18th, 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Where: Donnelly Atrium

It’s the perfect way to start the semester with fun, laughter, and sugar! Don’t miss out on the chance to create your masterpiece cupcake. See you there!

09/11/2024

Last Friday, our CS482 Software Engineering students kicked off the semester with an exciting visit to the Computer Museum at System Source, helping to set the stage for our study of modern software engineering.

One of the museum's founders, Bob, gave us a fantastic tour. We began by learning about Mary Allen Wilkes, who is considered to have used the first personal computer and wrote the first text editor. We also saw a replica of Steve Jobs' garage, were amazed by a three-foot-wide hard drive platter, and even made a phone call using a payphone (it only cost a dime - though Dr. Binkley thought that was cheap, not everyone agreed) 💻💿.

It was a fun and educational experience for all. Also, mark your calendars for December 16th when we’ll be presenting our projects!