This project, which has the potential of having long-term and wide spread impact on national curricula in computing, develops a B.A. degree in computer science that incorporates research results from Digital Production Arts and Computer Graphics into all required computing courses in the curriculum. Instruction in these (new) courses is oriented toward large-scale problem solving. The starting point for the project is the articulation of key concepts that underlie the proposed curriculum including: a machine model (imperative programming, machine capabilities, machine limits); a connection model (networks for communication and distributed processing); software design (the object-oriented paradigm, large-scale development, testing); windowing and operating systems (resource management, protection levels, security); data structures and performance (performance measurement, bottleneck identification, work-flow management); and, cross-platform computing (PDAs, embedded systems, cross-compilation, external device control). The second phase of the curriculum design involves the identification of research results from the graphics and special effects domains that are amenable to mapping, at the undergraduate level, directly into the identified key concepts. Particularly unique in this B.A. in C. S. is the magnitude and origin of the problems to be integrated and the broad impact of the approach across an entire curriculum. The benefits to the students are not only from the problem-solving orientation of the instruction but also the students' exposure to the vitality of real research problems. It is the proposers' supposition that a more balanced educational experience, like the one involved in the B.A.C.S. degree program, may be of substantial benefit to the students and to society.
