Message from the Director

Prof. Mourad Debbabi

Director of CIISE

In the coming years, information technology will continue to transform the way we think, work, communicate, and learn. The tremendous success of information systems technologies coupled with advances both in hardware and systems engineering will invigorate the existing proliferation of applications, services and products that will recede increasingly into the background of our lives. The relevance and importance of information technology in systems engineering has been established in several credible studies. To a large and increasing extent, software intervenes either as an embedded component of systems or as a tool that is used in the design, management and operation of modern systems. System dependency on software is very high in several goods and services: modern automobiles, airplanes, financial services, medical diagnostic devices, machine tools, home appliances, consumer electronics, etc. Clearly, information systems are emerging as the core common ground of an interdisciplinary cluster of knowledge and applications.

Already, some first-class academic institutions have embraced the concept of interdisciplinary research around information and systems engineering. The application of this field of study to all engineering disciplines has been a common theme in the strategic plans of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science over the past years. In 1998, the Faculty secured the Canada Foundation for Innovation ( CFI ) grant to establish the Interdisciplinary Research Facility for Innovative Applications of Information Technologies. The plan to double student enrolment in the underlying programs, and the subsequent expansion in the number of new professors in this area have made major transformations to the structure of the Faculty.

It is therefore a logical step in the strategic transformation of the Faculty, to create a focus on interdisciplinary research activities based on information and systems technologies. The Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering (CIISE) was established in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science of Concordia University on June 1, 2002.

Since then, under the insightful leadership of Dean N. Esmail and the keen directorship of Dr. R. Dssouli, together with the wholehearted dedication of our staff and professors, CIISE became one of the fastest growing and dynamic academic units in the University. Some facts that corroborate this statement are the:

• Hiring of 16 faculty members
• Hiring of 4 staff members
• Creation and successful launch and operation of 4 Master Programs
• Enrolment, teaching and supervision of close to 400 graduate students
• Creation of more than 25 graduate courses
• Creation of several research partnerships with high profile industrial and governmental institutions
• Establishment of several research groups

In the near future, we envision continuing the development of our institute through the:

• Strengthening and improvement of our portfolio of academic programs
• Attraction and hiring of new talented faculty members
• Attraction of outstanding graduate students
• Strengthening our research groups
• Investigation of external funding
• Creation of research partnerships

By achieving this, we will heighten the leading position of CIISE as a center of excellence in teaching and research on quality systems engineering, information system security, and information & systems engineering.