

Ask YC: What are the best computer science universities in Canada? - buss

I'm considering a move to Canada sometime in the next year or two, but I plan on going to grad school (I'm on track to finish my BS in CS in the next two years).  If I do decide to make the move, what are the best computer science schools, preferably with significant research in security?  I like the Vancouver area, but I don't think the University of British Columbia would be a good pick for CS.  Opinions?<p>Also, it would be nice, but not necessary, for there to be some amount of startup activity in the area.
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neilk
In Canada, Waterloo is head and shoulders above the rest for almost anything.
Ian Goldberg teaches there now, so there's at least one world-class security
researcher. I believe there are plenty of startups in the area, but I don't
have first-hand knowledge. I can tell you that a Waterloo degree is looked on
very favorably at Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo.

In Vancouver, your picks are UBC or Simon Fraser University. I don't know
enough about their grad programs to say anything useful, but I know SFU has a
very good undergrad degree, and they really mentor their students to be
entrepreneurs. There is a startup scene in Vancouver but it's a bit
lightweight, with a few notable exceptions.

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neilk
Cryptography, Security and Privacy research group at Waterloo:

<http://crysp.uwaterloo.ca/>

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buss
I had no idea that Waterloo was so into security research. I'm pleasantly
surprised to see that some of the people in the department help develop OTR,
which I've been using for just over a year (it was especially comforting while
I was studying in China). As it stands now, Waterloo is at the top of my list
of places I'll apply for grad school. Thanks for the great recommendation!

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hello_moto
Keep in mind that a lot of UBC graduate students actually come from Waterloo.
While Waterloo (and maybe SFU) have a good/strong CS department, they're
strong in undergraduate.

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ozzieg
University of Waterloo has always ranked at the top of all CS programs, and is
the most sought after school with respect to university recruiting. Security
is thoroughly covered in the combinatorics department of the math faculty

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cperciva
Can you be a bit more specific than "security"? Are you interested in
cryptography? Protocol analysis? Formal security proofs? Automatic analysis of
source code to detect bugs (think Coverity)? Also, from a general point of
view, do you consider Computer Science to be a branch of mathematics, or a
field of engineering?

If you like Vancouver, I'd certainly recommend considering SFU -- as a whole,
SFU is smaller than UBC, but the CS departments are almost exactly the same
size.

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buss
By security, I mean cryptography, intrusion detection systems, firewalls, and
web-based attacks (like SQL injection, XSS, and the like). I consider computer
security to be equal parts mathematics and engineering (even the best
cryptosystems can be engineered poorly and introduce weak points).

I'm taking a course (in the mathematics department) on elliptic curve
cryptography, and I am a new member on UF's infosec team. I'll be competing in
this year's iCTF, so that should help give you an idea of what I mean by
security and what I'm interested in researching.

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hello_moto
The head of CS department has a PhD from MIT with strong Math background and a
fellow AT&T researcher specializing in security.

[http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2005/05mar03/defe...](http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2005/05mar03/defence.html)

UBC has won ACM Pacific Northwest Programming Contest for 4 years in a row
beating Stanford, Berkeley and the rest. The other 2 UBC teams usually place
within top 10 (3rd, 4th place)

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mmp
I'm a CS grad student at the Universite de Montreal. It's probably not what
you're looking for (what's security?), since it's francophone and concentrates
mainly on operations research, but if there's any interest feel free to email
me.

If you do come to Montreal, check <http://montrealtechwatch.com/> for local
startup activity. In any case, it's a great city to live in.

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stevenr
This guy recently broke down the schools which he thought offered good
introductions to best pratices:
[http://blog.chapmanconsulting.ca/2007/09/27/Reviewing+Canadi...](http://blog.chapmanconsulting.ca/2007/09/27/Reviewing+Canadian+CompSci+Schools+Whos+Teaching+Best+Practices+Part+II.aspx)

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theorique
Waterloo is probably a good bet. Startup and entrepreneurship history (Maple,
RIM/Blackberry).

Strong in math and applied math also. <http://www.cacr.math.uwaterloo.ca/>
<http://crysp.uwaterloo.ca/>

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paulgb
Waterloo has a pretty good reputation for CS. The area has an active and
friendly start-up community as well.

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amichail
Univ of Toronto is the top one overall for grad school though I don't know how
much security research is done there.

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aarontait
UOIT has a great CS and Software Engineering program. They are also the only
school in Canada to offer a masters in information technology security. UOIT
is also Ontario's newest, and most wired university. <http://uoit.ca>

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aarontait
CS or Software Engineering at Ontario's newest and most high tech university
is, in my opinion, beyond what Waterloo can deliver. Check out UOIT
<http://uoit.ca/>

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buss
Is there a list of the current research? I can't find anything.

