Our History
Dartmouth demonstrated its leadership in information assurance research by establishing the Institute for Security Technology Studies (now known as the Institute for Security, Technology and Society) in January 2000 as a national resource for cybersecurity, counter-terrorism and information infrastructure protection.
The ISTS's continuing commitment to cybersecurity research has been acknowledged by the National Security Agency through the awarding of the Center of Academic Excellence - Research designation to the Institute for the years 2019-2024. This award recognizes the Institute's cybersecurity research prowess in the following areas:
- Research Initiatives (faculty and student)
- Publications
- PhD Student Production
- Research Funding
A Brief History of Computing at Dartmouth
Dartmouth's history in computer science goes back more than 50 years. Some highlights include:
- A demonstration of remote computer access over telephone lines by George Stibitz (Bell Labs) in 1940
- The coining of the term artificial intelligence (AI) in 1956 by Dartmouth mathematics professor John McCarthy.
- In the 1960s, Professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz created the BASIC computer language and expressed their belief that all students would likely be affected by computers and should thus be given the opportunity to learn something about them.
- One of the first universities to provide all students access to email and the first Ivy League school to offer wireless network access on campus.
