General Questions
Q: What is TTIC?
A: The Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTIC) is a philanthropically endowed degree-granting institution dedicated to basic research and graduate education in computer science.
Q: What is the main mission of TTIC?
A: To achieve international impact through world-class research and education in fundamental computer science and information technology.
Q: How is TTIC funded?
A: TTIC has use of the interest accrued on a fund of just over $105 million. Over 40% of this fund is an endowment owned by TTIC and about 60% is owned by TTI in Japan but earmarked for TTIC.
Q: Why was TTIC created?
A: TTI Japan decided that the best way to attract world-class faculty in computer science was to open a computer science institution in the U.S. We expect close collaboration between TTIC and TTI Japan.
Q: How large is TTIC Expected to be?
A: TTIC plans to grow quickly to twelve regular faculty (tenured and tenure track) and eighteen research assistant professors. The research assistant professor positions are described below.
Q: What sort of relationship exists between TTIC and the University of Chicago?
A: Formal agreements provide for the following mutually-beneficial arrangements:
- TTIC's offices and classrooms are located on the University of Chicago campus.
- TTIC's Faculty and students enjoy full privileges of the University library system, athletic facilities and other services.
- TTIC enjoys close academic ties with various departments of the University of Chicago.
- TTIC students may enroll in University of Chicago courses and University students may enroll in TTIC courses.
- With the powerful collaboration of TTIC and University of Chicago faculty, it is our joint goal to be competitive with the top ten computer science departments in the U.S.
Q: What areas of research is TTIC addressing?
A:TTIC is currently focusing on algorithms and complexity, machine learning, computer vision, computational linguistics, computational biology, and programming languages.
Questions about Faculty
Q: Do TTIC faculty have tenure?
A: Regular faculty positions at the higher professorial ranks (Professor and Associate Professor) carry tenure.
Q: What is the teaching load at TTIC?
A: There is no teaching requirement for research faculty. The teaching requirement for regular faculty is one course per year.
Q: Are TTIC faculty expected to get external research grants?
A: Both regular and research faculty get endowment provided research funding sufficient for equipment and normal academic travel. Research faculty are not expected to raise external funding. However, regular faculty (tenured and tenure track) are expected to eventually raise their summer salary and to support their students with external funding.
Q: What is a Research Assistant Professor?
A: Research Assistant Professor is a non-tenure track position and carries a term of three years. There are no teaching requirements. This is similar to a postdoctoral fellowship position but comes with endowment-provided independent research funding.
Questions about Students
Q: Does TTIC have its own graduate program?
A: Yes. TTIC currently has eight students in its Ph.D. program. TTIC is seeking accreditation with the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Q: How many Ph.D. students will TTIC have?
A: This depends on the level of external funding generated by the faculty, but at least five fellowships will be available on a regular basis for Ph.D. students as part of the base budget. The number is expected to reach thirty eventually.
Comparable Institutions
Q: What other institutions are similar to TTIC?
A: TTIC is unique but has qualities in common with some other institutions. TTIC is like the CS Department at the Oregon Graduate Institute in its focus on graduate instruction and research. It is similar to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in that it has a small faculty with endowed salaries. It is similar to the Max Plank Institute in Germany in that it has faculty on limited term non-renewable contracts. It differs from these institutions in its affiliation with a Japanese institution.