About Us

CSAB is the lead ABET member society for accreditation of degree programs in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, and Software Engineering. It is a co-lead society for Cybersecurity Engineering and Systems Engineering, and a cooperating society for Biological Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Information Engineering Technology.

In its lead society capacity, CSAB has responsibility for the development of accreditation criteria and for the selection, training, and assignment of program evaluators. CSAB is represented by three members on the ABET Board of Delegates and more than 85 members on the Applied and Natural Sciences Accreditation Commission (ANSAC), Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC), Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC), and Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC) of ABET.

CSAB is governed by its Board of Directors whose members are appointed by its member societies, several of the world’s largest technical, educational, and scientific societies in computing, data science, and statistics: The Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. (ACM), the American Statistical Association (ASA), the IEEE-Computer Society (IEEE-CS), and the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS). CSAB was established by the ACM and IEEE-CS in 1985. ASA joined the organization in 2021, and INFORMS joined in 2024.  The CSAB Constitution is available here.

CSAB’s Committees are responsible for strategic planning and assessment; criteria development; selection, training, and assignment of program evaluators; quality assurance of volunteers; awards and recognition; constituency relations; and nominations and appointments to CSAB and ABET offices.

Current Strategic Priorities

1. Maintain relevance and currency in the context of a rapidly changing profession.
2. Broaden and improve constituent and stakeholder outreach.
3. Build and enhance the volunteer pool.
4. Develop a sustainable financial model in an evolving professional context and manage risk appropriately to ensure organizational sustainability and growth.

In the 1960s and 70s, computing degree programs began multiplying across the country. The largest associations representing the computing profession, including the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS), responded by developing model curricula for universities. As these became the widely recognized standards upon which to develop computing programs, the next natural step was to consider creating a body to professionally accredit such programs.

In the early 1980s, the ACM and IEEE-CS established a joint committee to investigate the possibility of an independent accreditation agency sponsored by the two societies through an independent corporation. (The model for the organization was ABET, of which CSAB is now a member.) The joint task force completed its work with the creation and incorporation of CSAB (then the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board) in 1984. CSAB consisted of a Board of Directors, with all members appointed by one or the other of the founding societies, and the Computer Science Accreditation Commission (CSAC) also made up of members of the societies. The Board set strategy and managed the volunteer operations, while the CSAC carried out the actual accreditation visits and determined accreditation actions. CSAB accredited its first programs in 1986.

With the growth in accredited programs through the 90s, an issue arose regarding the jurisdiction of programs with both “computer science” and “engineering” in their title. The decision, to comply with the requests of the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA), was that programs named “computer science and engineering” required separate accreditations by CSAB for computer science and by ABET for computer engineering. This implied that there would have to be two accrediting teams making separate visits and taking separate actions. This presented problems for such programs, and even caused several programs to consider renaming themselves. An ad hoc committee created to address this issue concluded that the best approach would be to integrate CSAC with ABET and recommended this to the organizations. In 1998, CSAB and ABET signed a Memorandum of Understanding to “integrate” their activities. In 2001, CSAC merged into ABET and became what is now ABET’s Computing Accreditation Commission.

CSAB is currently the lead ABET member society for accreditation of degree programs in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, and Software Engineering.

While the actual accreditation process is now handled primarily by ABET, CSAB recruits and coordinates the hundreds of volunteers who carry it out. CSAB nominates them to serve on ABET’s Computing Accreditation Commission, Engineering Accreditation Commission, and Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission, and trains and assigns them to be program evaluators in specific computing disciplines. CSAB also develops the program-specific accreditation criteria in the discipline for which it is designated the lead society.

CSAB maintains a Board of Directors whose function is the same as when the organization was founded and whose members are still appointed by the founding societies. CSAB also has three appointed representatives on the ABET Board of Directors who bring the computing accreditation perspective of CSAB and the broader computing profession’s perspective to ABET.

Much more on the history of CSAB can be found in this article from ACM’s Inroads.

2024-25 CSAB Board of Directors

Executive Committee
Paul Leidig – President – Grand Valley State University
Mihaela Sabin – Vice President (ACM) – University of New Hampshire
Sandra Gorka – Secretary/Treasurer (ACM) – Pennsylvania College of Technology
David Hunter (ASA) – Pennsylvania State University
Mary Jane Willshire-Fairley – Past President (IEEE-CS) – Software and System Engineering Associates (ret)
Andrew Phillips – Executive Director and Assistant Secretary of the Corporation, ex officio

Representative Directors
Jean Blair (ACM) – United States Military Academy
Scott Murray (ACM) – Procore Technologies
Shari Plantz-Masters (IEEE-CS) – Regis University
Rajendra Raj (IEEE-CS) – Rochester Institute of Technology
Chris Taylor (IEEE-CS) – Milwaukee School of Engineering

Alternate Representative Directors
Bill Dafnis (ACM) – Florida Institute of Technology
Beth Hawthorne (ACM) – Northeastern University
Kelly McConville (ASA) – Bucknell University
Sanaa Sharafeddine (IEEE-CS) – American University of Beirut
Patrick Widener (IEEE-CS) – Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ABET Representative Delegates
David Hunter (ANSAD; BoDel) – Pennsylvania State University
Lois Mansfield (CAD; BoDel) – Raytheon (ret.)
Donna Reese (CAD; EAD; BoDel) – Mississippi State University (ret.)
Pearl Wang (CAD) – George Mason University (ret.)
Mary Jane Willshire-Fairley (ETAD) – Software and System Engineering Associates (ret)

Chair of the ABET Computing Area Delegation (CAD)
Paul Leidig – Grand Valley State University

The CSAB Fellow Award is given in recognition of individuals who have given sustained, quality service to the computing profession and to computing education through the activities of CSAB. Please review the Fellows Nomination Guide page for further information.

The Outstanding Contribution Award is presented to CSAB volunteers with at least three years of sustained service who have made a significant positive impact on CSAB operations, computing accreditation, or computing education. Send nominations with proposed citations by May 31 to csab@csab.org.

* indicates the award was received twice.