In 2005, I began working in Information Retrieval (IR) and Data Mining, which is the foundational technology behind many AI applications, especially search, recommendation, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). As IR rapidly grew and became more widely applied, I began offering an elective course for undergraduate computer science students called Introduction to Information Retrieval. The goal of the course wasn’t just to teach IR techniques, but to help students think critically and learn how to design complex, real-world systems. I’ve always seen IR as a powerful intersection of applied computer science and software engineering.
Now, with the rapid growth of AI and the rise of RAG, it is worth revisiting the fundamentals of IR and highlighting why they matter more than ever. It is important for computer science and engineering programs to keep their curricula aligned with the skills future graduates need, so software engineers remain relevant and effective in a rapidly evolving field.