Department Handbook
Requirements for the Major in Computer Science
The major consists of nine computer science courses and two additional courses (Mathematics 161 or the equivalent and one of Mathematics 165 or higher, Economics 257, Psychology 252, Philosophy 223, or Physics 229), for a total of eleven courses. The computer science portion of the major consists of two introductory courses (Mathematics 200 and Computer Science 107), four intermediate "core" courses (Computer Science 210, 231, 250, and 289), and three elective courses (i.e., any computer science courses numbered 300 or above). Depending on individual interests, Computer Science 291-294 (Independent Study) may be used to fulfill one of these elective requirements.
Requirements for the Minor in Computer Science
The minor consists of five courses: a 100-level computer science course, Computer Science 210, and any three additional computer science courses.
Interdisciplinary Major
The department participates in an interdisciplinary major program in computer science and mathematics. See page 190 of the College Catalogue.
Honors, Publications & Prizes
Majors with an outstanding academic record are encouraged to pursue honors work during their senior year. Honors in Computer Science provides a special opportunity to pursue an extensive project as a computer scientist. Honors projects can lead to co-authorship of a paper and the opportunity to attend an international conference. A book is awarded, as a prize, annually in the Fall to a senior who has achieved the highest distinction in the Computer Science major program.
Selected Publications
* denotes a student coauthor.
Honors projects can lead to co-authorship of a paper and the opportunity to attend an international conference. Here are recent examples of student-coauthored papers:
Terracost: A Versatile and Scalable Approach to Computing Least-Cost-Path Surfaces for Massive Grid-Based Terrains. Thomas Hazel*, Laura Toma, Jan Vahrenhold and Rajiv Wickremesinghe. In Proceedings of the 21st Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2006), 2006. ACM 2006.
Stephen M. Majercik and Byron Boots*. DC-SSAT: A Divide-and-Conquer Approach to Solving Stochastic Satisfiability Problems Efficiently. In Proceedings of the Twentieth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 416-422. The AAAI Press, 2005.
Chown, E., Foil, G.*, Work, H.*, & Zhuang, Y.* (2006). AiboConnect: A simple programming environment for robotics. The proceedings of the 19th International FLAIRS Conference.
Chown, E. & Boots, B.* (2005). Learning Cognitive Maps: Finding Useful Structure in an Uncertain World. To appear in Jefferies, M. & Yeap, A. (eds.) Robot and Cognitive Approaches to Spatial Mapping.
Eric Forbell* and E. Chown, 'Lexical contact during speech perception: A connectionist model,' Proceedings of the Twenty Second Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2000).
David K. Garnick and Nils A. Nieuwejaar*, 'Total Domination of the mXn Chessboard with Kings, Crosses, and Knights', Ars a4b Combinatoria 41 (1995), 65-75.
Stephen M. Majercik and A. P. Rusczek*, 'Faster Probabilistic Planning through More Efficient Stochastic Satisfiability Problem Encodings,' Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Planning and Scheduling, AAAI Press (2002), 163-172.
Computer Science Senior-Year Prize
A book is awarded annually in the Fall to a senior who has achieved the highest distinction in the Computer Science major program. Below are the most recent winners of this prize.
Greydon Foil, Jon Todd and Tom Hazel '05
Byron Boots '03
Andrew Rusczek '02
Douglas Vail '01
Eric Forbell '00
Kevin Saxton '99
Steven Deitz '98
Timothy Aron '96
Guidelines for Advanced Placement in Computer Science
Students who received scores of four or higher on the Computer Science A or the Computer Science AB Advanced Placement Exams will be awarded one advanced placement credit upon completion of a Computer Science course, level 210 or higher, with a grade of C or better. Students should consult the department regarding placement.
Independent Study & Honors
Advanced students are encouraged to pursue an independent study project, which is often done in conjunction with an ongoing faculty research project. Independent study projects in fields with strong interdisciplinary ties to computer science are also encouraged.
Independent study provides a special opportunity to work closely with a faculty member on a topic of mutual interest. Participation in faculty research provides an excellent introduction to the kind of independent thinking that is required in both graduate study and the rapidly-advancing computing field itself.
Majors with an outstanding academic record are encouraged to pursue honors work during their senior year. Honors in Computer Science provides a special opportunity to pursue an extensive project as a computer scientist. An honors project, which consists of a year of independent study work including a substantial research component, is requisite to being graduated with honors in Computer Science.
Students interested in honors are encouraged to contact their advisor, or a faculty member with appropriate research interests, by the end of their junior year.
Honors, if awarded, may be at any of three levels: Honors, High Honors, and Highest Honors. The judgement regarding any award of honors is made by the Department based on the year's work as described in the written thesis and the oral presentation, and on the student's overall record in the Department.
Timetable for pursuing an honors project
Spring Semester of the junior year - Begin discussions with a faculty member to find an area in which to work.
Fall Semester of the senior year - An independent study project in an area of interest, moving toward exploration of a particular research topic and formulation of a proposed project.
By the end of Reading Period - Those students who wish to continue with honors work in the Spring submit a written research proposal and make an oral presentation to the Department, summarizing the work done during the Fall, and outlining the proposed project.
Spring Semester - Enrollment for an honors project in the Spring semester requires the mutual agreement of the Department and the student, based on the proposal and presentation.
Week after Spring Vacation - A written preliminary version of the thesis submitted for supervisor's comments.
End of Reading Period - Final version of thesis submitted to the Department.
During Exam Period - Oral presentation of thesis, open to the college community.