Computer Science

The Department of Computer Science offers both B.S. and B.A. degree programs, as well as three combined majors in cooperation with other departments: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Computer Science and Mathematics, and Computer Science and Psychology. Each major program not only provides a solid technical education but also allows students either to take a broad range of courses in other disciplines or to complete the requirements of a second major.

The Computer Science and combined major programs share a common core of five computer science courses. The first is CPSC 201, a survey that demonstrates the breadth and depth of the field to students who have taken the equivalent of an introductory programming course. The remaining core courses cover discrete mathematics, data structures, systems programming and computer architecture, and algorithm analysis and design. Together these courses include the material that every major should know.

The core courses are supplemented by electives (and, for the combined majors, core courses in the other discipline) that offer great flexibility in tailoring a program to each student's interests. The capstone is the senior project, through which students experience the challenges and rewards of original research under the guidance of a faculty mentor.