Welcome to the Computer Science program at Mesa State College.
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for updates.
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The Computer Science program is designed to provide students
with a strong background in theory along with practical training.
Graduates of the program can either go on to attend a graduate
program in Computer Science or pursue a career in any number of
computer-oriented fields. The program has a strong mathematics
component in part to help students learn to think abstractly.
Recent graduating computer science majors have found employment
with large corporations such as TRW, E-Systems, Hewlett-Packard,
Walt Disney Enterprises, Rust Geotech as well as the US Government
and many smaller companies.
Classes use several programming languages including C++, Java,
and .NET, and cover many areas of interest including computer
architecture, operating systems, software engineering, algorithms
and applications development, database systems, computer networks,
artificial intelligence, and theoretical areas concerning computation
and formal language theory.
The Science Center has modern classrooms containing both networked
computers and projectors. These facilities allow instructors to
demonstrate programming languages and other software they are
running. At the same time students can experiment with the computers
at their desks. In such a learning environment students are able
to work with and understand the material presented more easily
and quickly than in traditional classroom settings. The computer
labs at Mesa State contain networked PCs, all running up to date
software and linked to the Internet. Students are encouraged to
use electronic resources for all their coursework and are provided
with electronic mail accounts.
Class sizes tend to be small and students find the Computer Science
faculty friendly and very approachable as well as professional
and knowledgeable. A student chapter of the ACM (Association for
Computing Machinery) has monthly meetings open to both members
and nonmembers. Information about new software and computer hardware
is presented at these meetings along with talks by guest speakers.
Mesa State usually has several teams of students who compete in
the regional programming contest sponsored by the ACM and in the
past has competed in the national programming contest.
