What Can You Do With a Degree in Computer Science?

The job outlook is very bright for broadly educated professionals with a degree in computer science or computer information systems. The Department of Labor predicts that employment for computer scientists and information systems managers is expected to increase “much faster than the average as organizations continue to adopt increasingly sophisticated technologies.” Some examples of “hot jobs” in the industry include software engineers, network administrators, database administrators and systems analysts.

Most of our graduates choose to enter careers immediately after graduation – many have found a job or had several job offers before they graduated. College of Charleston graduates stand out in the marketplace because their academic résumés include hands-on learning experiences such as internships and research that are highly valued by prospective employers. Their broad background in the liberal arts also ensures that they have the excellent communications skills employers in all areas continue to rate as the number one quality they seek in job applicants.

Those who chose to continue their education at the graduate level have recently been accepted by institutions such as the Medical University of South Carolina, George Mason University, Georgia Technical University, the University of South Carolina and the University of Arizona.

A sample of positions held by recent graduates includes:

• software developer
• network engineer
• software engineer
• applications developer
• web developer

College of Charleston Advantages

• Computer science students benefit from the presence of many businesses and firms that offer internship and employment opportunities, including: Blackbaud, CSC, ICF Consulting, BenefitFocus, Digital Domain and Automated Trading Desk. Area businesses actively seek out our students for paid internships – the department has more requests than it can fill.
• The bachelor of science degree program in computer science is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).
  

Active Learning Experiences

You can become involved in a faculty member’s research program and receive travel support to present your work at state, national, or international meetings. Students have recently attended conferences in Austria, Quebec and Las Vegas. We also offer opportunities to do summer research while earning a stipend.

Some examples of recent student research topics include:

• Automatic Acquisition of 3D Object Models
• Applications of Zipf’s Law in Computer Music
• Development of a more natural programming language for instruction in computer science
• Applying Artificial Techniques to Detect Spatial Disorientation in Pilots
• Esperanto as an Intermediate Language in an AI System
• SUITEDasher – A Multilingual Keyboard and Mouse Interface for Motor-Impaired Users

Research co-authored by College of Charleston faculty and students has been published in professional publications such as:

• Proceedings of International Conference for Machine Learning Applications
• of the 5th International Conference on 3-D Digital Imaging and Modeling
• of 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction
• Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Applications of Evolutionary Computing

Software Engineering Practicum. Students in our senior software engineering course, participating in an open source software development project, work as a team to design and implement a project for an on-campus or off-campus client.

Internships. You can gain additional experience outside of the classroom by participating in internships. Opportunities range from webpage design to software development to network administration. Recently, students have completed internships at MeadWestvaco, Slicker, SPAWAR, and Automated Trading Desk.

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). This club is a student chapter of ACM, the largest and most influential technology group in the world. The group does not limit membership to computer science majors. Discussions are wide-ranging and include topics such as applications of technology in the classroom or the use of computers by creative artists. Each year the department sends one or more teams of students to the Southeast Regional Programming competition sponsored by ACM.

Upsilon Pi Epsilon (national computer science honor society). The mission of UPE is to recognize academic excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the computing sciences.

Learning Resources

• You’ll be exposed to a variety of computer systems and languages (e.g., Java, Python, SQL, C++). Our outstanding facilities include high-performance computers running both Windows and Linux, and a 48-node Beowulf cluster (also known as a “supercomputer”). students truly have access to all computer labs 24 hours a day, seven days a week; all majors have access codes to enter labs at any time.


• As a member of the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance program, the department provides all computer science students with mainstream development tools and operating systems from Microsoft free of charge. Software packages such as Visual Studio.NET, Windows XP, Microsoft Project 2003, and even non-Microsoft applications that are required for coursework can be downloaded directly from the Web.


• A Gigabit-switched network and full campus wireless access are available to all undergraduates.

“I like working on my own and having different challenges so I don’t get bored at work. In computer science, you get to creatively use your knowledge to make a product that solves your client’s problem. This field is constantly growing and improving, so there will always be challenges to overcome and that’s exciting. Pursuing a degree in computer science allows me to better prepare myself for the future doing the job that I love.”

Jeff Duke ’06