C O M P U T E R. S C I E N C E

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in May, 1998.  Although some courses, students, and faculty members referenced in the story may have changed, it still provides a full and accurate picture of the Computer Science department.  For current course information and a faculty listing we encourage you to visit the department's homepage.

BRINGING TOGETHER THE TRADITIONAL LIBERAL ARTS AND TODAY'S EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Originally, David B. Messinger '98 thought he would major in history. Despite his interest in the past, however, he found he could not resist the allure of the future, which presented itself in the form of computer science. The field, he notes, is evolving so rapidly that the introductory programming course he took as a first-year student only four years ago is today so radically different that it is even taught in different programming language. For his senior project Messinger found a way to marry the ancient world that still interests him with some of today's hottest technology. Working with his former teacher, Associate Professor of Classics Martha K. Risser, he created a World Wide Web-based database that catalogs information about artifacts that have been recovered from Trinity's archeological dig site in Caesara, Israel. He hopes that future Trinity students will update and upgrade his project, augmenting the text with images to create a multimedia database. The project is just one example of how the old and the new -- the tradition of liberal arts and today's emerging technology -- are coming together in Trinity's Department of Computer Science.

Professor of Computer Science and department chairman Ralph E. Walde acknowledges that establishing a strong curriculum in such a dynamic discipline is something of a balancing act. On the one hand, the program emphasizes problem-solving and analytical reasoning skills, as well as an understanding of the discipline's basic concepts and problems that don't go away. These unchanging fundamentals are in contrast to the department's ongoing "major battle" to install and maintain state-of-the-art equipment and to keep current with emerging theoretical and technological advances.

With those challenges underlying their curriculum, computer science faculty members employ a variety of teaching methods to prepare students to be computer scientists of the future. Associate Professor of Computer Science Ralph A. Morelli takes full advantage of the way current technology can enhance teaching and learning. By posting course material on the web, he says he has "almost eliminated having to pass out paper." He also uses the web to collect assignments and to give students multiple choice quizzes that help prepare them for major in-class tests. Since the on-line program automatically grades the quizzes, students know instantly whether they have mastered the material or whether some topics require further review. He says, "Students like it because it helps them know what they need to study for."

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Madalene Spezialetti notes that dynamic classroom interaction among students is as effective in computer science as in other disciplines. While students in her introductory course must do programming assignments independently, they also must work cooperatively in pairs during the course's lab sessions. She says this kind of interaction with partners is an important part of the learning, especially since problems often have more than one solution. "People learn by explaining, by verbalizing what they think. People learn from seeing the way other people think and from seeing that other people think differently."

Spezialetti notes that computer science students -- like everyone else at Trinity -- are expected to be able to communicate effectively. This year eight students in the senior seminar were put to the test when they taught a two-day course on a word-processing program to teachers at the Fox Elementary School in Hartford.

Mentoring opportunities

Mentoring can be an important part of the computer science experience at Trinity through close work with faculty members or through internships. Professor Morelli, for example, is working with two students in an independent study involving artificial intelligence, while Professor Spezialetti currently has three students assisting her in research on distributed computing, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Internships and summer jobs at large corporations and small start-up companies in the Hartford area can provide both mentoring and real-life experience. Nicole S. Philip '99 participated in the Traveler's-Trinity Women in Computer Science Internship, which is designed to address the lack of women in the field and the need for role models for female students. She notes that men generally outnumber women in her classes, but in Travelers' Technology Services Department the numbers are equal. "That gave me a lot more confidence. I was afraid of programming until this internship."

The stereotype vs. reality

While the stereotype of computer scientists depicts them as "geeks" and geniuses who are forever glued to their monitors and oblivious to the outside world, the reality is that computer science students at Trinity actively seek the benefits that the liberal arts context offers. Nicole Philip says she enjoys "exploring other sides" of herself by taking language and theater and dance courses. For her senior project, Michelle L. Lombard '98 combined interests in World War II and the history of computing by designing an interactive, multimedia website that depicts the "Enigma" encoding machine used by the Germans.

David Messinger likes the fact that classes on artificial intelligence, for example, are populated not just by computer science majors but also by students with an interest in psychology or philosophy. He says, "They bring something different to the discussion, a different way of looking at things." The department itself encourages interdisciplinarity through the "Computer Coordinate Major," in which students combine the theory and fundamentals of computer science with the applications for it in another discipline.

In today's environment, with technology advancing faster than most people can keep pace with, computer science majors really never have to face the "practicality test" that some majors confront as they contemplate or plan for life after Trinity. Nobody ever asks, "Gee, what can you do with a computer science degree?" The fact is that the information technologies industry is in dire need of skilled people, and that internships and summer jobs often segue directly into part-time work and offers of full-time employment after graduation. However, computer science majors declare that it is not the job prospects that motivate them; it is the challenge of problem-solving, and the reward of that "aha!" moment, akin to the instant when the apple bonked Sir Isaac Newton on the head. Michelle Lombard describes it as a process of diligently slaving on a problem for hours and hours and then suddenly saying, "Oh my God! Why didn't I see that before?" It happens in a second, but only because one has mastered the thinking skills and devoted the time to solving the problem.

Professor Morelli says, "If you like to solve problems, there's no end to the solvable but as yet unsolved problems" in computer science. He believes that because the field is changing so fast, computer science majors have to have a bit of the "pioneering spirit." He says, "When you get out of college you really have to figure, `I'm just beginning my education in computing.'"

-- Leslie Virostek