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Undergraduate Research

The Computer Science program at Alma College offers undergraduates the opportunity to engage in research projects under the supervision of a CS faculty member.  This page offers brief stories on recent student projects and their outcomes.

CS Majors Present Results of Summer Research

Stu Bachner ('06) and Rosemary Dutka ('06)  both presented the results of their respective student research teams at two separate conferences this past fall. At the 10th annual Consortium for Computing Science Midwest Meeting, held September 23-24, 2005 at Millikin University Stu presented the poster Designing Effective Algorithm Visualizations (see a related story), while Rosemary presented a poster entitled A Teaching and Learning Tool for Visualizing Memory Use while Executing Java Programs. Then both students gave presentations on their work at the 16th Annual Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates in Science, Engineering and Mathematics, which was held at the Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago on November 4-5, 2005.  These projects were supervised by Dr. Myles McNally and Dr. John Hawley respectively.

Visualizing Java's Memory Use

Brad Hovinga ('05) presented the results of his work on the visualization of memory use during the execution of Java programs in two venues recently.  First he presented a paper at the meetings of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters on March 4, 2005 at Oakland University. He later presented the same work at Alma College's Honors Day on April 7, 2005. His program accepts as input an executable Java program and outputs graphic snapshot views of memory at chosen times of program execution (after every Java statement if desired). The faculty advisor for this project was Dr. John Hawley.

 

The Corporation for National and Community Service named Alma College to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in both 2008 and 2009 for exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth. The Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement.

 

Graduate Profile

Ted Hutchins
Graduation: 1990
Major: Computer Science
Minor: Religious Studies

Ted Hutchins has been interested in computers since middle school, but he says the liberal arts education at Alma College truly prepared him for life.

“At other institutions computer science students have little incentive or ability to further their education in non-science disciplines,” the 1990 graduate says. “Over the years numerous acquaintances have stated they only took those ‘other’ course to complete their degree. At Alma most of those ‘other’ classes were the highlight of the term. A well-rounded education furthered my career in ways that are hard to quantify.”