Department of Mathematical Sciences

Favorable comments from our alumni.
Computer Science is the study of how computers work. It encompasses not only programming, but also operating systems, networking, security, graphics, hardware architecture, artificial intelligence, and much else. All of it great stuff.
Computers are pervasive, and they will become more pervasive in coming years. With the dot.com bubble burst and the downturn in the economy, computer science enrolments have declined sharply across the nation, but with economic recovery and the growth of computers, people are starting to worry again about a lack of qualified computer science graduates. Remember that freshmen entering this year are looking forward to a job market four years from now.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says jobs in computer and mathematical sciences are expected to grow quickest among all professional and related occupations in the next decade.
The computer job market is rebounding after the Dot Com bust, but nationwide computer science enrolments are down 60% from their peak. Industry is getting worried about a lack of new computer science graduates, even as the first big wave of computer experts hired in the 1960s reaches retirement age. See here. A graduate of a few years ago who is now leading a group at Microsoft says he is hiring for his own group, and Microsoft plans to hire 5000 new people this year.
Offshoring is not killing the computer job market. According to the New York Times (2/23/06): "A recent ACM study has found that the fears of offshore outsourcing undermining the United States' competitive advantage in computer science and technology have been overstated. The year-long study found that just 2 percent to 3 percent of IT jobs would likely be outsourced annually, and that the future will see more jobs created than lost, provided that the United States continues its migration toward high-value sectors, such as supplying biology, business, and other fields with information technology. "
The Susquehanna computer science faculty is dedicated to teaching, and we really do like our students. Our offices are on the ground floor of Seibert Hall, and our office doors are open.
We offer a good variety of undergraduate courses, which can be seen in our catalog or handy chart. By offering a lot of half-semester courses and offering some courses alternate years, we can offer a much wider variety than might be expected from a school our size.
We offer a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science, and a Bachelor of Science degree. The B.S. requires an extra math course and extra physics course in addition to the B.A. requirements.
Besides our regular courses, we also offer special Topics courses. In the spring of 2005, for example, we offered a course in Digital Imaging, based on the personal expertise of one of our faculty.
We are not an engineering school, so we don't have hardware engineering courses, but our Physics Department does offer courses in Digital Electronics and Analog Electronics, which many of our majors take.
The department has a mobile, radio-controlled robot, which is used for class projects in several courses such as Software Engineering.
We have no large classes. Our freshman-sophomore classes are capped at 30 or 35, and our upper lever classes are mostly capped at 20.
There are sometimes opportunities for excellent students to participate in faculty research through the university's Summer Partners program, which provides a student stipend for one-on-one summer work with faculty members.
We provide several standard mathematics and statistics software packages over our campus network, and some others are installed in the math classroom and computer lab.
There are computer-related campus jobs available for students. The department hires homework graders and lab helpers for courses. The Computer Center hires about 80 students per year for jobs ranging from lab monitoring to high-level software development. Much of the campus Web site is written and maintained by students. Two of our students have internships this summer to learn how to manage Datatel, which is the new enterprise software we are adopting, and they will play important roles in its installation next year. We don't have graduate students here, so undergraduates get jobs that might go to graduate students elsewhere.
Through a special Microsoft academic program, we are able to supply our students with free Microsoft software, including operating systems such as Windows XP and compilers such as Visual Studio (but not Microsoft Office, unfortunately). Students may install the software on their own computers and keep it forever.
Our Business School has a major in Information Systems, which is the study of the application of computers to business, government, and suchlike enterprise operations. The CS and IS majors have several courses in common, and if you start in one and decide later you want to switch, it is easy to do so.
The Department is housed on the ground floor of Seibert Hall, the second oldest building on campus, which was thoroughly remodelled in 1984. The top two floors are student dormitory, and several of our majors live up there.
The student computer club, known as the Computer Consultants, provides many volunteer services to the campus, including helping freshmen move into dorms in the fall. The Computer Consultants are an official university Project House, and one of their perks is living accommodations in Seibert Hall.