Key individuals from several major regional technology companies participated in the NDSU Department of Computer Science’s speaker series for Computer Science Education Week.
Speakers included leaders from Microsoft, NAU Country, John Deere and Sanford Health. Three undergraduate students also gave presentations to their peers about what they wish they had known earlier in their NDSU career.
“The presentations focused on the types of skills that computer science students – and students in related fields – should be learning while in college and how to land a co-op, internship or first job,” said Jeremy Straub, assistant professor of computer science, who organized the speaker series. “The presenters talked about their careers, the hiring processes of their companies and provided tips to students. They also answered lots of questions from students about all aspects of employment.”
Speakers during the week included Joe Hoffman of NAU Country; Doug Dean from John Deere; Kevin Honeyman, the design manager for Microsoft’s Dynamics team; and Ritika Sahni, software engineer at Sanford Health.
Computer science seniors Nate Spanier, Tyler Losinski and Ben Weller also gave short presentations about their experiences at NDSU.
Computer science student Ajay Brown served as master of ceremonies.
The NDSU computer science department was founded in 1988, although computer science courses were offered through mathematical sciences since 1973. It offers doctoral degrees in computer science and software engineering, three master’s degrees and two bachelor’s degree programs. The department has approximately 600 graduate and undergraduate student majors.
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