Computer Science
Home

Computer Science at Earlham is unique in many ways. Our diverse faculty and rich facilities provide an environment that fosters an interdisciplinary approach to theory and practice in the field. Computer Science works closely with Mathematics, Physics and most of the other Natural Sciences, and has ties to linguistics and logic.

Our curriculum is built on the fundamental paradigms of the discipline: theory, abstraction and design. These three are woven throughout the Department, binding the sometimes disparate topics of Computer Science into a cohesive body of knowledge and experience. Because of the rapidly changing character of the field, we review the curriculum regularly. Our work is heavily influenced by the liberal arts mission of the College, in particular our interdisciplinary approach and our inclusion of the cultural, legal and ethical issues surrounding computing within the curriculum. We provide our graduates with the ability to make informed decisions about the appropriate use of technology in a variety of contexts.

At a practical level we rely heavily on open source software, such as Linux distributions, FreeBSD, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc. These tools and many others like them form the software stack that supports all of the teaching and research activities of students and faculty. Students, faculty and alumni contribute to a wide variety of open source packages, particularly in the area of scientific and parallel computing.

Earlham offers many opportunities for students to apply their studies in Computer Science to real-world problems, ranging from applied computer science to more research oriented work. All of the work we do involves close interaction between students and faculty. A variety of opportunities assist students in reinforcing and extending their classroom learning experiences. Groups of students are responsible for most of the Departmental computing infrastructure:

  • System and Network Administrators Group is responsible for the care and feeding of the labs, desktop machines and networks we use in our work.

  • Content Administration Group is responsible for the content of the Computer Science Department Web pages.

  • Pedagogical Support Group supports the various software tools we use in teaching Computer Science.

  • HIP, the Hardware Interfacing Project, works on interfacing laboratory equipment to computers. Their work has included a local weather station, installed on the roof of Dennis Hall, providing support for a scientific research project investigating concentration of metals in local water sources, and, most recently, construction of a TrafficCam to record video and speed data for traffic passing in front of Earlham's main entrance.

  • Cluster Computing Group works on a variety of projects in the areas of cluster computing, computational science, Grid computing, and education, outreach and training.

  • Theory Group is a faculty-led collective of students ranging from first-years to seniors who are studying foundational issues in Computer Science.

  • ECS System Administrators Group works with the College's Computing Services system administrators, assisting them in maintaining and extending the servers for the College-wide computing systems.

  • Green Science Group collaborates with Physics, Computer Science and Environmental Science on environmental projects. They have been responsible for a solar array and grid-tie system in Dennis Hall, a modest wind turbine at Miller Farm and the Green Zone, an area in the Dennis Hall lobby where the College's environmental projects are displayed.

Our curriculum's strong mix of theory and practice, in conjunction with our applied and research activities, produces graduates prepared for a variety of careers in computer science. Students who major or minor in CS have gone on to advanced studies in computer science and other disciplines; software engineering positions; and system, network and database administration.

Major technology companies who have employed our graduates include Lucent, Amazon.com, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft, MCI/WorldCom and Ontrack. A number of successful technology companies have been started by Earlham graduates, including Organic Online (Web site design and hosting), Ray Ontko and Company (software development and consulting services), Summersault (website design and hosting) and Infocom (Internet service provider).

Our majors have pursued graduate work in computer science at such institutions as Indiana University; University of California, Santa Cruz; and the universities of Central Florida, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Washington.