Is there still a competitive coding club?

Yes! They meet on Fridays from 4-5pm in Eng/Geo 2204. Look on the clubs page on the wiki for more information! -- Riley Harbick

What are the more interesting/popular options for CS Electives that standout?

I am currently in the Web Development elective (CS347) and I think it is great! Learning about how to set up websites and do a different kind of development has been really fun. I suggest taking this class if you get the chance! -- Riley Harbick

How did you choose CS Electives and how many have you taken?

Students usually start taking CS electives their junior or senior year (it's fine to wait until your senior year if you have your classes mapped out). You have to have three CS Electives to meet your graduation requirements, but you can take more if you want to!

CS Electives are a way to do a deep dive into a particular area (we offer three CS electives that focus on: web development, information security, Robotics/AI) or you can explore different areas of CS and get a wide range of experience.

Dr. Buchholz will send out an advising newsletter to the listserv a week or so before enrollment that details the electives the CS department will be offering the following semester. We also update our “Anticipated Offerings” every year or so.

- Page Normand, CS Advisor, normanap@jmu.edu

What are some of your future career goals?

I hope to someday be a CPO for a technology company. I really love being able to talk to the clients and stakeholders to figure out there problem, and translate it for a team of developers who will develop the solution. -- Riley Harbick

What internships or research have you done? Or planning to do?

I did a business analyst consulting internship with CapTech Consulting last summer and I found that I really love it! I have also accepted a job offer from them that will start after I graduate in May 2022. -- Riley Harbick

Are we going to meet Jeff Bezos?

There is certainly no reason why you wouldn't ;).

Is there a best practice for finding student based internships? (A filter on handshake or similar?)

As far as best-practice for finding student internships--there are a number of places these can live. Handshake is by far the easiest place to start. We've also compiled a list of resources that are internship-specific for undergraduate students: https://www.jmu.edu/career/students/jobintern/identify/internship.shtml

The Commonwealth STEM Industry Internship Program is always looking for CS majors.

I also really encourage students to attend both the CISE Career and Internship Fair as well as the Campus-Wide Career and Internship Fair. The list of attending organizations is in Handshake and students can create a short list of folks they would like to meet with by using filters such as “Computer Science” and/or “Internship”.

- Lindsey Scott, University Career Center, marti2le@jmu.edu

Are there any courses related to developing AI or is it just Machine Learning?

Are there any CS classes that focus on cryptography or graph theory?

Have other questions you'd like us to address? Email them to normanap@jmu.edu