Computer Science | Grinnell College

It's time to celebrate and connect!

Did you know that ...

• Henry Walker is moving to senior faculty status? (He'll be teaching about one course per year for the next five years.)
• Computer science has been its own department for a decade?
• We've had a computer science major for twenty-five years?

We are having an affinity reunion on November 18 and 19, 2016 to celebrate all of these events and more. The reunion will be a chance for alumni from various years and current students to come together and talk about Grinnell, computing, and more.

We've prepared a tentative schedule so that you can see what you have to look forward to.

Send questions to Samuel A. Rebelsky.

Register here!

This is the near-final draft schedule for the Fall 2016 Grinnell Computer Science Affinity Reunion. It is intended to give potential attendees some sense of what the reunion will look like. Confirmed speakers are listed. So many of our alums are doing cool things that it was very difficult to put together a program. I feel bad that I could not find spaces for more of you to speak.

Register for the reunion here!

Friday, 2016-11-18

The reunion primarily starts at 4:15 p.m. on Friday with Henry Walker's opening. However, alumni who choose to arrive earlier will be able to tour campus, visit classes, and have lunch with students and fellow alums.

Saturday, 2016-11-19

The main day of the reunion. We've tried to offer a wide variety of talks and panels, as well as a job and internship fair. If you'd like to recruit Grinnell students or alums, contact Nathan Dobbels and he'll help you get set up with a table.

Sunday, 2016-11-20 - Unofficial Events

Affinity reunions are normally only Friday/Saturday. However, we expect that some alums will want to stick around on Sunday for some additional fun. We're considering an un-conference, but you have other suggestions, we'd love to hear them!

On Thursday, February 24, Henry Walker will discuss present some of his preliminary work on integrating the programming of robots with the curriculum of CSC 161 (“Imperative problem solving and data structures”):

Introductory computer science courses around the country have utilized robots for a number of years. In recent years, for some courses, robot control has taken advantage of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs); some other courses provide students with a programming environment designed for beginners. Although these experiences have often been motivating and interesting for students, the use of robots remains a challenge within courses that focus upon imperative problem solving (e.g., with the C programming language), such as Grinnell's CSC 161.

Drawing upon this background, Mr. Walker has devoted part of his current sabbatical leave to explore the use of simple robots, with the long-term goal of possibly using robots in CSC 161. This talk presents a status report on this work. Discussion will include hardware options and capabilities, programming options, available documentation, examples of working programs, challenges, and next steps.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). Mr. Walker's talk, “Programming robots: a status report,” will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Students interested in the topics of this talk are encouraged to contact Mr. Walker about the possibility of working in the field for Summer 2011 and [maybe] beyond.

At 4:15 on Thursday, September 30, in Noyce 3821, Professor Henry Walker will give a talk about software that he and his students have developed for the management of proposals for presenting research papers at conferences. In 1999, Mr. Walker was asked to develop the first iteration of a Web-based paper submissions and reviewing system. The current system represents the twelfth version of this software, and each version has implemented refinements, new capabilities, and adjustments. Reflections on the evolution of this system yield numerous lessons for software and Web-based systems. This talk discusses 10 (hexadecimal) observations that can help in the design of future software applications.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The talk, Software for the submission and review of conference proposals: 10 (hexadecimal) lessons, will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!