At Dartmouth, Computer Science majors are some of the most interesting people you will meet.
Here are profiles of some of our majors, including what they think of Computer Science at Dartmouth and what their other interests are.

Reason for being a CS major: I originally thought that I wanted to be an engineering major. But being a CS major allowed me to have a much more broad education. I modified with economics, another one of my interests, while taking several EE courses over at Thayer.

Best thing about being a CS major: You are allowed to "not just be a CS" major. My brother is in the EECS program at Berkeley and he only gets 7 electives total. Not so here at Dartmouth; you get your technical experience, while being able to improve your writing and thinking skills, giving you an advantage over other CS programs.



Fred Ware

Los Altos Hills, California 		Non-CS interests: I'm a three-time all Ivy kicker on the Dartmouth football team. I also write cartoons for the Dartmouth D and the Review. This shows that you don't have to "just be a CS major" and you have time to do other things.

Future plans: I'm going to be working at Rambus in the Silicon Valley next year. They make RDRAM, one of the main kinds of RAM. I will also be taking MSEE courses at Stanford next year part time.

Advice to incoming students: CS 5 can be a lot of work; make sure you take with a somewhat light load. You will enjoy it a lot more if you can concentrate on it, and not your other courses.



Reason for being a CS major: I took a couple of introductory CS classes, and found that I enjoyed them more than my other classes. It was an area I knew very little about, which meant that it was interesting to learn about it.

Other major/minor: I modified the CS major with Engineering, so that I would have some experience with hardware as well as software.

Best thing about being a CS major: Getting to do interesting projects. Most upper-level classes involve some kind of project. They're usually enjoyable and always challenging.

Worst thing about being a CS major: Those projects take up a lot of time. CS may be one of the most difficult majors, in terms of the workload.



Lisa Torrey

Cheshire, Connecticut 		Favorite CS class: My favorite material, I think, was in CS 49 (Theory of Computation). It's one of those classes whose description sounds very dry when you don't understand it at all, but once you start to learn it, the concepts are very cool: how problems fit into classes, how machine models have been designed for each class, how there are provable limits to what we can actually compute, etc.

Non-CS interests: Some interests are hiking, dance, instrumental music, science fiction & fantasy, foreign languages, and most recently, sewing medieval costumes.

Future plans: I'm going to grad school at the University of Wisconsin for CS. After that, who knows?

If I could do it all over again: I would still choose a CS major. I wouldn't modify it with engineering, though--I would take more math instead.



Reason for being a CS major: When I took CS 5 on a whim freshman fall, I discovered this entire new discipline that I've never heard about before. And it was a very exciting experience. After doing CS 18 I took a few terms away from CS and explored other departments, but none of the courses were as exciting for me. I guess I chose CS because I've been working with computers on the "functionality" level for quite some time, and would like to get deeper into the "how" and the "why."

Favorite CS class: Operating systems (CS 58), because that was probably the most I've learned in a course, plus we got to build a kernel, even if it was just a really small one; the hands-on experience was a huge plus.

Best thing about being a CS major: Being able to take classes in all of the other departments as well (although this is true for liberal arts schools in general). Being able to work very closely with the faculty, and allowing undergrads to TA courses, that was definitely a worthwhile experience.



Jerry Wang

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada 		Worst thing about being a CS major: The long nights at Sudikoff. At least there are windows in 005. More specific though, it's the short terms that gets to me sometimes. While I enjoy the fast pace of a 10-week term, more often than not it really takes a toll by the end of the term, and especially with courses that cover a lot of material sometimes it's tough to internalize everything in such a short period of time.

Advice to incoming students: Approach it with an open mind. Try it out and see if it's for you, even if you don't think so. You won't know until you try. And if you're worried about getting a bad grade, there's always the NRO (I wished I was told about NROs much earlier than I did), and plenty of help around the department. Always talk to people, always ask questions. Don't try to figure stuff out on your own. It's so much easier with guidance.



Favorite CS class: My favorite classes are CS 18 and 21. The teaching (Drysdale) was fantastic, and the classes taught me a lot about the theoretical parts of computer science. Homework was problem-oriented, and I felt really cool when I was able to solve the problems. The classes were a lot of work, but at the end, I felt like they were worth it.

Best thing about being a CS major: Time commitment. It's a lot of hours, but you work hard and gain a lot of confidence in your abilities to tackle an big project or a hard problem. The way I approach my other subjects, or any problem for that matter, is with the knowledge that I can break the assignment into reasonable parts and put the time in to succeed. The critical thinking skills and the ability to hold a complex problem in my head, have prepared me really well for business and especially law school. The LSATs, especially the logic games, use a lot of the meta-knowledge that one learns in CS at Dartmouth.



Beau Roysden

Phoenix, Arizona 		Worst thing about being a CS major: Time commitment. I've had to sacrifice a lot of other activities and not participate in other things as much becuase of the time that the major requires. Also, I sometimes feel as though my GPA doesn't reflect the amount of work I put into my major, when compared to students enrolled in other majors. This is hard to accept when I know I will be competing with students of every major to get into law school and to get jobs.

Non-CS interests: Politics. I ran a statewide campaign in Arizona in 2002. Swimming, I swam for Dartmouth my freshman year.

Advice to incoming students: Think about why you want to study CS or any other major. What are the larger skills that you will pick up (critical thinking, work ethic, etc.) and take with you for the rest of your life?



Reason for being a CS major: In high school I had a really excellent CS teacher who turned me on to the whole field.

Other major/minor: My minor is Public Policy and I specialize in technology policy.

Favorite CS class: I really enjoyed CS 85 (Distributed Algorithms) with Jayanti, CS 23 (Software design) with Cormen, and CS 88 (Building and breaking secure systems) with Smith. These courses are all very different in topic but very interesting for the same reasons: The material changed the way I thought about certain problems, enhanced my interest in CS, and was presented in a way that made class fun.



Josh Stabiner

Teaneck, New Jersey 		Best thing about being a CS major: The CS department has the best teachers at Dartmouth, hands down. There are also a good number of courses to choose from which makes it easy to concentrate on things you like.

Worst thing about being a CS major: I've never taken a CS course that's been easier than the average Dartmouth course.

Non-CS interests: I am active in my fraternity (Tri-Kap) as well as on the Dartmouth Taekwondo team and in the Fire and Skoal senior society. Also, I like skiing, golf, basketball, and reading.



Favorite CS class: CS 25. I love efficiency since I am a "driven" type by personality. You get to learn and figure out smart ways for the computer to solve problems as fast as possible. And that's simply the most fascinating.

Best thing about being a CS major: You get access to Sudikoff, where you can find the coolest profs and coolest fellow kids.



Cissy Zhang

Shanghai, China 		Worst thing about being a CS major: You get too frequent access to Sudikoff when coolest profs are not there but fellow kids are lounging/fratting with you in the lab, which makes you there even longer.

Non-CS interests: Interests: Piano, Composing, Classical/Contemporary serious music, Modern Art, French, Philosophy, Animation, Culinary, Dance. Activities: International Student Association (President), Alpha Theta Co-Ed Fraternity, Pan Asian Council, Chinese Students and Scholars Association, First Year Office Student Advisory Board.



Reason for being a CS major: The role of technology in society is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and more ubiquitous. I felt that gaining a solid grounding in the theory that underlies the incredible technological advances of the last half century would be good preparation for making a future impact.

Other major/minor: I'm an Art History minor.

Favorite CS class: Probably Theory of Computation (CS 49) followed closely by Algorithms (CS 25). Both of these classes emphasized abstract theory and the logical proof. There is something about this type of thinking that has always appealed to me. There is something fascinating about the concept of being able to prove or gain knowledge of an abstract concept through abstract constructs and logic.



Cal Newport

Pennington, New Jersey 		Best thing about being a CS major: It's a strong and close-knit group. You know professors by name and they are readily accessible, creating a great environment for learning difficult material of this nature.

Worst thing about being a CS major: Anytime after midnight that you are still within a computer lab is typically an unhappy time.

Non-CS interests: I'm the editor-in-chief of the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine, produce the JackoTV comedy TV program that airs on DTV, and I write articles for national student publications like CollegeBound, The Student Leader, and Business Today.



Reason for being a CS major: I liked the logical and problem-solving aspects, as well as the creativity permitted in programming. I also really liked the feeling of making something that is useful, which I found when writing programs.

Favorite CS class: CS 49. I found the content fascinating and Professor Jayanti did a fabulous job teaching it.

Best thing about being a CS major: We have some great professors, and they take a sincere interest in the students. Unlike in some other majors, they make an effort to get to know you and to keep up with how and what you are doing.

Worst thing about being a CS major: It tends to be more time consuming than a number of the other majors.



Elizabeth Hamon

Harrisville, New Hampshire 		Non-CS interests: I volunteer in the Big Brother/Big Sister program and at Hanover Terrace. I am involved in various ways at Aquinas House, particularly organizing social activities and cooking. I am a member of the SA Web Development team, of WICS, and of DCFL.

If I could do it all over again: I've never regretted becoming a CS major. If I could start over at Dartmouth, I'd not only choose CS again, but I'd start in freshman fall. There are some really interesting electives that I would like to have taken, but I could not fit them in my schedule because I started late.

Advice to incoming students: I would say go for it, and do so early. You figure out rather quickly whether you like it, and it's easier on your schedule if you spread out the courses over more terms. This also allows you to take more of the interesting electives in CS if you decide to major in it.



Reason for being a CS major: Originally I started with CS as a minor primarily due to an interest in graphics as they pertain to the film and television industry. Gradually I began to realize that my CS-minor classes were the most challenging, interesting, well-taught, and engaging classes I was taking at Dartmouth. So I switched from a Film Studies to a CS major in my junior year.

Favorite CS class: I really enjoyed Algorithms (CS 25). I seem to prefer the more theoretical side of computer science to programming; the union of mathematics, computer science, and problem-solving was both fascinating and challenging for me.

Best thing about being a CS major: The challenge; I have always seen Computer Science as structured problem-solving. It's not unlike putting together a jigsaw puzzle, or building a house out of legos--it is mathematics with a concrete, absolute answer. When you solve a problem, you know without-a-doubt you've solved it, because your program functions correctly. Thus Computer Science supplied me with an endless supply of fun and challenging problems to solve, while at the same time offering the satisfaction of creating something useful and/or functional.



Dave Horniak

Shoreview, Minnesota 		Worst thing about being a CS major: The workload can, at times, be overwhelming. There have been particular take-home tests and problem sets which proved themselves excruciatingly painful to complete.

Non-CS interests: I sit four-seat in the varsity lightweight eight on the lightweight crew team--I've been a member of the squad since coming to Dartmouth. I'm also an active member of Psi Upsilon Fraternity. I've played the violin since I was 10 years old (though not actively since attending Dartmouth), and the guitar since I was 6. I love watching movies and hope someday to help make them.

Advice to incoming students: If you don't mind doing the work, it can be a challenging, rewarding, and valuable educational experience. Don't let yourself be fooled by the stereotypical image of a CS major; what you study need not define who you are, and it is not difficult to major in CS while continuing to pursue other interests at a very high level.



Intentions as an incoming student: On arriving I thought I might be pre-med. However, after taking CS 5 in the fall, I was hooked and knew that I wanted to study computer science.

Reason for being a CS major: I have always been interested in computers and how they work. I also did not like the fact that I used them so much, yet did not know what exactly was going on "under the hood."

Other major/minor: I am also majoring in Psychology.

Favorite CS class: I really enjoyed taking Algorithms (CS 25). Though it was challenging, I felt that the level of thought involved in understanding and proving algorithms was quite rewarding and almost fun at times. Besides being quite applicable to the specific field of computer science, I feel that it gave me insight into how to use logic as a tool for supporting an idea and proving your point.



Paul Mazzuca

Castroville, California 		Best thing about being a CS major: The fact that I can engineer programs to do exactly what I want how I want. It is almost like being constructing a skyscraper within the confines of your own computer. Each detail contributes to the whole, and when completed the whole can be quite useful and practical to the real world.

Worst thing about being a CS major: It requires a lot of time and effort. However, in retrospect, this time and effort is well spent and quite rewarding. I guess the thing that I like least about a CS course at Dartmouth is the feeling that I get when I take another class outside the department, and realize that I could be learning a lot more if I were taking a CS course.

Non-CS interests: I play B-team soccer, am a member of the Mock Trial Society, chair of the Big Brother/Big Sister program, and like to hang out at the beach or the lake (when I am not at Dartmouth).

Advice to incoming students: Don't be intimidated if you have no experience with computers.



Reason for being a CS major: I have always had a passion for Math; that was my initial interest. As I continued taking it through high school, I encountered many abstract topics which I didn't enjoy very much. These topics and their recurrence made me reconsider my plan to pursue Math beyond the tertiary level. I realized that I needed a more practical application of Math so I took a few introductory classes to programming and really, really enjoyed them. By senior year, I was sure that CS was the major that I would want to pursue.

Favorite CS class: I believe the "project class" was my favorite class to this point. It is CS 23, which I took my freshman spring. I really enjoyed the practical aspect of the class, and the opportunity it provided to work in a group, building a database that interacted with the Internet. First of all, this was my first introduction to UNIX and I liked working with that operating system. Secondly, I had an excellent group (we had our ups and downs, but overall we worked well together), and by the end we had something that worked...well for the most part, that is.

Best thing about being a CS major: After it all, nothing beats the feeling of getting a problem set done or a program to work. This is the manifestation of the problem solving of Math with which I've always felt fulfilled. Above all, though I would say it is satisfying to know that I am able to participate in, what most consider, one of the most difficult fields of study at Dartmouth--I've honestly been challenged beyond every expectation in every CS class I've taken. Each term of CS makes me more determined and committed to succeeding. The professors are exceptional teachers and remarkable people. I feel privileged to be a student of such an esteemed faculty.



Kimmy Powell

Kingston, Jamaica 		Other major/minor: I am also majoring in Spanish. It was initially a minor but I went on the FSP to Madrid, and decided to take more classes, and eventually filed it as a second major.

Worst thing about being a CS major: The stress can often times be overwhelming. With such high-paced classes and short terms, it is extremely difficult to stay on top of everything which leads to much frustration.

Non-CS interests: Currently, I am the Vice President of the 04 Class Council. I am a member of the Organizational Adjudication Committee, and the H-Croo chief for the upcoming DOC Freshman Trips. I also participate in the Music Ministry of The Aquinas House Catholic Center (playing the clarinet), a photographer for the school newspaper, The Dartmouth, and an employee for the Jones Media Center of Berry Library.

Advice to incoming students: I would tell them that CS takes a lot of dedication, and it will not be easy. Also, I would tell them to ensure that they balance their classes well in order to avoid overloading with extremely demanding classes (depending on the person's threshold for stress). Another important piece of advice is that they should not allow others to make their decisions for them: explore CS, if you are interested in it. Take CS 5 early and talk to your professors about what the major entails, what opportunities are available to you through the department, etc. I came in with a preconception that I would be programming for most of my college career, but there are a lot of theory classes that are involved, and they are necessary for anyone to be a good computer scientist. I believe having a good grasp on the specifics of the major is essential to determining whether or not you can dedicate yourself fully to your interest of study...CS is no exception.



Reason for being a CS major: I have always been interested in computers and computer-related technology and applications. I am most interested in applications that can be developed from a direct interface between the brain and a computer.

Other major/minor: I am also a German Studies minor.

Favorite CS class: Although my first computer science experience was Computer Science 5: Introduction to Computer Science, I also greatly enjoyed my Computer Science 15: Data Structures and Programming class because I am interested in the ways in which information can be stored in a computer as well as in programming itself. The class's professor, Professor Hany Farid, was always very motivated, understanding, and encouraging.

Best thing about being a CS major: I like having 24/7 access to the Sudikoff! Just kidding! I like the feeling of fulfillment I have as a computer science student. Learning something as practical and worthwhile as computer science makes me one of the most academically satisfied students at Dartmouth.



Reid Coggins

Fort Mill, South Carolina 		Worst thing about being a CS major: Finding a balance between my computer science classes, my other classes, my extracurricular activities, and my friends is tough. Although it has taken me some time to do so, however, I feel that I have found a system whereby I can complete my coursework and extracurricular obligations as well as have a great time with friends.

Non-CS interests: As far as extracurricular activities go, I am a member of the Student Assembly (student government), the Green Key Society (college service organization for juniors), the Organizational Adjudication Committee (college organization honor code/judicial committee), the Order of Omega (Greek honor society), Sigma Phi Epsilon, and the Admissions Office tour guide program.



Reason for being a CS major: I've enjoyed programming computers since I was very young, and I was looking forward to learning from some of the best CS professors in the country.

Other major/minor: A major in mathematics.

Favorite CS class: I believe CS 49, Computability, was my favorite computer science class because it combined my work from both of my majors in a very intriguing way.

Best thing about being a CS major: I really enjoy the close relationship I've developed with many of the other computer science students. I've met some of my best friends in the computer science lab while we were all battling with the same problem set.



Adam Salem

Plainview, New York 		Worst thing about being a CS major: I think I would have enjoyed the opportunity to do more programming in some of the classes.

Non-CS interests: I volunteer at the Dartmouth Radio Station as a DJ and as a sports broadcaster. I am also an active member of my fraternity, Chi Gamma Epsilon.



Reason for being a CS major: I had taken CS in high school, loved CS 5, and decided to keep taking CS classes until I found one I didn't like, and then I would reconsider. It finally happened a lot later, but by that time it was too late to switch majors. All kidding aside, one fun CS class was followed by another fun CS class and this snowballed into a four-year effort.



Jean Bredeche

Riverdale, New York 		Best thing about being a CS major: The happiness when I finally solved a problem or a programming assignment. And getting to know the layout of Sudikoff extremely well.

Non-CS interests: I am the president of the Ultimate Frisbee club and have been principal clarinet in the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, Dartmouth Wind Symphony, and the Dartmouth Chamber Orchestra.

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