校友简介:劳伦·史密斯
基本信息:
我出生在康涅狄格州的萨菲尔德. 就读于萨菲尔德高中.
是什么吸引你来BC? 计算机科学也一样?
我哥哥去了不列颠哥伦比亚省，所以我一直很喜欢那里. Mostly, I was looking for a school with a good balance between academics and athletics. I’ve grown up going to college football and basketball games and really loved the school spirit at BC; that combined with the exceptional academic offerings, 我很兴奋能参加BC.
接纳鹰日, I attended the presentations put on by the 数学 and 计算机科学 departments. I had liked math in high school and assumed it might be the field where I got my major. I was curious about CS; had always been the “techie” among my friends but had never taken any CS classes. 说实话, 我不太记得演示的内容了, but it was interesting enough for me to sign up for CS074, 教授. Muller’s Digital World class (before the robots were involved). 从那时起，我就被迷住了. I left that class every day with the same idea running through my head, “I can’t believe this all existed and I didn’t know about it!”. 我们先学了二进制, which was a great way to integrate my mathematic background into the beginnings of CS. 从那里, 我可能只是略读了一下, 我们再次进入图像和声音处理领域, complete bewilderment at the idea that all color images are represented by pixels with three channels, “我真不敢相信我竟然不知道!”. Finally, we got into basic python programming with Turtle math. I think this is where I finally realized that CS was the perfect synthesis of math, 逻辑, 和技术. My favorite assignment was to make a rectangle tumble across the screen; it was challenging but the final working program was so satisfying. After that assignment, 教授essor Muller advised me to look into some introductory CS classes. I enrolled in CS101 the following semester and decided to pursue CS as a major soon after. Fast forward past many long nights (and early mornings!在实验室里, 花太多时间制作alu, and evenings with robots running around my apartment, and I happily graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in 计算机科学 with a minor in 数学.
你对计算机科学有什么特别的兴趣吗? (e.g., database, data mining, compilers, programming, etc.)
My favorite CS classes were more theory based: Discrete Math and Theory of Computation. 这些都吸引了计算机科学更数学化的一面, 我真的很喜欢这个领域，希望我们能学到更多.
你现在在哪里工作?
我刚开始在德勤工作 & 我在波士顿办公室. I’m on the Risk Information Services team under the Advisory Practice.
Do you feel your training at BC is directly applicable to your current work?
绝对. From a CS perspective, I won’t be programming like some of my fellow CS alum might be. I will, however, be focusing on data mining and data analytics. 不幸的是, I wasn’t able to take the Data Mining course at BC due to scheduling constraints, but I do think that would have been directly aligned with my future work at Deloitte. The querying skills I learned at internships and solidified in Web Apps course will also be very helpful going forward.
I also feel I am adequately prepared for the workforce because of other learning experiences at BC. Not only did I gain technical skills from the CS department but I also developed my “soft” skills—the skills you can’t learn from a textbook. Critical thinking and problem solving is a huge part of 计算机科学 and I’m finding myself very prepared on the job from my experiences at BC.
Do you have any special memories of your time at BC and/or the CS department?
我最喜欢的课之一是教授. 先生的机器人课. 这是一堂很棒的课, really hands-on and super satisfying to watch a little robot run around according to some code we had just written. One of my favorite memories was completing an assignment to mimic a fire detection robot, 使用光传感器寻找“火”. We created a fan mechanism to simulate blowing out the fire and really had a fun time with it.
What was the least-favorite part of your time at BC and/or the CS department? (现在，温柔点.)
I had a hard time transitioning into 计算机科学. 而我喜欢CS074:数字世界, 进入CS101, 那堂课是我唯一的编程经历, 它是非常基础和介绍性的. I had a hard time keeping up in the intro classes because so many students had come in with CS knowledge from classes in high school. Had I not taken CS074 to see what interesting things were ahead, 我可能不会一直从CS1到CS2, 和. Luckily, I did stick with it, but it was very challenging for me.
任何遗憾? 你会做出不同的选择吗?
不是真正的. I do wish I had been able to give more time to the Women in 计算机科学 club because it’s something I feel passionately about. As I looked around my classes and even my trainings on the job, I understand that too many women haven’t given 计算机科学 a second thought. It’s really a remarkable field with great growth potential in the future and yet there were only two female CS majors graduating in 2011. I would have loved to reach out to more underclassmen while still at BC and try to recruit more incoming students but didn’t quite have the time. 幸运的是, I know WICS still stays in contact with BC graduates a great deal and I’m looking forward to getting involved as an alum.
What message would you like to convey to the current undergrads in CS?
出国! 我知道你的课业负担太重了, 但这绝对是可行的，我很高兴我做到了. I studied in Sydney, Australia and had the best time of my life.
参与! 成为助教或参与ACM或WICS. We have so many opportunities to take advantage of within the CS department. Some of my best relationships were developed through these clubs. 去参加系里的野餐和校园演讲, you can build your network with your classmates and 教授essors!