To offer students more academic opportunities in the study of computer science and to better prepare them for evolving career options in the field, Siena has recently updated its computer science major to feature eight specific concentrations.
The change received approval from the New York State Education Department in June and is in effect now. Each student working toward a bachelor of science degree in computer science will select a track of study.
“The newly updated computer science major offers our students a wide variety of subdomains to best fit their interests,” said Meg Fryling, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science and department chair. “These are the areas in which current and prospective students express the most interest, and the curricula will give them solid preparation for the careers of today and tomorrow.”
The eight concentrations are:
- Foundations of Computer Science: Features the fundamental requirements to prepare students for graduate study and a wide range of computer science careers.
- Artificial Intelligence: Explores the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.
- Computer Science Education: Must be paired with the education certificate.
- Cybersecurity: This computing-based discipline involves technology, people, information, and processes to enable assured operations in the context of adversaries. It draws from the foundational fields of information security and information assurance and is much broader than the more narrowly focused field of computer security.
- Entrepreneurship: Prepares students for success as entrepreneurs and leaders in businesses centered on information systems and software development.
- Game Development: Explores the fundamentals and overall process of developing and implementing video games for various platforms including computers, gaming consoles, tablets and phones.
- Information Systems: Studies the formal systems designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information as well as the networks of hardware and software used to collect, filter, process, create and distribute data.
- Software Engineering: Features the systematic application of scientific and technological knowledge, methods, and experience to the design, implementation, testing, and documentation of software.
Jami Cotler, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science, said “It’s an exciting time to be a computer science major at Siena.”
“There are so many different career paths you can take with a computer science degree,” she said. “This program provides a strong base in the fundamentals while allowing the freedom to explore specific disciplines that are really advantageous from an employment perspective.”
