Computer Science | Grinnell College

The Computer Science majors of the class of 2013 are:

• Toluwaloju Elizabeth Alabi (with honors; Joseph F. Wall Scholarship)
• Zachary Simkin Butler (with honors)
• David William Cowden
• Akshay Arun Gulati
• Sarah Christen Henney
• Katherine Leigh Ingersoll (with honors)
• Alexander James Marrs
• April Lynn O'Neill
• Austin Russell Redick
• David Scott Rosen
• Aditi Roy (ACM Nick Adams Short Story Contest, honorable mention)
• Isaiah Azibo Sarju
• Dilan Üstek
• Emircan Uysaler (with honors)

Congratulations to all!

On Sunday, May 19, 2013, the Grinnell Computer Science Department hosted its first annual Pledge of the Computing Professional, a rite of passage ceremony that provides graduating seniors with an opportunity to reflect on their ethical and social responsibilities. Grinnell College is the second node in the state of Iowa. We were honored by the presence of Nathaniel Borenstein '80, who is one of this year's honorary degree recipients.

At this Friday's session of Women in Computing / CS Table, we'll discuss efforts to recruit and hire technical women. We will consider a variety of resources related to this issue.

First, two popular press articles on Etsy's efforts to build its staff of women technologists:

• “How Etsy grew their number of female engineers by almost 500% in one year”
  Brett Berson, First Round Capital, February 26, 2013
  http://firstround.com/article/How-Etsy-Grew-their-Number-of-Female-Engineers-by-500-in-One-Year
• “In a male-dominated field, Etsy is trying a different approach to hiring new talent”
  Alison Overholt, Fortune, February 19, 2013
  http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/02/19/etsy-women-coders/

Second, an article on “affirmative effort”:

• “Let's call it ‘affirmative effort’”
  Nancy Hopkins, The New York Times, September 30, 2012
  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/09/30/breaking-the-bias-against-women-in-science/lets-call-it-affirmative-effort

Finally, we will consider a series of short approaches from the National Center for Women in Technology's “Pacesetters” program:

• “2010-2012 pacesetters”
  National Center for Women & Information Technology
  http://www.ncwit.org/programs/pacesetters/2010_2012_pacesetters

Computer Science Table is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Fridays at noon in the Day PDR (the first PDR at the top of the stairs in the Marketplace/Cafeteria, also known as Rosenfield 224A). Faculty, staff, and students on meal plans are expected to pay the cost of their meals. Students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

On Thursday, May 2, Colin Brooks 2013 will speak on “Generative art and the computer collaborator.” Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The talk will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!

At this Friday's session of Women in Computing / CS Table, we'll discuss the recent Adria Richards fiasco. If you don't know about it, any of the readings below will give you a quick overview.

Our primary reading is

• “I have a few things to say about Adria”
  Sarah Milstein, Dogs and shoes, March 24, 2013
  http://www.dogsandshoes.com/2013/03/adria.html

This reading includes a number of forum comments. You should take the time to read some of them. Since the case involves the way people behave publicly and using online communication tools, forum comments are particularly relevant.

This reading also includes a number of links which you may find it useful to follow.

Other relevant articles:

• “Here's the real reason SendGrid fired the woman who complained about ‘dongle’ jokes”
  Julie Bort, Business insider, April 1, 2013
  http://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-why-sendgrid-got-a-bum-rap-for-firing-adria-richards-over-donglegate-2013-3
• “Cyber debate continues over Adria Richards's firing”
  Vanessa Williams, She the people, March 26, 2013
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/03/26/cyber-debate-continues-over-adria-richardss-firing/
• “Sexism in the tech world rears its head at Adria Richards”
  Kailani Koenig-Muenster, MSNBC, March 30, 2013
  http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/30/sexism-in-the-tech-world-rears-its-head-at-adria-richards/
• “Fired SendGrid developer evangelist Adria Richards speaks out”
  Liz Gannes, All things D, March 27, 2013
  http://allthingsd.com/20130327/fired-sendgrid-developer-evangelist-adria-richards-speaks-out/

Computer Science Table is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Fridays at noon in the Day PDR (the first PDR at the top of the stairs in the Marketplace/Cafeteria, also known as Rosenfield 224A). Faculty, staff, and students on meal plans are expected to pay the cost of their meals. Students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

On Thursday, April 25, Professor Rhys Price Jones will challenge conventional wisdom about elementary education, encompass the cosmos in a combinatory nutshell, and suggest how hardware designers could teach processors to sing the λ-calculus like birds.

The talk includes an overview of how combinators epitomize all of the complex interactions of the living world, every single atom in the universe and absolutely everything else we care about. We’ll show how just two of these combinators encompass all of creation. And finally, we’ll recommend a change in the direction of computer design and manufacture to properly recognize and leverage these amazing birds.

See the poster or attachment for more details.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The talk, “wot they shoulda bin dun learned me in SKule,” will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!

At this Friday's session of Women in Computing / CS Table, we'll discuss elementary and secondary education in computer science. The readings are

• “Why Estonia has started teaching its first-graders to code”
  Parmy Olson, Forbes, September 6, 2012
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2012/09/06/why-estonia-has-started-teaching-its-first-graders-to-code/
• “Why your 8-year-old should be coding”
  Jolie O'Dell, Venture beat, April 12, 2013
  http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/12/why-your-8-year-old-should-be-coding/
• “Can Obama convince high schools to each kids to code?”
  Anthony Wing Kosner, Forbes, February 14, 2013
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/02/14/can-obama-convince-high-schools-to-teach-kids-to-code/

Computer Science Table is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Fridays at noon in the Day PDR (the first PDR at the top of the stairs in the Marketplace/Cafeteria, also known as Rosenfield 224A). Faculty, staff, and students on meal plans are expected to pay the cost of their meals. Students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

On Thursday, April 18, Brooks Davis will discuss the architecture of new computers designed for research into computer systems and networks:

A team of more than thirty researchers from SRI International and the University of Cambridge have spent the last two years developing a pair of clean-slate processor designs and a supporting set of operating systems and programing language extensions. The primary goal of this work is increasing our ability to compartmentalize important -- but risky -- applications such as web browsers at a much finer scale than currently possible. Secondary goals include modernizing the process of hardware design, raising the bar for CPU research, and developing a platform for future work. This talk will discuss our goals in detail and our progress toward building a research platform to support them.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The talk, “Building a platform for modern systems research,” will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!

At this Friday's session of Women in Computing / CS Table, we'll discuss “brogramming.” The readings are

• “Brogramming: the disturbing rise of frat culture in Silicon Valley”
  The week, April 30, 2012
  http://theweek.com/article/index/227356/brogramming-the-disturbing-rise-of-frat-culture-in-silicon-valley
• “‘Gangbang interviews’ and ‘bikini shots’: Silicon Valley's brogrammer problem”
  Tasmeem Raja, Mother Jones, April 26, 2012
  http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/04/silicon-valley-brogrammer-culture-sexist-sxsw
• “Brograms and the power of vaporware”
  Marie Hicks, Computer History Museum, March 27, 2013
  http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/brograms-and-the-power-of-vaporware/

Computer Science Table is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Fridays at noon in the Day PDR (the first PDR at the top of the stairs in the Marketplace/Cafeteria, also known as Rosenfield 224A). Faculty, staff, and students on meal plans are expected to pay the cost of their meals. Students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

On Thursday, April 11, Professor Henry Walker will describe the distinctive features of Grinnell's program in computer science:

Prospective students often ask why they should come to Grinnell to study computer science. Seniors and graduates ask what they can or should say to employers or graduate schools regarding how Grinnell's CS program is distinctive. This talk is designed to answer such questions by reviewing several characteristics of Grinnell's CS program:

• The advantages of B.A. degrees in computer science over more technical degrees
• Our introductory CS courses as “exemplars” in national curricular recommendations
• Comparing Grinnell's core CS courses with national recommendations
• The success rates in Grinnell's CS courses (by measures defined by national standards)
• The contribution of the activities of Grinnell's CS faculty to Grinnell's success
• How student-faculty interactions in CS lead to regional and national visibility
• Grinnell's track record in CS for graduate school, internships, careers in business/industry, etc.

Overall, this talk will highlight numerious ways in which Grinnell's CS program enjoys substantial success by many objective measures.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The talk, “Grinnell's competitive advantages in computer science,” will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!