Skip to main content

The 21st-Century field

Computer science internships and studying abroad will put you ahead

You don’t need the U.S. Department of Labor to tell you that computer science is a growth field. Demand is expected to grow much faster than any other field over the next 10 years, driven by cloud computing, big data and information security. Eckerd computer science graduates take what they learn here in Florida to launch their careers at large and small technology companies or go on to graduate schools like MIT, University of Texas at Austin and other national research universities.

Only@Eckerd

An industry-approved computer science degree program

Coursework is based on recommendations of the major computer science professional organizations.

Top-rated teachers

Eckerd’s Computer Science professors are consistently ranked ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ in student reviews.

Eckerd College computer science graduate working at Buzzfeed

In Their Own Words

“This is what made studying computer science at Eckerd great: Learning from world-class faculty with relevant experiences that put great effort into helping students understand material and encouraging exploration outside of the classroom; caring mentors that thoughtfully help you decide between offers from opportunities they previously shared with you; being pushed to examine where technologies are helping or hurting the world.”
— Ray Berger, Class of 2018

Beyond the Classroom

  • Thomas Haines ’20 is using computational linguistics to analyze how children learn languages. He analyzes simplified systems of languages to understand their structure, and then applies the results to more complicated systems. He is currently using Ruby to program a learning algorithm.
  • Rachel Halepeska ’21 developed an app for both iPhone and Android that allows Eckerd students and staff to track their use of plastic, with the goal of reducing single-use plastic consumption. During the course of her project, Rachel added scrolling capabilities and size constraints to an existing iPhone app and developed an Android app with a similar look and feel. In addition, she made it possible for participants to upload individual plastic consumption data to a server for analysis.

Computer science internships can take you to places in Florida and beyond. For example, you could be a:

Got a special interest? We encourage students to seek out a professor who will sponsor their independent project. Here are just two recent study topics:

  • Machine learning in wildlife management
    Eckerd students are building smart systems that analyze video to identify animals and better understand their behavior. Working with biology professor Dr. Jeffrey Goessling, students are studying the social interactions of gopher tortoises, a keystone species currently under threat. The pattern on the carapace (upper shell) of each tortoise is unique, raising the possibility of creating a “tortoise recognition” system similar to the facial recognition systems used to identify individual humans.
  • Auto-classification of foraminifera
    This independent study involves basic image processing and deep learning techniques for object recognition. Working with Visiting Professor Dr. Patrick Schwing, an Eckerd student is using algorithms to automatically extract regions of interest in a digital image. The goal is to create training and test sets for a convolutional neural network.

In the past couple of years, Computer Science students have spent three-week terms or entire semesters at:

  • Kansai Gaidai University, Japan
  • Griffith University Gold Coast, Brisbane, Australia
  • Culture and international business, Shanghai, China
  • Xiamen University, China
Study Abroad Pics on Flickr

Popular classes

Computer Programming Concepts

Learn basic problem solving and algorithm development using Python as the programming language.

Data Science

This class introduces the methods, processes, algorithms and tools needed to extract knowledge and insights from data in various forms. Explores contemporary problems in science, business and public policy, including how data science is revolutionizing our understanding of the world.

Computer Science degree students work on a game software

Outcomes

What can I do with a computer science degree?

  • Database administrator
  • Network technologist
  • Programmer
  • Systems developer
  • Software designer
  • Teacher
  • Technical support specialist

Where our computer science majors go to graduate school

  • Florida State University
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • University of Maryland
  • University of South Florida

Where our computer science majors go to work

Sign up for more about Eckerd and our computer science program
Open in a maximized view