Every year, Walla Walla University senior computer science majors complete a real-world capstone project for industry or community organizations. This year’s seniors took on an array of projects from enhancing online auto-grading systems, to remedying WWU web applications, to working with open-source database systems.
Associate professor of computer science James Foster says, “The primary criterion for a senior project is real-world experience and that is best achieved with an existing project that has a strong technical mentor.” In previous years, students have worked on projects for Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) in Richland and for Alaska Airlines. If they do not choose an outside project, students will work alongside WWU’s expert computer science professors.
Senior computer science major Eddie Coberly worked with associate professor of computer science Preston Carman to add functionality to AsterixDB—a database system maintained by the Apache Software Foundation meant to ease the data analysis process. Coberly focused on fixing the system’s “interval_overlapping()” function. He explains that the function initially only fully supported static hints, but with his own added code it could further support dynamic hints and return the correct data. This project presented Coberly with quite the challenge, but he said, “My project mentor was helpful from setup to final code submission, and I learned a lot from his guidance and tips.”
Other projects have a more domestic impact, directly involving WWU systems and applications. Julian Jones’ project had him working on a replacement for ClassOpen—a web application used by university professors, advisors, and students alike that allows users to find important classes and create schedules.
There were six other computer science seniors who completed impressive capstone projects: Ethan Ford, Cameron Peterson, and Michael Stacy worked on their own Submitty improvements, an online auto-grading system for programming; Brian Harris worked on survey analysis tools for the WWU advising office; and Samuel Nguyen and Lydia Thiel developed aquarium device software for Onthank’s open acidification project.
The WWU Department of Computer Science is full of excellent student work like this and is always working to provide additional opportunities for students in growing areas of the field. As of last fall, WWU became the first Seventh-day Adventist college to offer degrees in both cybersecurity and game development. The cybersecurity major equips students with ethical critical-thinking and technical skills necessary for addressing the growing number and complexity of cyberattacks. The game development major at WWU prepares students for careers in game design, providing a uniquely ethical and holistic background for those interested in the evangelistic or educational power of games.
For more about what the WWU Department of Computer Science has to offer, visit wallawalla.edu/cs.
Posted Sept. 11, 2024
