CSEdWeek 2010 a success
August 10, 2011
Several students from Eureka, Dunlap, and Richwoods high schools visited Bradley University in celebration of Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) in December 2010. The Department of Computer Science and Information Systems facilitated several activities during the week to help raise awareness and excite young people about computer science.
The high school students toured campus, built robots, programmed video games, and learned about careers in computer science and programs offered at Bradley. Many of the students returned to campus later in the week to play with and compete against Bradley students in “Halo,” “Super Smash Bros.,” “Counter-Strike,” and other popular video games.
Due to the success of the activities, the CS&IS department plans to hold similar events during Computer Science Education Week every year.
The U.S. Congress designated the week of computer science pioneer Grace Murray Hopper’s birthday (December 9) as CSEdWeek. Hopper was instrumental in many early developments in the field, including the creation of the first compiler as well as the COBOL programming language. Hopper was known as an enthusiastic and vigorous teacher of math and computer science. So it’s fitting that CSEdWeek – whose purpose is to raise awareness of computing and its critical role in society, and the consequential importance of computer science education – is dedicated in her honor.
The department thanks all of the students who volunteered their time and efforts to help plan and facilitate the activities, including Ethan Hill, Kyle Silverthorn, Aniket Karmarkar, Michael Chang, Nick Terry, Eric Eberhart, Joseph Kearney, and Anil Karumuru. We would also like to thank the faculty members who dedicated their time and expertise, including Dr. Monica McGill, Dr. Alex Uskov, and Dr. Christos Nikolopoulos of Bradley, and Dr. Michael Kölling from the University of Kent. Finally, we’d like to thank the Office of Teaching Excellence and Faculty Development (OTEFD) for funding the event.
For more information about Computer Science Education Week, visit CSEdWeek.org. Additional information can be found at http://www.bradley.edu/inthespotlight/story/?id=116606. For more information about the events at Bradley University, contact Matthew Tennyson at firstname.lastname@example.org.