Academic Opportunities
Computer Science
Virtually 100% of computer science graduates from Parkside’s Computer Science Department are in the computer science industry or accepted into graduate school. Students have the opportunity to work in a laboratory detached from the campus network. UW-Parkside’s Makerspace allows students to explore their innovative ideas and share their creativity. With the new advanced technology founded in the Makerspace, students are kept up-to-date on the latest technology. UW-Parkside’s App Factory is a community-based learning program that offers hands on learning with real clients in collaborative environments. Students working at the App Factory experience key and valuable skills in creating designs, developing prototypes, testing software, and other skills.
Computer Science students work on all sorts of projects from hands-on programming projects, we work on robotics projects, embedded systems projects, internet of things projects. We have a Makerspace for students to learn how to 3-D print. It's very hands-on. So I chose Parkside mostly because of the smaller class sizes and the more community-based environment. So here as opposed to on the bigger schools, you're not just one student among a sea of many students. You actually get to know your professors, know them by name. They know you by name. So the App Factory is a collection of students run by a couple professors, makes software for local companies. For example, I have worked on busing apps. I've worked on apps that showcase bathroom tiling for a company. I've worked on radio apps. So the idea is to get students experience that they need on real-life projects that they can use to leverage in the real world. All of our graduates are getting great jobs, are getting into grad school. We've seen recent successes that the market is really strong for our students. And we see employers coming back specifically asking for our students. So we have way more job postings than we have students at this point.