Breadcrumb
Department of Computer Science
Hands-on learning is the core of our programs. Our small class sizes mean you can always get the major courses you need and attention from professors who are eager to help you learn. And our graduates are in high demand in this high tech world.
Choose from Two Majors
Computer Science, B.S.
The primary goal of the major is to produce graduates capable of succeeding as computing professionals, while the minor introduces students to computing. The minor introduces students in other disciplines to key elementary concepts in computing. Though this is not always sufficient for many careers in computing, many computer science minors obtain additional training in order to launch careers in the field.
Prerequisites
Find out what prerequisites you will need.
Software Engineering, B.S.
This bachelor’s of science degree program encompasses the development, operation and maintenance of programs. The curriculum of software engineering programs includes computing fundamentals, software design and construction, requirements analysis, security, verification, and validation; software engineering processes and tools appropriate for the development of complex software systems; and discrete mathematics, probability, and statistics, with applications appropriate to software engineering.
Software Engineering Prerequisites
Find out what prerequisites you will need.
Senior Capstone - CS 458
Everything you’ve learned inside and outside the classroom comes together your senior year with the senior capstone project within CS 458 - Software Engineering.
Software Engineering at Cal Poly Humboldt
Career Options
There’s a wide diversity of applications: computer scientists may be found working alongside businessmen and biologists, lumbermen and oceanographers, artists, and community activists. If you’re eager to learn and solve problems, you’ll be able to use computers to help improve the world.
Here are a few examples of possible career fields:
- Computer Software Engineer
- Database Developer
- Computer Security Specialist
- Network Administrator
- Computer Game Developer
- Web & Mobile Application Developer
In the fast-growing field of software engineering, graduates are qualified to pursue highly paid careers in software development. Graduates may also have opportunities to work on projects related to embedded software, which is used in virtually every industry, including:
Here are a few examples of possible career fields:
- Aeronautics
- Communications
- Medicine
- Transportation
Minor
Featured Alumni
Achievements
Find out what our students, faculty, and staff are being recognized for.
Lily Yassemi
Computer Science
Award Winner: Lily Yassemi
Co-Curricular: Outstanding Student of the Year
Lily Yassemi was nominated by Michelle Gledhill and Victoria Petrillo for the Outstanding Student of the Year award in the co-curricular category.
Lily is the Founder and President of the Society of Women in STEM Humboldt organization and has been the President of the Computer Science Club at Cal Poly Humboldt. Lily is a trailblazer at Cal Poly Humboldt, demonstrating an exceptional balance between academic excellence, leadership, and extracurricular involvement.
It both clubs she raises funds through grassroots efforts and has produced rapid growth in club membership. In Society of Women in STEM club Lily has built a supportive community with resources and networking. For Computer Science club, Lily has organized industry talks, developed and led technical workshops, and facilitated networking opportunities that have helped students round out their education and build professional connections. She also brings an exciting and engaging mix of activities to the club’s meetings like workshops where students learn how to make their own apps.
She led the club’s participation in the prestigious International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), a globally recognized competition, where Cal Poly Humboldt achieved a top-10 placement—the first time the university has appeared on the ICPC global leaderboard. Lily also spearheaded the development of Hackathon for Social Good, an ambitious event that will bring students together to solve real-world challenges proposed by local non-profits.
Lily pours an extraordinary amount of time and energy into her work. Between leading two STEM-focused academic organizations, organizing high-impact events, and ensuring meaningful opportunities for students, she has made a lasting impact on both the campus and the broader community.
Congratulations Lily!
Cheyenne Ty
Computer Science
Award Winner: Cheyenne Ty
Academics & Research: Outstanding Student of the Year
Cheyenne Ty was nominated by Sharon Tuttle and Kamila Larripa for the Outstanding Student of the Year award in the academics & research category.
Kami invited Cheyenne in Fall 2023 to join her National Science Foundation-funded project using mathematical models to investigate the impact of dysfunctional immune cells in the brain. A colleague gave her a very high recommendation after she took a mathematical proofs course with him.
Cheyenne has been the most outstanding undergraduate researcher I have worked with. She quickly came up to speed, devouring large volumes of peer-reviewed biological papers without a background in biology, learned a new coding language and became the expert coder in the group, and contributed a great deal to writing a manuscript, making figures, and overall project management in the first year together. She represented our group by presenting our project at the CSU Research Competition in April 2024. We published a paper from this work, and Cheyenne was with me every step of the way in terms of contributions, writing, revising and organizing supplemental material to be in line with best practices in reproducible research. She is the first author on this paper due to her excellent work.
We are in our second year together of the same project, and have welcomed three new students into the lab group. Cheyenne has stepped into a mentorship role, and continues to push the project ahead with her independence and self-motivation. She is able to explain the necessary biology to our new lab members as well as I can. We are now adding metabolic pathways to our model, and Cheyenne again is delving into the biology and translating mechanisms into code and running simulations. She is a wonderful role model for more junior lab members, and someone I can absolutely count on to contribute to the project with both her work ethic and scientific insights.
Cheyenne has two peer-reviewed publications (one as a first author) and has presented at multiple scientific conferences. This level of activity is quite extraordinary for an undergraduate student.
Her contribution to research projects in the areas of literature review, machine learning experiments, statistical and computational analysis, and programming has been exceptional. As a diligent student with a passion for both mathematics and computer science, her professionalism that surpasses her peers.
Congratulations Cheyenne!!
Kay Vargas and Dr. Sherrene Bogle
Computer Science
The NSF funded ACOSUS project has received another peer reviewed acceptance to present their findings in Phoenix Arizona at the Decision Sciences Institute Annual Conference. This publication includes Kay Vargas, a recent CS graduate now pursuing a PhD at University of California, Santa Cruz and research assistant of Dr. Sherrene Bogle.
The citation is below:
Standfast*, J., Franco*, J., Carabello*, R., Vargas*, K., Wan, Y., Wang, X., Bogle, S., Aggarwal, P., & Rayana, S., (2024) Deciding on a College Transfer: Uncovering Transition Queries and Concerns via Reddit Topic Modeling, DSI Annual Conference November 2024 Status = ACCEPTED