Tennessee Tech University Department of Computer Science Blog

So it’s already the week before finals, “Dead Week”. Now I’m sitting here wondering how the heck did I get here and where did all that time go.  I haven’t had much a problem with any of my classes. I’ve enjoyed all of them thoroughly from gen-ed courses like English 1020 to CSC 1200. I’ve enjoyed doing the various group work assignments, projects, and presentations. For example, in CSC 1200 we have had a few group projects where we were assigned to created programs in SNAP! and App Inventor. I’ve enjoyed learning how to work on team projects and collaborating with my team mates. I’ve also enjoyed CSC 1200, in general, because I like Professor Ford’s teaching style and him as a person. The way he presents and examples he uses makes the material easy and enjoyable to learn/understand.

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Innovation is the crucial gear that drives engineering and technological revolution alike. Through innovation, the world has seen major breakthroughs in science and research in the past and the present. The curious aspect of innovation is that it makes it extremely hard to predict the future needs and wants of people. Take for instance the internet. Pre-internet, engineers would not have expected to people to need so much technology in their life. Post-internet, engineers could not imagine creating something that is not in some way related to connectivity or communication one way or another. In this way, predictions that were made for the class of 2020 concerning curriculum and research more than 5 years ago are simply not true to reality. Innovation in the world has formed wall that keeps us blind to the future.

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It was 3 AM when I woke up on August 7, 2012, to catch my 30-hour flight to the United States. It was not a big deal to wake up that early. Rather, I was a little worried about my next 5 years. Alright, let’s be real – I was terrified to leave home for a country with a completely different culture, mentality, and language. But the decision was made and I was flying to Cookeville, TN to pursue my Master’s degree in Computer Science. Cookeville… A little town – in the middle of nowhere – it really soon became my second home.

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First, I shall start off by saying that I grew up on watching crime dramas. I’ve always been a “mind over matter” kind of guy. I like the problem solving, the logic, understanding the human nature side of things, etc. I think deep down I enjoyed most the fact that the good guy stopped the bad guy because the good guys followed a moral code, an ethical set of rules, a lawful doctrine. It was their job, they were the heroes, not because they wanted to be, but because they had this fire to protect those who could not fight for themselves. So, therefore, I watched a LOT of crime dramas. Law and Order, SVU, CSI, CSI: Miami (my father’s favorite), NCIS, Criminal Minds, Blue Bloods, Psych, House, Leverage, Scorpion (my personal favorite is inspired by a true story of Walter O’Brien’s real life team; it is a high-octane drama about an eccentric genius and his team of brilliant misfits who comprise the last line of defense against high-tech, complex threats of the modern age), and CSI: Cyber; you name it, I’ve probably watched it. It makes sense then that I would grow up wanting to be a detective right? Well, sort of.

[Fig 1. Scene from SCORPION]

This is the first blog that I have ever written that actually matters, that people might actually read. So if my first blog entry is not the best, try not to judge too harshly. I am a freshman, and when I first started classes at Tech as a computer science major, I was skeptical. As a woman in computer science, you hear all the horror stories about the lack of women in our field. Well, they aren’t exactly horror stories, but you hear “encouraging stories” about women in computer science. Things about how there are not many women in computer science, but it is very important for more women to graduate in computer science, which I agree with. But it can be very intimidating to be completely surrounded by men in a field which you practically know nothing about(which was the case for me).
Some things that I was not expecting to find when I nervously chose computer science as my major: extraordinarily friendly professors and grad students, a bunch of dorks just like me, and a really fun time. The professors and staff in this department are amazing. I first talked to Dr. Siraj at the computer science orientation, and she was extremely helpful to me and just a completely comfortable person to be around. Dr. Gannod was also super helpful, and he is the one got me this great blogging opportunity in the first place! Mr. Ford, my teacher for Principles of Computing, has been super great with helping me learn how to use snap and learn all the basic things that most of the people I share class with already know. So thank you to all the staff members who have helped me so far.

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There is a transition phase in the first two weeks for every freshman, as a freshman you have just gone from a senior who knew all the ins and outs of their high school to a young-ling freshmen. Walking into a whole new dark cold mystical world called college – more specifically, TTU. Time doesn’t stop for anyone – it is what is happening every day as life goes tick tock. We are almost a month into when I first arrived on campus as a freshman. The only other time I was here was for orientation. Now three weeks later I have become so independent it is a miracle that I would not have ever imagined before.

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