Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Department

Where else can you go where you can get real-world experience in the classroom and then work for Fortune 500 companies, large private organizations, non-profits or mission organizations? Where else can you go that will offer you studies in systems, new media, missions…and in a state-of-the-art science complex? And let’s not forget that you will be attending a university that has been ranked number one in the Midwest by U.S. News and World Report for 6 years in a row.

Most important, there is nowhere else you can go where the faculty will be as intentional in knowing you and helping you build your faith. You will learn to think critically, ethically and theologically about the work that you will do no matter where God places you after graduation. We prepare you for the next 40+ years of your life…not just the 4 years you spend at Taylor. Don’t believe us? Please read testimonies from current students and alumni about the experience they had at Taylor in the CSE department.

Have questions? Please contact Dr. Art White, Faculty Chair of the CSE department!

Other information:

Competitions:

• ACM East Central North American Regional Programming Competition – The most prestigious is the ACM regional contest for East Central North America. We compete against teams that place extremely well in the following international competition, including the University of Waterloo (Toronto), the University of Michigan, and Carnegie Mellon University. Typically, we finish in the top quarter of teams and 8th (2002), 10th (2008), and 14th (2007) place finishes in the past 10 years. 
  This competition is well known throughout the computing industry and includes over a hundred teams from our region and thousands of teams from other regions. Each region holds a local competition in the fall; the top two or three teams from each region compete in an international competition the following spring.
• CSCC Competition – Taylor University participates in a smaller regional contest held in conjunction with the Midwest meeting of the Corsortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. We have historically done very well in this competition usually finishing in the top two positions.  Additionally, since 2006 we have provided the software and expertise to run this competition.
• Taylor University Programming Competition - In the past, Taylor has hosted an open competition and opened it to other Indiana schools as well as other Christian colleges and universities. The Indiana schools came to participate on site and the Christian colleges participated via the web. We have historically done quite well in this competition as well. The most recent instance of this competition was in 2009. As might be expected, we use our home-grown software to host this competition as well and receive similar positive feedback during this competition.

Internship Opportunities:

Internships provide CSE majors with the opportunity to apply their learning in job situations in industry, software start-ups, corporations and missions organizations. Our interns generally get great reviews from employers who cite both their technical knowledge, their interpersonal skills, and their sense of responsibility. Many interns are told that a position is available for them upon graduation, if they so choose. See what employers have said about CSE interns.

Projects:

All CSE students work on real-world projects. In a group environment. We feel it is pivotal that students learn how to work in groups to get work done, because that is how work is done in the real world. We prepare you to problem-solve people issues and technology issues.

To see a list of the projects that we have worked on, please click here. 

Travel Opportunities:

• Missions – In partnership with the Taylor Center for Missions Computing, CSE students can use and develop their computing skills while serving the Kingdom. J-term of 2011, for example, saw a CSE team travel to Carlisle, England to serve at Operation Mobilization (OM), contributing directly to a complex software system that will help operate and manage OM's global ministry. This trip echoed CSE's very first missions computing trip: a 1979 project aboard one of OM's missions ships. Again in 2013, CSE expects to send a team of between eight and twelve students to serve at OM during J-term.
• Business as Missions - Taylor CSE and Systems students have been increasingly involved in Business as Mission (BAM) opportunities over the past few years. Recently, a Systems student completed his internship at one such organization in an Asian country. Back on campus the following fall, his experience allowed CSE students to design and prototype inventory control and ordering software for the BAM organization.
• Lighthouse - Students are highly encouraged to participate in a J-Term Lighthouse trip. These 3-week missions trips go all over the world. Students engage in service projects, compassionate ministries, community development, teaching English, performing arts, leadership development, evangelism, discipleship and other ministries under the direction of faculty sponsors and international hosts. Two dozen recent Lighthouse destinations include: India, the Czech Republic, Paraguay, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Southeast Asia, Ecuador, Singapore and Thailand.

Outside of the classroom experiences:

• Community Service - CSE is regularly involved in service to the community, both locally and globally. For example, CSE students and a faculty advisor created the Books for Bingham project, an initiative to collect and donate several pallets of books and computers for a fledgling Christian college in Nigeria. Locally, CSE supports the community by contributing computers, network equipment, and the expertise of faculty and students to schools like The King's Academy, a nearby Christian academy for K-12 students.
• Personality of the CSE community - Find the Dungeon Monkey. What? Really? Yes!! Watch this video!