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A few (but not all!) of our events and initiatives.
STEAM Diversi-Tea! Social
Together with Prof. Harmon, the Native American Student Association partnered with affinity groups across the College to create a space for students interested in STEAM to network with faculty, staff, and alumni representing many disciplines and ideas. It was a full house!
A New First: Bowdoin Students Attend the Tapia Conference
BWiCS participants attended GHC with Prof. Harmon again this year - and for the first time, Bowdoin students also received funding to attend the ACM/CMD-IT Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference, an initiative organized by Prof. Harmon. Discover what they had to say about their experiences.
Designing a Flying Car
Photo from Zeynep TunaZeynep Tuna used her human-computer interaction knowledge as an intern this summer to help a startup company build Turkey's first flying car. Read about her internship, or hear Zeynep tell her story of how she became an engineer.
Making Music with Machines
How can computers be effective musical storytellers? As it turns out, computational creativity techniques can be used to help evoke phases of emotional and semantic content. Prof. Harmon led a BWiCS-sponsored workshop on musical metacreation research and taught students how they could make their own music by writing code.
Want to refresh your knowledge of recursion? Check out Bass Case by Jack O'Connor and Sam Langan '20. This song was made with code to inspire the CSCI 1101 students.
Strengthening Our Computer Science Community
Our amazing BWiCS and SCCS organizations are on a roll, hosting all kinds of events for students to learn about CS courses and research! This week, Prof. Harmon and upper-level CS students shared thoughts on honors projects, building a technical portfolio, and opportunities in computational creativity research and mathematical modeling. Pictured: First year Thando Khumalo '23 (left) and BWiCS leader Jigyasa Subedi '22 (right) fry up pancakes for fellow Bowdoin Women in Computer Science over the weekend.
Sharing Research at the President's Symposium
Sophomores Camilo and Michelle shared the results of their human-computer interaction research with students, faculty, and families at the President's Summer Research Symposium.
Celebrating #DiversityInTech
Bowdoin's largest group yet - 23 undergraduates - traveled with Professor Harmon to the annual Grace Hopper Convention in Orlando, Florida. Students got to know their favorite tech companies, interviewed for jobs, and decided on their next career moves.
Bowdoin's First Escape Room
Photo by Mackenzie SchaferProf. Harmon and Mackenzie Schafer '19 designed an escape room challenge for computer science students to practice their teamwork and problem-solving skills outside of class. Friends and strangers helped each other solve puzzles in a race against time to save Bowdoin from disaster. Good work, master problem-solvers - the campus is safe thanks to you!
Bowdoin-Colby-Bates Hackathon
Photo by Yuxuan WangCongratulations to all participants in our 2019 Hackathon! This year's theme was game design and we had a fantastic turnout from all three schools. Pictured: First place winners Nick Cattaneo '21, our own Dani Hove '20, and Dylan Hayton-Ruffner '20, alongside judges from Bowdoin and Activision (Stephen Houser, Michael Vance, Wade Brainerd, Prof. Harmon, and Aki Hogge).
Joining an Inspiring Community of Tech Leaders
Photos by Bowdoin Women in Computer Science (left) and The Bowdoin Orient (right)Prof. Harmon traveled to Houston along with other Bowdoin students in computer science to share thoughts on STEM, gender, and empowerment. It was a great chance to meet up with Bowdoin alums, learn about pursuing technical careers, and even find job opportunities!
Isaac's Journey
Photo by Bowdoin CollegeCheck out how our own Isaac Kabuika ('20) is building an IT learning program for African immigrants.
A Picnic with Friends
Summer is here! We took a break from writing code to donate food to charity and join our fellow Bowdoin researchers in an all-campus picnic.
Undergrads Compete to Improve Life at Bowdoin and Beyond
Beleicia Bullock ('19) and Bolor-Erdene Jagdagdorj ('19) received the grand prize for their human-computer interaction research toward supporting student-alumni connections. Bolor, Michelle Albright ('18), Grace Mallett ('18), and Phillip Wang ('18) were also recognized with an audience choice award for creative rapid prototype development under time pressure.
Learning by Doing
Over 300 Bowdoin students participated in the human-computer interaction studies we conducted this spring! By doing so, they contributed knowledge toward improving our campus. They also learned about what studying computer science is like from meeting with Bowdoin CS majors and minors, and even how they might conduct their own research.
Networking at GHC
Photo by Rachel ZafrenThis year, thirteen Bowdoin students traveled to the Grace Hopper Conference - the largest gathering of women in tech. We learned a lot, got job offers, and heard from some great keynote speakers.