Computer Science Research & Activities
As a computer science major at Cornell, you are encouraged to pursue summer research, internships, or individual projects, and students frequently graduate from Cornell with impressive resumes. Letters of recommendation are a key to making successful applications for internships and employment. Department faculty will come to know you well and are able to write detailed, persuasive letters of recommendation based on your interests and abilities.
The department offers many additional opportunities for you to engage in computer science outside the classroom, including International Collegiate Programming competitions, travel to professional meetings, visits to local industries, and connections with alumni.
Research projects
Alex Hubers studied robots and privacy issues with Professor Ross Sowell, then presented their results at a Human-Robot Interaction Conference in Portland, Oregon. Read more about Huber's research on human-robot interaction.
Robots and privacy
In his research with students during summers and the school year, Professor Ross Sowell explores the implications of allowing a remote operator to control a robot in a private space, such as a home or office. The goal is to create a set of programmatic building blocks that meet the privacy expectations people have for their interactions with remotely operated devices.
Off-campus research
Students also frequently land research placements at larger institutions. Recent research projects completed beyond campus include:
- Linux kernel vulnerabilities, Carnegie Mellon University
- Biochemistry statistics, George Mason University
- Human-robotic interaction, Oregon State University
- Data quality sensing on Android devices, University of California, Irvine
- Agent-based modeling, University of Tokyo
- Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley
- Data visualization, Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland
- Computer security, Dartmouth College
Student Symposium
The annual Cornell Student Symposium provides an opportunity for you to present the results of your research, internship, or independent projects to the wider Cornell community. View abstracts of recent presentations.
International Collegiate Programming Contest
Cornell regularly fields teams at the regional level of the International Collegiate Programming Contest.
IEEE Meetings
Students and professors frequently join meetings of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a professional society, in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. We enjoy dinner and conversation with software engineers, physicists, and electrical engineers who work for the region's high technology firms. We also hear lectures on interesting topics, such as:
- University of Iowa Professor Joe Kearney: "Building Simulators and Using Simulators to Study Human Behavior."
- University of Iowa Professor Alberto Segre: "Medical Informatics: Privacy Preservation—Challenges & Innovations."
- University of Iowa Professor Doug Jones: "Elections and Electronic Voting Machines."
- Clemson University's Professor Michael Pursley: "Protocols for Adaptive Modulation and Coding in Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks."