Aloha !

Welcome to the Web page for the Computer Science Department at the University of Hawaii at Hilo! We hope you enjoy browsing.

You may have heard

There's no future in Computer Science or Information Technology - all the jobs are overseas. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The U.S. Labor Department predicts a 55% growth rate by 2012 in the computer job market compared to 16% for the economy as a whole.
Computer science people are all geeks who work alone with their computers. Nope - computer scientists are problem solvers who use the computer as a tool. Today's projects involve teams of people and include customers from other fields. People skills are just as important as technical skills.
Computer science is all about writing computer programs. Many people in computer science write computer programs. But many people design databases, manage computer networks, establish computer security policies, design computer video games, supervise project teams, write user manuals, use computer graphics to produce artwork, create movie special effects, work with biologists, physicists, astronomers, economists, geographers, marine scientists, business people, archaeologists, historians, linguists, etc., to solve important problems in these fields....
Computer science is hard. It isn't the easiest major. But if you enjoy solving problems, logical thinking, and working with people, give it a try!

Our department offers a B.S. degree in Computer Science. Our program includes lots of math, science, and liberal arts as well as computer science. In your first year as a CS student you'll begin with an overview of the field of computer science, and then move into computer programming. As you continue you will learn much more than programming - things like the study of algorithms (step-by-step procedures) to solve problems, how the computer itself is organized, how the system software that "drives" the computer works, the mathematical theory underlying computer science, how to design and implement databases, and the evolving issues in computer networking. Among the important attributes of a professional computer scientist today are communication skills and the ability to contribute in a team development environment. Our program requires a technical writing course, an oral communication course, and a one year senior-level computer science course where you work with a team to take a project for a real customer through all of the phases of software development. In addition, our senior "professionalism" course covers career planning, interactions with others on the job, ethics and professional responsibility, and even gives you individual job interview practice.

Graduates of our program have pursued technical careers both here in Hawaii and on the mainland; some have chosen to further their education through graduate school.

The University of Hawaii at Hilo prides itself on excellent teaching and, because of the size of the school, the ability to know each and every student. In computer science you will have many opportunities to interact with faculty through small classes and independent projects. To sum up our department: we truly know and care about each and every one of our students, we work hard to provide them with a technically challenging and up-to-date degree program, and we try our best to help them be successful. We invite you to join us.

Plumeria Blossoms Finally, we are in Hawaii - land of sun, rain, flowers, mountains, oceans, volcanoes, surfing, camping, hiking, and many other activities that guarantee you a good time when you're not studying. What's not to like?