Rutgers Emerging Scholars in Computer Science program is under the supervision of Professor of Computer Science, Dr. Barbara G. Ryder, in cooperation with Dr. Pradip Hari, co-ordinator for Introduction to Computer Science (CS111).
We recruit students for the Rutgers program over the summer (and over winter break) by selection, in coordination with the dean's offices of each of Rutgers, Douglass, and Livingston Colleges. We especially are looking for students from groups underrepresented in Computer Science (i.e., women, African-Americans, Latinos), who are calculus-ready, with strong backgrounds in mathematics and science, evidenced by strong SAT Math scores and high school grades, who may not have considered studying Computer Science.
Selected participants will be asked to enroll in CS111, a 4 credit course, and also to enroll in 1 credit of CS293, Independent Study with Prof Barbara Ryder. Participants will be expected to do all the required work in CS111 and in addition, to attend RESCS sessions for 2 hours once a week. RESCS group members will not necessarily all be in the same lecture of CS111, but the course is coordinated to do the same assignments and tests across all the lectures, so all participants will be studying the same curriculum.
There will be some extracurricular events each semester for RESCS particpants and also former participants. We expect to hold a career night each semester featuring recent Rutgers CS graduates who work in nearby companies. There also will be some social, networking events.
CS111 is the introduction course to the Computer Science major. It is also a required course for Math majors and many of the science majors at Rutgers. The RESCS program presents material that is supplemental to the skills and ideas taught in CS111.
The goal of the program is to attract and retain members of currently underrepresented groups to Computer Science. Clearly, then, we hope that you seriously consider becoming a Computer Science major if you agree to participate. However, we understand that some RESCS participants may not choose to become a Computer Science major.
Yes, Computer Science is an interdisciplinary field so that studying it in tandem with another interest area really makes sense. You should talk about this with your academic dean when coming to Rutgers.
No. We are assuming no prior programming experience. In CS111 you will not only learn how to program, but also study problem solving and key ideas in computing.