Summer Practicum In Computer Science

2023: May 30- July 21

Be part of a team developing useful software for a real customer.

Students will have the opportunity to develop software in small teams for a customer. The goal of the summer will be to develop good professional and spiritual habits and to prepare for future internships in the industry. This program is specially designed for rising juniors.

Curriculum

Students will work in teams on a project for a real customer with clear needs. Most of the time will be focused on understanding, designing, coding, testing, and refining solutions for those customer needs. Industry partners will help mentor the teams and provide deep expertise in relevant technologies.

Leadership

Jonathan Senning, Ph.D., and Russ Tuck, Ph.D., both Professors of Computer Science at Gordon College, lead the program. Dr. Senning is an outstanding teacher and expert in scientific computing. Dr. Tuck helped launch Gmail and led several software development teams at Google. The program is roughly modeled on Google’s Engineering Practicum Internships.

Past Years' Projects:

Gordon 360 is a student-focused website that provides easy access to meal plan balance, chapel credits, upcoming events, and the campus directory. It also documents students’ activities, honors, and leadership roles. It was created in the first practicum and improved in each practicum since. It is entirely student-developed. Students have rewritten the front-end code to use React, added many features, and made it a progressive web app (PWA).

JES4PY is an essential tool for teaching CPS 121 Introduction to Programming at Gordon. It enables us to keep using an excellent textbook, but with the latest versions of Python and programming tools.

Housing, Food, Worship, and Fun

Students will be housed on campus at Gordon College, with dinners provided in Lane Student Center and access to a kitchen for breakfast and lunch. Rides to local churches are available, and there will be some fun activities. The North Shore is beautiful in the summer, with beaches and rocky coast, parks and ponds and Boston nearby.

Enjoying the view after hiking up Mt. Kearsarge

Tuition and Scholarships

Some full scholarships, including a stipend up to $5000, and partial scholarships are available. Gordon students are eligible for four hours of internship credit. The program cost, which includes tuition, housing, and dinners, is $7,500. (Non-Gordon students should apply for financial aid from their own school first, but limited financial aid from Gordon may be available.)