Computer Science
Develop the technical, analytical and ethical skills to build the technologies shaping our world.
About the computer Science Program
Sensors, smart phones, and software development
Technology permeates almost every activity in our lives, and arguably, this revolution has been propelled by advances in computing technologies. As Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of C++ states: “Our civilization runs on software.” From software development, information technology, small sensors and smart phones to super computers and cloud technologies, at the core of this revolution are the advancements in software and hardware.
The UST Bachelor of Science in Computer Science program prepares students for careers in technology, equipping them with a vast skillset including:
- Programming, data structures, and algorithms analysis
- Software development and engineering
- Computer architecture, IoT, and sensors
- Networking and security
- Operating Systems and cloud computing
- Databases, distributed systems, and data science
- Mathematics and statistics
- Research experiences and capstone projects
Student Opportunities
Explore topics in technology
In addition to the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, students may pursue a double major in Mathematics or minors in Applied Statistics, Data Analytics or Mathematics. Students may also take the opportunity to explore the following topics:
- AI Uses and Mathematical Underpinnings
- Internet of Things/Sensor Integration
- Data Science and Cloud Computing
- Computer Engineering
- Data Analytics/Visualization
- Computer Science students also have access to several UST activities and resources.
- Celts Computing Club (C3)
- Invited Speaker Series
- Capstone Projects, Research, and Internships
- Hackathons
- Field Experiences
Synergistic Collaborations
Collaborate with Esteemed Faculty
The UST Computer Science program engages faculty and students in collaborative projects, including:
In Biology and Computational Biology
In Collaboration with Dr. Albert Ribes-Zamora and Dr. Maia Larios, Biology Department and funded by the National Science Foundation (Award No. 2131293)
Protein Search Engine (mcdMiner)
This project builds from previous work identifying motifs of amino acids in protein domains. We want to link structural, evolutionary, and ontological information along with high-intensive computational analyses, including mining the genome to establish more functional and structurally driven protein domain definitions.
Characterizing Viral Communities Carried by Mosquitos in Houston (bioAqueduct)
Mosquitos are known vectors for viral diseases. This project aims at learning more about the viral strains carried by mosquitos. Collected samples from locations in Houston are catalogued by species using morphological characteristics and DNA barcoding. Using metagenomics, a method that computationally analyzes entire sequenced genetic samples, viral sequences are identified.
Image Segmentation and Analytics
Leveraging distributed data processing pipelines and image recognition methods, this collaboration with Nautical Archaeologists and Computer Scientists in Portugal and Texas A&M University seeks to improving the indexing and retrieval of centuries-old technical documents used in the reconstruction of sunken ships and archaeological excavations. A second prong is the study and development of algorithms and systems applied to rangeland maps, in collaboration with Dr. Humberto Perotto from the Landscape Ecology and Drones Lab at Texas A&M University.
Philosophy and Business
In collaboration with Dr. Elham Mousavidin, Cameron School of Business School, and Dr. Mirela Oliva,Department of Philosophy
Given the potential negative impacts of technology and machine learning in society, we leverage UST’s strong liberal arts and Catholic identities to address these issues. We work with the Cameron School of Business and our Philosophy Department to investigate, develop, and evaluate a framework for incorporating ethical principles such as transparency and fairness into algorithms used in analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
Digital Humanities
In collaboration with Dr. Andrew Hayes, Department of Theology, and Dr. Francesca Guerri, Department of History
Computational tools and methods are applied to disciplines such as art, literature, history, and philosophy. Digital humanities dates back to the 1940s with the pioneering work of Jesuit scholar Fr. Roberto Busa, who created the Index Thomisticus, a computer-generated concordance of St. Thomas Aquinas‘ Summa Theologiae.
Meta-analysis and Ancient Texts
Dr. Andrew Hayes, who works on ancient texts written in Syriac around the IV century, guides this project which conducts meta-analysis of the corpus of the poetry of St. Ephrem the Syrian using natural language processing (NLP) and other computational linguistic methods.
History and Visualization
In the realm of Medieval History, Dr. Francesca Guerri guides students to incorporate computational methods along with visualization interfaces to explore and disseminate the life and works of Matilda of Tuscany (XI century). Written in Latin, Matilda’s letters illustrate critical historical events related to the Papacy and the role of women in politics and governance in the Middle Ages.
Technology and Society
Another area of significance and value is the application of technology to solve intractable social issues. Despite recent developments in information archival and sharing, driven by connected cell phones, IoT-enabled services, and sensors, their potential has yet to be fully leveraged for addressing social issues. Among areas of interest are quality of life improvement with a humanistic approach and modern integrated farms, addressing food security, improving farming processes, reducing energy consumption and waste, and fostering sustainability.
student success
Innovative learning anchored in real life
The University of St. Thomas Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree is based on an innovative pedagogy anchored in a situated learning and socio-technical frameworks.
Our program offers a holistic learning experience enriched by allowing students to work with real cases, problems, and datasets. This sparks interest and curiosity in different sub-domains of computer science and deepens the understanding of how things work and why they work in certain ways. The socio-technical science perspective emphasizes the interconnections between people and technology. This perspective complements the situated learning framework and provides a solid connection between the theoretical foundations of computer science and its applicability to solve concrete problems. Aligned with UST’s strong liberal arts identity and core curriculum, current ethical implications of computing technologies such as AI, algorithmic fairness, access to technology, and their societal impact are ingrained in our curriculum, broaden the students’ future professional careers.