My Field of Study

Of the seemingly infinite fields of study, computer science is the field I've chosen to study. In this post, I'll elaborate on what computer science is, what kinds of jobs exist in the field, why I chose computer science, who the leaders in the field are, and what the leading scholarly journals are in the field.

Within the computer science major, students learn to program algorithmic processes that have large scale implications in using computers and a wide variety of other technology. Students also learn about the actual theory behind programming and developing computational systems.

 In other words, we learn how to make computers do things for us.

wiredforlego, "LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 7 : Computer Programmer", 4/19/2012 via Flickr, Attribution-ShareAlike2.0 Generic License

After earning a degree in computer science, there are a myriad of careers a computer science major typically go into.

Many go on to become computer programmers at all different kinds of companies. Others will work on developing actual computer parts that will change the way computers work all together. Some will develop their own software to sell over the internet. Nearly all the career paths computer scientists take will involve some elements of software or hardware development.

In such a broad field, countless computer scientists are pushing the boundaries of what computers can do. A group of five scholars known as the Siebel scholars are each pursuing a unique and intriguing aspect in computer science.

Thiago Pereira, one of the Siebal scholars, is focused  on designing the mechanics to optimize 3D printing. He is currently testing various uses of light reflection and scattering on surfaces to improve our current 3D printing techniques.

Another Siebal scholar, Omri Weinstein, is focused on researching interactive communication in relation to security and economics. Weinstein's work led to a breakthrough in several areas of communication, specifically in parallel computation and secure multiparty computation.

Of course, with such an enormous field of study, there must be central outlets used to communicate the most recent research and findings.

IBM Journal of Research and Development published on ieeexplore.ieee.org is one of the leading sources for up to date information on all aspects of computer science.

The IEEE Transactions on Information Theory is another journal published on  ieeexplore.ieee.org that focuses on papers concerning the transmission, processing, and use of information theory.

The online journal Computer Vision and Image Understanding published on www.elsevier.com focuses on original research papers regarding theory of algorithms and formal languages.

And that's a quick overview of my field of study.

EDIT:

After reading some of my classmates posts, specifically Laurence's and Chelsea's, I realized how important it is to find your professional passion. Both of these writers expressed great interest in their respective fields, and that inspired me to find exactly what I want to do within computer science. I also realized how closely related computer science is to many other fields. Both Laurence's interest in mechanical engineering and Chelsea's interest in Biosystems engineering will inevitably involve the use of computers and programmable technology. All of our fields have a connection to one another, as I may be the person programming their inventions in 20 years!