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Seminar Schedule

We bring in a variety of speakers to campus to talk about things that might not normally be covered in our classes.

When possible, these seminars are recorded and made available to current students and faculty/staff in this Google Drive folder (requires 1Hope login).

Unless otherwise noted, all seminars take place from 11–11:50 a.m. in VanderWerf room 102.

Spring 2024

February 8 — Jonathan Chaffer, Claire Lundy, Anna Prins and Ryan Vandenberg

Recent alumni Jonathan Chaffer, Claire Lundy, Anna Prins and Ryan Vandenberg discuss what they have learned during their first years on the job

February 15 — Hope students and faculty

Group development of Hope College policies on appropriate use of generative AI by students in computer science classes.

This seminar will take place in the Granberg Room on the 2nd floor of Van Wylen Library.

February 29 — Aaron Green

Aaron Green, Ph.D. candidate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will give a talk titled The Origins of ChatGPT: An Intro to Large Language Models.

March 21 — Dr. Herb Dershem

Dr. Dershem was one of the founding members of the Hope Department of Computer Science, and he will give a talk titled Voronoi Diagrams.

This talk will explore the fascinating concept of Voronoi Diagrams. These simple
geometrical objects provide an elegant tool for solving problems in many different fields, from computer science to mathematics to geology to architecture. They also provide a foundation for many fundamental concepts in computer science and help us to visualize and understand the natural world around us.

April 4 — Cole Watson, SolidCircle

Cole's talk is titled From Intern to Owner and the lessons learned along the way.

In this talk Cole will go through the journey that took him from a part time summer intern to business owner and all the important lessons he learned along the way (and is still learning).

He will share insights into how he has wrestled (and still does) with the idea of mission, purpose, and calling and how that plays into his business. He hopes to inspire you to to think more deeply about your passions, purpose, and the work you do so that you can make an impact no matter where life takes you.

April 18 — Carmen Rodriguez, MillerKnoll

Carmen will give a talk titled A Friendly Introduction to Cloud Computing.

In this talk, she will introduce cloud computing to understand its fundamental concepts
and practical applications. Cloud computing is an important part of IT infrastructure,
revolutionizing the way businesses run and scale their operations. We will explore its core principles such as on-demand resource allocation, scalability, reliability and pay-as-you-go pricing models. Although there are several cloud service providers, we will focus on Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the leading providers globally. We will learn about the different services that AWS has to offer, ranging from compute and storage to networking and machine learning. With so many available services, learning about the cloud can be overwhelming. This friendly guide will allow you to demystify the world of cloud computing.

April 25 — Senior Capstone Project Showcase — 4–6 p.m.

Students from CSCI 481/482 will demonstrate the projects Holland Walking Tour and I’m Here during this showcase. Students will demonstrate their work in the hallway outside Van Zoeren 142.