About the designer
Hey there! My name is Josh Leach and I'm from a tiny town in Wisconsin called Elmwood. I'm a Math and Computer Science double major in my senior year at St. Norbert College. The purpose of this website is to be a place to collect my thoughts and detail my journey during my Capstone project for the Computer Science major.
Why I chose CS
Coming into St. Norbert, I was a Biology Major only taking one math class(for a core credit). I ended up really enjoying that math class and my high school teachers always told me I was good at math, so I took that as a different route when I ended up not enjoying Biology as much as I thought I would. Second semester of freshman year (now in pursuit of a math major), I took CS 110 because it's required for the Math major. In High school, I thought I would never be a CS kid or a coder, it just didn't seem like something I'd enjoy doing. I ended up really enjoying the class, even showing my roommate the games we were making. With the math major, they encourage you to find another related subject to minor in and since I enjoyed CS so much, I continued with it! Once I kept liking the classes, I figured I was close enough to the major, I'd just stick with it!
Resume & Career Plans (up to date as of May 8th, 2019)
joshleach_resume_may2019.docx |
For career plans, I currently do not have anything lined up, but I'm hoping to go into the programming field.
SNC Computer Science Mission Statement
The computer science discipline strives to support the mission of St. Norbert College. To this end, the discipline is
committed to providing a curriculum that is intellectually challenging, preparing graduates to understand both the
fundamental concepts in computing as well as the computing profession within the context of a larger society.
The discipline recognizes the need to develop an awareness of the cultural, social, legal and ethical issues inherent in
the discipline of computer science. The major program personally and morally challenges students to share values
found in computing professions. The special focus given to continual learning, as part of a liberal arts education and
the computer science curriculum, provides a strong foundation for lifelong learning and development necessary to
stay current in computer science.
The discipline understands and follows the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice
developed by the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Software Engineering Ethics and Professional Practices
within the spiritual environment of the core values central to the mission of the College. Here is an informal
summary of its principles:
Be impartial.
Disclose information that others ought to know.
Respect the rights of others.
Treat others justly.
Take responsibility for your actions and inactions.
Take responsibility for the actions of those you supervise.
Maintain integrity.
Continually improve your abilities.
Share knowledge, expertise and values.
The computer science discipline recognizes the importance of reflecting the mission and heritage of St. Norbert
College in our courses and in the process of software and computer system development. Students have the
responsibility to do their best in all course work and projects. Students have a responsibility to design correct
software solutions that consider the needs of diverse groups of users. Project team members have a responsibility to
respect the unique talents of individual members while working towards common goals. Both computer science
faculty and students have the responsibility not only to adapt to changes in technology but also to serve as gentle
change agents to assist others in the appropriate use of technology.
Computer science faculty and students have a responsibility to be impartial, to maintain our integrity and to account
for our actions and inactions. Because of our roles in developing software systems, we have significant opportunities
to do good, to cause harm or to influence others to do good or cause harm. We have access to private information,
such as health and financial information, as well as information on national security. We have the ability to share
information instantaneously worldwide. We have the ability to develop software systems that make decisions
without human intervention. We continually instruct our students on the need to act with honesty and integrity, to
respect the rights of others, to promote justice and the common good by posing difficult but current questions such
as:
Would my decision hold up to public scrutiny?
How would those least empowered be affected?
What are the ramifications if the system fails to make the correct decision?
What are the moral responsibilities of those posting material online?
The computer science faculty and students embrace this mission statement individually and together as a discipline,
living our program as community in the Norbertine tradition.
committed to providing a curriculum that is intellectually challenging, preparing graduates to understand both the
fundamental concepts in computing as well as the computing profession within the context of a larger society.
The discipline recognizes the need to develop an awareness of the cultural, social, legal and ethical issues inherent in
the discipline of computer science. The major program personally and morally challenges students to share values
found in computing professions. The special focus given to continual learning, as part of a liberal arts education and
the computer science curriculum, provides a strong foundation for lifelong learning and development necessary to
stay current in computer science.
The discipline understands and follows the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice
developed by the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Software Engineering Ethics and Professional Practices
within the spiritual environment of the core values central to the mission of the College. Here is an informal
summary of its principles:
Be impartial.
Disclose information that others ought to know.
Respect the rights of others.
Treat others justly.
Take responsibility for your actions and inactions.
Take responsibility for the actions of those you supervise.
Maintain integrity.
Continually improve your abilities.
Share knowledge, expertise and values.
The computer science discipline recognizes the importance of reflecting the mission and heritage of St. Norbert
College in our courses and in the process of software and computer system development. Students have the
responsibility to do their best in all course work and projects. Students have a responsibility to design correct
software solutions that consider the needs of diverse groups of users. Project team members have a responsibility to
respect the unique talents of individual members while working towards common goals. Both computer science
faculty and students have the responsibility not only to adapt to changes in technology but also to serve as gentle
change agents to assist others in the appropriate use of technology.
Computer science faculty and students have a responsibility to be impartial, to maintain our integrity and to account
for our actions and inactions. Because of our roles in developing software systems, we have significant opportunities
to do good, to cause harm or to influence others to do good or cause harm. We have access to private information,
such as health and financial information, as well as information on national security. We have the ability to share
information instantaneously worldwide. We have the ability to develop software systems that make decisions
without human intervention. We continually instruct our students on the need to act with honesty and integrity, to
respect the rights of others, to promote justice and the common good by posing difficult but current questions such
as:
Would my decision hold up to public scrutiny?
How would those least empowered be affected?
What are the ramifications if the system fails to make the correct decision?
What are the moral responsibilities of those posting material online?
The computer science faculty and students embrace this mission statement individually and together as a discipline,
living our program as community in the Norbertine tradition.