When organizers for a summer research program for undergraduates in the College of Engineering and Applied Science sent out invitations earlier this year, they probably weren鈥檛 expecting an application from South America.
But Florencia Cabral, a student in the online post-baccalaureate in computer science who has been pursuing her degree from Montevideo, Uruguay, decided to take advantage of the opportunity, and spent her summer researching recommender systems with Robin Burke from the Department of Information Science.听听听
鈥淚 think they were kind of surprised that someone from another country had applied to this program, which is targeted to on-campus undergraduate students, but it has been really helpful to have this real-world experience,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great way to bridge being part of the university remotely and getting to know the work being done at the university in person.鈥�
The computer science post-baccalaureate degree is designed for working adults with a previous bachelor鈥檚 degree who are looking to make a career pivot. Students complete 45 credit hours of focused core courses and electives that culminate in a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Computer Science.
After earning her bachelor鈥檚 in psychology from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, Cabral spent four years working for an international development organization in Washington, D.C. Through her work in cybersecurity policy and digital government, she was reminded of how much she had enjoyed the computer science courses she had taken in college.
鈥淚 was intimidated to pursue a computer science major while in college,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut after working for a few years, I decided I wanted to go into a more technical role and became very motivated to go back to school.鈥�
Cabral said she鈥檚 especially interested in artificial intelligence and is looking forward to the new AI electives being added to the curriculum. She鈥檚 considering going on to graduate school to specialize in the topic.
鈥淎I has such a huge implication for society, and it will increasingly affect public policy,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he organization I was in was always looking for ways to incorporate new technologies in development projects, and there is generally a huge movement for innovation in that field.鈥�
Before applying to the post-baccalaureate, Cabral said she spent time researching various computer science programs, including coding bootcamps and online degrees at other universities. She ultimately chose CU Boulder based on reputation, as well as both the flexibility and rigor of the program.听听
鈥淚t was better than a bootcamp for me because I didn鈥檛 want to be pressured for six months just to learn the basics and then have to learn important concepts on the job,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 chose to spend more time on my studies and come out with a solid foundation in computer science theory.鈥澨�
Cabral hadn鈥檛 taken much math in college, so she completed a self-paced calculus preparation course the summer before applying to the program. With that course under her belt, she has found the program鈥檚 math-based coursework very manageable.
鈥淭he discrete structures course was a lot more fun and useful than I expected, and I found myself applying a lot of the concepts in my algorithms class later on,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his program makes you realize you don鈥檛 need to be a genius in math to learn computer science.鈥�
So far, one of her favorite classes has been algorithms, partly because the coursework felt like solving puzzles.
鈥淚t was very challenging, but what was great about it was thinking in a very theoretical level about how to apply computer science concepts to solving a variety of problems,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have a lot of 鈥榚ureka鈥� moments where you think 鈥極h, yes, I can use this structure in this creative way to solve this problem.鈥� It can be a lot of fun.鈥�
And while she鈥檚 usually several thousand miles away from her classmates, Cabral said she doesn鈥檛 feel disconnected, thanks to discussion forums and regular meetings with instructors.听听
鈥淭he professors have scheduled office hours twice a week through Zoom, where you can come in and talk to them about anything you want, from homework to the industry in general,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou never really feel alone or left behind.鈥�