Carter Brownfield

UHON 2000

Dr. ODea

Faculty Interviews

For my faculty interviews, I chose to interview Dr. Farah Kandah and Professor

David Schwab, as both are professors Ive had and am somewhat familiar with. Dr.

Kandahs area of expertise and research mainly deals with network of computers, such

as wireless networks and network performance, and as such does not line up with my

focus area (Data Science) very well. Professor Schwabs area of expertise deals with

security systems, specifically mobile security, which also does not line up well.

However, because Im not entirely set on Data Science, hearing opinions from those

removed from the focus area concerning it and the field as a whole is not a bad thing.

My questions for them were simple: What were their thoughts on the field of Data

Science, and what should I be doing to prepare for the field of Computer Science as a

whole?

Ill start with the second question, as they both answered it in a similar manner.

Both agreed that a major in Computer Science is a different beast than most majors,

because while the courses you take to get the degree provide a good base, it is just a

base. If you want to be successful in the field, you have to put more into it than just

getting the degree. Theres a plethora of different programming languages, any of which
an employer could require you to be versed in. You have to be versatile, i.e. have a

decent understanding of multiple languages. Dr. Kandah also made the point that it is

not enough to just understand these languages, but you also must be able to solve

problems in them. He stressed heavily the importance of practice, suggesting that I

spend an hour a day practicing whatever language I was learning at the time.

Their responses to the first question, on the other hand, were not as good as I

had hoped. Professor Schwab did not have much of an opinion on the field, saying he

was not super involved with it at any point. Dr. Kandah commented on the outlook of

the field, with technology having reached a point where we can manipulate and

understand data on such a massive scale, it is a great time to get into the industry.