My Favorite Classes at the University of Minnesota

It’s registration time and I’m graduating. Here’s a little info about some of my favorite classes I took while at the U. The classes in this list are not the easiest way to get your degree, but they were the ones I enjoyed the most.

CSCI 4511W — Intro to Artificial Intelligence

Professor: Baylor Wetzel

Fun and interesting lectures, extra topics like pathfinding, games (checkers, chess, etc), and path steering. You get a ton of freedom for the final project as long as you do something that involves a topic covered in class. My team created HTML5 visualizations for pathfinding algorithms using OpenStreetMap data.

CSCI 4611 — Programming Graphics and Games

Professor: Daniel Keefe

Lectures are very interactive. We were writing code every week to try out new concepts. The homework projects have clear tiered grading, implement a subset of features for a B, add extras for an A. Projects included: Implementing Text Rain with Processing, making a ping pong game, earthquake visualizations, and using motion capture data to animate wireframe humans.

CSCI 5271 — Intro to Computer Security

Professor: Stephen McCamant

This class has topics from stack overflow exploits to encryption to cross-site scripting. The best part is you get to learn how to implement exploits (legally) and defend against them.

This is another class with a final project that gives a lot of freedom. My group built enhancements for the Crossfire Attack, a DDoS method that attacks network links instead of hosts.

CSCI 4707 — Practice of Database Systems

Professor: John Carlis

Database classes aren’t required for the CSCI program, but a lot of jobs involve databases. Having relational database skills on your resume will be a big boost coming out of college.

My final project for the class was analyzing high school track data for stats and trends.

EE 2361 — Intro to Microcontrollers

Professor: Charles Rennolet

People I took this class with went to internships and were able to keep up with developers that had years of experience. By the end of the class you’ll be comfortable diving into docs and writing code for just about any microcontroller.

MUS 3480/3490 — Marching Band / Pep Band

Professor: Timothy Diem

You can either go to college or be a part of the college. This is one of the best ways to do the second. You’ll get into hundreds of events for free, and get to spend a lot of time with your 300 closest friends.