Student Life

Montana Tech offers many activities for students, ranging from movie nights, outdoor recreation, picnics with live music on campus to special interest clubs, TechXPO to highlight student projects and sporting events. You can find out more about these by visiting the Montana Tech website and clicking on Student Life.

In addition to Tech sponsored activities, Computer Science Department students can choose to participate in department specific activities.

ACM Club:

The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Club is the main organization for computing professionals, and our department has a very active student chapter. The ACM Club sponsors events and activities such as:

• Annual Industry Trip
  Usually over spring break, students travel as a group to a different location each year to tour companies that hire our graduates. Past destinations have included Seattle, the Bay Area, and more close to home, Bozeman.
• LAN Parties
  Several times during the semester students gather in the Museum Lab where they create their own Local Area Network (LAN) and play multi-person computer games.
• ICPC Programming Competition
  Students in the ACM form teams each year to participate in the ICPC Programming Competition. Until 2016, the closest regional competition was held in Salt Lake City, but Montana Tech is now a one of the regional competition sites for the Rocky Mountain region. In addition to the official competition, student groups also compete informally with other schools in the area.
• Student-Led Seminars and Workshops
  Students who have expertise in a topic have offered seminars and workshops to students with an interest, usually on weekends or evenings.
• Participation in Homecoming Events
  Traditionally, the ACM club has entered the annual Homecoming Bed Races, where students build a bed/derby car and compete by racing down the steep slope of Park Street through campus. Traditionally, we do not win. Maybe you’ll be the one to come up with a winning bed design?

   Social Events:

The department hosts several events during the academic year. These include:

• Welcome Back Barbecue
  At the beginning of fall semester, the Computer Science and Mathematics Departments get together and hold a potluck barbecue in front of the Museum Building. Everyone loves free burgers and hot dogs, right?
• Graduation Barbecue
  Generally at the end of spring semester, Computer Science and Mathematics also hold a graduation barbecue for students, though this depends on how well the weather holds.
• Student Appreciation Night
  For the first time in 2018, the Computer Science Department held a student appreciation night for all the great work our ACM club members have done over the year. The department sprung for pizza, popcorn and soft drinks, and we all watched a movie.

     On a More Academic Note:

The Museum Computer Lab is where most of our students work when on campus. The tutor station is staffed duringthe day by our students who assist not only students in the department, but any Tech student using the Museum Lab. The ACM Club initiated a practice where upper level students who didn’t mind answering questions can place a flag by their workstation. The color-coded flags each show what skills or languages in which that student has experience. Any student is welcome to ask for assistance from the flagged students.

Often faculty have projects going on with local businesses or other departments, and welcome assistance from our students. These are often paid positions, or at least students may earn credit. We often have requests from outside to hire our students for project work also. Students may be employed by the department as tutors in the Museum Lab, and they may also take positions as undergraduate teaching assistants.