Tag: Kathleen Freeman

Welcome to Computer Science: Designing a Comic Tour of Computers and Computing

Presenter: Audra McNamee – Mathematics and Computer Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Kathleen Freeman

Session: (In-Person) Oral Panel—Comics, Classics and Analysis

While the number of high-quality educational comics is growing, there are no modern long-form comics discussing computer science at an undergraduate level. The computer science comics that do exist, along with being for a younger audience, are generally focused on teaching the reader programming concepts without exploring other aspects of computer science. For this thesis I scripted and drew the 54-page comic Welcome to Computer Science, which introduces the reader to computer science concepts including computer architecture, programming languages, and the internet. As a narrative comic written for an undergraduate audience, it can draw in readers who otherwise might not choose to engage with the material. As a breadth-first introduction, the comic provides the reader with a foundational understanding of computers and computer science; this work may provide even more experienced students with a better understanding of how their computer science classes relate to the rest of the field.

Investigation of the Effectiveness of Offensive Computer Security Techniques through Group Self-Study

Presenter: Adam Pond

Mentors: Jun Li and Kathleen Freeman, Computer Science

Poster: 52

Major: Computer Science 

Computer security, otherwise known as cyber security, is a broad and dynamic subfield of computer science. It
is concerned with protecting computing systems, embedded devices, networks, and data from unintended or unauthorized access. While computer security was not one of the fundamental ideas at the beginning of computing, it’s now one of the most interesting fields of computer science, especially the arms race between computer security defense personnel and hackers. One of the most important ways we can learn to defend against adversaries such
as hackers is by learning how to think like them. An effective way of thinking like your adversary is by performing penetration tests against the computing system you’re trying to protect. These penetration tests require a unique skill set that is best acquired through trials and tribulations (commonly called capture the flag events). During a capture- the-flag event, you simulate an adversary trying to gain access, or change data on a computing system that you should not be able to. Since this type of studying was not an option through standard academic courses, I set out to create a group environment in which to study and apply offensive security techniques. I will present the curriculum that I created and used during our weekly meetings of UO Security Club and the results and suggested changes from this experience.