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DTSTAMP:20241209T195957Z
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Halifax:20241209T143000
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DESCRIPTION:A common refrain from undergraduate students taking their first
  course in theoretical computer science is "why are we learning this?" Too
  often\, theoretical computer science is taught in a dry manner\, totally 
 disconnected from all of the applications of computers that students learn
  about in their other courses. This approach to teaching theory leaves stu
 dents at a disadvantage as they enter the workforce without a solid founda
 tional knowledge of what it means to compute\, and to compute efficiently.
 \n\nIn this talk\, I will argue that properly teaching and learning theore
 tical computer science is necessary for success both in university and bey
 ond\, and that theory encompasses much more than just abstract definitions
 \, technical notation\, and proofs of theorems. I will also draw on variou
 s examples of theory being put into practice to show how theoretical compu
 ter science influences and motivates the study of computing as a whole.\n-
 --------------------------------------------------------------\n\nTaylor J
 . Smith (GS'16-M'22) is an assistant professor in the Department of Comput
 er Science at St. Francis Xavier University and the director of the univer
 sity's Formal Languages and Automata Research Lab (FLAReLab). Prof. Smith'
 s research focuses on formal languages and automata theory\, computational
  complexity\, and combinatorics on words\, and his work is supported in pa
 rt by an NSERC Discovery grant. In addition to over a dozen publications\,
  Prof. Smith is the author of "Theory of Computing: An Open Introduction"\
 , an open educational resource that is freely available online. Prof. Smit
 h earned his PhD from Queen's University in 2021. For more information\, v
 isit his website at http://taylorjsmith.xyz.\n\nSpeaker(s): Taylor J. Smit
 h\n\nRoom: 4030\, Bldg:  Mulroney Hall\, 2332 Notre Dame Ave\, Antigonish\
 , Nova Scotia\, Canada\, B2G 1Z3\, Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org
 /m/444542
LOCATION:Room: 4030\, Bldg:  Mulroney Hall\, 2332 Notre Dame Ave\, Antigoni
 sh\, Nova Scotia\, Canada\, B2G 1Z3\, Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.
 org/m/444542
ORGANIZER:jdelamer@ieee.org
SEQUENCE:7
SUMMARY:"Why Are We Learning This?": The Importance of Theoretical Computer
  Science
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/444542
X-ALT-DESC:Description: <br /><p>A common refrain from undergraduate studen
 ts taking their first course in theoretical computer science is "why are w
 e learning this?" Too often\, theoretical computer science is taught in a 
 dry manner\, totally disconnected from all of the applications of computer
 s that students learn about in their other courses. This approach to teach
 ing theory leaves students at a disadvantage as they enter the workforce w
 ithout a solid foundational knowledge of what it means to compute\, and to
  compute efficiently.</p>\n<p>In this talk\, I will argue that properly te
 aching and learning theoretical computer science is necessary for success 
 both in university and beyond\, and that theory encompasses much more than
  just abstract definitions\, technical notation\, and proofs of theorems. 
 I will also draw on various examples of theory being put into practice to 
 show how theoretical computer science influences and motivates the study o
 f computing as a whole.</p>\n<hr>\n<p>Taylor J. Smith (GS'16-M'22) is an a
 ssistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at St. Francis Xa
 vier University and the director of the university's Formal Languages and 
 Automata Research Lab (FLAReLab). Prof. Smith's research focuses on formal
  languages and automata theory\, computational complexity\, and combinator
 ics on words\, and his work is supported in part by an NSERC Discovery gra
 nt. In addition to over a dozen publications\, Prof. Smith is the author o
 f "Theory of Computing: An Open Introduction"\, an open educational resour
 ce that is freely available online. Prof. Smith earned his PhD from Queen'
 s University in 2021. For more information\, visit his website at http://t
 aylorjsmith.xyz.</p>
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