See Commencement on page 3 Meet Professor Prairie Rose Goodwin

Maryam Bacchus Guest Columnist

This semester, Professor Prairie Rose Goodwin finished her first year as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science. A Vassar alumna, she graduated in 2012 as a computer science major with correlates in Greek and Roman studies and mathematics.

Goodwin was initially drawn to Vassar for her undergraduate degree because of the classics de- partment. She sought to expand upon a long-standing interest in the Romans, specifically their creations that have lasted millennia. While taking courses in the Greek and Roman Studies Department, Goodwin also took math courses, where she excelled. She decided to take computer science courses to explore the technical part of her brain and found that she enjoyed it. When explaining how she decided to change her major, she remarked, “Part of what has always drawn me to the Romans is their technology and the fact that they were able to make aqueducts with levers and pulleys … So I gave in and decided that I was a very technical person after all.”

Recounting her favorite memories of Vassar, she recollected, “[Some] days [students] would take the fall leaves and turn them into giant peace signs and make campus into an art installation and that was really cool to walk through.

It was those little unexpected mo- ments that were really fun to be a part of and to know that there was so much creativity going on at Vassar at all times.”

Following her undergraduate degree, Goodwin knew she wanted to attend graduate school, work in the tech industry, then return to academia. She attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina where she graduated with an MS and a PhD in Computer Science. After graduate school, she was motivated to gain real-world experience she could later bring into the classroom. Goodwin first worked for a startup for SAS Institute, the latter being a data analytics company where she spent the most time. During her time at SAS, she was a Senior Product Developer working on Internet of Things (IoT). Expanding on IoT, she furthered, “It’s this idea of internet everywhere and connected environments and sensors that can send back gobs of information, and