Spotlight on… The College of Science, Engineering and Technology Peter Piwowarski Computer Science Major Many believe that software developers and engineers have no use for writing in their professional careers, but computer science major Peter Piwowarski knows otherwise. This SVSU student and Hemlock, Michigan, native is firm in his belief that properly written documents are absolutely essential to the computing profession for users, programmers, and system administrators. Piwowarski’s interest in computers began at a young age, poking and prodding at old computers at home and experimenting with hardware. When he began thinking about college, SVSU caught Piwowarski’s interest due to its proximity and, most importantly, its computer science program. In choosing computer science as his program of choice, Piwowarski quickly learned that writing would be playing a significant role in his studies. Although many of Piwowarski’s courses focused on computer code and database systems, classes such as Technical Report Writing (RPW 304) focused on the value of quality prose, an important feature of his future work. As Piwowarski notes, “[Programmers] need to document the software and processes we build. It’s very important for anyone who wants to use what we’ve built.” Although many professors and courses have been valuable to Piwowarski during his time at SVSU, he is particularly appreciative of Avishek Mukherjee, assistant professor of computer science and information systems. Piwowarski describes Dr. Mukherjee as a gifted lecturer, one who is able to effectively communicate class material to his students. Through coursework with Dr. Mukherjee and other faculty, Piwowarski’s writing skills have grown along with his technical knowledge of computers and programming. The task of creating documentation guiding users through the complex operating system OpenBSD proved to be a prime example of how important clear, structured writing is to the computing field. Outside of academics, Piwowarski’s significant college experiences have been his involvement with the Association for Computing Machinery on campus, as well as his work with Delta College’s ITS Club (and its free PC clinics) and its STEM Explorer Program. Through these extracurriculars, Piwowarski has been able to fix community members’ computers free of charge and pique K–12 students’ interest in the STEM fields. Writing played a role in this community involvement, specifically through his position with the Explorer Program, where Piwowarski was responsible for creating customizable instructional software for K–12 students. His formidable computer science knowledge and strong technical writing skills, Piwowarski knows, are applicable to any future work, whether in a job as a programmer or in a future graduate program. And although the May 2020 graduate’s post-SVSU plans aren’t firm, his intensive studies and impressive extracurricular activities as a programmer who writes (both code and in the traditional sense) have set him up for success.
Writing@SVSU
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