It’s a new year for the Whiteboard Wednesday unofficial club on the UW-W campus. Each week in McGraw Room 122, Dr. Arnab Ganguly oversees the meetings with computer science students to provide a more hands-on experience outside of the classroom.

“I teach a couple of two hundred level courses and the curriculum only goes that far. There are certain milestones that you have to hit in the curriculum but what we lack in the curriculum is giving more exposure when it comes to when they are outside of academics, like when they go for graduation, getting a job, have an interview and things like that,” said Dr. Ganguly.

There have only been three meetings so far and already some students that major in computer science have expressed their gratitude for Dr. Ganguly’s help. For a vast majority of computer science jobs, applicants undergo technical interviews requiring them to solve problems within a computer. However, applicants are not allowed to use a computer. A comparison to this would be attempting to solve a calculus problem without a calculator.

“He gives us questions and we technically try to solve it and it’s usually with data structures and algorithms and the week after, we discuss it together,” said Shehan Senanayaka, computer science major and member of Whiteboard Wednesday.

“This club is making it easier for us because at least we’re seeing what we might see and we’re learning how to work through it. It’ll help us think on the fly in those times during the interviews,” said member Evan Reilly.

With more practice and preparation for real-world experiences, there are plans for other computer science faculty to attend meetings. Dr. Ganguly intends for the different perspectives from each teacher to allow for the students to apply the various methods in practice, with the hopes of creating a more coherent process.

“There are a lot of ways to solve problems but we are learning about the most efficient way for space and time and that’s why I come here, so I can learn better ways to do what I already know,” said member Caleb Zanoni.

For more information about the Whiteboard Wednesday meetings, Dr. Arnab Ganguly can be contacted through his email, [email protected], or stop by his office hours in McGraw 109 Monday or Wednesday 3:30 p.m to 4:30 p.m.