Technical Workshops

We host technical workshops every Tuesday at 7pm in Jones 306! Our workshops begin Tuesday, January 31st for the Spring 2023 semester. This semester, we will be building a mobile game using Flutter, so if you are interested in mobile app development or game design, come check out a workshop! No previous technical experience is required. Even if you've never taken a computer science class in your life, we start from square one, and even provide a Github repository complete with the slides we will go over in the workshops, if you want a bit more detail on what we'll be doing during the workshops. You can find the repository here. Just scroll down to read the description of the project, and if it all seems too overwhelming, come to a workshop and we'll walk through it step by step. Hope to see you there!

Consulting

Developer Student Club at W&M serves as a nonprofit consulting group for research groups, student groups, etc. at William & Mary. In the past we have created websites, Python scripts, and apps. Below is a list of past projects and descriptions. If you or your organization would like to request an app, website, or other computer science-based product, read through our frequently asked questions below and send us an email (see below for what to include in the email).

Previous & Current Projects

Fall 2022

• Organization: W&M Mock Trial
• Deliverable: Script which collects emails from specified law firm websites and sends an automated email to each address.
• Purpose: To partially automate the collection and messaging of thousands of emails, improving Mock Trial's outreach efficiency.
• Contributors: Charlie Dobson (lead), Victor Tran, Myra Cropper

Spring 2022

• Organization: Birdlife International and Key Biodiversity Areas
• Deliverable: Website for researchers to query database with various file types. View it here!
• Purpose: Provide an easy-to-use website for researchers to gather data on species living in specified areas around the world.
• Contributors: Matt Cacioppo (co-lead), Clare Heinbaugh (co-lead), Victor Tran, Kritika Jothishankar, Charlie Dobson

Fall 2021 - Project 1

• Organization: Alliance for Peacebuilding and Data Science for Sustainable Development
• Deliverable: Map that you can view here!
• Purpose: Create a map to allow branches of Alliance for Peacebuilding to connect.
• Contributors: Clare Heinbaugh (co-lead), Matt Cacioppo (co-lead), Victor Tran, Charlie Dobson, Jorge Conda

Fall 2021 - Project 2

• Organization: Wustholz Group (W&M chemistry department)
• Deliverable: Machine learning algorithm
• Publication: DSC contributors were co-authors on the article entitled "Blinking-Based Multiplexing: A New Approach for Differentiating Spectrally Overlapped Emitters" published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.
• See also this article from W&M News about the project.
• Purpose: DSC at W&M is working with other W&M undergraduates to automate the identification process for difference chemical classes using one-dimensional convolution neural networks and novel experimental single molecule spectroscopy data.
• Contributors: Emilio Luz-Ricca & Paul Scemama de Gialluly

Spring 2021

• Organization: Alpha Phi Omega (APO)
• Deliverable: Flutter app (for Android and iOS)
• Purpose: This app connects students with APO's on-campus ride service, Campus Escort, which helps students travel safely between any two locations on campus at night.
• App demo: https://youtu.be/BZkvsUaJXHE
• App availability: Currently available for download on the iOS app store and the Google Play store for free!
• Contributors: Clare Heinbaugh (lead), Matt Cacioppo, Jasmine Howard, Kori Riddick

Fall 2020

• Organization: MindVersity
• Deliverable: Flutter app (for Android and iOS)
• Purpose: This app allows peer mentors and mentees to connect over a messaging platform and destigmatize access to mental health resources for people of color
• App demo: https://recordit.co/zH0Ne9o9HY
• App availability: Currently available on the Google Play store for free!
• Contributors: Clare Heinbaugh (lead), Matt Cacioppo, Jasmine Howard, Kori Riddick

Spring 2020 

• Organization: Center for Geospatial Analysis
• Deliverable: Python script
• Purpose: Count thousands of cormorant birds to determine extent of overpopulation issue
• Contributors: Clare Heinbaugh & Emilio Luz-Ricca

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What kinds of projects can you do?

We can create websites, apps, or scripts that aid in a research project. It also comes down to the skills of the Consultants that are available. While we want to produce quality code and products for clients, Developer Student Club at W&M is also focused on helping new developers gain experience. That being said, we have talented consultants who are up to the challenge, so if you're not sure if a project is in our wheelhouse, send us an email to ask at developerstudentclubwm@gmail.com.

How do you choose which projects to do?

We want to take on projects that have a positive social impact and relate to causes our developers are passionate about. While a lot of organizations may want a website for their group, there are many free or cheap online solutions that require no coding background to create beautiful, informative websites. If, however, you have a specific service you want to offer to users (examples include: a unique messaging platform, driving service, outreach organizer), we would love to hear from you about your potential project.

How many projects do you take on each semester?

We usually plan to complete 1-2 projects each semester. As we bring together more talented consultants, we may expand the number of projects that we take on.

What is the timeline for this process?

Once you send us an email with your project idea, we will contact you to set up a 30-minute meeting. Then, we will meet with our Consultants before the next semester and select the projects that we want to complete that semester. Depending on how time sensitive your project is, we may still be able to do your project in a future semester even if it is not chosen for the upcoming semester. Once we form a team for your project, we will need to go over the project specifications in-depth (about a 1 hour meeting) and then meet a minimum of 3 more times during the semester (about 30 minute meetings) to provide project updates and ask additional questions. Once the project is complete by the end of the semester or shortly thereafter, we will continue to offer help and fix any major bugs that come up for the next three months. After that period ends, we will hand over the code base to your organization.

How much does it cost?

Our services are completely free! We only ask that the client cover hosting or database storage fees, but for many projects these will be minimal or nonexistent. Again, our goal is to offer more computer science experience to our members and allow them to use their skills to give back to the William & Mary community.

If you have read through past projects and FAQs and want to request a project, send us an email at developerstudentclubwm@gmail.com with answers to the following questions:

• What is the name and general purpose of your organization?
• Describe the project. For instance, if you are requesting an app, create a bulleted list of screens that you want to include and basic functionality.
• What user data (if any) will your app/website/script need to store? If there are privacy concerns (i.e., payment information, sensitive communications etc.), please elaborate.
• Approximately how many people do you expect will use your product?
• How time sensitive is this project? If we cannot start it this upcoming semester, would you still want to be considered as a project in a future semester?
• What times within the next few weeks can you meet for 30 minutes to discuss the project?

We usually respond to requests within the week. 

We look forward to working with you!