Students are encouraged to pursue a minor in one of the natural sciences (biology, chemistry), math, or statistics. Students prepare for the major by taking lower-division courses in programming, discrete math, computer organization, and data communications. They then complete upper-division courses in data structures and algorithms, data base management systems, net-centric programming, programming language fundamentals, and operating systems, and systems programming.

Graduates of this program will be prepared for a wide variety of computer-oriented careers in business, industry, and government, particularly in areas that require the practical application of computer science concepts and techniques to solving problems in the natural sciences. In addition, graduates will be prepared to pursue graduate study in computer science or in computationally intensive sub-disciplines of the natural sciences, such as bio-informatics, computational biology, computational physics, or computational chemistry.