All students complete a two-semester software engineering capstone sequence, where students work on structured teams shipping real solutions for real-world clients. Over the last 10 years, our department has delivered over 200 projects to more than 100 community partners, including local businesses, startups, nonprofits, and larger corporations.
Students can also gain paid experience without leaving campus. In our Cardinal Academy of Digital Security and Education (CADSE), outside employers hire Ball State students to work real cybersecurity cases in a dedicated campus lab, supervised by our faculty. And at the Digital Corps, students from all majors work together to design the best solutions for University partners. Our faculty mentor students through research projects, from freshman to senior experiences, and regularly publish research papers in the top conferences with students as coauthors.
For example, in fall 2026, three Ball State computer science undergraduates published AI research that began as a classroom exercise. Students also compete in hackathons and capture-the-flag competitions, contribute to humanitarian free and open-source software projects, and meet industry leaders through our weekly TechTalk series.