Computer Science Alumni Spotlight: David Mills, Class of 1988
Part 3 of a 40th anniversary series celebrating Tennessee Tech computer science alumni
and the advancement of the Department of Computer Science, established in 1986.
When David Mills arrived at Tennessee Tech in the fall of 1982, the Department of Computer Science didn’t officially exist – and neither did his plan to major in computer science.
Mills began his college career in electrical engineering, completing Tech’s first-year basic engineering program and a couple of CO-OP assignments. After returning to campus in January 1986, he decided to change his major to computer science, the same year the department was formally established.
“I’m not sure how much the computer science program evolved, but I know I evolved quite a bit!” Mills recalled.
Before 1986, computer science and mathematics were intertwined, sharing faculty and space in Bruner Hall. Mills said the transition into a separate department felt gradual to him.
Student life looked different in the 1980s, with few organized activities specifically for computer science majors. Even so, strong connections formed in the computer labs.
“I remember spending quite a bit of time with fellow CS students in computer labs doing team projects, homework and all-night study sessions,” Mills said.
One standout experience was a software design course in which his team designed an airline ticket system, an exercise he now sees as valuable preparation for real-world work.
Some of his first courses introduced programming concepts using the Pascal programming language before progressing to UNIX and C in the more advanced courses. He also recalls taking some interesting courses such as Ada 83, Fortran 77, COBOL and Microcomputer Architecture. Some classes felt purely academic at the time but proved useful years later. Mills has used C throughout his 38-year career, and Ada 83, once assumed forgettable, continues to shape his work.
Mills said personal computers “were in their infancy” during his time at Tech.
“Most students didn’t have them, and the computer science department wasn’t networked for them anyway,” he said. “I'm sure that sounds primitive. This was all before the Internet was a thing – no Google, no email, no AI.”
Mills likes reflecting on how dramatically computing has changed.
“When I first took a class in Fortran 4 in 1982, we used the punch card system to write programs,” he recalled.
Each line of code was typed onto a punch card, and an entire program consisted of a carefully ordered stack.
“To run your program, you had to take it over to the computer center in Clement Hall,” Mills said. “You had to be careful not to drop your stack of cards!”
Even as the department was just getting started, Mills said the computer science foundation he received at Tennessee Tech prepared him for every job that followed.
Professional Highlights
David Mills is a senior software engineer with NTA, Inc. His career reflects the strong foundation built in the early days of Tennessee Tech’s Department of Computer Science. He has spent 38 years in the defense and aerospace industry and currently develops and maintains rocket flight software for the U.S. Army’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket. His career spans four Huntsville-based companies, including NTA, Inc., Teledyne Brown Engineering, DRS Technologies and SAIC.
Computer Science in the 1980s
- 1981: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) student chapter forms at Tennessee Tech.
- 1982: DEC VAX 780 replaces Burroughs mainframe in Clement Hall.
- 1986: Department of Computer Science is established.
- 1986: Leland Long serves as first department chairperson.
- 1987: Frank Hadlock serves as second department chairperson.