Research Interests

I am interested in the following areas of research.

Computer Science Education

• Teaching techniques: What forms of classroom activities are more likely to lead to student learning and performance?
• Specific questions about what students know: What do students know about software design?  What is the relationship between knowledge about computer science fundamentals and software design?
• Curriculum: Given goals of a computer science program, what are effective ways of organizing a curriculum to achieve those goals?
  For example, what are the roles of writing, basic mathematics, ethics, and other topics in a computer science education?
• Power in the Classroom: How does authority and power manifest itself in the classroom? Specifically, how does the relationship between teacher and student (and student and student) evolve?

Algorithms and Algorithmic Analysis

• I have no specific problem that I am interested in here.  Any problem or application domain that involves a different or unique kind of algorithm interests me.  The analysis of such algorithms also interests me.  Some examples: parallel computation, NP-complete problems, network packet routing algorithms.