Rising Above the Gathering Storm Calvin Lin July 10, 2009

Rising Above the Gathering StormRising Above the Gathering Storm

Calvin Lin

July 10, 2009

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The Golden EggThe Golden Egg

• Technical innovation is changing the world• Health care• Science• Business• Energy• Communication• Entertainment• . . .

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Our Golden EggOur Golden Egg

• Technical innovation• Has been led by the US• Has fueled the US economy for years

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The Problem– Not Enough EggsThe Problem– Not Enough Eggs

• Dire need to strengthen K-12 teaching of math and science• “Rising Above the Gathering Storm”, National

Academy of Science, 2007• CS presents particular challenges

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Talk OutlineTalk Outline

• National response: CS/10,000• Feedback?

• UT response

• A few words about the Turing Scholars Program?

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The National PerspectiveThe National Perspective

• CS/10,000• NSF-led initiative to increase the # of high

school CS teachers by 10,000 by 2015

• Leverage the AP structure• Pre-AP course• Gold Standard AP course• CS A course

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Pre-AP CoursePre-AP Course

• Teach computer fluency• Designed for broad audience

• Foundations of computing and computational thinking

• Inquiry-based approach with exciting modern applications

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Gold Standard AP CourseGold Standard AP Course

• Explore computational concepts in more detail

• Includes critical thinking, logic, algorithms

• Shows the magic of computing

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CS A CourseCS A Course

• Similar to existing courses

• Students taking it should have greater motivation for programming after taking the first two courses

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The UT PerspectiveThe UT Perspective

• Enhance the UTeach Program to produce more CS high school teachers

• Use the UTeach Institute to replicate our success to colleges throughout the country

• Recruit more women and under-represented minorities into CS

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What is UTeach?What is UTeach?

• A collaboration between College of Natural Sciences and College of Education to increase the number of K-12 math and science teachers

• Sister program exists in the College of Liberal Arts

• Sister program recently formed by the College of Engineering

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UTeach Degree ProgramsUTeach Degree Programs

• Serves three populations• UT undergrads majoring in math or science• Degree holders in math or science• Certified math or science teachers

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Undergraduate CNS MajorsUndergraduate CNS Majors

• Compact 4 year degree program• Students receive degrees from their home

department• Students earn teaching certificate from UTeach

• Mastery of subject matter + teaching skills

• 18 hours of courses from UTeach• Hands-on experience in local schools• Mentoring

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SuccessSuccess

• Has more than doubled the number of math and science teachers graduating from UT

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SuccessSuccess

• Higher retention for UTeach teachers

UTeach

National Average

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UTeach InstituteUTeach Institute

• Replicates UTeach to other colleges

• 54 pre-proposals from 26 states in 2007

• 13 grants awarded:• Berkeley, Colorado,

Florida, Florida St,

Houston, Kansas,

LSU, N. Arizona, Temple, UC Irvine,

UT-Dallas, Univ. of North Texas, W. Kentucky

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Current StatusCurrent Status

• No UTeach certificate in Computer Science

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Our PlanOur Plan

• Develop curriculum for UTeach CS certificate

• Two populations• CS majors: How to squeeze in 18 hours?

• Non-CS majors: How much CS should they know?• Target over-subscribed majors (Biology,

Pharmacy)• Convey excitement of CS as it applies to other

fields

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What Can You Do?What Can You Do?

• Inspire students to study CS

• Make students aware of teaching opportunities and programs such as UTeach

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Questions?Questions?

The Turing Scholars ProgramThe Turing Scholars Program

Calvin Lin

July 10, 2009

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Goals of the ProgramGoals of the Program

• Attract top students

• Give them a special environment

• Offer them great opportunities

• Produce the high tech leaders of tomorrow

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Benefits of the ProgramBenefits of the Program

• Challenging honors CS courses

• Emphasis on undergraduate research

• Small class sizes:• 40 freshmen join per year• A small community within UT

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Our Program is UniqueOur Program is Unique

• UTCS is top ten CS department• Rice is #20• A&M is tied for 46th

• UT-Dallas is tied for 72nd

• No other Texas schools in the top 75

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Questions?Questions?

www.cs.utexas.edu/honors

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Why is a Top Ten Department Why is a Top Ten Department Important?Important?

• Research opportunities• Breadth and depth of research opportunities

• Reputation • Important for post-graduate success

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External SuccessExternal Success

Summer jobs:• Amazon, Apple, ArenaNet, Cisco, Dell,

Deutsche Bank, Freescale, Google, IBM, Intel, Lockheed-Martin, Microsoft, National Instruments, Schlumberger, Sony, Sun, Texas Instruments . . .

Summer internships:• Arecibo Observatory, Goddard Space Flight

Center, NSF internships at Univ. of Colorado, Univ. of Minnesota, UT-Austin

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Fall ’02: Khoa Tran ’06Fall ’02: Khoa Tran ’06

• Hometown: Vietnam

• Research: Spent junior year in Stockholm, Sweden

• Double major in Math and CS

• Post-Grad: Computational and Applied Math PhD Program,

UT-Austin

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Fall 03: Shan Wang ’06Fall 03: Shan Wang ’06

• Hometown: Austin, TX

• Research: Automatic Knowledge Integration

• Commencement speaker

• Post-Grad: Computer Science PhD Program, Stanford

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Mickey Ristroph ’08Mickey Ristroph ’08Fall ’04: Tarun Nimmagadda ‘08Fall ’04: Tarun Nimmagadda ‘08

• Research: Autonomous Vehicle Grand Challenge

• Winner: $50,000 RGK Social Innovation competition

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Fall ’05: Franzi Roesner ‘08Fall ’05: Franzi Roesner ‘08

• Hometown: Round Rock, TX

• Research: TRIPS project

• Entered as Plan II major

• Has already published at top CS conference– twice!

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Fall ’06: Chris Wiley ‘10Fall ’06: Chris Wiley ‘10

• Hometown: San Antonio, TX

• Double major in Engineering and CS

• Currently: Summer job at Google

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Help Us Recruit Your BestHelp Us Recruit Your Best

• Average SAT 1440

• Roughly 50% of admitted students rank 1st -10th in their high school class

• But, we look beyond the numbers• Looking for strong math and science

backgrounds• Looking for leadership, motivation,

involvement, diversity