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
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