Who We Are: Mark Guzdial

Professor in the School of Interactive Computing,
Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Mark Guzdial completed a joint Ph.D. in Education and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, studying with Dr. Elliot Soloway. He explores the use of technology for improving education, especially through computing-supported collaboration and expressive media. He was the original creator of “Swiki,” the first Wiki tool designed for use in education. He invented the “Media Computation” approach to introductory computing, where students learn computing through manipulation of digital pictures, sounds, and movies. Through published reports at several universities, the approach has been shown to improve retention and student engagement, without differentiation between genders or between ethnic group. He has written three textbooks supporting the approach.

Dr. Guzdial leads the NSF Broadening Participation in Computing alliance “Georgia Computes!” whose goal is to influence the entire computing education pipeline. The “Georgia Computes!” project provides Girl Scout and YWCA programs in computing, trains high school teachers, trains undergraduate faculty in innovative curricula, and supports the creation of summer camp programs around the state. Dr. Guzdial is also part of the Institute for Personal Robotics in Education, which develops a robotics-centered approach to introductory computing. He is vice-chair of the ACM Education Board.

Officers

General Counsel

  • Allison Spinner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Staff

Our Founder

Board of Trustees

  • William Wulf, Ph.D., Former President, National Academy of Engineering, Board Chair
  • Bill Unger, Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund - Vice-Chair
  • Robin Abrams, Investor
  • Margaret Ashida, Director, Diversity and Workforce Programs - IBM Software Group
  • Prith Banerjee, Senior Vice President, Research, and Director, HP Labs, HP
  • James Beck, CPA & CMA, Managing Director & CFO, Mayfield Fund - Treasurer & Vice President
  • Francine Berman, Professor, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, UC San Diego and Fellow, ACM
  • Debi Coleman, Managing Partner, SmartForest Ventures
  • Nora Denzel, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Payroll, Intuit
  • Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President, Research and Systems Engineering, Google
  • Penny Herscher, President & CEO, firstRain
  • Kathy Hill, Senior VP Ethernet and Wireless Systems Technology Group, Cisco Systems Inc.
  • Leah Jamieson, John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering, and Ramsburg Distinguished Professor, Purdue University
  • Wayne Johnson, Vice President, University Relations, Hewlett-Packard
  • Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College
  • Ike Nassi, Executive Vice President, and Head of Research, Americas and China, and Head of Global Business Incubation, SAP
  • Brian Pawlowski, CTO, and Senior Vice President, NetApp
  • Richard Rashid, Senior VP and VP Research, Microsoft
  • Justin Rattner, Senior Fellow & CTO, Intel
  • Cheryl Shavers, Former Undersecretary of Technology, Clinton Administration, & CEO of Global Smarts, Inc.
  • Telle Whitney, President & CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
  • Linda Bernardi, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)
  • Greg Papadopoulos, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)

Individual and Organizations

Board of Advisors