Katie Cunningham

For More Information

• Personal website

Education

• Ph.D. Information, University of Michigan School of Information, 2020
• M.S. Human-Centered Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology School of Interactive Computing, 2018
• B.S. Computer Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, 2013

Academic Positions

• Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, July 2022 – Present
• Postdoctoral Scholar, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, January 2021 – July 2022

Other Professional Employment

• Computer Science Education Coordinator, California State Univ. Monterey Bay, July 2013-June 2016

Research Interests

• Using methods from human-computer interaction in the context of computer science education, my research aligns computing learning opportunities with students’ goals and identity, with a long-term aim of broadening pathways to computing education at the college level.

Articles in Conference Proceedings

• S. Narayanan, K. Cunningham, S. Arteaga, W. J. Welch, L. Maxwell, Z. Chawinga, B. Su. Upward Mobility for Underrepresented Students: A Model for a Cohort-Based Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science. In Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2018). Best Paper, New Curricula, Programs, Degrees, and Position Paper track SIGCSE Top Ten Symposium Papers of All Time Award - Nominated Paper
• K. Cunningham, B. Ericson, R. Agrawal Bejarano, and M. Guzdial. Avoiding the Turing Tarpit: Learning Conversational Programming by Starting from Code’s Purpose. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2021).
• K. Cunningham, A. Feng, Y. Qiao, E. O’Rourke. Bringing "High-level" Down to Earth: Gaining Clarity in Conversational Programmer Learning Goals. In the Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2022). Best Paper, Position and Curricula Initiative track
• M. A. Demirtas, M. Fowler, Nicole Hu, and K. Cunningham. Validating, Refining, and Identifying Programming Plans Using Learning Curve Analysis on Code Writing Data. In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER 2024).
• J. Hur and K. Cunningham. Profiling Conversational Programmers at University: Insights into their Motivations and Goals from a Broad Sample of Non-Majors. In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER 2024).

Research Honors

• Computing Innovation Fellow (2021-2022)
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (2017-2020)