The Grainger College of Engineering
Siebel School of Computing and Data Science

Ruby Tahboub

Ruby Tahboub
Ruby Tahboub
Teaching Assistant Professor
2334 Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science

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Education

  • Ph.D., Computer Science, Purdue University, 2019
  • M.S., Computer Science, Purdue University, 2016

Biography

Ruby Tahboub is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University in 2019, where her research focused on query compilation and optimization in database systems. Before joining Illinois in 2022, she served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Purdue University.

Her teaching experience spans undergraduate and graduate courses in programming, data management, and data mining. She has developed and redesigned courses for both in-person and online instruction, including large-enrollment courses. Her teaching emphasizes building conceptual understanding through clear explanations, practical examples, and opportunities for students to apply what they learn.

Her current scholarly interests focus on computing education, particularly student learning, assessment practices, and the preparation of teaching assistants. She is interested in developing effective instructional approaches for large-enrollment computing courses and exploring how assessment and feedback can support student learning. She is also involved in educational outreach and mentoring activities.

Academic Positions

  • Teaching Assistant Professor, SSCDS, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2022-Present
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Purdue University, 2019-2022

Resident Instruction

  • CS 412 Introduction to Data Mining, SSCDS, Illinois, [Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024]
  • CS 101 Introduction to Programming: Engineering and Science, CS, Illinois, [Fall 2022, Spring 2023]

Articles in Conference Proceedings

  • Ruby Y. Tahboub and Tiark Rompf. Architecting a Query Compiler for Spatial Workloads. Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data (SIGMOD), pp. 2083-2098, 2020. (Acceptance Rate: 26.86%)
  • Grégory M. Essertel, Ruby Y. Tahboub, James Decker, Kevin Brown, Kunle Olukotun, Tiark Rompf. Flare: Whole Query Compilation for Apache Spark. Proceedings of the 13th USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI), pp. 799-815, 2018. (Acceptance Rate: 18.3%)
  • Ruby Y. Tahboub, Grégory M. Essertel, and Tiark Rompf. How to Architect a Query Compiler, Revisited. Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data (SIGMOD), pp. 307-322, 2018. (Acceptance Rate: 19.65%)

Honors

  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, 2026
  • Raymond Boyce Graduate Teacher Award, Purdue University, 2016 (2016)
  • Best Demo Award, LIMO: Learning Programming using Interactive Map Activities, ACM SIGSPATIAL, 2015 (2015 )

Recent Courses Taught

  • CS 101 - Intro Computing: Engrg & Sci
  • CS 412 CSP (CS 412 DS3, CS 412 DS4, CS 412 DSO, CS 412 G3, CS 412 G4, CS 412 MC3, CS 412 MC4, CS 412 P3, CS 412 P4, CS 412 PG, CS 412 PU, CS 412 U) - Introduction to Data Mining

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