WASHINGTON, D.C. - Three computer scientists have been named the Professors of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Dr. Martin Carlisle (Colorado: United States Air Force Academy), Dr. Ray Toal (California: Loyola Marymount University) and Dr. Jeff Gray (Alabama: University of Alabama at Birmingham) are among the recipients of the award, which is co-sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) with corporate support from TIAA/CREF. CASE and The Carnegie Foundation have honored a single university professor from each participating U.S. state annually since 1982. A luncheon and dinner to recognize the state winners were held November 20th, in Washington D.C., with various members of the Senate and other congressional representatives in attendance. The photo to the right shows Gray, Carlisle, and Toal at the award reception held at the Folger Shakespeare Museum.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching annually honors a select group of professors that, according to its Web site ... "invents new knowledge and develops tools that foster positive change and enhanced learning in our nation's colleges and schools." More information about the U.S. Professors of the Year Awards Program is available at http://www.usprofessorsoftheyear.org/ .
Dr. Martin Carlisle is Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science at the United States Air Force Academy. His primary research interest is in developing software for computer science education. His most recent project is the RAPTOR programming environment, which provides a visual framework for learning programming and object-orientation (http://raptor.martincarlisle.com) and is used in at least 13 countries to teach introductory computer science. He is a 2007 winner of the Arthur S. Flemming Award for Exceptional Federal Service and has received the Air Force Civilian Achievement Medal.
Dr. Ray Toal has been at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) since 1986 and has a variety of pedagogical and research interests, the latest of which is language design. LMU offers a rigorous technical undergraduate program in computer science (featuring apprenticeship-style courses in the freshman year and two capstone projects in the senior year) in the context of a strong liberal arts core curriculum. The undergraduate computer science curriculum is modeled after the principles and values of the Open Source model, where students accumulate knowledge and skills while progressing from being contributors to being architects. Students learn the values of iterative improvement, frequent testing, and teamwork, among others.
Dr. Jeff Gray is an Associate Professor of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) where he co-directs the Software Composition and Modeling (SoftCom) laboratory. Jeff's research interests lie at the intersection of software engineering and programming languages, with specific interest in model-driven engineering, aspect-oriented software development, and clone refactoring. He is a 2007 recipient of the National Science Foundation's CAREER award and serves as the chair of the Alabama IEEE Computer Society. His educational pursuits include extensive K-12 outreach involving summer camps, visits to schools, field trips, and various state-wide competitions in the computing sciences. More information about Jeff's research and educational outreach activities are available at http://www.cis.uab.edu/gray.
Attached Files
Full resolution photo of the three professors
