Carla Brodley
Northeastern University, MA·Education Research
Computing jobs are growing faster than almost any other field, yet many students who could fill them face obstacles on the way to a computing degree. Two such obstacles are losing credits when transferring from a community college, and not finding computing at all if they did not start college as computer science majors.
- Fields
Education Research
Computer Science
- Topics
computer science education
computing education
community college transfer
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Nov 2027
What they work on
- Test whether a placement assessment plus one-credit supplemental courses can reduce credit loss for community college transfer students entering computer science majors, in a pilot at three universities.
- Identify each transfer student's correct starting point in the computer science major based on what they have mastered, rather than course numbering or existing transfer agreements.
- Implement Interdisciplinary Computing Majors at 10 public universities and document, through case studies, how each was built and how the demographics of declared majors changed.
- Determine how interdisciplinary computing majors can best teach students to learn and ethically apply AI within another discipline, guided by a quarterly advisory council.
More about the research
These two projects test practical changes to university programs. The aim is to help more students, and a more diverse group of students, enter and complete computing degrees.
Why it matters
Reducing unnecessary credit loss could save transfer students time and money and keep more of them in STEM degrees. Clear models for interdisciplinary computing majors could help universities draw new and more diverse students into computing. That could help fill fast-growing computing jobs across the U.S.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
CUE-T: A Study of the Creation of Interdisciplinary Computing Majors - Their Implementation and Impact on Broadening Participation in Computing at 10 Public Universities
NSF · Dec 2024 – Nov 2027
EAGER: Addressing the Community College Credit Loss Problem within Four-Year Computer Science Programs
NSF · Sep 2025 – Aug 2027
Closest labs
Andrew Watkins
Case Western Reserve University, OH·Education Research
Develop a shared curriculum for the first two years of computer science across 15 Ohio colleges, and use it to create formal articulation agreements so community college credits transfer cleanly.
Narges Norouzi
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Education Research
Model students' problem-solving strategies and algorithmic thinking in computer science courses by integrating fine-grained process data to trace competencies across levels of abstraction.
Carol Fletcher
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Education Research
Increase the pathways available to K-12 students leading into computing- and AI-intensive college degrees, through state-initiated course and policy changes coordinated across the 30-state ECEP Alliance.
The school
Northeastern University: 27 labs on PI Pages, $347M a year on research, 251 research doctorates a year.
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