Marie desJardins

In addition to my research on artificial intelligence, I have had a longstanding commitment to student success through mentoring, innovative pedagogy, and outreach. Since 2011, when I helped to organize UMBC's first Google-sponsored "CS4HS" workshop, I have been highly active in CS education at the high school level.

I am currently the lead PI on "CS Matters in Maryland," an NSF CS 10K-funded project to create curriculum and train high school teachers to teach the new AP CS Principles course. I am also the Maryland team leader for the Exploring Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance, an NSF-funded initiative that is coordinating state-level CS education efforts. At UMBC, I am the 2014-17 Presidential Teaching Professor and a member of the first cohort of UMBC's Hrabowski Academic Innovation Fellows. I was also a founding member of the Maryland chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association, and serve as the university liaison for the chapter.