Manoa Professor Wins National Science Foundation CAREER Award

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Chris Hundhausen, 956-3887
Assistant Professor
Posted: Mar 16, 2002


UH Manoa Professor Hundhausen Wins National Science Foundation CAREER Award

HONOLULU: Christopher Hundhausen, an assistant professor in the Informationand Computer Sciences Department, recently won a prestigious NationalScience Foundation FacultyEarly Career Development (CAREER) award. This is the second such award to the ICS department: last year ICS faculty Dan Suthers received the award. Suthers and Hundhausen are directors of the Laboratory for Interactive Learning Technologies (LILT, http://lilt.ics.hawaii.edu/).

With his award, Hundhausen will develop and empirically evaluate of a newapproach to teaching computer algorithms in undergraduate computer scienceclassrooms. Based on the studio-based teaching paradigm used inarchitecture, his novel approach revolves around problem-based "studio"exercises in which students use electronic whiteboards and sketch-basedvisualization software both to create their own visualizations of thecomputer algorithms under study, and to present those visualizations totheir peers and instructor for feedback and discussion.

A passionate advocate for the human in the human-computer equation,Hundhausen says his primary research goal is to develop computer softwarewhose design is firmly rooted in empirical studies of humans. "I like toincorporate actual users of the system at every step in the design process,"says Hundhausen. "For example, before the first line of computer code for asoftware system is ever written, I want already to have conducted fieldstudies of its scenario of use, and also user studies with paper prototypesof the system."

Hundhausen received his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon in 1999. Whilethere, he focused on developing a theoretical orientation, along withsupporting software and classroom activities, for teaching computeralgorithms using algorithm visualization technology. The software hedeveloped, the "Algorithm Visualization Storyboarder" (ALVIS), is serving asthe foundation for the studio-based curriculum he will be designing underhis grant research.

NSF established the CAREER program in 1995 to help top performing juniorfaculty scientists and engineers simultaneously develop their contributionsand commitment to research and education. The CAREER award is NSF's mostprestigious award for junior faculty members. Awards typically range from$200,000 to $500,000 and are in duration from four to five years.Hundhausen's award is for $530,000 over five years.

For more information, visit: http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/career/start.htm