Andreas Stefik

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Andreas Stefik is a professor of computer science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas[1] and the creator of Quorum, a computer programming language created with features that improve access for people with visually impairments.[2] Stefik conducts research in the areas of software engineering, accessibility, and computer science education. He is an advocate for increasing access to computer science in K–12 education.[3]

Education[edit]

Stefik began his education pursuing a bachelor's degree in music at Central Washington University, but graduated with a Bachelor's in Mathematics as well as Music.[2] Stefik went on to receive his Master's Degree and PhD in Computer Science from Washington State University

Career and research[edit]

As a computer science graduate student, Stefik became interested in the resources available for those who are blind or have low vision that wanted to pursue a degree in computer science.[2] He found there was no language currently available accessible to the blind and visually impaired, and decided to create his own. The work began as a project called Sodbeans,[4] and over the course of ten years he developed the language Quorum with his wife,[5] which is also auditory and therefore more accessible to people with visual impairments.[6] In 2016, Stefik received the White House Champion of Change award for Computer Science Education for his efforts.[7][2][6]

Stefik has also created a model for computer science education for blind or visually impaired students that as of 2016 has been deployed in almost 20 schools.[8]

Through Stefik's research and works, he has received many grants. Most notably, he received grants from the National Science Foundation to help build Quorum.[2]

Notable work[edit]

  • An Empirical Investigation into Programming Language Syntax[9]
  • How do API documentation and static typing affect API usability?[10]
  • An empirical study on the impact of static typing on software maintainability[11]

Awards[edit]

  • Java Innovation Award, Oracle Corporation, 2011[12]
  • White House Champion of Change for Computer Science Education, 2016[7][13]
  • Code.org Champions of Computer Science, 2018[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Andreas Stefik, Ph.D." University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Retrieved 7 Dec 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e "His work opens computer science to the blind". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2016-02-12. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  3. ^ Sadler, John (2021-04-30). "Rosen proposes bill to bolster teacher training in computer science - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". lasvegassun.com. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  4. ^ "Sodbeans 1.5: Enhanced NetBeans IDE Accessibility for the Blind - DZone Java". dzone.com. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  5. ^ Gillespie, Katie (December 23, 2018). "Vancouver teacher adapts computer science, math lessons for visually impaired". The Columbian. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b Kugler, Logan (June 11, 2019). "How Tech Needs to Change for Coders with Disabilities". Communications of the ACM. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  7. ^ a b "White House Recognizes UNLV Professor as "Champion of Change"". University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  8. ^ Garcia, Tony (January 21, 2016). "White House to honor UNLV professor as 'Champion of Change'". KSNV News3LV. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  9. ^ Stefik, Andreas; Siebert, Susanna (2013-11-01). "An Empirical Investigation into Programming Language Syntax". ACM Transactions on Computing Education. 13 (4): 19:1–19:40. doi:10.1145/2534973. S2CID 5373764.
  10. ^ Endrikat, Stefan; Hanenberg, Stefan; Robbes, Romain; Stefik, Andreas (2014-05-31). "How do API documentation and static typing affect API usability?". Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on Software Engineering. ICSE 2014. Hyderabad, India: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 632–642. doi:10.1145/2568225.2568299. ISBN 978-1-4503-2756-5. S2CID 15511300.
  11. ^ Hanenberg, Stefan; Kleinschmager, Sebastian; Robbes, Romain; Tanter, Éric; Stefik, Andreas (2014-10-01). "An empirical study on the impact of static typing on software maintainability". Empirical Software Engineering. 19 (5): 1335–1382. doi:10.1007/s10664-013-9289-1. ISSN 1573-7616. S2CID 5659366.
  12. ^ "Sodbeans Wins JavaOne 2011 Duke's Choice Award - DZone Java". dzone.com. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  13. ^ "Helping America Code: A Day with Computer Science Champions of Change". whitehouse.gov. 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  14. ^ "2018 Champions for Computer Science Awards | DO-IT". www.washington.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-17.

External links[edit]