Reviewers' Notebook: Faculty and Personnel
From CSWiki
The Department of Computer Science includes four tenure-track faculty and one visiting faculty member. In addition, Grinnell's Executive Council has authorized the hiring of an additional computer scientist to begin in Fall 2008. Due to projected leaves and course releases for 2006-2009, we are fortunate to have a full-time visitor for this period — bringing the total CS faculty to five for 2007-2008 and six for 2008-2009.
Brief Biographical Sketches
Marge Coahran received a B.S. in Physics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1987, and a M.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto in 2005. She held a variety of professional positions between the two degrees, which gave her experience in gourmet chocolate production as well as software development, technical support, and on-site installation and training. Coahran is currently in her second year as an Instructor in Computer Science at Grinnell College, where she also serves in the Math Laboratory coordinating the Computer Science tutoring program. Her teaching interests include computer architecture, computer graphics, and algorithms. Her research focuses on computational tools that assist in the design of fine crafts, in particular Bargello quilts.
Janet Davis received her B.S. in Computer Science from Harvey Mudd College in 1999 and her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington in 2006. Since then, Davis has been an Assistant Professor at Grinnell. Her research is broadly in the area of human-computer interaction; her approach emphasizes design and the relationship of technology to human values. While her dissertation focused on the relationship of large-scale simulations to democratic urban planning, she is exploring new interests related to technology, sustainability, and behavioral change. Her teaching interests include media computation in the introductory sequence, networks, operating systems, software and interface design, and technology studies.
Samuel A. Rebelsky received his S.B. in Mathematics in 1985, his S.M. in Computer Science in 1987, and Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1993, all from the University of Chicago. After a stint as a visitor at Dartmouth, Rebelsky came to Grinnell in 1997. Rebelsky currently serves as chair of the Science Division. Rebelsky has made it a priority to support students in full-summer research/project experiences. For the first nine or so years of his time at Grinnell, Rebelsky's research emphasized the Web, hypermedia, and education. More recently, Rebelsky has started exploring the applicability of the functional paradigm to media computation, such as raster graphics, vector graphics, video, and sound. Rebelsky teaches across the curriculum, most frequently teaching the introductory courses and the upper-level language courses.
John David Stone received a B.A. in linguistics from the University of Chicago in 1972 and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, where he specialized in philosophy of language, logic, and ontology, in 1976. For the next seven years, he taught in the Department of Philosophy at Arizona State University. In 1983, he came to Grinnell as Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy and Director of Summer Computing Programs. When the Department of Mathematics established the Mathematics Local-Area Network (MathLAN) in 1987, he was appointed as its manager, a position that he has held ever since. He is currently a Lecturer in Computer Science and Philosophy. His principal areas of interest in computer science are programming language theory, algorithms, and formal languages.
Henry M. Walker received his A.B. in Mathematics from Williams College in 1969 and his Ph.D. in Mathematics (algebraic topology) from M.I.T. in 1973. After joining Grinnell's mathematics faculty in 1974, he began a transition toward computing by completing an M.S. in computer science from the University of Iowa in 1979. As the computer-science program has evolved at Grinnell, he has taken the role of a generalist. His professional interests focus on computer science education, and he is the Immediate Past Chair of the Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He also is a member of the Committee on the Profession of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the Advanced Placement Computer Science (AP CS) Course and Exam Review Committee. He is the author of eight textbooks, a regular column on "Classroom Issues" for the SIGCSE Bulletin inroads, and a range of articles on computer science education, algorithms, and applications.
More detailed Curricula Vitae for each faculty member may be found in Appendix H.
