Robert Beck

Robert Beck teaches courses in programming languages and human computer interaction as well as courses at the interface of computing and other disciplines. At times he also leads the Enrichment Seminar in Computing, CSC 1990, which introduces students to the breadth of computer science. Those students who hold ViCS Scholarships are required to participate. All other computer science majors are welcome to join in some or all of the activities of the seminar. In Spring 2014 he co-taught with Christine Nass a course that combines the fundamental ideas from music theory with those from programming language structures, and surprisingly there are many parallels! The course, called The Laptop Instrument (CSC 1043), is open to majors and non-majors alike and satisfies the Fine Arts requirement of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In Fall 2012 he taught the graduate human-computer interaction course CSC 8570 - User System Interface. This course explores the fundamental principles of user interface design and their foundation in models of human computer interaction. The course focused on interfaces for small devices. One project asked the students to design an interface for a "wallet worth having."

He has also taught the senior projects course, CSC 4790, the required capstone course for the computer science majors. This course challenges the students to synthesize all that they have learned about computing into a substantial research or software development project. The software development teams use a modified agile development process that should allow them to create a usable system in a short amount of time. The research projects address substantial problems and allow the students to compete in the many student research venues.

I*ndependent Study*

Dr. Beck has directed many students in undergraduate and graduate level projects and has served as advisor for students writing undergraduate honors theses and Master's degree theses. This type of teaching focuses on research problems that can be addressed by students regardless of the breadth and depth of their backgrounds. He received the 2014 NCWIT Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award in recognition of his work with undergraduates on a variety of research problems over a number of years. He is always looking for more enthusiastic undergraduate collaborators and graduate students who are pursuing a Grand Challenges project. Look on his research page for a list of current questions and projects.