We Hire "The Heff"
The Computer Science Department is very pleased to announce that Dr. Neil Heffernan has been hired as a new faculty member, starting in summer 2002. Neil is interested in tutorial dialog agents, intelligent tutoring systems, cognitive models of mathematical thinking, and reactive planning.
Neil obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, and then took a "post-doc" position at CMU's Human-Computer Interaction Institute, with an affiliation with the Pittsburgh Advanced Cognitive Tutoring Center.
He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Amherst College in Computer Science and History, and then entered the Teach For America program, teaching middle school math and science in the Baltimore City Public Schools. He has also taught algebra in a public school in Massachusetts.
His research involves using artificial intelligence and cognitive science to design software for helping students learn math better: specifically the task of helping students learn how to write algebra expressions. He has developed "Ms. Lindquist", (http://www.algebratutor.org/), an Intelligent Tutoring System, which has been cited by USA today, National Council of Teachers of mathematics, etcetera, for its quality. He has published extensively about his research.