Bio

Leo Porter is a Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at UC San Diego. He is best known for his research on the impact of Peer Instruction in computing courses, the integration of Generative AI in computing education, the use of clicker data to predict student outcomes, and the development of the Basic Data Structures Concept Inventory. He co-wrote the first book on integrating GenAI into the instruction of programming with Daniel Zingaro, entitled "Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming: With GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT". He also co-teaches popular Coursera and edX courses with over 500,000 enrolled learners combined. Most importantly, Professor Porter loves teaching and working with students; he has taught a wide array of courses including Introductory Programming in Java, Data Structures, Computer Organization, Computer Architecture, Operating Systems, and Teaching Methods in Computer Science. Professor Porter earned his undergraduate degree in computer science from the University of San Diego (2000), and his Masters and Ph.D in computer science from UC San Diego (2006 and 2011, respectively). He was an Assistant Professor at Skidmore College for three years, prior to joining the faculty at UC San Diego in 2014. He has received six Best Paper Awards, SIGCSEs 50th Year Anniversary Top Ten Symposium Papers of All Time Award, the Outstanding Teaching Award from Warren College, and the Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award at UC San Diego. He is a Distinguished Member of the ACM, recently served as Secretary of the SIGCSE Board, and presently serves as Program Chair for ICER.