Abstract: What do quantum mechanics, Bessel functions, and pointers have in common? Students find these topics daunting, and faculty are challenged with finding innovative ways to improve student understanding. As STEM faculty, we might initially center our teaching objectives around non-negotiable content, technical details, and demonstrated competencies. However, as facilitators of learning, faculty have great influence on the classroom culture and student experience. I’ll discuss the importance of creating a welcoming culture of learning for all students and providing students with learning strategies, opportunities, and tools to help them succeed. As teaching faculty at HPU, my scholarly activities have focused on improving student mindset, overcoming learning hurdles, and developing tutorials to promote technology tools. I’ve investigated CS1 student performance to identify early predictors of failure and implemented interventions to improve retention. I’ll provide examples of my GDB debugging tutorial and Python practice code generator. I’ll present my ideas for scholarly work and service as an NCSU Teaching Track faculty member. My presentation will conclude with a brief teaching demonstration on the topic of functions appropriate for an introductory Computer Science course.

Short Bio: Dr. Kimberly Titus is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at High Point University in High Point, NC. Dr. Titus holds a BS in Physics and a BA in Mathematics from Stetson University. She earned her PhD at North Carolina State University in Experimental Solid State Physics. As an Electronic Materials Fellow at NCSU, Dr. Titus optically characterized II-VI semiconductor materials grown by molecular beam epitaxy in pursuit of developing blue lasers and laser diodes. She then spent 4 years as a Post-doc and Visiting Assistant Professor in Textile Engineering at the NCSU College of Textiles. Her work there, sponsored by Levi Strauss and the National Textile Consortium, focused on developing sensor technology for the apparel and airbag industries and resulted in 2 patents. Dr. Titus joined the HPU faculty in 2005, teaching a variety of courses in physics, astronomy, mathematics, and computer science. She has focused much of her last 10 years on developing and improving courses on introductory and advanced programming in C, C++, R, and Python.