2022

The Geva Research Group, Compute-to-Learn Project

University of Michigan Ann Arbor, accepted by Ellen Mulvihill

Areas: Chemistry, Computational Thinking, Computer-Aided Education, Courseware Development, Education

The Compute-to-Learn project provides students with the opportunity to engage in creative forms of active learning. Compute-to-Learn activities stem from evidence-based, student-centered learning approaches, such as emphasis on real-world applications to promote students’ integration of new ideas, as well as authentic, collaborative environments that apprentice students as members of a scientific discipline (via practices such as explanatory writing and peer review). Students participate in tutorials and training related to Mathematica; research and propose an original Demonstration idea; workshop the idea during design and production stages; and, finally, submit the final product to external review prior to publication and dissemination on the Wolfram Demonstrations Project website. The Compute-to-Learn pedagogy is implemented within a peer-led honors studio environment. It has been offered in the University of Michigan chemistry department since 2015.

2022

William A. Sethares

Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Areas: Computational Humanities, Computational Thinking, Computer-Aided Education, Courseware Development, Engineering, Image and Signal Processing, Image Processing, Signal Processing

Bill Sethares is a researcher and professor of electrical and computer engineering at the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, focusing on signal processing with applications in acoustics, image processing, communications and optimization.

At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Sethares attracts students from majors beyond engineering with his computationally rich image processing course material and project-based learning (all Wolfram Language–based, of course!). Sethares is a founding member of the LEOcode project and brings computation to art historians in the form of applications used to find patterns in watermarks and canvases. These can help to identify and date historical papers and paintings.

2021

Enrique Vílchez Quesada

Professor, Computer Science School of the National University of Costa Rica

Areas: Courseware Development, Education, Mathematics, Programming

Enrique Vílchez Quesada teaches courses in mathematics, operations research and programming fundamentals. His research is primarily associated with different activities and projects related to the development of computerized educational software and materials. He has served as coordinator of the systems engineering area and deputy director of the Computer Science School of the National University of Costa Rica. Enrique has received several distinctions in Costa Rica for his outstanding performance and professional career in teaching and research. He is an associate member of the Latin American Committee for Educational Mathematics (CLAME) and the author of more than 50 scientific and dissemination articles in the areas of mathematics and educational informatics.

2021

Virginia Tech Math Emporium

Areas: Authoring and Publishing, Courseware Development, Education, Mathematics, Software Development

Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium was established over 20 years ago. Over the years, nearly eight thousand students have been served through the Math Emporium each semester, in courses ranging from precalculus to geometry and mathematics of design. Many peer institutions have adopted the emporium model, which uses computer-based resources and emphasizes active learning and retention. Mathematica has served as the foundation for Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium. Quiz questions are created as modules, allowing for thousands of variations for a single “question.” An in-house package has been built and expanded over the years, housing thousands of functions, from formatting to building XML files, for use in the Math Emporium testing system. Additionally, Mathematica has been used to create portions of the Math Emporium’s online textbooks and to conduct assessments for the department of mathematics.

Award accepted by Jessica Schmale, senior mathematics instructor.