CSE-PACE Program Resources

Core principles and program design

"Make space, Take space" is the motto for CSE-PACE. Here is a document about how we introduce, operationalize, and apply this document. [Link to overview]

Weekly session launch slides [Link to Lesson Plan][Link to Launch Slides]

Sample term overview schedule are some example schedules that can be used to help plan a term or semester of this course.

Sample term overview plans and resources is an example of a detailed document that we use to keep track of all the external (food vendors, recruitment, etc) and internal plans (lesson plans) that are needed week to week for a term/semester.

Professional development for team [Link]

Recruiting Lead Peer Mentors [Link]

Orientation and onboarding [Link]

Weekly Lead Peer Mentor meeting [Link]

CSE-PACE Computer Science and Engineering Activity Plans

To Block or Not to Block

This lesson introduces students to block-based programming. Students will critically think on the benefits of using block-based programming to teach computing concepts, as well as which people benefit from this methodology, compared with traditional programming. [Link to Lesson Plan for Week 1] [Link to Lesson Plan for Week 2] [Link to Slides]

The Power of Bugs

This lesson introduces students to ways in which technology is being used in agriculture and the environment. Students will assess the potential that exists for combining computing work with agriculture. [Link to Lesson Plan] [Link to Slides]

Computing as a Teammate in Healthcare

This lesson introduces students to ways in which technology is being used in healthcare. Students will consider how computing can be used as an aid for health officials, rather than a replacement, in order to improve patient care. [Link to Lesson Plan]

Impacts in Lithium Mining

This lesson exposes students to the harmful effects that the rise of technology has had, particularly on local communities and the environment, and consider small actions that can be taken towards these issues. [Link to Lesson Plan] [For the slide deck, refer to the second half of the slide deck linked for "The Power of Bugs"]

Bias in Generative Artificial Intelligence

Two-day session introducing students to AI starting with hands-on exploration of DALL-E (2022 popular image generation) tool, introducing to major concepts in machine learning, and exposing students to problems of potential bias in public data sets. [Link to lesson plan] [Link to Slides]

An Intro to Generative AI

Motivated by the Rise of ChatGPT and other Generative Technologies, this lesson introducces major concepts in the basics of Machine Learning and Prompt Engineering, and exposed students to consider the ethical implications of using Generative Technologies. [Link to Lesson Plan] [Link to Slides]

Machine Bias

Introducing the concept of the "coded gaze", This is a 2-Day Lesson that focuses on training about data and how that can lead to implicit bias in model performance. [ Link to Week 1 Lesson Plan ] [ Link to Week 2 Lesson Plan ] [Link to Slides]

Machine Learning Risks - Criminal Sentencing

Introduces the potential risk of using predictive policing and other risk assessment algorithms. Students will learn to analyze features that models could use to precieve recidivism, and draft ways to mitigate bias in AI systems. [Link to Lesson Plan]

Teaching Computers to Improve Musically

Students will learn how to distinguish between AI Generated Music and real-life songs, and will be exposed to generative technologies. Students will then be able to assess what other parameters/features are needed to adequately train the AI to generate more "familiar" music for students. [Link to Lesson Plan] [Link for Motivation]

Password Safety

Reinforce the importance of password security and using a variety of different tools to support creating new passwords and storing them securely. Students will be exposed to password managers and will have the ability to check whether their password is secure or not. [Link to Lesson Plan] [Improving Security Lesson Plan] [Link to Slides]

Bluetooth Tracking

Continuing from the Password Safety Lesson, students will be exposed to research that focuses on gathering telemtry/information from Bluetooth data and how signals are decoded to gather information about a user. Students will then open up various social media platforms to see how much information large data-centers and algorithms have on them. [Link to Lesson Plan][Link to Slides]

Environmental Impact of Computing

Explore the industrial need for lithium-ion batteries and reflect on their environmental impacts. Students will learn about different views from environmentalists and industrialists on lithium-ion batteries and develop their own views. [Link to Lesson Plan]

Crypto, Bitcoin, & Blockchain

Two-day session introducing students to the idea behind crypto and the importance of blockchain. Students will also learn about the security issues and ethical implications of blockchain. [Link to Lesson Plan] [Link to Cryptoming Capacity Lesson Plan] [Link to Slides]

VSCode Extensions

Introduce some useful VSCode extensions that might be helpful for students when programming. Students will explore multiple extensions and tricks that help them become more productive when using VSCode. [Link to Lesson Plan] [Link to Slides]

Lily Bots

Introduce the basic ideas behind Lily Bot control and let students build their own robots in two sessions. Students will work in groups, assemble the robot, and program it so it can perform desired actions. [Link to Lesson Plan] [Link to Slides]

Office Hours and Networking

Two Day Session learning how to navigate attending office hours by asking students to design questions to ask professors. Students will be able to practice these skills by attending professor office hours as a cohort. [Link to Lesson Plan] [Link to Slides]

CSE-PACE Additional Activity Plans

Imposter phenomenon

TBA

Course planning

One-day session to help students understand their university, college, and major requirements, create a 4-year plan, and explore various course planning resources. [Link to lesson plan] [Link to slides]

Publications and Presentations related to CSE-PACE

SIGCSE TS 2024

"Welcoming Students to Undergraduate Computer Science Programs: On-ramps, Rest Areas, and Lane Changes" Niharika Bhaskar, Amari N. Lewis, Rona Darabi, Joana Fang, Jingting Liu, Kristen Vaccaro, Joe Gibbs Politz, Mia Minnes Digital Library entry (open-access, including video presentation).

NSF Project Showcase Slides.

RESPECT 2023

"Comparing Student Social Networks and Academic Experiences in Computing and Biology Courses" Amari N. Lewis, Kristin Tenney, Kristen Vaccaro, Joe Gibbs Politz, Mia Minnes. 2023 Conference on Research in Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT) Slides.

ASEE 2023

"Taking the Next Course: Facilitators and Barriers Reported by Computer Science Majors" Amari N. Lewis, Joe Gibbs Politz, Kristen Vaccaro, Mia Minnes. ASEE '23 permalink, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C0bJVvTNRr8Zxr9lgzB2LA_oepkEdJme/, Slides.

Seminar at Uppsala Universitet 2023

"Taking The Next Steps Towards The Humanization of Computing & Engineering Education" Invited talk at: Uppsala Universitet June 8, 2023. Slides

Illinois Computer Science Summer Teaching Workshop 2023

"Lost in the crowd, rising above it, or somewhere in the middle?" Invited talk at: Illinois Computer Science Summer Teaching Workshop, June 5-6, 2023. Slides

ITISCE 2022

"Learning about the Experiences of Chicano/Latino Students in a Large Undergraduate CS Program" Amari N. Lewis, Joe Gibbs Politz, Kristen Vaccaro, Mia Minnes. ITISCE '22 https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3502718.3524780

"Making Visible and Modeling the Underrepresented: Teachers' Reflections on Their Role Modeling in Higher Education" Virginia Grande, Päivi Kinnunen, Anne-Kathrin Peters, Matthew Barr, Åsa Cajander, Mats Daniels, Amari N. Lewis, Mihaela Sabin, Matilde Sánchez-Peña, Neena Thota. ITISCE '22. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3502717.3532170 (abstract), https://doi.org/10.1145/3571785.3574122

Founding Faculty

Dr. Amari N. Lewis

Dr. Mia Minnes

Dr. Joe Politz

Dr. Kristen Vaccaro

Advisory Board

Dr. Christine Alvarado, UC San Diego

Dr. Kathi Fisler, Brown University

Dr. Philip Guo, UC San Diego

Patrick Mallon, UC San Diego (2021-2022)

Dr. Heather Pon-Barry, Mount Holyoke College

Dr. Fiona McNeill, University of Edinburgh

Student Leadership

Nitya Agarwal (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2023)

Ryan Batubara (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2025)

Niha Bhaskar (TA, 2022-2023)

Kathy Chen (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2024)

Charisse Chua (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2025)

Laurence D'Ercole (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2023)

Emily Ekaireb (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2023; TA 2023-2024)

Yuan Gao (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2025)

Galen Han (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2023)

Karisma Kumar (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2024)

Peter Lee (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2025)

D'ante McCurty (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2025)

Bryan Min (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2023)

Andrew Oabel (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2024)

Audria Montalvo Saravia (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2024)

Samantha Prestrelski (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2025)

Jose Salazar (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2024)

Ryan Rickey (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2024)

Ginger Smith (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2023)

Samvrit Srinath (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2025)

Chase Stabler (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2023)

Joshua Villanueva (Lead Peer Mentor, 2023-2025)

Alessia Welch (Lead Peer Mentor, 2022-2024)

Curriculum Development and Research

Yutong Chen

Rona Darabi

Joana Fang

Mingyang (Chimingyang) Huang

Jeannie Kim

Jingting Liu

Iman Malhi

Bryan Min

Malcolm (Jooahn) Park

Winnie She

Zelong (Alan) Wang

Jackson (Zhicheng) Wang

Hinn Zhang

Funding and Collaborations

UC San Diego Computer Science and Engineering Department

UC San Diego CSE DEI Committee

UC San Diego Council of Provosts

National Science Foundation, Grant CNS-2137928 (2021-2023)