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24        <h1><a style="text-decoration: none" href="/">Adam Blank</a></h1><br>
25        

25<script type="text/javascript">document.write(get_random_saying());</script>

25 <div id="whoami"></div><br><br>
26    </div>
27    <div class="header-right">
28        <div class="header-label">Office:</div>  <div class="header-info">Annenberg 115</div>
29        <br>
30        <div class="header-label">E-mail:</div>  <div class="header-info">[email protected]</div>
31        <br>
32        <div class="header-label">Phone:</div>   <div class="header-info">(626) 395-1765</div>
33    </div>
34</div>
35
36        <div id="content">
37            <h2 id="about">What's New?</h2>
38<div style="margin-bottom: -15px"></div>
39<div class="level_one">
40    <ul style="margin-left: -20px">
41        <li><b>Feb 2023</b>: I have been appointed Academic Consultant of FSRI at Caltech!</li>
42        <li><b>June 2022</b>: I have been promoted to Teaching Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at Caltech!</li>
43        <li><b>May 2022</b>: I am honored to have been one of the recipients of the <a href="https://eas.caltech.edu/newhorizons">EAS New Horizons Award</a>.</li>
44        <li><b>May 2021</b>: I am honored to have been one of the recipients of the inagural <a href="https://www.cms.caltech.edu/academics/honors#gradient-for-change-awards">CMS and IST Gradient for Change Award</a>.</li>
45        <li><b>May 2021</b>: I am honored to have received the 2021 <a href="https://eas.caltech.edu/teachingprize">EAS Northrop Grumman Prize for Excellence in Teaching</a>.</li>
46        <li><b>Feb 2021</b>: I am honored to have been featured in a <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/adam-blank-discord-cs2-cs24">Caltech news article</a> about how I transitioned
47            my courses online.</li>
48    </ul>
49</div>
50
51            <h2 id="about">About Me</h2>
52<div style="margin-bottom: -15px"></div>
53<div class="level_one">
54    <p>My name is <b>Adam Blank</b>, and I am a Teaching Professor in the <a href="https://www.cms.caltech.edu/">Department of Computing and
55        Mathematical Sciences</a> at <a href="https://caltech.edu">Caltech</a>. 
56    
57    <h4 style="margin-bottom: -10px">Identity</h4>
58    <p>I am non-binary, and my pronouns are <a href="https://pronoun.is/they">they/them</a>. I am neurodivergent and queer. I have generalized anxiety disorder and clinical depression.
59
60    <h4 style="margin-bottom: -10px">Mission</h4>
61    <p>I am interested in the <b>teaching</b> and <b>practice</b> of Computer Science.  My teaching drives everything
62    that I do, and I love to try new techniques to help students learn in my courses.  My research involves using
63    <b>technology</b>, <b>human computation</b>, and <b>collaboration</b> to improve the 
64    way that we <b>teach</b> computer scientists at the post-secondary level to <b>everyone</b>.  
65    I am also interested in broadening participation in computing; I care deeply that diverse humans feel welcome and included. 
66
67    <h4 style="margin-bottom: -10px">CS Option Representative</h4>
68    <p>I am currently the <b><a target="_blank" href="https://cms.caltech.edu/academics/ugrad_cs">Undergraduate CS Option Representative</a></b>. For questions related to option
69    administration, please e-mail <a target="_blank" href="https://directory.caltech.edu/personnel/carmens">Carmen Nemer-Sirois</a> who is the option administrator. If you need to make
70    an appointment with me related to my option representative duties, please see the section on "meeting with me" below.
71
72    <h4 style="margin-bottom: -10px">Academic Statements</h4>
73    <p>As of January 2018, here's my <a class="pdf" href="/documents/TeachingStatement.pdf">teaching statement</a>.
74    <p>As of July 2022, here's my <a class="pdf" href="/documents/cv.pdf">CV</a>.
75    <p>As of April 2022, here's my <a class="pdf" href="/documents/dei.pdf">DEI Statement</a>.
76
77    <h4 style="margin-bottom: -10px">Contact Information</h4>
78    <p>I can be reached via e-mail at blank at caltech.edu. If you want to meet with me, please see the section on <a href="#meeting">meeting with me</a> below rather than reaching out via e-mail.
79</div>
80
81            <h2 id="meeting">Meeting with Me</h2>
82<div style="margin-bottom: -15px"></div>
83<div class="level_one">
84    <p><b>You can see my <a href="https://countablethoughts.com/schedule">

84schedule here</a>.</b>
85    <p>Feel free to stop in whenever my door is open; I'm happy to meet with students whenever I have free time.
86    <span id="proximity"></span></p>
87    <!--    <p>If you are interested in meeting with me "with no real agenda", I've reserved 30 minutes for "coffee chats" approximately once a day.  You can use <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vyte.in/blank/coffee-chat">this link to book a coffee chat</a>.</p> -->
88    <p>To see a list of potential reasons to meet with me, go to my <a target="_blank" href="http://meeting.countablethoughts.com">meeting site</a> and choose the appropropriate option. 
89
90    <p>If you would like to request a recommendation, please <a target="_blank" href="http://countablethoughts.com/recommendation">read my instructions on asking for a recommendation</a>.
91</div>
92
93            <h2>Documents</h2>
94<div style="margin-bottom: -15px"></div>
95<div class="level_one">
96    <p><a class="pdf" href="/documents/HowToLaTeX.pdf">LaTeX Tutorial</a> (and the accompanying 
97    <a class="pdf" href="/documents/homework-anon.tex">homework template</a>).
98    Many of the courses I've worked on have required that students submit their solutions using LaTeX; so, I wrote 
99    a short tutorial which also acts as a LaTeX reference.
100
101    <p><a class="pdf" href="/documents/TAAdvice.pdf">Advice for new TAs</a>.
102    Back when I was TAing, I found that many first-time TAs had no idea what to expect.  I've been told this
103    document has helped some people.  It offers advice for new TAs who want an idea of what pitfalls to avoid.
104
105    <p><a class="pdf" href="/documents/HowToAskForHelp.pdf">How to ask for help</a>.
106    I've found a really common issue for freshmen is that they get stuck for the very first time, and they aren't sure how
107    to get help.  This document outlines ways in which students can turn "getting stuck on homework" into a positive experience.
108</div>
109
110            <h2>Research</h2>
111<div class="level_one">
112    Recently, my interests have shifted toward equity and inclusion in CS pedagogy.  I am particularly interested in doing a better job including non-binary students, neurodiverse students, 
113    and students with disabilities. More will be added on this as it develops.
114    <br><br>
115    I have previously focused on using technology in concert with pedagogy to make CS courses better.
116    <br><br>
117    Projects I have worked on in the past (and, for some, am still working on) include:
118    <ul>
119        <li>an IntelliJ data structures visualizer for introductory Java programming courses that demonstrates recursion and references effectively.</li>
120        <li>a programming language and compiler for teaching introductory discrete mathematics (Setty),</li>
121        <li>improving submission, annotation, review, and feedback of proofs (ColorMyGraph and "Whiteboard"),</li>
122        <li>using abstract interpretation to help students learn (output and time complexity analysis of programs),</li>
123        <li>peer grading of proofs (verifications),</li>
124        <li>studying the effects and implementation of formative assessment, and</li>
125        <li>modifying production compilers to help students learn.</li>
126    </ul>
127
128
129    More details can be found in my <a class="pdf" href="/documents/ResearchStatement.pdf">research statement</a>
130    and/or my <a href="http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/2014/CMU-CS-14-114.pdf">Master's Thesis</a>.
131</div>
132
133            <!-- <h2>Lectures</h2>
134<div class="level_one">
135    Below is <b>a sampling</b> of some lectures I've given in the past. In many of the classes I have taught, the lecture slides have served
136    as course notes, and I often use "pauses", in which partial slides appear during the lecture. The versions below have all the 
137    pauses removed for easier offline reading. I have many more lectures on similar topics, and they are available by request. If you 
138    read any of these, and find them useful, please send me e-mail!  I'd love to hear from you!
139
140    <p><a class="pdf" href="/lectures/151/functions.pdf">Functions</a>.
141    This is another 15-151 lecture which motivates and discusses various important function properties.  For fun: 
142    <a class="pdf" href="/N">&#8469;</a>
143    <a class="pdf" href="/Z">&#8484;</a>
144    <a class="pdf" href="/E">&#120124;</a>
145    <a class="pdf" href="http://un.countablethoughts.com/R">&#8477;</a>
146    <a class="pdf" href="http://un.countablethoughts.com/F:N->[0-9]">F:N->[0-9]</a>
147
148    <p><a class="pdf" href="/lectures/151/asymptotic_analysis.pdf">

148Asymptotic Analysis</a>.
149    This is, yet again, another 15-151 lecture that motivates asymptotic notation, gives examples of the "tree method", and
150    derives the merge sort recurrence.
151
152    <p><a class="pdf" href="/lectures/fsms.pdf">Finite State Machines</a>.
153    This is a 15-251 (guest) lecture that discusses Deterministic Finite Automata (DFAs).  It uses turing machines and regular
154    expressions as motivation.
155
156    <p><a class="html" href="/stego">LSB Steganography</a>.
157    This is a lecture to an introductory CS class that introduces binary representation, image representation, very basic steganography, 
158    and the PPM file format.  It includes a PDF of the lecture, a ZIP of stubs in Java, and some sample images in PPM to decode.
159</div>
160 -->
161            <!-- <h2>Presentations</h2>
162<div class="level_one">
163    Here are <b>some</b> presentations I've given to various audiences.
164    <p><a class="pdf" href="/presentations/setty.pdf">Setty: A Mathematical Programming Language</a>.
165    This is a short presentation which describes the language Setty that I designed, why I designed it,
166    my research goals for it, and runs through some sample exercises one might present to students.
167    <p><a class="pdf" href="/presentations/TeachingTheory.pdf">Teaching Reasoning and Proofs</a>.
168    This is a seminar I have given several times to an audience of teaching assistants for a variety
169    of theory and proof-based courses.  Much of the content (and answers to the questions) are missing
170    from the presentation, because I said it out loud, but I'm happy to answer any questions via e-mail.
171</div>
172 -->
173        </div>
174        <div id="right">
175            <div id="office-hours">
176                <h2>Office Hours</h2>
177                <ul class="office-hours">
178		<center>
179		    By appointment for Spring 
180		</center>
181		    <!-- Appointment only for the summer (except FSRI). -->
182		    <!--
183                    <li><div class="day">Monday (CS 24):&nbsp;</div>6:00pm<div class="to"></div>8:00pm</li>
184                    <li><div class="day">Tuesday (CS 13/24):&nbsp;</div>5:00pm<div class="to"></div>7:00pm</li>
185                    <li><div class="day">Friday (CS 13):&nbsp;</div>6:00pm<div class="to"></div>8:00pm</li>
186		    -->
187                </ul>
188            </div>
189            <div id="courses">
190                <h2>Courses <a style="text-decoration: none" href="/courses.html">(+)</a></h2>
191                <div class="semester">Spring 2023 (Caltech)</div>
192<div class="courses">
193    <a target="_blank"  href="https://sof.tware.design/23sp">CS 3: Introduction to Software Design</a>
194    <div class="role">(<i>Instructor</i>)</div>
195</div>
196<div class="courses">
197    <a target="_blank"  href="https://math4cs.com/23sp">CS 13: Mathematical Foundations of Computing</a>
198    <div class="role">(<i>Instructor</i>)</div>
199</div>
200<div class="semester">Winter 2023 (Caltech)</div>
201<div class="courses">
202    <a target="_blank"  href="https://debuggi.ng/23wi">CS 2: Introduction to Programming Methods</a>
203    <div class="role">(<i>Instructor</i>)</div>
204</div>
205<div class="courses">
206    <a target="_blank"  href="https://www.overleaf.com/read/rrdfpscqbqyw">CS 11: LaTeX Programming</a>
207    <div class="role">(<i>Instructor</i>)</div>
208</div>
209<div class="semester">Fall 2022 (Caltech)</div>
210<div class="courses">
211    <a target="_blank"  href="https://com.puter.systems/22fa">CS 24: Introduction to Computing Systems</a>
212    <div class="role">(<i>Instructor</i>)</div>
213</div>
214<!--
215<div class="semester">Summer 2022 (UPenn, Caltech)</div>
216<div class="courses">
217    <a target="_blank" href="https://www.seas.upenn.edu/~cis121/current/">CIS 1210: Data Structures and Algorithms</a>
218    <div class="role">(<i>Instructor</i>)</div>
219</div>
220<div class="courses">
221    <a target="_blank" href="https://diversity.caltech.edu/programs-training/programs/freshman-summer-research-institute-fsri">FSRI "Programming for Everyone"</a>
222    <div class="role">(<i>Instructor</i>)</div>
223</div>
224-->
225
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