About Us

CMU CS Academy is a project in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science (SCS) that has the goal of developing a novel, world-class, online, interactive high school computer science curriculum that is entirely free.

large stuffed animals and Scotty Dog next to a person

CMU CS Academy began when co-founders, and professors in SCS, David Kosbie and Mark Stehlik were approached by Pittsburgh Public School teachers, asking for a computer science curriculum to meet their students' needs.

From those conversations, David and Mark set out to achieve one goal - access for all to high-quality computer science education for anyone who wants it. For that reason CMU CS Academy is, and always will be, free for schools to offer to their students.

The project was initially run as a course on CS Pedagogy in SCS but after the first year that model transitioned to our current model as a non-profit organization at CMU that employs CMU students.

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Our Team

David Kosbie

FOUNDER

David Kosbie is an Associate Teaching Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a PA-certified high school teacher with over 5 years of classroom experience and has extensive outreach experience in regional high schools. David also has industrial experience working at Apple and Microsoft. In 2012 David won the Herbert A. Simon Award for Teaching Excellence in Computer Science.

Mark Stehlik

FOUNDER

Mark Stehlik is SCS’s Assistant Dean for Outreach and a Teaching Professor, and is a former Chief Reader for the AP Computer Science test. He won both CMU's Doherty Award for Excellence in Education and the Herbert A. Simon Award for Teaching Excellence in Computer Science.

Credits and Acknowledgements

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The CMU CS Academy interactive website and the CMU Graphics package are built using:

Django, React.js, Redux, Bootstrap, and Brython.

Most of CMU Graphics, the CMU CS Academy interactive website, and the CMU CS Academy content was built by the students, faculty, and staff in the CMU CS Academy Project, and its 15-539 course on CS Pedagogy.

Many thanks to our team members, which the vast majority of are CMU Students. These students come from many different backgrounds and disciplines. Together, they bring a richly diverse set of perspectives and talents to the team. CMU CS Academy is a project built by students for students, which further enables us to create such an engaging, fun, and educational experience.

In addition, the CMU CS Academy team thanks the following for their wonderful help and support:

Martial Hebert, Andrew Moore, Frank Pfenning, Tom Cortina, Ashley Patton, Jonathan Reynolds, Catherine Copetas, Kevin O’Connell, Mark Power, Byron Spice, Ericha Geppert, Madeleine Cossell, Christa Romanosky, Debra James Bailey, Cindy Chepanoske, John Porco, Allie Oswell, Mary Widom, Alison Chiocchi, Angela Luck