Andrew Watkins

My goal as a computer science educator is to open the world of these powerful computational tools to my students. I aim to help pull back the curtain of how computing works so that my students can learn to think critically and computationally and use these tools and techniques to meet their own professional and personal goals. My computing interests range from artificial intelligence and biologically-inspired computing to using computing technology to meet community needs. I invite students to join me as we explore how computing can be harnessed to help the world around us and shape our understanding of that world.

Dissertation

"Exploiting Immunological Metaphors in the Development of Serial, Parallel, and Distributed Learning Algorithms"

Areas of Interest

Biologically-inspired computing, artificial intelligence, scientific computing, computing for the community, global computing

Previous University Experience

Director of undergraduate studies and instructor of computer science and software engineering, Mississippi State University, 2002–2011

Professor of English and Peace Corps volunteer, Zigong Teachers College, Zigong, China, 1996–1998