"Guzdial is honored for “distinguished contributions to the field of computing education research across multiple disciplines.”

One of his major insights is that computer programming can be made more appealing, and thus attract a wider range of people who could be proficient in it, by making it applied. He centered an intro to programming course around manipulating and creating digital media, including images, collages, sound effects, music, and video special effects, launched at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2003.

Guzdial was also one of the leads of the National Science Foundation’s Expanding Computing Education Pathways alliance. With Barbara Ericson, an associate professor of information and computer science and engineering at U-M and Guzdial’s wife, he received the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) 2010 Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator award. 

They moved to Michigan in 2018, where Guzdial helped launch the Program in Computing for the Arts and Sciences, which he now directs. The program is aimed at teaching computer programming in context, with courses geared toward science, the arts, justice, culture and the humanities. These courses are designed to serve students who need programming skills for careers in areas other than software development, and as of the winter term 2025, enrollment in the program exceeds 500 students even though none of the courses are requirements.“

I am thrilled by this recognition,” Guzdial said. “My career has been focused on giving students across disciplines the computing education that they need to be literate and capable in programming. The AAAS fellowship is an acknowledgement that my efforts have reached beyond students focusing on technology careers.”

Guzdial is also an ACM Distinguished Educator, a fellow of the ACM, and he received the 2019 ACM SIGCSE Outstanding Contributions to Education award."

 

Taken from:  University of Michigan. 2025. Mark Daskin and Mark Guzdial named AAAS Fellows. In Michigan Engineering News. Retrieved from https://news.engin.umich.edu/2025/03/mark-daskin-and-mark-guzdial-named-aaas-fellows/

Also see:   University of Michigan. 2023. 13 U-M faculty named as 2024 AAAS Fellows. In Michigan News. Retrieved from https://news.umich.edu/13-u-m-faculty-named-as-2024-aaas-fellows/