Heather M. Conboy

Heather M. Conboy is a Part-Time Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science, including COMPSCI 520 (Theory and Practice of Software Engineering) in Fall 2025 and Spring 2025, and has previously taught COMPSCI 320 and 429. Her research is conducted within the Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research (LASER) and she is a key contributor to the Platform for Ethical and Responsible Computing Education (PEaRCE) project.

Her primary research interests lie in software engineering, with a focus on program analysis, requirements engineering, and ethical and responsible computing. She investigates techniques to improve human-intensive processes, particularly in medical settings (Medical Safety Project) and in computing education (PEaRCE). Her work aims to enhance software systems for safety-critical medical procedures and to integrate ethical considerations into computer science education through interactive simulations.

Analysis of her recent publications (2022-2024) reveals a strong interdisciplinary focus at the intersection of software engineering, healthcare, and computing education. Her work spans medical informatics (applying software engineering to cardiac surgery and chemotherapy processes) and educational technology (developing platforms for ethics education in computing). Key themes include usability evaluation of digital health technologies, cognitive workload assessment in surgery, and interactive learning environments for responsible computing.

No scientific awards, fellowships, or medals were mentioned in the provided text.

Dr. Conboy actively mentors students, having advised honors projects and master's projects since 2020 on topics including role-based access control for ethics learning environments, evaluation of interactive ethics systems, and medical safety documentation. The PEaRCE project, which she contributes to, is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

She is a member of the Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research (LASER) and the core team behind PEaRCE, a collaborative effort between UMass Amherst and New York University. The PEaRCE platform, designed for scenario-based learning in ethical computing, is freely accessible and has been piloted in undergraduate CS courses.